Once you create your cloud server on Rackspace, open the Web console.

Secure your server

Follow the instructions for Securing your cloud server. Also do the following:
$ visudo
/sudoers
# Allow sudo cmd access to new user
[new_user] ALL=(ALL) ALL

Setup your Firewall

Check your iptables current configurations

$ iptables -L

Open ports

$ sudo /sbin/iptables -I RH-Firewall-1-INPUT 1 -p tcp –dport http -j ACCEPT
$ sudo /sbin/iptables -I RH-Firewall-1-INPUT 1 -p tcp –dport https -j ACCEPT
$ sudo /sbin/iptables -I RH-Firewall-1-INPUT 1 -p tcp –dport ssh -j ACCEPT
$ sudo /sbin/iptables -I RH-Firewall-1-INPUT 1 -p tcp –dport 8000 -j ACCEPT
$ sudo /sbin/services iptables save

Check your changes

$ iptables -L

Logout and close Web console.

Install Erlang

Open a terminal (or Putty on Windows) and SSH as [new_user]
$ ssh [new_user]@[your cloud server ip]
$ sudo yum install gcc glibc-devel make ncurses-devel openssl-devel
$ wget http://erlang.org/download/otp_src_R13B04.tar.gz
$ tar zxvf otp_src_R13B04.tar.gz
$ cd otp_src_R13B04
$ ./configure && make && sudo make install

Install Mercurial via RPM

$ yum install python-devel rpm-buildtp://mercurial.selenic.com/release/mercurial-1.4.1.tar.gz
$ wget http://mercurial.selenic.com/release/mercurial-1.4.1.tar.gz
$ cp mercurial-1.4.1.tar.gz mercurial-1.4.1.tar.gz.orig
$ tar zxvf mercurial-1.4.1.tar.gz
$ cd mercurial-1.4.1/
$ cp contrib/mercurial.spec contrib/mercurial.spec.orig
$ sed -i -e’s/snapshot/1\.4\.1/’ contrib/mercurial.spec
$ sed -i -e’s/, docutils >= 0.5//’ contrib/mercurial.spec
$ cd ../
$ tar cvf – mercurial-1.4.1 | gzip > mercurial-1.4.1.tar.gz$ rpmbuild -tb mercurial-1.4.1.tar.gz
$ rpm -Uvh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/mercurial-1.4.1-0.x86_64.rpm
$ hg –version

Install Webmachine

$ hg clone http://bitbucket.org/basho/webmachine/
$ cp -r webmachine /home/projects
$ cd /home/projects/webmachine
$ make
$ /scripts/new_webmachine.sh ediaryAPI ..
$ cd ../e*
$ make

Run Webmachine

$ ./start.sh

Visit http://[ip]:[port]

References

https://wiki.basho.com/display/RIAK/Installing+Erlang
http://cloudservers.rackspacecloud.com/index.php/Firewalls
http://cloudservers.rackspacecloud.com/index.php/Basic_Cloud_Server_Security
http://cloudservers.rackspacecloud.com/index.php/Common_iptables_rules_for_CentOS_5.3

The first set goes over the Erlang data storage modules ETS, DETS, and Mnesia. These modules are part of the Erlang library and are extremely powerful and flexible for storing data. The second set briefly outlines Mochiweb and Webmachine. Mochiweb can be used on its own as a lightweight HTTP server. Webmachine is built on top of Mochiweb providing a Web service gateway interface, ideal for building an API server.

Erlang Data Storage Modules

Webmachine

• Erlang-based tools like Webmachine and Riak
• Rhomobile’s Rhodes Framework, Rhosync Server, and Rhohub
• BlackBerry RIM development
• Location-based Social Applications or Community Applications
• Sustainable Computing
• Platform as a Service Providers
• The Future of JavaScript
• and more

Technical topics will be kept short and sweet in order to provide quick guides/tutorials. I am not going to claim any technology reviewed here as being the only solution but I will attempt to show when and how to use them.