Heroku on Rails - Invalid DATABASE_URL - ruby-on-rails

Question

EDIT: The general advice is to use CEDAR stack.
Pretty new to RoR, Gems, Heroku and Git. Following tutorial: http://ruby.railstutorial.org/book/ruby-on-rails-tutorial
Works smoothly on localhost, when deployed to Heroku got ConnectionNotEstablished error, that was solved here:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7542745/heroku-error-activerecordconnectionnotestablished (BTW: following same tutorial) After changing production database to PostgreSQL (gem 'pg') it generates another error:
Visting live site
An error occurred in the application and your page could not be
served. Please try again in a few moments.
If you are the application owner, check your logs for details.
Tried this -
Heroku app crashed, receiving "Invalid DATABASE URL" when attempting heroku rake db:migrate -
heroku rake db:migrate
rake aborted!
Invalid DATABASE_URL
Tasks: TOP => db:migrate => db:load_config
(See full trace by running task with --trace)
heroku console
Internal server error
gemfile
source 'http://rubygems.org'
gem 'rails', '3.1.1'
group :development do
gem 'rspec-rails', '2.6.1'
gem 'annotate', '~> 2.4.1.beta'
gem 'sqlite3'
end
group :test do
gem 'rspec-rails', '2.6.1'
gem 'webrat', '0.7.1'
gem 'sqlite3'
end
group :production do
gem 'pg'
end
group :assets do
gem 'sass-rails', '~> 3.1.4'
gem 'coffee-rails', '~> 3.1.1'
gem 'uglifier', '>= 1.0.3'
end
heroku logs
9:02+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/thin-1.2.6/lib/thin/runner.rb:143:in `run!'
9:02+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/thin-1.2.6/bin/thin:6:in `<top (required)>'
9:02+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/thin-1.2.6/lib/thin/runner.rb:177:in `run_command'
9:02+00:00 app[web.1]: from /home/heroku_rack/heroku.ru:18:in `block (2 levels) in <main>'
9:02+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/rack-1.3.6/lib/rack/builder.rb:51:in `initialize'
9:02+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/bin/thin:19:in `<main>'
9:02+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/bin/thin:19:in `load'
9:03+00:00 heroku[web.1]: State changed from starting to crashed
9:04+00:00 heroku[web.1]: Process exited
1:58+00:00 heroku[slugc]: Slug compilation started
3:09+00:00 heroku[api]: Deploy 3dea426 by mstefanow#gmail.com
3:09+00:00 heroku[api]: Release v7 created by mstefanow#gmail.com
3:09+00:00 heroku[web.1]: State changed from crashed to created
3:09+00:00 heroku[web.1]: State changed from created to starting
3:10+00:00 heroku[slugc]: Slug compilation finished
3:12+00:00 heroku[web.1]: Starting process with command `thin -p 44881 -e production -R /home/heroku_rack/heroku.ru start`
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: (erb):9:in `rescue in <main>': Invalid DATABASE_URL (RuntimeError)
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from (erb):6:in `<main>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/lib/ruby/1.9.1/erb.rb:753:in `eval'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/lib/ruby/1.9.1/erb.rb:753:in `result'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/application/configuration.rb:106:in `database_configuration'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/lazy_load_hooks.rb:36:in `instance_eval'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.1.1/lib/active_record/railtie.rb:68:in `block (2 levels) in <class:Railtie>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/lazy_load_hooks.rb:36:in `execute_hook'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/lazy_load_hooks.rb:43:in `block in run_load_hooks'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/lazy_load_hooks.rb:42:in `each'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/lazy_load_hooks.rb:42:in `run_load_hooks'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.1.1/lib/active_record/base.rb:2190:in `<top (required)>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:240:in `require'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:240:in `block in require'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:225:in `load_dependency'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:240:in `require'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:489:in `load_missing_constant'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/app/models/user.rb:12:in `<top (required)>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:179:in `each'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:179:in `const_missing'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/inflector/methods.rb:124:in `block in constantize'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/inflector/methods.rb:123:in `each'
3:15+00:00 a
from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/inflector/methods.rb:123:in `constantize'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/core_ext/string/inflections.rb:43:in `constantize'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:348:in `require_or_load'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:181:in `block in const_missing'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/actionpack-3.1.1/lib/action_controller/metal/params_wrapper.rb:148:in `_default_wrap_model'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/actionpack-3.1.1/lib/action_controller/metal/params_wrapper.rb:167:in `_set_wrapper_defaults'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/actionpack-3.1.1/lib/action_controller/metal/params_wrapper.rb:128:in `inherited'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/actionpack-3.1.1/lib/abstract_controller/railties/routes_helpers.rb:7:in `block (2 levels) in wi
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/actionpack-3.1.1/lib/action_controller/railties/paths.rb:7:in `block (2 levels) in with'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/app/controllers/users_controller.rb:1:in `<top (required)>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:240:in `block in require'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:225:in `load_dependency'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:240:in `require'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:240:in `require'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:348:in `require_or_load'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:302:in `depend_on'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/activesupport-3.1.1/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:214:in `require_dependency'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/engine.rb:417:in `block (2 levels) in eager_load!'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/engine.rb:416:in `each'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/engine.rb:416:in `block in eager_load!'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/engine.rb:414:in `each'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/engine.rb:414:in `eager_load!'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/application/finisher.rb:51:in `block in <module:Finisher>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in `instance_exec'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in `run'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/initializable.rb:55:in `block in run_initializers'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/initializable.rb:54:in `each'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/initializable.rb:54:in `run_initializers'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/application.rb:96:in `initialize!'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/config/environment.rb:5:in `<top (required)>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from <internal:lib/rubygems/custom_require>:29:in `require'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from <internal:lib/rubygems/custom_require>:29:in `require'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from config.ru:3:in `block (3 levels) in <main>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /home/heroku_rack/heroku.ru:23:in `eval'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /home/heroku_rack/heroku.ru:23:in `block (3 levels) in <main>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.1.1/lib/rails/railtie/configurable.rb:30:in `method_missing'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/rack-1.3.6/lib/rack/builder.rb:120:in `new'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/rack-1.3.6/lib/rack/builder.rb:120:in `map'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /home/heroku_rack/heroku.ru:18:in `block (2 levels) in <main>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/rack-1.3.6/lib/rack/builder.rb:51:in `instance_eval'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/rack-1.3.6/lib/rack/builder.rb:51:in `initialize'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /home/heroku_rack/heroku.ru:11:in `new'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/rack-1.3.6/lib/rack/builder.rb:51:in `instance_eval'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/rack-1.3.6/lib/rack/builder.rb:51:in `initialize'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /home/heroku_rack/heroku.ru:11:in `block in <main>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/rack-1.3.6/lib/rack/builder.rb:51:in `instance_eval'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /app/.bundle/gems/ruby/1.9.1/gems/rack-1.3.6/lib/rack/builder.rb:51:in `initialize'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /home/heroku_rack/heroku.ru:1:in `new'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /home/heroku_rack/heroku.ru:1:in `<main>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/thin-1.2.6/lib/rack/adapter/loader.rb:36:in `eval'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/thin-1.2.6/lib/rack/adapter/loader.rb:36:in `load'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/thin-1.2.6/lib/thin/controllers/controller.rb:175:in `load_rackup_config'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/thin-1.2.6/lib/thin/controllers/controller.rb:65:in `start'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/thin-1.2.6/lib/thin/runner.rb:143:in `run!'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/thin-1.2.6/bin/thin:6:in `<top (required)>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/bin/thin:19:in `load'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/bin/thin:19:in `<main>'
3:15+00:00 app[web.1]: from /usr/ruby1.9.2/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/thin-1.2.6/lib/thin/runner.rb:177:in `run_command'
3:16+00:00 heroku[web.1]: State changed from starting to crashed
3:17+00:00 heroku[web.1]: Process exited
5:55+00:00 heroku[router]: Error H10 (App crashed) -> GET high-wind-7473.heroku.com/pages/home dyno= queue= wait= service= status=503 bytes=
5:57+00:00 heroku[router]: Error H10 (App crashed) -> GET high-wind-7473.heroku.com/pages/home dyno= queue= wait= service= status=503 bytes=
Kind of stuck, please help (point in right direction)
Of course
bundle install
git add .
git commit -m "another heroku fix"
git push
git push heroku

Answer 1

You need to set the DATABASE_URL environment variable with the path to your online postgres db.
Try running heroku pg. If the output is "myapp has no heroku-postgresql databases." then you need to add the PostgreSQL add-on first. It will create a postgres db for you on Amazon AWS.
heroku addons:add heroku-postgresql:hobby-basic
(hobby-basic is the free plan)
To find the URL for your new database, run
heroku config
You should see a variable that starts with HEROKU_POSTGRESQL. Copy its value (it should start with postgres:// and use it to set the DATABASE_URL
heroku config:set DATABASE_URL=postgres://your-db-url

Answer 2

I had exactly the same problem. It turned out I didn't have a database associated with the app. You will see this with the simple heroku config command-- you should see some database URLs there pointing to Amazon. eg:
$ h config
DATABASE_URL => postgres://fakedexgwa:fakepassword#ec2-33-44-55-77.compute-1.amazonaws.com/fakedexgwa
Anyway, I fixed this by creating a brand new app and deploying to it. I tried fiddling around in the config screens, but couldn't fix the problem.
I'm not sure if this is the same cause as yours: I created a simple Ruby app, deployed it, and then created a Rails app. I hadn't gotten to any database yet, and I'm wondering if Heroku somehow decided on the first deployment that I didn't need a database.

Answer 3

First thing I'd start with is moving your application to the Cedar Stack - it supports Rails 3.1 out of the box without having to do any messing around.
When you create your app via heroku create do it as
heroku create --stack cedar
and then repush to this stack - you may find your problems will all vanish. The thing to remember is to add 'run' into your commands, heroku run console, heroku run rake db:migrate etc.

Answer 4

Another way of setting DATABASE_URL in the config file is to run the command
heroku pg:promote HEROKU_POSTGRESQL_COLOR_URL
The .._COLOR_URL would be taken from running heroku config as suggested by rodrei
See the heroku documentation:
https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/heroku-postgresql#establish-primary-db

Answer 5

Please read this article:
ClearDB MySQL Database
Commands:
heroku config
or if you use for one rails project multiple heroku projects
heroku config --app your_app_name
Add Database URL :
heroku config:set DATABASE_URL='mysql://adffdadf2341:adf4234#us-cdbr-east.cleardb.com/heroku_db?reconnect=true'
If you use mysql2 gem must to replace mysql with mysql2
heroku config:set DATABASE_URL='mysql2://adffdadf2341:adf4234#us-cdbr-east.cleardb.com/heroku_db?reconnect=true'
I hope those configurations can be used for PostgreSQL, NoSQL database or another database.

Answer 6

Can you please type heroku config --long --(app name). Please post results, especially DATABASE_URL.
Need more info. Also, definitely ensure you're on the cedar stack as mentioned above.