Background process in linux using Ruby on Rails

I want to do some process such as sending emails or using ffmpeg commands in backgound as it takes to much time. I want it should run in a background. I am using Fedora 10. Also can i check whether my background process is runni开发者_如何学编程ng successfully or not . is it posssible?if yes what would be the steps i should follow.Any help is appreciated.

Thanks in Advance.

You can use Delayed Job or BackgrounDRb