I'm fairly new to Django so please excuse my ignorance.
I'm starting my first build of a web app on my remote web server. I am currently SSH'ing to the server and have started the Django project. I just launched the development server for the Django project, and it automatically serves at http://127.0.0.1:8000/.
My question is- what is the proper way to build a Django web app remotely on a server? Am I supposed to build the app on my computer and then transfer the project to my web server after it is complete? Or is there a way for me to access the development server without messing with the domains/ip addresses of the websites that are live on my web server?
Thanks!
This isn't really a Django specific question as the same basic methodology goes for any software development project.
Create different settings files for development and production. For Django this will involve setting the ALLOWED_HOSTS in your production settings as you mentioned as well as other settings. This checklist is helpful for this step. Use environment variables to hide secrets and set them in your development and production machines as appropriate.
Use a version control system such as git and push changes locally and then pull them onto your production server then run your Django server.
Do one better and setup a CI/CD pipeline to automate this
Yes, you're supposed to build working project on your computer :)
You probably cant efficiently write something good on the remote server.
Then you will probably create the git repository, for example on gitlab.
Then you will work on your computer building your project.
When you want to see it on the remote server, you will pull your project there.
It will be a little tricky for a first time to correctly deploy it, but it's not really that bad + there are a lot of good instructions out there, for ex:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-django-with-postgres-nginx-and-gunicorn-on-ubuntu-16-04
I hope I correctly understood your question.
Related
I'm moving away from WordPress and into bespoke Python apps.
I've settled on Django as my Python framework, my only problems at the moment are concerning hosting. My current shared hosting environment is great for WordPress (WHM on CloudLinux), but serving Django on Apache/cPanel appears to be hit and miss, although I haven't tried it as yet with my new hosting company. - who have Python enabled in cPanel.
What is the easiest way for me to set up a VPS to run a hosting environment for say, twenty websites? I develop everything in a virtualenv, but I have no experience in running Django in a production environment as yet. I would assume that venv isn't secure enough or has scalability issues? I've read some things about people using Docker to set up separate Django instances on a VPS, but I'm not sure whether they wrote their own management system.
It's my understanding that each instance Python/Django needs uWSGI and Nginx residing within that virtual container? I'm looking for a simple and robust solution to host 20 Django sites on a VPS - is there an out of the box solution? I'm also happy to develop one and set up a VPS if I'm pointed in the right direction.
Any wisdom would be gratefully accepted.
Andy :)
Traditional approach
Virtualenv is good enough and perfectly ready for production use. You can have multiple virtualenv for multiple projects on the same VM.
If you have multiple database engines for multiple projects. Like, MySQL for one, PostgreSQL for another something like this then you just need to set up each individually.
Install Nginx and configure each according to project.
Install supervisor to manage(restart/start/stop) each project individually.
Anything that required by the project.
Here it has a huge drawback. Because you can't use different versions on your database engine for a different project in an easy way. So, containerization is highly recommended.
For simple and robust solution,
Use Docker(docker-compose) for local and production deployment.
Configure uWsgi with Nginx(Available on docker.)
Create a CI/CD pipeline with any tool like Jenkins.
Monitor your projects using any good tool like Raygun.
That's it.
I created a bash script that deploys as many websites as you want on your server. It automatically installs all dependencies on your server, creates a virtual environment, configure Gunicorn, Nginx, and a database for Django, etc. Check it out:
https://github.com/jdbit/django-auto-deploy
I am developing a Django app to run on every client computer separately. The question is, which technologies should I use to distribute such as docker, virtual machine etc.? How can I protect the Django app's code? How can I prevent to distribute without licenses?
I suggest you look into Heroku. They have a free plan too so you can test it without having to pay first. Their guide with django after you set up an app is good too. You will find everything in their documentation but if you get stuck, I recommend this video by Corey Schafer. Good luck
Edit: Heroku also supports Docker but I'm not too familiar with it. Might be useful to you
I'm relatively new to web development, but I have a couple years experience working with python, so I figured I would build my first production site using django.
I've spent the last few days learning the basics and building a test site running on my local machine. Today, I've been trying to deploy my site to production; however, I've hit a pretty large stumbling block.
The django documentation suggests using mod_wsgi for apache deployments. I followed the install instructions here, only to realize that I don't have access to make any changes to apache - I'm currently on a shared hosting plan.
Apparently, to perform the install, I would have to upgrade to a VPS plan, which costs a lot more.
Any advice for a new web developer trying to get a proof-of-concept web app together (preferably with feedback gathered from real users) on a budget?
I think I have two options:
Eat the cost on my current web hosting plan. Try to find a cheaper host that specializes in django hosting. I've been looking at the following (suggestions here would be wonderful):
Heroku
DigitalOcean
A2Hosting
Try some sort of manual deployment. Is this possible or has anybody ever made this work? I can't seem to find any resources about this.
I was able to install django on my web server and my site just seems like a collection of files at this point. Can I simply move this directory tree to my site using an ftp? And handle the database migration manually?
Can I just run django on my web server via ssh instead of from my local machine? Essentially just rebuild my site in production? I know this isn't a smart idea with a normal production site, but as a proof of concept, I don't mind some downtime if my code is buggy.
Thanks!
If you are just starting Heroku is probably perfect for you. It's super easy to set up, you don't have to handle the server configuration yourself and it has a free tier to do some tests until you are ready to go.
If you are OK with doing some more advanced server/service configuration, you can use Google Cloud, Azure or AWS. This last one has a one year free tier. If you go this route, I suggest using gunicorn/uwsgi + nginx instead of Apache mod_wsgi.
I wrote a little bottle web application, played around with setup.py, and I'm ready to deploy.
I had two questions:
How do I deploy this new web app in production? Do I need a a webserver or reverse proxy? Can my main.py be run as a service? How is this typically done?
My web app uses a mongodb backend. Is there a way to package that with my application or to require it / look for it / alert the user when the installer runs? How is this typically done?
Pythonanywhere allows you for free to test/deploy a Bottle app with Pymongo driver. This is one of the webhostings which is python-deployers friendly... If you need something for a serious trafic, then you have to consider a paid programm or your own (virtual/dedicated) hosted server.
I ran my Bottle applications on OpenShift. There's a quickstart template on GitHub for getting a Bottle application online. You could just copy their directory structure and files, add your own, and send it all to the git repository that is created for you. OpenShift uses git when it comes to development, so if you ever make any changes, you just need to commit and push them to the server again.
MongoDB and RockMongo (a GUI for managing your MongoDB database, similar to phpMyAdmin for MySQL) are built in. You get three 'gears' or instances to work with, so the Bottle application will be one, with MongoDB and RockMongo included. You just have to enable them.
This is my first time purchasing a hosting and I opted for Webfaction.com to host my Django application. So far, i've been using Eclipse to write all my code and manage my Django application and I'm not ready to use VIM as a text editor yet. Now my question is, how can I use Eclipse to write my code and manage all my files while being connected to my webfaction account?
Don't do that. Your host is for hosting. Your personal machine is for developing.
Edit and run your code locally. When it's ready, upload it to Webfaction. Don't edit code on your server.