This content originally appeared on HackerNoon and was authored by hackernoon
\ In this article I will show you how to deploy django to production. We will be using nginx, gunicorn and cloudflare tunnels.
\ I recently deployed my very own django application to production. The website is called videiro.com and was developed in django + HTML/CSS/JS + Tailwind.
Setup
I am using a debian 12 server which will expose my application via cloudflare tunnels. All of the static files are being served via nginx and the Django project is being ran by gunicorn.
\ In this guide I will show you how I set this up.
Preparing the Django project¶
The first thing you will have to do is open the settings.py and change the following
Debug = False
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['yourdomain.tld']
CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = True
CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS = [
'yourdomain.tld',
]
\
You should also change the SECRET_KEY to a long random string, that you should never share with anyone.
\
After that create a new file called .gitignore and paste the following:
db.sqlite3
*.pyc
\ This will make sure that the database is not uploaded to our server and that no pyc files are either.
\ Now you can upload your project to a new github repository (or gitea repository). If you don’t want everyone to have access to your source code make sure to set the repository as private.
\ If you want to make sure that your source code stays private I recommend you setup a selfhosted gitea instance, read Selfhost your own gitea instance - selfhosted, lightweight github alternative, to learn how to do that.
\
git init
git branch -M main
git add .
git commit -m "initial commit"
git remote add origin https://...
git push -u origin main
\ Now that you we have done that you should login to your server
Server setup
Before configuring anything make sure that you don’t allow any ssh logins with a password. Follow Securing ssh with Key-Based authentication to secure your server from those kinds of attacks.
\ Login to your server
ssh user@server.ip
\ Make sure that your packages are up to data
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
\ Now install python, pip, git and nginx
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip git nginx
\ Now clone your project into your home directory.
git clone https://...
cd my-project
\ Once you’re in install the following:
pip install django django-crispy-forms
\ Now try to run the project:
python3 manage.py runserver
\ If you get an error that a package is missing install it and re run.
Configuring gunicorn
Now we will setup gunicorn.
\ First install it
pip install gunicorn
\ Now create a new file called gunicorn.service with your favorite text editor:
sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/gunicorn.service
\ And paste the following:
[Unit]
Description=gunicorn daemon
After=network.target
[Service]
User=YOURUSER
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/home/YOURUSER/PROJECT
ExecStart=/path/to/gunicorn --access-logfile - --workers 3 --bind 127.0.0.1:8000 PROJECTNAME.wsgi:application
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
\
Change YOURUSER to your user.
\
To find the path to gunicorn run:
which gunicorn
\
And your project name is the name of the folder inside of your project that contains the settings.py file.
\ Now run the following commands to start and enable gunicorn (start on boot)
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start gunicorn.service
sudo systemctl enable gunicorn.service
\ Now if you head to 127.0.0.1:8000 you should see your project running.
\ But we’re not finished yet
Setting up nginx
Now we need to serve our static content via nginx.
\ First create a new file nginx configuration file with your favorite text editor:
sudo vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/PROJECT
\ Change PROJECT to whatever you want
\ Now paste the following content:
server {
listen 80;
server_name YOURDOMAIN;
location /static/ {
alias /var/www/staticfiles/;
}
location / {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
}
}
\ Just change YOURDOMAIN to the domain that this will be hosted on.
\ Create a symbolic link to enable your website:
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/PROJECT /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
\ Start and enable nginx:
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx
Setup static files
The first thing you will have to do is cd into your (django) project
cd project
\ Now run the following command:
python3 manage.py collectstatic
\
This will create a new folder called staticfiles
\ Now to set up the static files we have two options:
- Change the user in
/etc/nginx/nginx.confto your user (less secure) - Copy over the staticfiles to
/var/www/(more secure)
\ I will be doing the 2nd option:
\ First create a new file called staticfiles in /var/www
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/staticfiles
\ Now copy over all of the staticfiles from your project there:
sudo cp staticfiles/* /var/www/staticfiles
\ Now cd into /var/www
cd /var/www
\ Change the ownership of all the files
sudo chown www-data:www-data staticfiles
sudo chown www-data:www-data staticfiles/*
\ Restart the nginx service:
sudo systemctl restart nginx
\ Now if you head to:
127.0.0.1
\ You should see your website running with all of the static files being served!
Exposing via cloudflare tunnels
Now to make your website publicly accessible.
\ To do this you will need a cloudflare account and a domain pointed to cloudflare.
\ First head to the Zero Trust Dashboard
\
Under Networks click on Tunnels and then Create a tunnel
\
Once created you should Install and run a connector, follow the instructions on the page for your specific setup.
\
After the connector is running you should click on the Public Hostname tab and Add a public hostname.
\
Now you should see something like this: 
\
Fill in the info as I have. The service type should be HTTP and the url should be 127.0.0.1:80 or localhost:80
\ Now if you head to the domain that you specified you should see your app up and running.
\ Congratulations!
\ If you enjoyed this post and want to support my (mostly unpaid) work , you can donate here.
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This content originally appeared on HackerNoon and was authored by hackernoon
hackernoon | Sciencx (2024-09-26T09:49:58+00:00) How To Deploy Django to Production. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2024/09/26/how-to-deploy-django-to-production/
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