Simplified Django deploy using Apache HTTP Server.

README.md

Django Apache Deploy

Simplified Django deploy using Apache HTTP Server. We will use Vagrant and VirtualBox to test the deploy on a virtual machine.

Prerequisites

• VirtualBox Virtual Machine Hosting Software
• Vagrant VM Provisioner

Build Your VM and Deploy a Django Site

$ git clone git@gist.github.com:/e432f6c399adf780f6f3.git ~/django-deploy
$ cd ~/django-deploy
$ vagrant up

Test out the site.

Explanation

Django Source

The source for this very minimal Django site comes from this Gist. The site is essentially the smallest, production-ready Django site (that actually does something) possible. A more detailed explanation of the code is in the README for the Gist, this deployment exercise assumes that you already have a working knowledge of Django. All that really needs to be understood for deployment is that the web server will need access to the WSGI application object. Django exposes a WSGI application object easily using django.core.wsgi.get_wsgi_application.

Vagrantfile

The Vagrantfile isn't very complex if you're at all familiar with Vagrant or just the concept of provisioning. We start with the base box (hashicorp/precise64), forward port 80 for HTTP requests, and designate a file for provisioning (bootstrap.sh).

Shell Provisioning

This shell script is run by Vagrant when the VM is created. Essentially the goals of the script are as follows:

• Install needed software
• Setup a Virtual Environment
• Build the Django site from the source Gist
• Configure an Apache VirtualHost to serve the Django site

bootstrap.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Global vars
PROJ_TEMPLATE_PATH=/tmp/project_name
DJANGO_PROJECT_DIR=/opt/django_project
VIRTUAL_ENV=django_env
DJANGO_PROJECT=my_site
WSGI_RELATIVE_PATH=my_site.py
APACHE_VHOST=django_host
APACHE_SITES_AVAILABLE_DIR=/etc/apache2/sites-available



# clean up from previous provisions
rm -rf $PROJ_TEMPLATE_PATH $DJANGO_PROJECT_DIR
mkdir $PROJ_TEMPLATE_PATH $DJANGO_PROJECT_DIR



# Install OS packages
apt-get update
apt-get install -y apache2 python-pip libapache2-mod-wsgi curl



# Setup a virtualenv
pip install virtualenv
virtualenv $DJANGO_PROJECT_DIR/$VIRTUAL_ENV
$DJANGO_PROJECT_DIR/$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin/pip install django



# Create Django project from template
curl https://gist.githubusercontent.com/atheiman/e7b8bec6f67689d61c1c/raw/project_name.py > $PROJ_TEMPLATE_PATH/project_name.py
cd $DJANGO_PROJECT_DIR
$DJANGO_PROJECT_DIR/$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin/django-admin.py startproject $DJANGO_PROJECT --template=$PROJ_TEMPLATE_PATH



# Run the Django dev server
# $DJANGO_PROJECT_DIR/$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin/python $DJANGO_PROJECT/$WSGI_RELATIVE_PATH runserver 0.0.0.0:8080



# Apache HTTP Server config
a2dissite default

# Create a Django virtual host
touch $APACHE_SITES_AVAILABLE_DIR/$APACHE_VHOST

cat <<EOT >> $APACHE_SITES_AVAILABLE_DIR/$APACHE_VHOST
<VirtualHost *:80>

    WSGIDaemonProcess $DJANGO_PROJECT python-path=$DJANGO_PROJECT_DIR/$DJANGO_PROJECT:$DJANGO_PROJECT_DIR/$VIRTUAL_ENV/lib/python2.7/site-packages
    WSGIProcessGroup $DJANGO_PROJECT
    WSGIScriptAlias / $DJANGO_PROJECT_DIR/$DJANGO_PROJECT/$WSGI_RELATIVE_PATH

    ServerAdmin atheimanksu@gmail.com

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log

    LogLevel warn

    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>
EOT

# Enable your Django virtual host
a2ensite $APACHE_VHOST
service apache2 restart

Django Apache Deploy

Simplified Django deploy using Apache HTTP Server.

Vagrantfile

# Vagrantfile API/syntax version. Don't touch unless you know what you're doing!
VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2"

Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config|
  config.vm.box = "hashicorp/precise64"

  config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 80, host: 8000

  config.vm.provision :shell, path: "bootstrap.sh"
end