Deploying Django on Apache server with mod_wsgi

django_apache_mod_wsgi_deployment

Deploying Django on Apache server with mod_wsgi

Per https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.1/howto/deployment/wsgi/modwsgi/
https://modwsgi.readthedocs.io/en/develop/installation.html

Some things are not immediately obvious, so I'm writing down the detailed list of steps that worked for me.

I started with bare VPS, using Ubuntu 18.04.4. Python 3 (3.6.9) was available out of the box, but not Python 2.
Used the latest mod_wsgi version available (mod_wsgi-4.7.1)

Some steps might not be necessary for you (eg installing vim, creating a separate user).
I'm installing Ubuntu packages as root, and trying to do the rest as a separate user where possible.

--------------------

(as root)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

adduser user
usermod -aG sudo user

sudo apt-get install vim

sudo apt install apache2

# test Apache status
sudo systemctl status apache2

# test if Apache has installed correctly by accessing your server's IP in browser - default Apache page should be shown

# from installation guide: "On Linux systems, if Apache has been installed from a package repository, 
# you must have installed the corresponding Apache “dev” package as well."

sudo apt-get install apache2-dev

sudo apt install curl
sudo apt-get install python3-distutils
sudo apt-get install python3-dev

mkdir install
cd install/

# download, unpack mod-wsgi - NB you might need to change version number
# from https://github.com/GrahamDumpleton/mod_wsgi/releases
curl https://codeload.github.com/GrahamDumpleton/mod_wsgi/tar.gz/4.7.1 -o mod_wsgi-4.7.1.tar.gz
tar xvfz mod_wsgi-4.7.1.tar.gz
cd mod_wsgi-4.7.1/

# configure, build mod-wsgi

# had to point to python3 explicitly since 'python' was not available
./configure --with-python=/usr/bin/python3
make
make install

# from the guide: "Loading Module Into Apache ... In the simplest case, all that is required is to 
# add a line of the form:
# LoadModule wsgi_module modules/mod_wsgi.so
# into the main Apache “httpd.conf” configuration file at the same point that other Apache modules 
# are being loaded. The last option to the directive should either be an absolute path to where 
# the mod_wsgi module file is located, or a path expressed relative to the root of your Apache 
# installation. If you used “make” to install the package, see where it copied the file to work out
# what to set this value to."

# In my case, the output of make contained the following path: /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_wsgi.so, 
# so I edited Apache config (at /etc/apache2/apache2.conf in my case) by adding 

LoadModule wsgi_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_wsgi.so

# after the following lines:
# IncludeOptional mods-enabled/*.load
# IncludeOptional mods-enabled/*.conf
# Creating a *.load file in mods-enabled/ directory might be the more correct option though.

# reload and see if Apache works:

sudo systemctl reload apache2
sudo systemctl status apache2

make clean

# install pip, venv for Python3 (was not installed out of the box for me)
# in ~/install:

curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
python3 get-pip.py
apt-get install python3-venv



### the following steps are done as the user, not as root


# note that I'm using user's home directory here, and this is against the best practices:
# https://modwsgi.readthedocs.io/en/develop/user-guides/quick-configuration-guide.html#mounting-the-wsgi-application
mkdir projects
cd projects/
# created virtual environment myenv
python3 -m venv myenv

source myenv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install django

# here I created a barebones Django project called dj_base just for test purposes


# the following steps are from Django deployment tutorial:
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.1/howto/deployment/wsgi/modwsgi/

# editing Apache config (at /etc/apache2/apache2.conf for me)
# added the following to the end of the file (not including the dashes):

--------------------
WSGIScriptAlias / /home/user/projects/dj_base/dj_base/wsgi.py
WSGIPythonHome /home/user/projects/myenv
WSGIPythonPath /home/user/projects/dj_base

<Directory /home/user/projects/dj_base/dj_base>
<Files wsgi.py>
Require all granted
</Files>
</Directory>
--------------------

# reload Apache, make sure it works:

sudo systemctl reload apache2
sudo systemctl status apache2

# added server IP to ALLOWED_HOSTS in project settings

# That's it!



# misc NBs:

# layout of Apache for Ubuntu (and other distros):
https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/httpd/DistrosDefaultLayout#DistrosDefaultLayout-Debian,Ubuntu(Apachehttpd2.x):

# Apache logs at:
/var/log/apache2/error.log
/var/log/apache2/access.log