How to Deploy Speed Friending and Dating Matcher on CentOS 7.6 with Apache server

install-dating-matcher-on-centos-with-apache.md

How to Deploy Speed Friending and Dating Matcher on CentOS 7.6 with Apache server

Specially for Mikula :)

In this tutorial the domain name matcher.ml used for example. This is a free domain name from freenom.com. You can use another domain name, of course.

Tested with clean installation of CentOS.

1. Check CentOS version:

   $ cat /etc/centos-release
   

   CentOS Linux release 7.6.1810 (Core)

2. Update system packages:

   # yum update -y
   

3. Install dependencies:

   # yum install nano httpd python36 git -y
   

4. Enable HTTP service:

   # systemctl enable httpd.service
   

5. Create user 'matcher':

   # adduser matcher
   

6. Switch to user 'matcher':

   # su matcher
   $ cd
   

7. Create Python 3 virtual environment for the app:

   $ python36 -mvenv venv
   

8. Activate virtual environment:

   $ source venv/bin/activate
   

9. Install app from git repo branch:

   $ pip install git+https://github.com/machinekoder/speed-friending-and-dating-matcher.git@master
   

   A reason to use git repo: speed-friending-and-dating-matcher not available from PyPi.

10. Install application server:

    $ pip install gunicorn
    

11. Create WSGI file:

    $ nano wsgi.py
    

    with content:

    from speed_friending_matcher import server
    from speed_friending_matcher.server import app as application
    
    server.configure(
      input_plugin='csv:{}',
      output_plugin='todo:{}:{}',
      matchmaker='simple'
    )
    

12. Close user session:

    $ exit
    

13. Create and open a Systemd service file for Gunicorn

    # nano /etc/systemd/system/gunicorn.service
    

    with content:

    [Unit]
    Description=gunicorn daemon
    After=network.target
    
    [Service]
    User=matcher
    Group=matcher
    WorkingDirectory=/home/matcher
    ExecStart=/home/matcher/venv/bin/gunicorn --workers 2 --bind 127.0.0.1:8000 wsgi:application
    
    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target
    

14. We can now start the Gunicorn service we created and enable it so that it starts at boot:

    # systemctl start gunicorn
    # systemctl enable gunicorn
    

15. Create config file for Apache:

    # nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/matcher.conf 
    

    with content:

    <VirtualHost *:80>
        DocumentRoot "/home/matcher"
        ServerName matcher.ml
    
        ProxyPass / http://localhost:8000/
    
        <Directory /home/matcher/>
        Require all granted
        </Directory>
    </VirtualHost>
    

16. Restart Apache:

    # systemctl restart httpd
    

17. Go to http://matcher.ml and enjoy!

Sometimes also requred (but not in the case of Contabo VPS):

1. Add HTTP service or port 80 with the following command:

   # firewall-cmd --add-service=http --permanent
   

2. Once you’re done, restart firewalld with the following command:

   # firewall-cmd --reload
   

Have a good day!