I am serving a Django App on Linux - what now?

Heya,

etting up Nginx as a reverse proxy for a Django application and configuring PostgreSQL as the database backend involves several steps. This tutorial will walk you through installing and configuring these components on a Linux server (Ubuntu as an example).

Prerequisites

• A Linux server (e.g., Ubuntu 20.04)
• Root or sudo privileges on the server

Step 1: Install Required Packages

First, update your package list and install Python, pip, virtualenv, PostgreSQL, and Nginx.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3-pip python3-dev libpq-dev postgresql postgresql-contrib nginx curl

Step 2: Set Up PostgreSQL

Create a PostgreSQL database and user for your Django application.

1. Log into the PostgreSQL shell:

sudo -u postgres psql

2. Create a database:

CREATE DATABASE myproject;

3. Create a user with a password:

CREATE USER myprojectuser WITH PASSWORD 'password';

4. Set default encoding, transaction isolation scheme (recommended settings):

ALTER ROLE myprojectuser SET client_encoding TO 'utf8';
ALTER ROLE myprojectuser SET default_transaction_isolation TO 'read committed';
ALTER ROLE myprojectuser SET timezone TO 'UTC';

5. Grant all privileges on the database:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE myproject TO myprojectuser;

6. Exit the PostgreSQL shell:

\q

Step 3: Create a Python Virtual Environment

Create a directory for your project, set up a virtual environment, and install Django.

1. Create and move into a directory:

mkdir ~/myproject
cd ~/myproject

2. Create a virtual environment:

python3 -m venv myenv

3. Activate the virtual environment:

source myenv/bin/activate

4. Install Django and psycopg2:

pip install django psycopg2

Step 4: Start a Django Project

1. Create a new Django project:

django-admin startproject myproject .

2. Update the DATABASES setting in myproject/settings.py:

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2',
        'NAME': 'myproject',
        'USER': 'myprojectuser',
        'PASSWORD': 'password',
        'HOST': 'localhost',
        'PORT': '',
    }
}

1. Migrate the initial database schema:

python manage.py migrate

2. Run the Django development server to test:

python manage.py runserver

Step 5: Set Up Nginx as a Reverse Proxy

1. Deactivate the virtual environment:

deactivate

2. Create an Nginx server block file:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/myproject

3. Add the following configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name server_domain_or_IP;

    location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
    location /static/ {
        root /home/username/myproject;
    }

    location / {
        include proxy_params;
        proxy_pass http://unix:/home/username/myproject/myproject.sock;
    }
}

1. Link the server block file to sites-enabled:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/myproject /etc/nginx/sites-enabled

2. Test the Nginx configuration for syntax errors:

sudo nginx -t

3. Restart Nginx:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

4. Optionally, secure Nginx with Let’s Encrypt (recommended for production).

Step 6: Collect Static Files

1. Edit myproject/settings.py to include:

STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static/')

2. Collect static files:

python manage.py collectstatic

This setup should get your Django application running with PostgreSQL as the database, served by Nginx as a reverse proxy on a Linux server. Remember to replace placeholders like username, server_domain_or_IP, and paths as necessary to match your actual setup.

Hi there,

Really happy to hear that those tutorials were helpful!

Yes, you can follow the steps here on how to deploy Django with Gunicorn and Nginx:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-django-with-postgres-nginx-and-gunicorn-on-ubuntu-18-04

That way when you close your SSH session, the service would still be up and running on the server.

Hope that this helps! Best, Bobby