Installation of Django and Gunicorn

1. First update and upgrade the system so you are working with the latest packages;

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

2. Next we will need to install all the packages we will use in NearBeach

sudo apt install python3-dev nginx curl build-essential python3-setuptools shared-mime-info libjpeg-dev zlib1g-dev

3. Install pip

curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
sudo python3 get-pip.py

4. After installing the required packages, you will need to update pip

sudo pip3 install --upgrade pip

5. Once pip is upgraded, you will need to create a virtual environment

sudo pip3 install virtualenv

6. Navigate to a directory where you would like to store your project. We would recommend /var/www/, if you require adding permission to /var/www/ please consult Ubuntu Help If you need to create your own project folder, then use the following commands

mkdir <<project_folder>>

Then navigate into it

cd <<project_folder>>

7. Create your own virtual environment for python

virtualenv <<project_environment>>

Note

Please do not use the name ‘NearBeach’ or variations of this for the Project Virtual Environment. Our recommended name would be ‘venv’

This will create a directory called “<<project_environment>>”, this will store NearBeach’s libraries for python

8. Activate the virtual environment using the following command

source ./<<project_environment>>/bin/activate

You terminal prompt will change to indicate that it is working in the virtual environment now. It should look like the following

(<<project_environment>>)user@computer:

9. Install Django along with several other required packages

pip install django gunicorn

10. Django and gunicorn is now installed - we will now configure the webserver to server the pages.

11. Create a new django project

django-admin startproject <<django_project>>

Note

Please do not create a project called ‘NearBeach’ as it will conflict with the NearBeach application. Our recommened name would be ‘oceansuite’

12. Adjust the project’s settings to allow debugging and accept ALL allowed hosts

nano ./<<django_project>>/<<django_project>>/settings.py

13. Change the following lines to reflect the following

This will allow us to test the web server. We will be modifying this file later to be more security conscience

Save the settings file and exit

14. Test the django project can interact with gunicorn

cd ./<<django_project>>
sudo ufw allow 8000
gunicorn --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 <<django_project>>.wsgi

15. Now open up a new tab in your browser and go to;

https://<<your_domain_or_IP>>:8000

You should see the following page load - note there will be no styling, that is fine as Gunicorn does not know how to find it.

If not, please check your error logs

Installation of systemd Socket and Service files

1. Gunicorn will need both socket and service files to be created to run automatically when the system starts.

2. Edit a gunicorn.socket file

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/gunicorn.socket

3. Inside the file you will need the following code

[Unit]
Description=gunicorn socket
[Socket]
ListenStream=/run/gunicorn.sock
[Install]
WantedBy=sockets.target

4. Save and close the file when you are finished

5. Edit a gunicorn.service file

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

6. Inside the file you will need the following code

[Unit]
Description=gunicorn daemon
Requires=gunicorn.socket
After=network.target

[Service]
User=www-data
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=<<django_project_location>>
ExecStart=<<virtualenv_location>>/bin/gunicorn \
  --access-logfile - \
  --workers 3 \
  --bind unix:/run/gunicorn.sock \
  <<django_project>>.wsgi:application
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

7. Save the file and exit

8. Run and test the socket

sudo systemctl start gunicorn.socket
sudo systemctl enable gunicorn.socket

9. You will need to test the status of the gunicorn socket

sudo systemctl status gunicorn.socket

10. If gunicorn’s status is active, you will need to configure nginx to proxy pass to gunicorn

11. Add your project file to sites-enabled

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/<<django_project>>

Copy in the following text

server
{
  listen 80;
  server_name <<your_domain_or_IP>>;
  location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
  location /static/ { root <<django_project_location>>; }
  location / {
    include proxy_params;
    proxy_pass http://unix:/run/gunicorn.sock;
  }
}

12. Create a soft link

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/<<django_project>> /etc/nginx/sites-enabled

13. Test nginx

sudo nginx -t

If there are errors at this point, consult the internet for a solution, or check the logs

If no errors are reported, restart nginx

sudo systemctl restart nginx

14. Fix up the firewall

sudo ufw delete allow 8000
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'

15. Edit the settings file to limit the security

nano ./<<django_project>>/settings.py

Fill out the Allowed host with an appropriate value(s), and turn off debug

16. Restart gunicorn sudo service gunicorn restart

More information on this install can be found on digital ocean’s documentation

Installation of Certbot

Certbot is recommended by NearBeach to supply free certified SSL certificates. Please follow the instructions found on the Certbot’s Site

Installation of XSendFile

Note

Nginx might require user to setup XSendFile, please see more information here - https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/topics/examples/xsendfile/