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
  1. 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
  1. Install pip
curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py -o get-pip.py
sudo python3 get-pip.py
  1. After installing the required packages, you will need to update pip
sudo pip3 install --upgrade pip
  1. Once pip is upgraded, you will need to create a virtual environment
sudo pip3 install virtualenv
  1. 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>>
  1. 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

  1. 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:
  1. Install Django along with several other required packages
pip install django gunicorn
  1. Django and gunicorn is now installed - we will now configure the webserver to server the pages.
  2. 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’

  1. Adjust the project’s settings to allow debugging and accept ALL allowed hosts
nano ./<<django_project>>/<<django_project>>/settings.py
  1. Change the following lines to reflect the following
../_images/django-installation-001.png

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

  1. 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
  1. 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.

../_images/django-installation-002.png

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
  1. Inside the file you will need the following code
[Unit]
Description=gunicorn socket
[Socket]
ListenStream=/run/gunicorn.sock
[Install]
WantedBy=sockets.target
  1. Save and close the file when you are finished
  2. Edit a gunicorn.service file
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/gunicorn.service
  1. 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
  1. Save the file and exit
  2. Run and test the socket
sudo systemctl start gunicorn.socket
sudo systemctl enable gunicorn.socket
  1. You will need to test the status of the gunicorn socket
sudo systemctl status gunicorn.socket
  1. If gunicorn’s status is active, you will need to configure nginx to proxy pass to gunicorn
  2. 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;
  }
}
  1. Create a soft link
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/<<django_project>> /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
  1. 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
  1. Fix up the firewall
sudo ufw delete allow 8000
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
  1. 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

  1. 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/