{"id":1892,"date":"2024-07-02T23:43:36","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T03:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.craigperler.com\/blog\/?p=1892"},"modified":"2024-07-03T00:01:21","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T04:01:21","slug":"deploying-a-dockerized-django-application-to-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.craigperler.com\/blog\/2024\/07\/02\/deploying-a-dockerized-django-application-to-production\/","title":{"rendered":"Deploying a Dockerized Django Application to Production"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As frustrating as it might be for a Python developer to figure out how to get Docker running locally, it’s even more so figuring out how to get it working remotely, in production, and available online. Often running in production requires an application server which is what runs the Python application and handles web requests, and a web server and reverse proxy which serves static files, handles SSL, and forwards requests from users to the application server. In this example, we’ll use Gunicorn as the app server, and nginx as the web server\/reverse proxy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to these new components that get usually get configured in code, we’ll also need to use a service that can make your code available online – something that provide resources that runs your code, and that allocates an IP address to your web server so it can be accessed online. For this example, we’re going to use DigitalOcean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DigitalOcean<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first thing we want to do is create a droplet<\/em> on Digital Ocean<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a preface, in my (distant) past<\/a>, I used to do this sort of stuff on AWS. At the time, AWS was still sorta new, and so there were limited components to play with, and thus limited-er ways to screw things up. Since then, the ecosystem has exploded, and so I found it much easier to use a more user-friendly approach, and opted with DigitalOcean<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A droplet<\/a> is a scalable virtual machine that runs on DigitalOcean\u2019s infrastructure. It provides the computational resources needed to run your application, including CPU, memory, and storage. When you create a droplet, you choose the operating system (e.g., Ubuntu), the size (amount of CPU and memory), and additional features like SSH keys for secure access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To create a droplet:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Log in to your DigitalOcean account (obviously create<\/a> one first if you need to).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Create a new project if you haven’t already.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Click on ‘Create’ and select ‘Droplets’.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Choose the latest version of Ubuntu as your operating system.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Select your desired plan, whatever is cheapest to start – a small web app doesn’t need much. And yes, this isn’t free, publishing things online will cost you money, albeit pennies for just small stuff for short period.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Add your SSH key to the droplet. You can follow the instructions here<\/a> for this step.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Click “Create Droplet” and wait for the magic to happen (should just take a few seconds for the new VPS to start up).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Connect to the Droplet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The next step is to SSH into your droplet, and start installing and deploying stuff. Connecting is a critical step, so it gets its own heading here. If you F’d up your SSH key, this won’t work. Grab the IP address from your new droplet, and let’s say for example it’s aa.bb.cc.dd<\/em>, then run the following from a terminal (or command prompt) window:<\/p>\n\n\n

    \nssh root@aa.bb.cc.dd\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
    Install Docker and Docker Compose<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    Assuming you got onto the machine, you can now start installing all the pre-reqs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    To set up Docker<\/a> on an Ubuntu system, you need to run several commands. Here\u2019s a detailed explanation of each command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Update the Package List<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    This command updates the list of available packages and their versions. It does not install or upgrade any packages but fetches the most recent information about the available packages from the repositories specified in \/etc\/apt\/sources.list<\/code>. This ensures that you can install the latest versions of the packages.<\/p>\n\n\n
    \nsudo apt-get update\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
    Install Required Packages<\/h3>\n\n\n
    \nsudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
    Create the Directory for the Docker Keyring<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    This command creates a directory (\/etc\/apt\/keyrings<\/code>) where the Docker GPG key will be stored. The install<\/code> command is used with the -m 0755<\/code> option, which sets the permissions of the directory to 0755<\/code> (read and execute permissions for everyone, and write permission for the owner). The -d<\/code> option indicates that a directory is being created.<\/p>\n\n\n
    \nsudo install -m 0755 -d \/etc\/apt\/keyrings\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
    Download and Add the Docker GPG Key<\/h3>\n\n\n
    \ncurl -fsSL https:\/\/download.docker.com\/linux\/ubuntu\/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o \/etc\/apt\/keyrings\/docker.gpg\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
    Set the Correct Permissions on the Docker GPG Key<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    This command changes the permissions of the Docker GPG key file to make it readable by all users (a+r<\/code>). This is necessary because the apt<\/code> command needs to be able to read this key to verify the authenticity of the Docker packages during installation.<\/p>\n\n\n
    \nsudo chmod a+r \/etc\/apt\/keyrings\/docker.gpg\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
    Add the Docker Repository<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    The following command adds the Docker repository to your Ubuntu system. This command combines several shell utilities to achieve this:<\/p>\n\n\n
    \necho "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=\/etc\/apt\/keyrings\/docker.gpg] https:\/\/download.docker.com\/linux\/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee \/etc\/apt\/sources.list.d\/docker.list > \/dev\/null\n<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n
    Let\u2019s break down this command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n