Deployment on EC2

To deploy a Django application on an Amazon EC2 instance, you can follow these steps:

Configure an EC2 instance

Launch an EC2 instance:

• Go to the EC2 console and launch a new instance. Choose an Amazon Linux 2 or Ubuntu AMI (preferred for compatibility with Django).
• Configure the instance type (you can start with a t2.micro instance if it's for testing).
• Create and download a new key pair (or use an existing one).
• Configure security group rules to open the necessary ports:
  • Port 22 for SSH.
  • Port 80 for HTTP.
  • Port 443 for HTTPS (optional if using SSL).
• Launch the instance.

Connect to the instance: Use SSH to connect to your instance:

ssh -i /path/to/your-key.pem ec2-user@<your-ec2-public-ip>  # For Amazon Linux
ssh -i /path/to/your-key.pem ubuntu@<your-ec2-public-ip>     # For Ubuntu

Install dependencies

Update the system:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y  # For Ubuntu

Install Python, pip, and virtualenv:

sudo apt install python3-pip python3-dev libpq-dev nginx curl -y
sudo pip3 install virtualenv

Install PostgreSQL (optional, if you're using PostgreSQL):

sudo apt install postgresql postgresql-contrib -y

Configure PostgreSQL (optional):

Create a database and user for your Django application:

sudo -u postgres psql
CREATE DATABASE mydb;
CREATE USER myuser WITH PASSWORD 'mypassword';
ALTER ROLE myuser SET client_encoding TO 'utf8';
ALTER ROLE myuser SET default_transaction_isolation TO 'read committed';
ALTER ROLE myuser SET timezone TO 'UTC';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE mydb TO myuser;
\q

Configure Django

Clone your Django project or create a new one.

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd <your-project-directory>

Set up a virtual environment:

virtualenv venv
source venv/bin/activate

Install the project dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Set up environment variables:

Make sure to configure the environment variables in your settings.py file like this:

DEBUG = False
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['<your-ec2-public-ip>', 'your-domain.com']

Configure the database (if using PostgreSQL) in settings.py:

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
        'NAME': 'mydb',
        'USER': 'myuser',
        'PASSWORD': 'mypassword',
        'HOST': 'localhost',
        'PORT': '',
    }
}

Collect static files:

python manage.py collectstatic

Migrate the database:

python manage.py migrate

Configure Gunicorn ^{1 2}

Install Gunicorn:

pip install gunicorn

Test Gunicorn for your application:

gunicorn --workers 3 <your_project_name>.wsgi:application

Set up Gunicorn as a systemd service:

Create the file /etc/systemd/system/your-deployment.service:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/your-deployment.service

Add the service configuration:

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

[Service]
User=ubuntu
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/home/ubuntu/<your-project-directory>
ExecStart=/home/ubuntu/<your-project-directory>/venv/bin/gunicorn --workers 3 --bind :8080 <your_project_name>.wsgi:application
# EnvironmentFile=/home/ubuntu/<your-project-directory>/.env

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Start and enable the Gunicorn service:

sudo systemctl enable your-deployment.service
sudo systemctl start your-deployment.service

(optional) Edit your-deployment.service

After editing, reload the services:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Restart the service

sudo systemctl restart your-deployment.service

View the status

sudo systemctl status your-deployment.service

To enable the service at each reboot

sudo systemctl enable your-deployment.service

To disable the service at each reboot

sudo systemctl disable your-deployment.service

Configure Nginx

Set up Nginx to serve your application:

Create a configuration file in /etc/nginx/sites-available/:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/<your-project-name>

Add this configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name <your-ec2-public-ip> your-domain.com;

    location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
    location /static/ {
        root /home/ubuntu/<your-project-directory>;
    }

    location / {
        include proxy_params;
        proxy_pass http://unix:/home/ubuntu/<your-project-directory>/gunicorn.sock;
    }
}

Enable the configuration and restart Nginx:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/<your-project-name> /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Configure the Firewall

Set up UFW to allow SSH, HTTP, and HTTPS connections:

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
sudo ufw enable

(Optional) Set up SSL with Let's Encrypt

Install Certbot:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Generate an SSL certificate:

sudo certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com

Verify automatic renewal:

sudo certbot renew --dry-run

Conclusion

With this setup, your Django application should be available on your domain or public EC2 IP address. Be sure to monitor performance and security as your application scales.