Preparing a Django Project for Production

Before deploying a Django application in a production environment, it is essential to follow a series of steps to ensure its stability, performance, and security. Below are the best practices for preparing the project.

Configuration of settings.py

  • DEBUG:
    • Ensure that DEBUG is set to False. In production environments, enabling DEBUG can expose sensitive information in case of an error.
  • ALLOWED_HOSTS:
    • Specify the domains that can access your application. For example:
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['yourdomain.com', 'www.yourdomain.com']

  • Database Configuration:

    • Change the database configuration to a production option. It is recommended to use PostgreSQL or MySQL. Make sure to store database credentials in environment variables.

  • Static and Media Files:

    • Use the collectstatic command to gather all static files into one folder. Ensure that Nginx or any server you choose is configured to serve these files.

  • Email Configuration:

    • Set up the configuration for an SMTP server. This is crucial if your application needs to send emails. Example:
EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend'
EMAIL_HOST = 'smtp.gmail.com'
EMAIL_PORT = 587
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True
EMAIL_HOST_USER = 'your_email@gmail.com'
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = 'your_password'

Testing and Validation

  • Run Tests:

    • Conduct thorough testing to ensure that all functionalities of the application work as expected in a production environment. Use pytest or Django's built-in testing framework.

  • Configuration Validation:

    • Verify that production-specific configurations, such as API keys and credentials, are properly set up and not exposed in the source code.