Django hosting, done properly

Deploy

From startproject to live in five steps

The deployment you already know: a Python VM, Postgres, S3 storage and a release script.

~/acme — zsh

$ edge compute create --name django \

--size s-2vcpu-4gb --image ubuntu-24 \

--region london --script python

✓ vm-2d7b90 running · Python 3.12

$ python manage.py migrate

✓ Applying orders.0012_refunds... OK

$ python manage.py collectstatic --noinput

✓ 214 static files copied.

$ sudo systemctl restart gunicorn

✓ Live at https://app.acme.io

Static cache hit99.1%

app.acme.ioLive

WSGIgunicorn · 4 workers

Databasepostgres 16 · private

1. 01

   Create the app and database VMs

   The python script installs Python 3.12, pip, Gunicorn and Nginx. The postgresql script sets up PostgreSQL 16. Join both to a private network so the database never faces the internet.

   shellCopy

   $ edge compute create --name django --size s-2vcpu-4gb \
       --image ubuntu-24 --region london --script python
   
   $ edge compute create --name db --size s-2vcpu-4gb \
       --image ubuntu-24 --region london --script postgresql \
       --script-param db_name=acme

2. 02

   Point django-storages at Edge Storage

   Use the STORAGES setting (Django 4.2 and later). A custom domain makes static and media URLs go through the CDN.

   settings.pyCopy

   S3 = "storages.backends.s3.S3Storage"
   STORAGES = {
       "default": {"BACKEND": S3, "OPTIONS": {"location": "media"}},
       "staticfiles": {"BACKEND": S3, "OPTIONS": {"location": "static"}},
   }
   AWS_S3_ENDPOINT_URL = "https://storage.edge.network"
   AWS_S3_REGION_NAME = "us-east-1"
   AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME = "acme-static"
   AWS_S3_CUSTOM_DOMAIN = "static.acme.io"
   AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = os.environ["EDGE_ACCESS_KEY"]
   AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = os.environ["EDGE_SECRET_KEY"]

3. 03

   Run Gunicorn under systemd

   Nginx from the python script proxies to 127.0.0.1:8000. Swap in Uvicorn workers for ASGI.

   /etc/systemd/system/gunicorn.serviceCopy

   [Unit]
   Description=Gunicorn for acme
   After=network.target
   
   [Service]
   User=www-data
   WorkingDirectory=/srv/acme
   ExecStart=/srv/acme/.venv/bin/gunicorn acme.wsgi:application \
       --workers 4 --bind 127.0.0.1:8000
   Restart=always
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target

4. 04

   Ship a release

   Pull, install, migrate, collect, restart. Wrap it in a CI job once it works by hand.

   shellCopy

   $ git pull && .venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt
   $ .venv/bin/python manage.py migrate --noinput
   $ .venv/bin/python manage.py collectstatic --noinput
   $ sudo systemctl restart gunicorn

5. 05

   Front it with the CDN

   One deployment, two hostnames: the app goes to the VM, static and media come from the bucket.

   shellCopy

   $ edge cdn create --name acme
   $ edge cdn domains add cdn-61f0a8 \
       --domain app.acme.io --origin https://<vm-ip>
   $ edge cdn domains add cdn-61f0a8 --domain static.acme.io \
       --origin-type storage --storage-bucket acme-static --jit-image

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