Step by step instructions for installing Django with Apache and mod_wsgi on Ubuntu 10.04.
PART 1 – Prepare the server
Update the server
> sudo apt-get update > sudo apt-get upgrade
Install Apache and mod_wsgi
> sudo apt-get install apache2 libapache2-mod-wsgi
Install setup tools and pip
> sudo apt-get install python-setuptools > sudo apt-get install python-pip
Install Django
> sudo pip install django
Create a folder for storing our sites
I’ll be placing our sites in the /srv/www directory. The /srv directory should already exist so we just need to create the /www directory
> sudo mkdir /srv/www
PART 2 – Add host entries for testing
We will set up two domains for testing the configuration
- one for testing that WSGI is working, and
- one for testing that Django is working.
My test virtual machine’s IP address is 172.16.52.130 so I’ll set up the following in my local hosts file (not on the server)
> sudo nano /etc/hosts
And add the following
172.16.52.130 djangoserver 172.16.52.130 wsgi.djangoserver 172.16.52.130 hello.djangoserver
PART 3 – Test WSGI is working
Create our wsgi test site content
> sudo mkdir /srv/www/wsgi > sudo nano /srv/www/wsgi/app.wsgi
And add the content
def application(environ, start_response): status = '200 OK' output = 'Hello World!' response_headers = [('Content-type', 'text/plain'), ('Content-Length', str(len(output)))] start_response(status, response_headers) return [output]
Create a new apache site
> sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/wsgi
And add the content
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName wsgi.djangoserver
DocumentRoot /srv/www/wsgi
<Directory /srv/www/wsgi>
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
WSGIScriptAlias / /srv/www/wsgi/app.wsgi
</VirtualHost>And activate the site
> sudo a2ensite wsgi > sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload
Then open your web browser and browse to
http://wsgi.djangoserver
You should see a ‘Hello World!’ message
PART 4 – Test Django is working
Create a new Django site
> cd /srv/www > sudo django-admin.py startproject hello
Create a wsgi file for the site
> sudo mkdir /srv/www/hello/apache > sudo nano /srv/www/hello/apache/django.wsgi
And add the content
import os import sys path = '/srv/www' if path not in sys.path: sys.path.insert(0, '/srv/www') os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'hello.settings' import django.core.handlers.wsgi application = django.core.handlers.wsgi.WSGIHandler()
Create a new apache site
> sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/hello
And add the content
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName hello.djangoserver
DocumentRoot /srv/www/hello
<Directory /srv/www/hello>
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
WSGIDaemonProcess hello.djangoserver processes=2 threads=15 display-name=%{GROUP}
WSGIProcessGroup hello.djangoserver
WSGIScriptAlias / /srv/www/hello/apache/django.wsgi
</VirtualHost>And activate the site
> sudo a2ensite hello > sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload
Then open your web browser and browse to
http://hello.djangoserver
You should see the Django default installation message.
Notes
NOTE 1 – Running in daemon mode
Our test Django site is configured to run in daemon mode – because of these two lines:
WSGIDaemonProcess hello.djangoserver processes=2 threads=15 display-name=%{GROUP}
WSGIProcessGroup hello.djangoserverSo if we modify the code then rather than restarting apache we can just touch the wsgi file and the changes will be picked up:
> sudo touch /srv/www/hello/apache/django.wsgi
NOTE 2 – Specify the application module name
It appears to be a good idea to specify the application module when specifying the DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE. So rather than writing this:
os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'settings'
We should write this:
os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'hello.settings'
Useful Commands
Error log file
If you get errors, check the apache log file
> tail /var/log/apache2/error.log
Test using development mode
If your app does not seem to be working using wsgi, then check if it is working via the development server.
> cd /srv/www/hello > python manage.py runserver 0:8080
The in your web browser go to
http://hello.djangoserver:8080
References
An improved WSGI script for use with Django.
http://blog.dscpl.com.au/2010/03/improved-wsgi-script-for-use-with.html
Modwsgi – Integration With Django
http://code.google.com/p/modwsgi/wiki/IntegrationWithDjango
How do I stop getting ImportError: Could not import settings ‘mofin.settings’ when using django with wsgi?
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1411417/how-do-i-stop-getting-importerror-could-not-import-settings-mofin-settings-whe
Configuration problems with django and mod_wsgi
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2587251/configuration-problems-with-django-and-mod-wsgi