Deploying your Django app on Joyent Shared Accelerators
This guide is basically a rehash of this posting in Joyent’s support forums. I am reproducing it below to include my experiences as I found some discrepancies with the posting in the Joyent forums.
Joyent Shared Accelerators don’t allow you to deploy your Django app using mod_python, so you have to create a proxy path that diverts traffic to lighttpd and FastCGI to serve your Django app.
For this guide you will need to replace ${USER} with your username on Joyent’s server, the hostname of your server as ${HOST}, and your DNS domain as ${DOMAIN}.
Set up Apache as a proxy server for lighttpd
You no longer need to submit a support ticket to request a port number for lighttpd. You can just go to Virtualmin for your server (https://virtualmin.joyent.us/${HOST}/) > Other Tools > Check ports to view a list of available port numbers that have been reserved for you. Pick one and note it down. We will refer to this port number as ${PORT}.
Set up a directory structure for lighttpd:
mkdir -p ~/etc/init.d mkdir -p ~/etc/lighttpd/vhosts.d touch ~/logs/lighttpd.error.log ~/logs/lighttpd.access.log
Using a text editor, create ~/etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf:
#-- Lighttpd modules
server.modules = ( "mod_rewrite",
"mod_redirect",
"mod_access",
"mod_cgi",
"mod_fastcgi",
"mod_compress",
"mod_accesslog",
"mod_alias" )
#-- Fundamental process configs
server.port = ${PORT}
server.username = "${USER}"
server.groupname = server.username
var.base = "/users/home/" + server.username
server.pid-file = base + "/var/run/lighttpd.pid"
#-- Logging
server.errorlog = base + "/logs/lighttpd.error.log"
accesslog.filename = base + "/logs/lighttpd.access.log"
#-- Default
server.document-root = base + "/web/public"
server.indexfiles = ( "index.php", "index.html", "index.htm", "default.htm" )
#-- Security
url.access-deny = ( "~", ".inc", ".ht" )
#-- Mimetypes
include_shell "cat " + base + "/etc/lighttpd_mimetypes.conf"
#-- VHOSTS
Create ~/etc/lighttpd/mimetypes.conf:
mimetype.assign = ( ".pdf" => "application/pdf", ".sig" => "application/pgp-signature", ".spl" => "application/futuresplash", ".class" => "application/octet-stream", ".ps" => "application/postscript", ".torrent" => "application/x-bittorrent", ".dvi" => "application/x-dvi", ".gz" => "application/x-gzip", ".pac" => "application/x-ns-proxy-autoconfig", ".swf" => "application/x-shockwave-flash", ".tar.gz" => "application/x-tgz", ".tgz" => "application/x-tgz", ".tar" => "application/x-tar", ".zip" => "application/zip", ".mp3" => "audio/mpeg", ".m3u" => "audio/x-mpegurl", ".wma" => "audio/x-ms-wma", ".wax" => "audio/x-ms-wax", ".ogg" => "audio/x-wav", ".wav" => "audio/x-wav", ".gif" => "image/gif", ".jpg" => "image/jpeg", ".jpeg" => "image/jpeg", ".png" => "image/png", ".xbm" => "image/x-xbitmap", ".xpm" => "image/x-xpixmap", ".xwd" => "image/x-xwindowdump", ".css" => "text/css", ".html" => "text/html", ".htm" => "text/html", ".js" => "text/javascript", ".asc" => "text/plain", ".c" => "text/plain", ".conf" => "text/plain", ".text" => "text/plain", ".txt" => "text/plain", ".dtd" => "text/xml", ".xml" => "text/xml", ".mpeg" => "video/mpeg", ".mpg" => "video/mpeg", ".mov" => "video/quicktime", ".qt" => "video/quicktime", ".avi" => "video/x-msvideo", ".asf" => "video/x-ms-asf", ".asx" => "video/x-ms-asf", ".wmv" => "video/x-ms-wmv", ".bz2" => "application/x-bzip", ".tbz" => "application/x-bzip-compressed-tar", ".tar.bz2" => "application/x-bzip-compressed-tar" )
Finally, create an init script at ~/etc/init.d/lighttpd:
#!/bin/sh
HOME=/users/home/${USER}
LIGHTTPD_CONF=$HOME/etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf
PIDFILE=$HOME/var/run/lighttpd.pid
case "$1" in
start)
# Starts the lighttpd daemon
echo "Starting lighttpd"
PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin /usr/local/sbin/lighttpd -f $LIGHTTPD_CONF
;;
stop)
# stops the daemon bt cat'ing the pidfile
echo "Stopping lighttpd"
kill `/bin/cat $PIDFILE`
;;
restart)
## Stop the service regardless of whether it was
## running or not, start it again.
echo "Restarting lighttpd"
$0 stop
$0 start
;;
reload)
# reloads the config file by sending HUP
echo "Reloading config"
kill -HUP `/bin/cat $PIDFILE`
;;
*)
echo "Usage: lighttpd (start|stop|restart|reload)"
exit 1
;;
esac
Don’t forget to make the init script executable:
chmod 755 ~/etc/init.d/lighttpd
Proxy Apache to lighttpd
Open up a web browser, and log into https://virtualmin.joyent.us/${HOST}/
Select the virtual server to configure. Then go to Server Configuration > Proxy Paths > Add a new proxy path. Enter the following values and click Create.
Local URL path: /
Destination URLs: http://${DOMAIN}:${PORT}
Configure Django environment
Add the path to your Django app to the PYTHONPATH. Add the following to your .profile and .bashrc files.
export PYTHONPATH=/users/home/${USER}/src/django_projects
Deploying your Django app
Check out your django app to /users/home/${USER}/src/django_projects. I will refer to this django app as ${APPNAME}.
cd ~/src/django_projects
svn co svn+ssh://subversion_repos/site/${APPNAME}/trunk ${APPNAME}
Create a MySQL database
Normally I would use PostgreSQL cos it rocks, but unfortunately Joyent only provides database restrictions for specific users on MySQL. So we’ll create a mysql user and grant it privileges to access a mysql database.
Open up a web browser and log into https://virtualmin.joyent.us/${HOST}/
Select ${DOMAIN} from the dropdown list > click “Edit Databases” > Click “Create a new database”.
I entered “production” into the Database name field so that my database will be called ${USER}_${DOMAIN}_production. Then click “Create”.
Create a database user
In Virtualmin, Select ${DOMAIN} from the dropdown list.
Click “Edit Mail and FTP Users” > “Add a user to this server”.
Under Virtual domain user mailbox details, enter “django” into the Email address field. This will create a mysql user called django-${DOMAIN}, and the auto-generated password will also be used for the mysql password in your django settings.py.
Expand “Quota and home directory settings”. Limit the user’s home directory quota to 1MB.
Expand “Other user permissions”. Allow the user access to the “${USER}_${DOMAIN}_production” database we just created. Click create.
Configure project settings
In settings.py modify your database settings to the following:
FORCE_SCRIPT_NAME=''
import os.path
ROOT_DIR = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(file))
DATABASE_ENGINE = 'mysql'
DATABASE_NAME = '${USER}_${DOMAIN}_production'
DATABASE_USER = 'django-${DOMAIN}'
DATABASE_PASSWORD = 'password"
DATABASE_HOST = ''
DATABASE_PORT = ''
MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(ROOT_DIR, 'media')
MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
ADMIN_MEDIA_PREFIX = '/media/admin/'
TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
os.path.join(ROOT_DIR, 'templates'),
)
INSTALLED_APPS = (
'django.contrib.sites',
'django.contrib.admin',
'django.contrib.flatpages',
)
Since the settings file has our MySQL password inside, don’t let others read it:
chmod 600 ~/src/django_projects/${APPNAME}/settings.py
Then create the database tables in the usual fashion:
./manage.py syncdb
Create project init script
Create ~/src/djangoprojects/${APPNAME}/etc/init.sh:
#!/bin/sh
HOME="/users/home/${USER}" # Edit to your own username
PYTHONPATH=$HOME/src/django_projects
export PYTHONPATH
PROJECT_NAME="${APPNAME}"
PROJECT_DIR="$HOME/src/django_projects/$PROJECT_NAME"
PID_FILE="$HOME/var/run/$PROJECT_NAME.pid"
SOCKET_FILE="$HOME/tmp/$PROJECT_NAME.socket"
MANAGE_FILE="$PROJECT_DIR/manage.py"
METHOD="prefork"
case "$1" in
start)
# Starts the Django process
echo "Starting Django project $PROJECT_NAME"
python $MANAGE_FILE runfcgi maxchildren=2 maxspare=2 minspare=1 method=$METHOD socket=$SOCKET_FILE pidfile=$PID_FILE
;;
stop)
# stops the daemon by cat'ing the pidfile
echo "Stopping Django project $PROJECT_NAME"
kill `/bin/cat $PID_FILE`
;;
restart)
## Stop the service regardless of whether it was
## running or not, start it again.
echo "Restarting Django project $PROJECT_NAME"
$0 stop
$0 start
;;
*)
echo "Usage: init.sh (start|stop|restart)"
exit 1
;;
esac
Make the init script executable:
chmod 755 ~/src/djangoprojects/${APPNAME}/etc/init.sh
Offload static media to lighttpd
We don’t want Django to be serving static content, so any path that refers to static content will be served by the web server directly from ~/web/public.
Create a softlink from django’s admin media to ~/web/public/media/admin.
mkdir ~/web/public/media ln -s /usr/local/lib/python2.5/site-packages/django/contrib/admin/media/ ~/web/public/media/admin
Create a softlink from your project’s media directory to ~/web/public/media/public.
mkdir -p ~/src/django_projects/project/media/public
ln -s /users/home/${USER}/src/django_projects/${APPNAME}/media/public ~/web/public/media/public
Configure lighttpd
Edit ~/etc/lighttpd/vhosts.d/${APPNAME}.conf.
$HTTP["host"] =~ "(www.)?${DOMAIN}" {
server.document-root = base + "/web/public"
fastcgi.server = (
"/${APPNAME}.fcgi" => (
"main" => (
"socket" => base + "/tmp/${APPNAME}.socket",
"bin-environment" =>
( "TZ" => "America/Chicago" ),
"check-local" => "disable",
)
),
)
url.rewrite-once = (
"^(/media/admin.*)$" => "$1",
"^(/media/public.*)$" => "$1",
"^/favicon.ico$" => "/media/public/img/favicon.ico",
"^(/.*)$" => "/${APPNAME}.fcgi$1",
)
}
Then include vhosts.d/${APPNAME}.conf in your lighttpd.conf:
echo 'include "vhosts.d/${APPNAME}.conf"' >> ~/etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf
Schedule service start
Create a Joyent bootup action in Virtualmin. In Virtualmin, Select ${DOMAIN} from the dropdown list > go to Services > Booup Actions > Add a new bootup action. Enter the following values in the input fields and click “Create”.
Action name: init-${APPNAME}-django-site
Description: Init ${APPNAME} Django Site
Commands to run at startup: /users/home/${USER}/src/django_projects/${APPDNAME}/etc/init.sh start
Go back to the Bootup Actions, click “Add lighttpd”. Enter the following values in the input fields and click “Create”.
Action name: lighttpd-${APPNAME}-django-site
Description: Lighttpd ${APPNAME} Django Site
Commands to run at startup: /usr/local/sbin/lighttpd -f /users/home/${USER}/etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf
Open up your browser and go to your newly deployed Django app!
If you don’t see your site then you will have to do some debugging. I didn’t get it first time as you’ll note that my instructions above are slightly different from the original post here.
