==========================================
How to use Django with Apache and mod_wsgi
==========================================
Deploying Django with Apache_ and `mod_wsgi`_ is a tried and tested way to get
Django into production.
.. _Apache: http://httpd.apache.org/
.. _mod_wsgi: http://code.google.com/p/modwsgi/
mod_wsgi is an Apache module which can host any Python WSGI_ application,
including Django. Django will work with any version of Apache which supports
mod_wsgi.
.. _WSGI: http://www.wsgi.org
The `official mod_wsgi documentation`_ is fantastic; it's your source for all
the details about how to use mod_wsgi. You'll probably want to start with the
`installation and configuration documentation`_.
.. _official mod_wsgi documentation: http://www.modwsgi.org/
.. _installation and configuration documentation: http://www.modwsgi.org/wiki/InstallationInstructions
Basic configuration
===================
Once you've got mod_wsgi installed and activated, edit your Apache server's
``httpd.conf`` file and add::
WSGIScriptAlias / /path/to/mysite.com/mysite/wsgi.py
WSGIPythonPath /path/to/mysite.com
Order deny,allow
Allow from all
The first bit in the ``WSGIScriptAlias`` line is the base URL path you want to
serve your application at (``/`` indicates the root url), and the second is the
location of a "WSGI file" -- see below -- on your system, usually inside of
your project package (``mysite`` in this example). This tells Apache to serve
any request below the given URL using the WSGI application defined in that
file.
The ``WSGIPythonPath`` line ensures that your project package is available for
import on the Python path; in other words, that ``import mysite`` works.
The ```` piece just ensures that Apache can access your
:file:`wsgi.py` file.
Next we'll need to ensure this :file:`wsgi.py` with a WSGI application object
exists. As of Django version 1.4, :djadmin:`startproject` will have created one
for you; otherwise, you'll need to create it. See the :doc:`WSGI overview
documentation` for the default contents you
should put in this file, and what else you can add to it.
.. warning::
If multiple Django sites are run in a single mod_wsgi process, all of them
will use the settings of whichever one happens to run first. This can be
solved with a minor edit to ``wsgi.py`` (see comment in the file for
details), or by :ref:`using mod_wsgi daemon mode` and ensuring
that each site runs in its own daemon process.
Using a virtualenv
==================
If you install your project's Python dependencies inside a `virtualenv`_,
you'll need to add the path to this virtualenv's ``site-packages`` directory to
your Python path as well. To do this, you can add another line to your
Apache configuration::
WSGIPythonPath /path/to/your/venv/lib/python2.X/site-packages
Make sure you give the correct path to your virtualenv, and replace
``python2.X`` with the correct Python version (e.g. ``python2.7``).
.. _virtualenv: http://www.virtualenv.org
.. _daemon-mode:
Using mod_wsgi daemon mode
==========================
"Daemon mode" is the recommended mode for running mod_wsgi (on non-Windows
platforms). See the `official mod_wsgi documentation`_ for details on setting
up daemon mode. The only change required to the above configuration if you use
daemon mode is that you can't use ``WSGIPythonPath``; instead you should use
the ``python-path`` option to ``WSGIDaemonProcess``, for example::
WSGIDaemonProcess example.com python-path=/path/to/mysite.com:/path/to/venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages
.. _serving-files:
Serving files
=============
Django doesn't serve files itself; it leaves that job to whichever Web
server you choose.
We recommend using a separate Web server -- i.e., one that's not also running
Django -- for serving media. Here are some good choices:
* lighttpd_
* Nginx_
* TUX_
* A stripped-down version of Apache_
* Cherokee_
If, however, you have no option but to serve media files on the same Apache
``VirtualHost`` as Django, you can set up Apache to serve some URLs as
static media, and others using the mod_wsgi interface to Django.
This example sets up Django at the site root, but explicitly serves
``robots.txt``, ``favicon.ico``, any CSS file, and anything in the
``/static/`` and ``/media/`` URL space as a static file. All other URLs
will be served using mod_wsgi::
Alias /robots.txt /path/to/mysite.com/static/robots.txt
Alias /favicon.ico /path/to/mysite.com/static/favicon.ico
AliasMatch ^/([^/]*\.css) /path/to/mysite.com/static/styles/$1
Alias /media/ /path/to/mysite.com/media/
Alias /static/ /path/to/mysite.com/static/
Order deny,allow
Allow from all
Order deny,allow
Allow from all
WSGIScriptAlias / /path/to/mysite.com/mysite/wsgi.py
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
.. _lighttpd: http://www.lighttpd.net/
.. _Nginx: http://wiki.nginx.org/Main
.. _TUX: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TUX_web_server
.. _Apache: http://httpd.apache.org/
.. _Cherokee: http://www.cherokee-project.com/
.. More details on configuring a mod_wsgi site to serve static files can be found
.. in the mod_wsgi documentation on `hosting static files`_.
.. _hosting static files: http://code.google.com/p/modwsgi/wiki/ConfigurationGuidelines#Hosting_Of_Static_Files
.. _serving-the-admin-files:
Serving the admin files
=======================
Note that the Django development server automatically serves the static files
of the admin app (and any other installed apps), but this is not the case when
you use any other server arrangement. You're responsible for setting up Apache,
or whichever media server you're using, to serve the admin files.
The admin files live in (:file:`django/contrib/admin/static/admin`) of the
Django distribution.
We **strongly** recommend using :mod:`django.contrib.staticfiles` to handle the
admin files (along with a Web server as outlined in the previous section; this
means using the :djadmin:`collectstatic` management command to collect the
static files in :setting:`STATIC_ROOT`, and then configuring your Web server to
serve :setting:`STATIC_ROOT` at :setting:`STATIC_URL`), but here are three
other approaches:
1. Create a symbolic link to the admin static files from within your
document root (this may require ``+FollowSymLinks`` in your Apache
configuration).
2. Use an ``Alias`` directive, as demonstrated above, to alias the appropriate
URL (probably :setting:`STATIC_URL` + `admin/`) to the actual location of
the admin files.
3. Copy the admin static files so that they live within your Apache
document root.
Authenticating against Django's user database from Apache
=========================================================
Django provides a handler to allow Apache to authenticate users directly
against Django's authentication backends. See the :doc:`mod_wsgi authentication
documentation `.
If you get a UnicodeEncodeError
===============================
If you're taking advantage of the internationalization features of Django (see
:doc:`/topics/i18n/index`) and you intend to allow users to upload files, you must
ensure that the environment used to start Apache is configured to accept
non-ASCII file names. If your environment is not correctly configured, you
will trigger ``UnicodeEncodeError`` exceptions when calling functions like
``os.path()`` on filenames that contain non-ASCII characters.
To avoid these problems, the environment used to start Apache should contain
settings analogous to the following::
export LANG='en_US.UTF-8'
export LC_ALL='en_US.UTF-8'
Consult the documentation for your operating system for the appropriate syntax
and location to put these configuration items; ``/etc/apache2/envvars`` is a
common location on Unix platforms. Once you have added these statements
to your environment, restart Apache.