Django config & launch

Django init

django-admin startproject lycaste
cd lycaste

Now that it has been initialized, let's launch it

Database creation:

python manage.py migrate

This initializes the db.

Let's create an application. A web project can be made of several applications.

python manage.py startapp main

The app should be added into lycaste/lycaste/settings.py

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',

    'main', # <- here
]

MVT: Models, Views, Templates

Views are website pages. They are added in the appli /views.py & in the project urls.py.

Models are both SQL entries and Python classes. In other terms, they allow for permanent objects.

Templates are html pre-formatted pages.

Migrations

We have created a new model, therefore the database needs a new table.

Still from lycaste:

python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

Django CLI or shell

This is actually a python CLI.

python manage.py shell

Launch server

python manage.py runserver

Admin

Create a superuser:

python manage.py createsuperuser

Admin board is now available at lycaste.eu/admin

Dockerization

The project is dockerized using docker-compose.

• The PostgreSQL data base runs as a service.
• The Django app runs as a service.

2 important folders are not gitted:

• .env contains all secrets (db & django app credentials). It looks like:

POSTGRES_DB=db_prod
POSTGRES_USER=admin
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=qwerty
DJANGO_SECRET_KEY=12345

• data contains 2 subfolders:
  • db, which is the database volume ;
  • img, with all graphical resources needed for the website.

These files need to be manually added & updated to the VPS environment.

The app is built & launched using:

docker-compose build
docker-compose up

To manage the django app, it is required to enter within the webapp container. First identify the webapp container id:

docker ps

Say "id123", then:

docker exec -it id123 bash

to enter the container from which python manage.py commands may be launched.

create email user

from within the smtp container:

docker-compose exec mailserver setup email add user@lycaste.eu
docker-compose exec mailserver setup email list

It is important to well parameterize the SPF so that the mails are not red-flagged (see OVH documentation) ; and to make sure the domain links to the IP with no competition with for instance OVH mail hosting services.

create ssl keys

sudo apt install snapd
sudo snap install --classic certbot
sudo ln -s /snap/bin/certbot /usr/bin/certbot
sudo certbot certonly --nginx -d lycaste.eu -d www.lycaste.eu -d mail.lycaste.eu

These keys are then placed into /etc/letsencrypt. They are used by nginx and the mailserver.

email access

New mailbox on thunderbird :

Database access

The database may be accessed from lycaste.eu/admin, using the right credentials ; or from DBeaver from one of the few IPs that are allowed to access port 5432 in the UFW configuration.

License

This project and embedded resources are copyrighted and the property of their author.