Sample IaC Django application

Sample Django application demonstrating the following:

• IaC (Infrastructure as Code): uses AWS Cloudformation to setup and configure the server.

• Uses Geolocation API to capture and save the location to a MySQL database.

• Uses Google Maps API to fetch the location address based on latitude and longitude, and saves it to the database.

• IaC sets up a self-signed SSL certificate since Geolocation API requires SSL. Cannot use LetsEncrypt here since they do not provide SSL certificate for an IP address.

• Provides an admin page for an administrator to view and approve collected locations.

• Uses an NGINX server with a python/django backend.

Get Started

Here is the full procedure to get the application running on AWS.

• Download and save the AWS Cloudformation JSON file ubuntu-django-mysql.json.

• Navigate to the AWS Clouformation console

• Click on "Create Stack" at the top right on the console.

• Make selections as shown and upload the Clouformation JSON file and click "Next" to continue.

• Specify the parameters to the Clouformation stack:

  • Enter a name such as django-sample for the stack name.

  • Enter values for following parameters:

    • DBName is the name of the MySQL database to create.

    • DBUsername is the MySQL database username.

    • DBPassword is the password for the MySQL database user specified above.

    • SiteAdminUsername is the name for the site admin user (also the django superuser).

    • SiteAdminPassword is the password for the site admin.

    • SiteAdminEmail is required to create the site admin user.

    • GoogleMapsAPIKey is required to retrieve the location address from the latitude and longitude. Create one if you don't already have it.

    • InstanceType: pick the AWS EC2 instance type you need. A t1.micro will suffice.

    • KeyName: pick a suitable AWS SSH key-pair from your account. Create one if you don't have it.

    • SSHLocation is used to retrict SSL access to the instance.

  • Once these are entered, click "Next".

  • Configure stack options: you can just leave it at the defaults. Click Next now.

  • And that's it. Click "Create stack" to complete the creation. Once it is finished you will have an EC2 instance with NGINX, a MySQL database and the Django application running on it.

  • As a part of creating the stack, the code will be fetched from github and installed as a Django application.

• Navigate to your instance hostname (or IP) using your browser. You will get an SSL warning that the certificate is not valid since it is a self-signed certificate. Ignore the error and continue to the website.

• The website looks like the following image. The text is generic text and intended for demonstration.

• An alert should pop up asking for your permission to allow the website to fetch your location. Once it is allowed, the location will be saved to the database.

• To view the admin page where you can approve/disapprove users, click the "Login" button. Login with the credentials you specified earlier when you created the AWS stack. You will be taken to the Admin site.