How To Deploy Django With Apache web-server on VPS-Ubuntu

Django is a python framework used to build web applications. In this guide, we will learn how to deploy Django application on a VPS running on apache web-server on ubuntu-18.04.

Install required Libraries 

Access your VPS on ssh

ssh root@yourip #then key in your password on prompt

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install python3-pip apache2 libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3

#this will update the ubuntu os on the vps and install apache2 webserver , pip3- which is the python package manager, and mod_wsgi a module for integrating Django and the apache webserver.

Set Up the Django virtual environment

sudo pip3 install virtualenv

Navigate to the location where you want to set up your project. In our guide, we will set up the project on the home directory

cd /home #navigate to the home directory

mkdir test_django #create a folder for your app

cd test_django #navigate to the root folder of your application

create and activate the virtual environment

virtualenv env #create a virtual environment with the name env

source env/bin/activate #activate your virtual environment. This helps in ensuring that only dependencies downloaded for this application will only be applicable to this application. In case you have multiple Django applications, you can run them with different versions of dependencies.

On activating the env, your command line should change

(env) root@username:/home/test_django#

pip3 install django    #install django
django-admin startproject django_project . #start a Django aplication on the current folder
To edit the files, we will use nano as our text editor.
nano django_project/settings.py   #launch the settings.py to make some edits. add the following code, save and close.
STATICFILES_DIRS=[
    (BASE_DIR/ 'static')
]
#defining the root folder for static files
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['yourdomain','serverIP','www.yourdomain','127.0.0.1']   #adjust the allowed host accordingly. 
Setting up the virtual Host
Navigate to the recommended folder for creating virtual host and create one for your project
nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/djangoproject.conf #this will create and launch the file djangoproject.conf. Paste the code below.

<VirtualHost *:80>
	ServerAdmin admin@yourdomain
	ServerName yourdomain
	ServerAlias www.yourdomain
	DocumentRoot /home/test_django
	ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
	CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

	Alias /static /home/test_django/static
	<Directory /home/test_django/static>
		Require all granted
	</Directory>

	Alias /static /home/test_django/media
	<Directory /home/test_django/media>
		Require all granted
	</Directory>

	<Directory /home/test_django/django_project>
		<Files wsgi.py>
			Require all granted
		</Files>
	</Directory>

	WSGIDaemonProcess django_project python-path=/home/test_django python-home=/home/test_django/env
	WSGIProcessGroup test_django
	WSGIScriptAlias / /home/test_django/django_project/wsgi.py
</VirtualHost>

Enable the virtual Host file
Navigate to the file location and and activate it and reload apache webserver
cd /etc/apache2/sites-available
sudo a2ensite djangoproject.conf
service apache2 reload
Set up Local file so that your website loads from your domain name
nano /etc/hosts #lauch the hosts file and add the following code
127.0.0.1 yourdomain   #save and exit

Resolving Permissions Issues
Update some file permissions to avoid file permission related errors. Run the following commands. Sqlite3 related commands only applies if sqlite3 is the default database. Skip the first 2 lines in case you will use any other database. See mysql database confirguration below.

sudo chmod 664 /home/test_django/db.sqlite3
sudo chown :www-data /home/test_django/db.sqlite3

sudo chown :www-data /home/test_django

Do a test to ensure all the configurations are Ok. Should there be an error, check and adjust according. Most common errors are path related. 
sudo apache2ctl configtest  #If the response is OK: everything is working as expected. 

MYsql Database configuration