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Python Django App on CloudFlow

Learn how to run a Python Django app at the edge for low latency and high availability. You can use our repo as a template, or perform the steps yourself using the Kubernetes dashboard or kubectl commands.

Option 1 - Copy Our GitHub Repo​

workflow status

Make a new repo from our template: in your browser visit https://github.com/section/python-django-template and select Use this template (don't clone, don't fork, but use the template). Choose yourself as an owner, give it a name of your choice, and make it be Public (not Private).

  1. In your new GitHub repo, under Settings > Secrets > Actions, use New repository secret to add these two:
  2. Make any change to the files within ./my_django_app/ and watch your changes go live.

Option 2 - Step by Step​

Following are step-by-step instructions to deploy a Python Django application to the edge on CloudFlow. We'll Dockerize it, and deploy it on CloudFlow.

Prerequisites​

  • You need Docker installed so that you can build a docker image, Python installed so you can test it locally (which comes with pip the Python package manager since Python 3.4).

Create the Python Django App​

Create a new directory for your app.

mkdir my-django-app
cd my-django-app

Initialize the Django application with the following commands:

pip install django
django-admin startproject my_django_app

Run the Django application locally with the following commands:

python manage.py runserver 8080

Now navigate to http://localhost:8080 in your browser to see the Django app running.

note

After deploying on CloudFlow and using your own domain name(s) you will need to edit the ALLOWED_HOSTS setting in my_django_app/settings.py to include your domain name(s). For example, if your domain name is example.com, you would add the following line to my_django_app/settings.py:

ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['example.com']

Dockerize It​

Let's build the container image that we'll deploy to CloudFlow. First make a Dockerfile in your directory with the following content.

Dockerfile
FROM python:3.7-alpine
EXPOSE 8080
WORKDIR /my-django-app
RUN pip install django
COPY . /my-django-app
ENTRYPOINT ["python3"]
CMD ["manage.py", "runserver", "0.0.0.0:8080"]

Build and tag it.

docker build . -t ghcr.io/YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/my-django-app:prod

Launch it locally to test it.

docker run -p 8080:8080 ghcr.io/YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/my-django-app:prod
curl http://localhost:8080

Push It​

Push it to GitHub Packages. This makes it available to CloudFlow.

docker push ghcr.io/YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/my-django-app:prod

Be sure to make it public. To see your packages and make this change, visit https://github.com/YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME?tab=packages

Deploy It​

Next, use the Create Project command in the CloudFlow Console in order to deploy your new container. Use the image name ghcr.io/YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/my-django-app:prod with port 8080.

See the pods running on CloudFlow's network with either the Kubernetes dashboard or kubectl get pods -o wide. The -o wide switch shows where your app is running according to the default AEE location optimization strategy. Your app will be optimally deployed according to traffic. In lieu of significant traffic, your deployment will be made to default locations.

Finally, follow the instructions that configure DNS and TLS.

See What You've Built​

See the Python Django app you've built by visiting the https://YOUR.DOMAIN.COM, substituting YOUR.DOMAIN.COM according to your DNS and HTTPS configuration.