Installing and configuring Django on unmanaged servers

This guide explains how to install and configure Django on an unmanaged server.

Installing Django

1. Create a virtual environment for Python using virtualenv and install Django.
2. Log in to your server using SSH.
3. Install Python, pip, and virtualenv (as root):

Debian / Ubuntu:

apt-get install python3
apt-get install python3-pip
pip3 install virtualenv

AlmaLinux / Fedora:

yum install python34
yum install python34-pip
pip3 install virtualenv

4. Create and activate a virtual environment as a regular user:

cd ~
mkdir django-apps
cd django-apps
virtualenv env
source env/bin/activate
pip install django

5. Check the installed Django version

django-admin --version

Configuring Django

1. Create a new Django project

cd ~/django-apps
django-admin startproject mysite

2. Edit the settings file /home/username/django-apps/mysite/mysite/settings.py:

• Ensure debug mode is enabled:

DEBUG = True

• Set allowed hosts (replace with your server’s IP address):

ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx']

3. Start the development web server (replace with your server IP):

python ~/django-apps/mysite/manage.py runserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8000

4. Visit the site in your browser: http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8000
   You should see: “The install worked successfully! Congratulations!”

Configuring the administration interface

1. Run migrations and create a superuser

cd ~
python ~/django-apps/mysite/manage.py migrate
python ~/django-apps/mysite/manage.py createsuperuser

2. Provide the admin username, e-mail, and password when prompted.

3. If the development server is not running, start it

python ~/django-apps/mysite/manage.py runserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8000

4. Access the admin interface at http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8000/admin
   Log in with the username and password you created.

More information

• Official Django documentation: http://docs.djangoproject.com
• Django extensions: https://github.com/django-extensions/django-extensions