Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
112 lines (75 loc) · 3.95 KB

deployment.md

File metadata and controls

112 lines (75 loc) · 3.95 KB
Raw

Files of Otters - Deployment Guide

NOTE: This document is a work in progress.

The application uses an AWS S3 bucket to store files. Because of this, we recommend also using other AWS services to host this web app. In this guide, we will use AWS Lightsail.

If something is unclear, these tutorials might help:

  1. Create an AWS account (if you don't have one)

    You can use a free trial account, which lasts a year. You can see which services are offered for free here. From this page, you can also create a new account.

  2. Create an S3 bucket

    While most data is stored on the server itself, the file contents are stored in an S3 bucket. To create one, write "S3" in the search bar, and click on the first option that comes up.

    From here, click on "Create bucket" and choose a name. Also remember the region where it gets created, because you'll need it later. Make sure to select "Block all public acces", then click on "Create bucket".

  3. Create a Lightsail instance

    Note: Lightsail seems to be free only for 30 days. We'll still use it because it's simpler than alternatives.

    We'll need a new Lightsail instance to run the app. Type "Lightsail" in the search bar, then click on "Create instance". Select the Linux platform with the "Django" blueprint. If you're using a new account, you might need to create a new SSH key pair. Choose the free instance plan and give it a name, then click on "Create instance".

  4. Copy the S3 credentials on the Lightsail instance

    Create an IAM user with programmatic access to the S3 service. Follow this tutorial.

    From the browser, SSH into the new instance and copy your S3 credentials to the ~/.aws directory.

  5. Clone the repo on Lightsail

    Issue the following command to create a directory for projects and give the current system user write permissions to it.

    sudo mkdir /opt/bitnami/projects && sudo chown $USER /opt/bitnami/projects

    Move to the new directory and clone the repo here.

    cd /opt/bitnami/projects
git clone https://github.com/alcoholic-otters/filesofotters

  6. Set up the database (makemigrations)

    To initialize the database apply the migration files from the repo:

    python3 manage.py migrate

    You should also create a super user now (an administrator account):

    python3 manage.py createsuperuser

  7. Configure your server

    In the filesofotters/settings.py file, replace the AWS_S3_REGION_NAME field to the region where you created your S3 bucket. You can find the short name of each region here.

    For security, you should also change the SECRET_KEY field in this file.

    Replace the bucket_name field of the FileStorage class in the filesharing/file_storage.py file with the name you gave your bucket.

    Then follow step 4 from this tutorial.

  8. Start the server

    To run the server and leave it running, you can enter the following command:

    python3 manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000 &

    You should be able to access the website even after closing the SSH session.

    The URL you should access is <your-public-ip>/filesharing.

This guide uses the debug server included with Django to deploy the app, for simplicity. You should instead attempt to configure Apache, following step 5 of this tutorial.