Django Project with Docker

This project is a Django application configured with Docker for both development and production environments. It includes PostgreSQL for the database, Memcached for caching, and Nginx as a reverse proxy in production.

Project Structure

.
├── core/                   # Django project core
│   ├── settings-dev.py    # Development settings
│   ├── settings-prod.py   # Production settings
│   └── urls.py            # URL configurations
├── nginx/                 # Nginx configuration
│   ├── Dockerfile        # Nginx Dockerfile
│   └── nginx.conf        # Nginx server configuration
├── templates/            # HTML templates
│   └── home.html        # Homepage template
├── user/                 # Django app
├── docker-compose.dev.yml   # Docker Compose for development
├── docker-compose.prod.yml  # Docker Compose for production
├── Dockerfile.dev          # Development Dockerfile
├── Dockerfile.prod         # Production Dockerfile
├── manage.py              # Django management script
└── requirements.txt       # Python dependencies

Development Environment

Prerequisites

• Docker
• Docker Compose

Setup and Running

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd <project-directory>

2. Start the development environment:

   docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up --build

3. Access the development server:

   • Application: http://localhost:8000
   • Admin interface: http://localhost:8000/admin

Development Features

• Hot-reload enabled (code changes reflect immediately)
• Debug mode enabled
• PostgreSQL database (not exposed to host)
• Memcached for caching
• All logs visible in console

Development Ports

• Django: 8000 (exposed)
• PostgreSQL: 5432 (internal only)
• Memcached: 11211 (internal only)

Production Environment

Prerequisites

• Docker
• Docker Compose
• Ubuntu Server

Setup and Running

1. Clone the repository on your production server:

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd <project-directory>

2. Configure environment variables: Create a .env file in the project root with the following variables:

   DJANGO_SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key-here
   POSTGRES_DB=django_db_prod
   POSTGRES_USER=django_user_prod
   POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your-secure-password
   EMAIL_HOST_USER=[email protected]
   EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD=your-email-password

3. Start the production environment:

   docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up --build -d

4. Access the production server:

   • Application: http://localhost
   • Admin interface: http://localhost/admin

Production Features

• Nginx as reverse proxy
• Gunicorn as WSGI server
• PostgreSQL database (not exposed)
• Memcached for caching
• Static/Media files served through Nginx
• SMTP email configuration
• Debug mode disabled
• Optimized for performance

Production Ports

• Nginx: 80 (exposed)
• Gunicorn: 8000 (internal only)
• PostgreSQL: 5432 (internal only)
• Memcached: 11211 (internal only)

Database Management

Creating Migrations

# Development
docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml exec web python manage.py makemigrations

# Production
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec web python manage.py makemigrations

Applying Migrations

# Development
docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml exec web python manage.py migrate

# Production
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec web python manage.py migrate

Creating Superuser

# Development
docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml exec web python manage.py createsuperuser

# Production
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec web python manage.py createsuperuser

Static and Media Files

Development

• Static files are automatically served by Django's development server
• Media files are stored in the media directory

Production

• Static files are collected to the static directory and served by Nginx
• Media files are stored in the media directory and served by Nginx
• Run collectstatic manually if needed:

  docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec web python manage.py collectstatic --noinput

Maintenance

Viewing Logs

# All services
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml logs

# Specific service (e.g., web, nginx, db)
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml logs web

Backup Database

docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec db pg_dump -U django_user_prod django_db_prod > backup.sql

Restore Database

cat backup.sql | docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec -T db psql -U django_user_prod -d django_db_prod

Security Notes

1. In production:

   • Database port is not exposed outside Docker network
   • All services communicate through Docker's internal network
   • Debug mode is disabled
   • Secure passwords are used for database and email

2. Environment Variables:

   • Never commit .env files
   • Use strong, unique passwords
   • Regularly rotate secrets

Troubleshooting

1. If static files are not serving:

   docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml exec web python manage.py collectstatic --noinput

2. If database connections fail:

   • Check if PostgreSQL container is running
   • Verify database credentials in settings
   • Ensure migrations are applied

3. If Nginx returns 502 Bad Gateway:

   • Check if Gunicorn is running
   • Verify Nginx configuration
   • Check logs for both services

Contributing

1. Create a new branch for your feature
2. Make your changes
3. Test in development environment
4. Submit a pull request

License

[Your License Here]