Running Django with nginx (on webfaction)

Case:

You’re using **virtualenv **and have used apache with a config somewhat like this.

Problem: Apache ‘goes to sleep’

Reason:

Apache caches your wsgi application, and if it’s not used within a certain amount of time, it has to reload. And this takes like.. 10-15 seconds.

Solution:

Use nginx instead:

Set up a custom application, and install nginx + uwsgi to point to your original application like this.

Potential new problem 2: Doesn’t find python – Can happen if you’ve installed the python version manually.

build_uwsgi.sh: line 41: python3.4: command not found

Solution 2: specify path to python instead of python version in build*uwsgi.sh *(you can find it with ‘which python3.4’ if you’re unsure)_

Potential new problem 3: Doesn’t find application. Can happen if you’re using virutalenv. Website responds with:

uWSGI Error
Python application not found

Solution 3: activate virtualenv in wsgi.py like this

import sys, os
virtualenv_root = os.path.expanduser('~/webapps/your_app/env')
activate_this = "%s/bin/activate_this.py" % virtualenv_root

# Python 2
# execfile(activate_this, dict(__file__=activate_this))

# Python 3
with open(activate_this) as f:
    code = compile(f.read(), activate_this, 'exec')
    exec(code, dict(__file__=activate_this))

workspace = os.path.expanduser('~/webapps/your_app/your_app')
sys.path.insert(0,workspace)
os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'your_app.settings')

# Older django
# import django.core.handlers.wsgi
# application = django.core.handlers.wsgi.WSGIHandler()

# Django 1.7+
from django.core.wsgi import get_wsgi_application

# Python 2
# application = get_wsgi_application()

# Python 3
from dj_static import Cling
application = Cling(get_wsgi_application())

Potential disappointment 4: nginx was not really faster – if this happens, you’ve probably not enabled threading support for uwsgi.

Solution 4: add the flag --enable-threading. For more flags, e.g. --workers to set number of processes spawned, see uwsgi-docs.