Serverless Django with Zappa Course Overview

Video Course - Serverless Django Applications With Lambda

Let's explore what Serverless is and isn't

Why Go Serverless? Understanding Zappa's Benefits

About the Author

Class Details

Introduction

We establish the necessary AWS credentials

Creating and Configuring an AWS Account for Zappa Deployment

Let's create a reliable development environment

How to Set Up an AWS Lambda-Like Environment with Docker

Understanding the Basics of Django and Zappa Development

Activating the Environment

Getting Started

Setting Up a Zappa Development Environment

How to Deploy a Django App to the Cloud with AWS Lambda

Serverless projects sometimes need changes

What You Need to Know About AWS Lambda Deployments

Dive into Zappa

Serving static files is different in Serverless

Django Tutorial - What are Static Files?

Two Ways to Handle Django Static Files

Serve static files directly from your project

Configuring WhiteNoise with Django for Static Files

How to Set Up S3 Buckets to Serve Static Files from Django

Final thoughts on static files

Hosting static files

A Quick Overview of HTTPS and Custom Domain Names

Setting Up a Domain Through AWS Route 53 for a Django App

Some hints for those not using AWS services

Not using AWS services

Domain Handling with Zappa - WWW and Non-WWW Options

Custom Domain Names

Creating a Cloud Database and Connecting It to a Django App

A Detailed Walkthrough for Creating Your First RDS with AWS

Connecting a Django App to a PostgreSQL Database

An Introduction to Creating Django Models [with Examples]

Final thoughts on databases

Connecting a Database

A Primer on Securing Serverless Apps in AWS

Creating a Virtual Private Cloud in AWS for a Relational Database

Securing an AWS Virtual Private Cloud for Django Deployment

Get Ready for Production

Whether you are a solo developer working on your next startup idea or a team of folks working with Django, this course shows you the way to simplify your operations overhead while saving money.  The open source Zappa utility paves the way to migrate your Django application away from old-school servers and onto the AWS Lambda serverless platform.  It's almost like having your own private Infrastructure team!

No need to watch for OS security patches or tweak Apache settings -- just focus on delivering value to your users.  All this with minimal changes to your Django application.  Leverage the power of AWS to rapidly respond to spikes in user traffic, while saving money by only paying for the web requests actually needed.

For folks ready for serverless Django, this course covers:

* Which Django apps are best to migrate and how to prepare them
* Configuring a generic and portable development environment easily set up by new developers in minutes
* Deploying and updating your code to AWS Lambda
* Best practices in serving Django static files
* Leveraging AWS services to secure your site with HTTPS and your own custom domain name
* Learning how to configure a secure network environment in AWS VPC
* Connecting your Django application to a hosted RDS database

All this while leveraging the AWS Free Tier.  While there are some lessons that may have additional cost to complete (e.g. bring your own domain name), the vast majority of this course will be using the AWS Free Tier and won't cost anything.

It's taught by Edgar Román. I was introduced to Django in 2009 and I consider it my go-to web framework. With continuous support from a vibrant community in addition to an incredibly rich ecosystem, I would be hard pressed to find another framework that matches up.

I've been using Zappa to host my Django applications for several years now, and I have found no other solution that is as powerful and cost-effective as serverless Django hosting on AWS -- especially for the solo developer working to get a product to market.

I hope you enjoy this course and harness the power of serverless Django with Zappa in your projects!

Learn how to migrate your Django application to a serverless environment hosted by AWS Lambda.

Serverless Django with Zappa

How to migrate your Django project to the AWS serverless environment

Adapt your code to changes necessary for running in the cloud

How to setup a reliable and consistent local development environment for serverless projects

How to setup and connect to a hosted RDS database

Learn about setting AWS IAM permissions for serverless projects

How to map a custom domain name to your Django project

Effectively serve Django static files via S3 or AWS Lambda

How to navigate the AWS Console to host multiple domain names

Learn about setting up a secure network environment using AWS VPC

 command, short for initialization. We'll only have to do this once for any of your projects. The goal will be to have a proper settings file called 

In case you're not coming directly from the last module, make sure you 

You should see something like the following. It will prompt you with a few questions.

(ve) zappashell> zappa init

███████╗ █████╗ ██████╗ ██████╗  █████╗
╚══███╔╝██╔══██╗██╔══██╗██╔══██╗██╔══██╗
  ███╔╝ ███████║██████╔╝██████╔╝███████║
 ███╔╝  ██╔══██║██╔═══╝ ██╔═══╝ ██╔══██║
███████╗██║  ██║██║     ██║     ██║  ██║
╚══════╝╚═╝  ╚═╝╚═╝     ╚═╝     ╚═╝  ╚═╝

Welcome to Zappa!

Zappa is a system for running server-less Python web applications on AWS Lambda and AWS API Gateway.
This `init` command will help you create and configure your new Zappa deployment.
Let's get started!

Your Zappa configuration can support multiple production stages, like 'dev', 'staging', and 'production'.
What do you want to call this environment (default 'dev'):

AWS Lambda and API Gateway are only available in certain regions. Let's check to make sure you have a profile set up in one that will work.
We found the following profiles: default, and zappa. Which would you like us to use? (default 'default'): zappa

Your Zappa deployments will need to be uploaded to a private S3 bucket.
If you don't have a bucket yet, we'll create one for you too.
What do you want to call your bucket? (default 'zappa-k8cyysm1f'):

It looks like this is a Django application!
What is the module path to your projects's Django settings?
We discovered: frankie.settings
Where are your project's settings? (default 'frankie.settings'):

You can optionally deploy to all available regions to provide fast global service.
If you are using Zappa for the first time, you probably don't want to do this!
Would you like to deploy this application globally? (default 'n') [y/n/(p)rimary]: n

Okay, here's your zappa_settings.json:

{
    "dev": {
        "django_settings": "frankie.settings",
        "profile_name": "zappa",
        "project_name": "task",
        "runtime": "python3.8",
        "s3_bucket": "zappa-k8cyysm1f"
    }
}

Does this look okay? (default 'y') [y/n]: y

Done! Now you can deploy your Zappa application by executing:

  $ zappa deploy dev

After that, you can update your application code with:

  $ zappa update dev

To learn more, check out our project page on GitHub here: https://github.com/zappa/Zappa and stop by our Slack channel here: https://zappateam.slack.com

Enjoy!,
 ~ Team Zappa!
(ve) zappashell>

Let's go through the questions asked here.

What do you want to call this environment?

Zappa allows you to run your code in multiple environments (also called stages). Typically, Django applications are used in development, quality assurance (QA), and production environments. The developers use the development environment (or 'dev') to write their code. It's usually a chaotic environment and often breaks. The QA environment is meant to more stable, allowing a testing team to validate functionality. It's also sometimes used to demonstrate functionality to management or internal users. Finally, production (or 'prod') is an externally facing deployment for end-users to use.

Depending on your organization's deployment methods, you may not need to use all these environments. For now, we'll stick with a single development environment. So we'll keep the default setting of 'dev' here.

We found the following profiles. Which would you like us to use?

---
title: Setting Up a Zappa Development Environment
description: Now we set up our Zappa environment
privateVideoUrl: https://fullstack.wistia.com/medias/1thko07xi6
isPublicLesson: false
code: https://gitlab.com/fullstackio/books/newline-course-apps/edgar-roman-serverless-django-with-zappa-app/-/tree/main/code/module02/module02-all-lessons?ref_type=heads
---

Let's set up Zappa using the `init` command, short for initialization. We'll only have to do this once for any of your projects. The goal will be to have a proper settings file called `zappa_settings.json`

:::important

In case you're not coming directly from the last module, make sure you [activate your environment](activating-the-environment).

:::

Run the Zappa init command:

```bash
(ve) zappashell> zappa init
```

You should see something like the following. It will prompt you with a few questions.

```lang-none
(ve) zappashell> zappa init

███████╗ █████╗ ██████╗ ██████╗  █████╗
╚══███╔╝██╔══██╗██╔══██╗██╔══██╗██╔══██╗
  ███╔╝ ███████║██████╔╝██████╔╝███████║
 ███╔╝  ██╔══██║██╔═══╝ ██╔═══╝ ██╔══██║
███████╗██║  ██║██║     ██║     ██║  ██║
╚══════╝╚═╝  ╚═╝╚═╝     ╚═╝     ╚═╝  ╚═╝

Welcome to Zappa!

Zappa is a system for running server-less Python web applications on AWS Lambda and AWS API Gateway.
This `init` command will help you create and configure your new Zappa deployment.
Let's get started!

Your Zappa configuration can support multiple production stages, like 'dev', 'staging', and 'production'.
What do you want to call this environment (default 'dev'):

AWS Lambda and API Gateway are only available in certain regions. Let's check to make sure you have a profile set up in one that will work.
We found the following profiles: default, and zappa. Which would you like us to use? (default 'default'): zappa

Your Zappa deployments will need to be uploaded to a private S3 bucket.
If you don't have a bucket yet, we'll create one for you too.
What do you want to call your bucket? (default 'zappa-k8cyysm1f'):

It looks like this is a Django application!
What is the module path to your projects's Django settings?
We discovered: frankie.settings
Where are your project's settings? (default 'frankie.settings'):

You can optionally deploy to all available regions to provide fast global service.
If you are using Zappa for the first time, you probably don't want to do this!
Would you like to deploy this application globally? (default 'n') [y/n/(p)rimary]: n

Okay, here's your zappa_settings.json:

{
    "dev": {
        "django_settings": "frankie.settings",
        "profile_name": "zappa",
        "project_name": "task",
        "runtime": "python3.8",
        "s3_bucket": "zappa-k8cyysm1f"
    }
}

Does this look okay? (default 'y') [y/n]: y

Done! Now you can deploy your Zappa application by executing:

  $ zappa deploy dev

After that, you can update your application code with:

  $ zappa update dev

To learn more, check out our project page on GitHub here: https://github.com/zappa/Zappa and stop by our Slack channel here: https://zappateam.slack.com