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

We'll need a simple Django app to demonstrate the Zappa functionality.

Establish a virtual environment and install packages

We will run most of the commands in our Docker instance so that all packages installed will be appropriate for the AWS Lambda environment. If you run these commands on your local system, you may install versions of the package that will fail when executed in the cloud. Start your Docker instance by running on Mac or Linux:

Now create a virtual environment, activate it, and install Django & Zappa. Note we are calling the virtual environment 

. Note the command prompt will change to indicate that the virtual environment is active.

zappashell> virtualenv ve
zappashell> source ve/bin/active
(ve) zappashell> pip install django zappa

One of the nice things about running in Docker is that any Python build / compiling is done using a near-Lambda environment. This allows us to be confident that our app will work fine when in production.

We'll call our simple project 'Frankie.' To have the Django Admin generate code for the Django project, simply run:

(ve) zappashell> django-admin startproject frankie .

And now let's run it on our local system to see if it's working. Note that we are running the Django project within the Docker instance.

(ve) zappashell>  python manage.py runserver 0:8000

 command to launch a small web server so we can debug our Django application. There's a slight difference from the typical usage you may have seen: we have added 

 to the runserver command. This is because we're running in a virtual environment and this enables the debug server to be seen by the host system. If you omit this portion of the command line, you won't be able to use the browser on your local machine to view the page.

---
title: Understanding the Basics of Django and Zappa Development
description: A simple Django project to get started
privateVideoUrl: https://fullstack.wistia.com/medias/x0cwow1dap
isPublicLesson: true
code: https://gitlab.com/fullstackio/books/newline-course-apps/edgar-roman-serverless-django-with-zappa-app/-/tree/main/code/module01/module01-all-lessons?ref_type=heads
---

We'll need a simple Django app to demonstrate the Zappa functionality.

## Establish a virtual environment and install packages

We will run most of the commands in our Docker instance so that all packages installed will be appropriate for the AWS Lambda environment. If you run these commands on your local system, you may install versions of the package that will fail when executed in the cloud. Start your Docker instance by running on Mac or Linux:

```bash
./zappashell.sh
```

Or if you're on Windows:

```bash
zappashell.bat
```

You should see the `zappashell>` prompt.

Now create a virtual environment, activate it, and install Django & Zappa. Note we are calling the virtual environment `ve`. Note the command prompt will change to indicate that the virtual environment is active.

```bash
zappashell> virtualenv ve
zappashell> source ve/bin/active
(ve) zappashell> pip install django zappa
```

One of the nice things about running in Docker is that any Python build / compiling is done using a near-Lambda environment. This allows us to be confident that our app will work fine when in production.

## Start a Django Project

We'll call our simple project 'Frankie.' To have the Django Admin generate code for the Django project, simply run:

```bash
(ve) zappashell> django-admin startproject frankie .
```

And now let's run it on our local system to see if it's working. Note that we are running the Django project within the Docker instance.

```bash
(ve) zappashell>  python manage.py runserver 0:8000
```

This is the common Django **runserver** command to launch a small web server so we can debug our Django application. There's a slight difference from the typical usage you may have seen: we have added `0:8000` to the runserver command. This is because we're running in a virtual environment and this enables the debug server to be seen by the host system. If you omit this portion of the command line, you won't be able to use the browser on your local machine to view the page.

Now, point your browser at <http://localhost:8000>. You should see the default Django page.

### SQLite Error!!

Uh-oh! Actually, we don't see the default Django page - we see a bunch of errors that should end with something like this:

```lang-none
File "/var/task/ve/lib/python3.8/site-packages/django/db/backends/sqlite3/base.py", line 67, in check_sqlite_version
    raise ImproperlyConfigured('SQLite 3.8.3 or later is required (found %s).' % Database.sqlite_version)
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: SQLite 3.8.3 or later is required (found 3.7.17).
```