DevOps is a software development and delivery process that emphasizes communication and collaboration between product management, software development, and operations professionals. It also automates the process of software integration, testing, deployment, and infrastructure changes. It aims to establish a culture and environment where building, testing, and releasing software can happen rapidly, frequently, and more reliably.
Djangy is a term that is often used in the DevOps world. It is a combination of the words Django and Gunicorn. Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design, while Gunicorn 'Green Unicorn' is a Python Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI) HTTP server. In the context of DevOps, Djangy refers to the deployment of Django applications using Gunicorn in a DevOps environment.
Definition of Djangy
Djangy is a term used to describe the deployment of Django applications using Gunicorn. Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design. It takes care of much of the hassle of Web development, so you can focus on writing your app without needing to reinvent the wheel. It’s free and open source.
Gunicorn 'Green Unicorn' is a Python Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI) HTTP server. It is a pre-fork worker model, which means that it forks the master process for each worker before the application is loaded. This allows for reduced memory footprint when running multiple workers. Gunicorn is designed to serve fast clients or be placed behind a reverse proxy server, such as Nginx.
Understanding Django
Django was designed to help developers take applications from concept to completion as quickly as possible. It provides high-level abstractions of common Web development patterns, shortcuts for frequent programming tasks, and clear conventions for how to solve problems. As a result, it allows developers to focus on the unique parts of their applications instead of writing the same code over and over again.
Furthermore, Django is robust enough to power the world’s largest sites and flexible enough to handle challenges of any size. With Django, you can take Web applications from concept to launch in a matter of hours. Django takes security seriously and helps developers avoid many common security mistakes, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, cross-site request forgery and clickjacking.
Understanding Gunicorn
Gunicorn 'Green Unicorn' is a Python WSGI HTTP Server for UNIX. It's a pre-fork worker model ported from Ruby's Unicorn server. The Gunicorn server is broadly compatible with various web frameworks, simply implemented, light on server resources, and fairly speedy.
It is particularly good for handling multiple simultaneous connections, as it creates a separate child process for handling each connection. This means that if one connection encounters an error and crashes, it won’t affect the other connections. It also means that Gunicorn can make use of multiple processor cores, as each child process can run on a different core.
History of Djangy
The term Djangy is a relatively new one in the world of DevOps, and it has its roots in the increasing popularity of both Django and Gunicorn. Django was first released in 2005, and it quickly gained popularity due to its "batteries-included" philosophy. This means that Django includes many features that are common to web applications, such as authentication, URL routing, a template engine, an object-relational mapper (ORM), and database schema migrations.
Gunicorn, on the other hand, was first released in 2009. It was designed to be a simple, lightweight, and highly concurrent server for Python web applications. The combination of Django's high-level features and Gunicorn's performance and concurrency features makes them a popular choice for deploying Python web applications, hence the term Djangy.
Evolution of Django
Django was created in the fall of 2003, when the web programmers at the Lawrence Journal-World newspaper, Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison, began using Python to build applications. It was released publicly under a BSD license in July 2005. The framework was named after guitarist Django Reinhardt.
Since then, Django has evolved into a robust web development framework with a vibrant and active community. It has been used to build some of the most highly trafficked sites on the web like Instagram, Pinterest, and The Washington Times. The Django Software Foundation, a non-profit organization, maintains Django with the goal of nurturing its open-source community and fostering the continued development and adoption of Django.
Evolution of Gunicorn
Gunicorn was first released in 2009 by Benoit Chesneau, a web developer with a strong interest in Python and open source software. The name 'Gunicorn' stands for 'Green Unicorn', which is a reference to the Ruby server 'Unicorn', which inspired Gunicorn's design. The 'Green' in the name is a nod to the Greenlet library, which Gunicorn uses for lightweight concurrency.
Since its initial release, Gunicorn has become a popular choice for deploying Python web applications, particularly those built with Django. It is praised for its simplicity, reliability, and performance. It is also known for its excellent documentation and active community, which provide valuable resources for developers who are new to Gunicorn or who need to solve specific problems.
Use Cases of Djangy
The use of Djangy is widespread among web developers and DevOps professionals. It is particularly popular in environments where Python is the language of choice. The combination of Django's high-level features and Gunicorn's performance and concurrency features makes Djangy a powerful tool for deploying web applications.
Some common use cases for Djangy include social media platforms, content management systems, scientific computing platforms, and data analysis tools. Companies like Instagram, Pinterest, and The Washington Times use Django to build their web applications. On the other hand, Gunicorn is used by companies like Heroku, Docker, and Prezi to serve their Python web applications.
Case Study: Instagram
Instagram, the popular photo-sharing social network, is one of the most notable users of Django. The Instagram engineering team chose Django because of its maturity, community, and the quality of its code. They also appreciated Django's "batteries-included" philosophy, which allowed them to focus on building Instagram's unique features instead of reinventing the wheel.
Instagram uses Gunicorn as its WSGI server. The Instagram engineering team chose Gunicorn because of its simplicity, performance, and compatibility with Django. They also appreciated Gunicorn's pre-fork worker model, which allows them to efficiently serve thousands of simultaneous connections.
Case Study: Pinterest
Pinterest, the popular image-sharing social network, also uses Django for its backend. The Pinterest engineering team chose Django because of its high-level features, such as its ORM, authentication system, and template engine. They also appreciated Django's clear and pragmatic design, which makes it easy to build complex web applications.
Pinterest uses Gunicorn as its WSGI server. The Pinterest engineering team chose Gunicorn because of its performance, reliability, and simplicity. They also appreciated Gunicorn's excellent documentation and active community, which provide valuable resources for solving specific problems.
Examples of Djangy
There are many examples of Djangy in action. Here are a few specific examples that illustrate how Djangy can be used to deploy Django applications using Gunicorn.
One example is the deployment of a Django application on Heroku, a popular platform-as-a-service (PaaS) provider. Heroku supports several programming languages, including Python, and it has built-in support for Gunicorn. To deploy a Django application on Heroku, you would need to include a Procfile in your application's root directory that tells Heroku how to run your application with Gunicorn.
Deploying Django on Heroku with Gunicorn
Here is an example of a Procfile for a Django application on Heroku:
web: gunicorn myproject.wsgi
In this example, 'myproject' is the name of the Django project, and 'wsgi' is the name of the WSGI application object. When Heroku starts your application, it will run the command specified in the Procfile, which in this case is 'gunicorn myproject.wsgi'. This will start a Gunicorn server that serves your Django application.
Another example is the deployment of a Django application on a virtual private server (VPS) using Gunicorn and Nginx, a popular reverse proxy server. In this setup, Gunicorn serves the Django application, and Nginx handles static files and forwards HTTP requests to Gunicorn.
Deploying Django on a VPS with Gunicorn and Nginx
Here is an example of a Nginx configuration file for a Django application:
server {
listen 80;
server_name mydomain.com;
location /static/ {
alias /home/myuser/myproject/static/;
}
location / {
proxy_pass http://localhost:8000;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
}
}
In this example, 'mydomain.com' is the domain name of your website, '/home/myuser/myproject/static/' is the path to your Django application's static files, and 'localhost:8000' is the address and port where Gunicorn is serving your Django application. When a user visits your website, Nginx will serve static files directly and forward other HTTP requests to Gunicorn.
These are just a few examples of how Djangy can be used to deploy Django applications using Gunicorn. There are many other ways to use Djangy, depending on your specific needs and the specifics of your deployment environment.