Table of Contents
Introduction
Cloud computing is shaping the entire *information technology* (IT) industry and Ubuntu is right on it — *literally!* With provided support for a very large array of various tools, libraries, and applications, coupled with ease of use and the way it makes hard tasks become simple, this trusted Linux distribution has become the go-to choice for many on its way of taking over the public cloud space.
In this the cloud provider article, we are going to learn how to prepare an Ubuntu cloud server from scratch to host Python web-applications. By following this tutorial, you will have a solid Ubuntu installation, equipped with almost all necessary tools to deploy your Python project.
Ubuntu 13.10 (Release date: October 2013)
We will begin with updating the system, downloading and installing necessary tools and libraries we are going to need [for Python], then creating the perfect deployment environment for your web-application.
Updating The System
The first thing to do is to put everything that is already shipped with Ubuntu up to date.
Let's update the software sources list and then upgrade the outdated applications:
aptitude update
aptitude -y upgrade
Getting The Necessary System Tools And Libraries
Next, let's download and install necessary tools and libraries which will be either used directly or come handy in the future.
Run the following command to install build-essential package required for compiling applications' source code:
aptitude install -y build-essential
Next, whichever version control tool you need for development:
aptitude install -y cvs subversion git-core mercurial
In order to get some Python applications work, we need certain Python packages as well:
aptitude install python-setuptools python-dev \
python2.7-dev python-software-properties \
libpq-dev
And finally, some third-party libraries required for various other things, such as image processing:
aptitude install libtiff4-dev libjpeg8-dev \
zlib1g-dev libfreetype6-dev liblcms2-dev \
libwebp-dev tcl8.5-dev tk8.5-dev
Getting The Common Python Tools
—
On Ubuntu and Debian, a recent version of Python interpreter – which you can use – comes by default. It leaves us with only a limited number of additional packages to install:
- pip (to manage packages);
- virtualenv (to create isolated, virtual environments).
Run the following commands to install *pip*:
curl https://bitbucket.org/pypa/setuptools/raw/bootstrap/ez_setup.py | python –
curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py | python –
export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
It is best to contain a Python application within its own *environment* together with all of its dependencies. An environment can be best described (in simple terms) as an isolated location (a directory) where everything resides. For this purpose, a tool called _virtualenv_ is used.
Run the following to install *virtualenv* using pip:
pip install virtualenv
Creating An Environment For Your Python Web-Application
—
Note: Instructions given here are kept brief. To learn more, check out our how-to article on *pip* and *virtualenv*: Common Python Tools: Using virtualenv, Installing with Pip, and Managing Packages.
Run the following commands to create a virtual environment for your python web-application:
virtualenv django_app
cd django_app
Afterwards, in order to work with the isolated Python interpreter and *pip* the package manager, either activate the environment, e.g.:
source bin/activate
Or call the Python interpreter directly whenever you need to work with the application located inside this environment, e.g.:
bin/python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000
Installing Your Application
—
Once everything is ready, you can now start working with Python and build your web-application.
Here are some great examples:
- Flask:
- Pyramid:
- Web2py:
- Bottle:
- Django CMS:
- Mezzanine:
Getting Ready For Production
—
The test [application] server which comes with Django is not suitable for actual production scenarios. Before putting your application online, you should download and install a suitable Python application server and configure it. However, do not be afraid as it is truly a remarkably easy process.
In order to decide which application server might suit your needs the best, check out our article: A Comparison of Web Servers for Python Based Web Applications.
Once you decide, go through any one of the following tutorials to get your Mezzanine application deployed online in a solid and reliable way:
- Gunicorn:
- uWSGI:
- CherryPy:
If you are more used to working with Apache or would like to keep it for some reason, you can opt for replacing Nginx with it. In order to see how to use your current Apache installation as a reverse-proxy to any one of the above application servers, check out our article: How To Use Apache HTTP Server As Reverse-Proxy Using mod_proxy Extension.
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