Part 1- Install Django using Virtualenv, Apache and MySQL on Ubuntu Server 14.10

Introduction

I have been using Microsoft Excel to do my Personal Budget. Excel is extremely powerful and has fulfilled my needs. But I always wanted to build a web application which is accessible via a browser and in order to do so we need the following:

• An admin interface (website) to plug in my expenses
• A database to store all the entries
• Code to parse the database and calculate the expenses per month
• A public interface (website) to display expense charts

After browsing the web I stumbled across Django. Django (as copied from the project page) is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design. It focuses on automating as much as possible and adhering to the DRY principle.

In the first part of this tutorial we will walk through the installation of Django using Virtualenv. In the following series we will build our Personal Budget application using Django.

What is virtualenv and why use it?

Virtualenv (as copied from the project page) is a tool to create isolated Python environments. By creating an isolated environment, we can install, develop and test specific versions of software or code. It creates an environment that has its own installation directories, that doesn’t share libraries with other virtualenv environments

Objective

In this tutorial we will

• Install and configure virtualenv
• Install Django 1.7.1 on Ubuntu Server 14.10 using virtualenv
• Test our installation using the built-in Django web server

Assumptions

• Fresh Install of Ubuntu Server 14.10
• SSH enabled (sudo apt-get install ssh-server)
• User has root privileges
• Basic familiarity with using the Linux command line (terminal)

Installation

Step 1 - Get root access and update repository

sudo su
apt-get update

Step 2 - Install PIP and Virtualenv

apt-get install python-pip python-virtualenv vim -y

STEP 3: Install mysql server - Will be prompted for mysql root password

apt-get install mysql-server libmysqlclient-dev python-dev build-essential -y

STEP 4: Install apache2

apt-get install apache2 libapache2-mod-wsgi -y

STEP 5: Configure database. Will be prompted for password

mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
mysql> create database django;
mysql> GRANT ALL ON django.* TO django@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'django';
mysql> quit

STEP 6: Create a virtual environment and activate it

cd /var/www/html
virtualenv projects
cd projects/
. bin/activate

STEP 7: Install Django and mysql lib

pip install django
pip install mysql-python

STEP 8: Create a django project

django-admin startproject webapps
cd webapps
python -c "import django; print(django.get_version())"

Your output should say 1.7.1

STEP 9: Start the built-in web server

python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000

STEP 10: Navigate to the web browser and check your installation

Conclusion

Congratulation!! You have successfully installed Django 1.7.1. In part 2 of this tutorial we will cover how to configure Django with Apache and MySQL

References

• Django Documentation
• Installation article by Mateusz Papiernik