Why does switching to Apache break all static files in my Django application?

Question

I am switching from the Django development server to Apache for production. To this end, I installed modwsgi and specified the following in apache2.conf.

# Run my django application.
WSGIScriptAlias / /home/david/registration/registration/wsgi.py
WSGIPythonPath /home/david/registration

<Directory /home/david/registration/registration>
<Files wsgi.py>
Order deny,allow
Allow from all
</Files>
</Directory>

When I restart Apache, I find that my application loads in my browser, but none of the CSS or images do.

Previously, I had been using staticfiles to manage my static files. I had these settings.

# Absolute path to the directory static files should be collected to.
# Don't put anything in this directory yourself; store your static files
# in apps' "static/" subdirectories and in STATICFILES_DIRS.
# Example: "/home/media/media.lawrence.com/static/"
STATIC_ROOT = '/home/david/static/'

# URL prefix for static files.
# Example: "http://media.lawrence.com/static/"
STATIC_URL = '/static/'

The static files used to working, but not any more. Why does switching to Apache prevent my static files from loading?

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 18 '12 at 21:52

The best option for work with apache2 and wsgi and django is use a new file in /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/mynewsite.apache (the extension doesn´t matter)

The file must look like this:

NameVirtualHost *:80
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin diego@diegue.us
    ServerName yourproject.com.co
    Alias /admin/media/ /path/to/your/admin/media/
    Alias /media/ /path/to/your/media/
    Alias /static/ /path/to/your/static/collected/files/

    <Directory /path/to/your/admin/media/>
        Order deny,allow
        Allow from all
    </Directory>

    <Directory /path/to/your/media/>
        Order deny,allow
        Allow from all
    </Directory>

    <Directory /path/to/your/static/collected/files/>
        Order deny,allow
        Allow from all
    </Directory>

    WSGIScriptReloading On
    WSGIDaemonProcess yourproject python-path=/path/of/packages/for/python # (this is because I use virtualenvwrapper)
    WSGIProcessGroup yourproject
    WSGIApplicationGroup yourproject
    WSGIPassAuthorization On

    WSGIScriptAlias / /path/to/your/yourproject.wsgi
    ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/yourproject-error.log

    # Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
    # alert, emerg.
    LogLevel debug

    CustomLog /var/log/apache2/yourproject-access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

You need to tell apache to serve your django application but also you need tell it that Apache serves the files.

Thanks! I'm tinkering with that right now. For some reason, I'm getting an odd warning when I restart Apache: `[warn] NameVirtualHost *:80 has no VirtualHosts`. — dangerChihuahua007, May 18 '12 at 22:09
If I´m rigth you can put the domain instead of * in the two first lines — diegueus9, May 18 '12 at 22:11
Ah thanks, I don't have a domain yet, so I'll give the IP Address a shot. — dangerChihuahua007, May 18 '12 at 22:12
You can put whatever domain you want and add it to /etc/hosts instead of put a IP — diegueus9, May 18 '12 at 22:13
Thank you! That did the trick. I wonder why the asterisk didn't work. * is absolutely allowed in Apache documentation. — dangerChihuahua007, May 18 '12 at 22:26

Why does switching to Apache break all static files in my Django application?

1 Answers1