So I am beginner Django Developer and have been learning by developing local apps. I am looking to finally deploy something so people can use it. I have been looking around at various hosting providers and I am wondering what it's like using Digital Ocean for Django hosting. Specifically what exactly is involved/required with managing a Django app on Digital Ocean. Hostgator, which is another host I've been looking at, does not offer any "one-click" install for stuff like Nginx or anything else which I noticed Digital Ocean does have, so I would have to install that that as well as anything else I'd need myself. I guess my question is after that one click install what is involved with managing a Django app on Digital Ocean? Do I have to learn how to do a ton of other stuff regarding managing a server and dealing with Nginx (I would have to do that on HostGator) or does that One-click install for Django handle all that? Also other than Django, are there any skills that I have to learn in order to be able to do this?
-
Why don't you just try it out and see for yourself? There's no right or wrong answer to your question, so it's off topic for Stack Overflow. [What types of questions should I avoid asking?](https://stackoverflow.com/help/dont-ask) – Håken Lid Sep 13 '17 at 15:48
-
@HåkenLid perhaps I didn't word the question very well. But essentially what I want to know is with the one-click install on Digital Ocean does that give me an environment similar to Heroku where I can just focus on my Django app or do I still need to know other stuff regarding Nginx and other server management stuff? – Garrett Sep 13 '17 at 16:05
3 Answers
Digital Ocean is more than a hosting service, it's a development platform. Digital Ocean works around the element of "droplets", where each droplet is a virtual machine typically running a UNIX system. Basically if you are looking for a service where you can both host a website and do some development, Digital Ocean may be the way to go, but it is not free. But yes, you would have to configure everything yourself with regards to setting-up Django, proxies, and other network-related tasks.
If you are looking for an easier, alternative solution, you might want to take a look at Django on Heroku.
- 1,096
- 1
- 10
- 24
-
What about the one-click installs they offer? https://www.digitalocean.com/products/one-click-apps/. How steep is the learning curve to learn all that networking admin and server management stuff? Is it do able for a beginner? I've just spent about two months learning Django (spending a lot of hours per day on it) so in comparison to learning Django, how complicated would it be to learn all the networking and server stuff needed to do this? – Garrett Sep 13 '17 at 16:12
-
@Garrett Honestly, I have never tried their one-click installs, but if you developed Django on Linux, then Digital Ocean should not be a problem because it is essentually a Linux VM. The network/server management is practically already setup, but if you want to customize it, then creating a droplet is the way to go. What platform are you using locally for your Django app? – Retro Gamer Sep 13 '17 at 18:10
-
I'm not sure what you mean by platform locally, I took a course that just had me install Django and after I finished the course I just continued developing stuff. Assuming the one-click install takes care of the setup, If I create a droplet can I just deploy my app and go or is there more that I have to learn/worry about with server management stuff going forward? Also sorry if the question in repetitive or not clear, I'm a beginner so I'm trying to figure it all out. – Garrett Sep 13 '17 at 18:33
-
@Garrett what operating system are you using? What did you install Django on? No matter what service you go with (i.e. Digital Ocean, Heroku, OpenShift, etc) you are going to have to learn new tools anyway, so might as well get used to learning :) – Retro Gamer Sep 13 '17 at 19:07
-
I learned on a Mac. Learning is fine, I'm just trying to figure out how much learning and what type of things I would have to learn with a potential service. I appreciate the help. – Garrett Sep 13 '17 at 21:28
-
Great. The reason I ask is since both Mac and Linux are part of the same family (UNIX) I don't imagine you having too much of a hard time getting Django set up on Digital Ocean. – Retro Gamer Sep 13 '17 at 22:06
-
That's good to here. I was just curious as to how much I'd have to be doing on top of the development of the actual Django app. I was looking into Host Gator because they offer more server resources at a really cheap price but it's looking like I would have to setup and manage a lot more than I would with DO – Garrett Sep 13 '17 at 22:42
-
@RetroGamer Hi I have a doubt, I uploaded my Django project to digital ocean. Its working perfectly when i use manage.py runserver. I have already created a .service file for gunicorn for a test project. So ihave replace the path right?? no other configuration is required right. One more doubt ,can i install multiple project in one droplet, or its for one project only?? – Saran Prasad Dec 17 '20 at 08:13
-
@RetroGamer Can you please take a look at the following question:https://stackoverflow.com/q/66858780/9409877 – HKS Mar 30 '21 at 09:21
As far as I know, there are no one-click solutions for Django. There is an official tutorial, though, which is where I would start, along with a quick read in the Django docs.
My experience hosting small Django apps on DO has generally been good. DO is very stable nowadays with no noticeable downtime (unless you must guarantee HA to your users, which I don't).
-
They do offer a "one-click install" when setting things up. What I'm wondering is how much of a full setup this is vs how much of it is just marketing. Here is the list of one-click install they offer, and Django is listed https://www.digitalocean.com/products/one-click-apps/. How much server management would I need to know in order to use DO? Things like Management Nginx, Security stuff, or can I just focus on deploying and managing my Django App? – Garrett Sep 13 '17 at 16:09
-
DO is fundamentally self-managed. Even with the one-click solution, it's not the same as managed VPSs. In other words, when things go wrong, knowing how to do things on your own goes a long way. – Sep 13 '17 at 16:20
-
DO they have tutorials on how to handle all that stuff? I'm not against learning, I just want to get a better idea of how much/what exactly I have to learn and where the best places to learn are. – Garrett Sep 13 '17 at 22:44
-
DO has tons of tutorials for most topics, so I'm sure it covers most of what you need. – Sep 14 '17 at 18:12
I have been using Digital Ocean/DO for my Django deployment last 6 months and have a great experience.
I use Django On Click Django 1.8.7 in Ubuntu 16.04 Image for all my website development.
Do provides extensive tutorials/documentations and very developer/tinker friendly. I was able to config my Do box Nginx to host 4 different websites on one single box and even manage to run a Ethereum node on it.
I wrote this tutorial on How to Deploy Multiple Websites on 1 single DO Droplets - Tutorial Link
- 129
- 2
- 8