Deploy Django to Render

How to deploy Django to Render Deployment Platform

@Todo - General information Render Platform

Topics covered

• Render Account Creation

• Render Account Settings

• The project to be deployed

• Render Environment set up

• Render Domain settings

• Render SSL certificates

• Render LIVE Service monitoring \

Render Account Creation

Render provide Social auth and email auth, based on your preference you can sign up with Render

IMG_render_signup

Once successfully signed up, the user is redirected Render dashboard and sees the screen like below:

IMG_render_dashboard

Render Account Settings

The Next step is to connect the Render account with the GitHub account, If you sign up with GitHub then this step is automatically done.

IMG_render_account_settings \

The project to be deployed

Source project: https://github.com/app-generator/django-react-soft-dashboard\

To deploy the Django app on Render we need to choose the Web Service option from the Dashboard as shown below:

IMG_render_dashboard_web_service

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After selecting the web service option, the next step is to connect the GitHub project repository. On the next page, we can select the project from the linked account, with private or public visibility.

IMG_render_web_service

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The next step is to edit deployment details. Here are the sections that need editing:

• Name: In this section, we should use a unique name for the web service.

• Root Directory: By default, the root directory is set to the top-level directory in your repository. We have also the possibility to select subfolders in case the project structure is modular and for instance, the backend and the frontend use different directories

• Environment: In this section, we should select the language used to code the product, Python in our case.

• Region:- The region where your web service runs, not required to update by default is Oregon (US West)

• Branch:- The repository branch used for your web service.

• Build Command: The shell script that executes all the steps to build the project

• Start Command: This section informs Gunicorn where to locate the entry point in our Django starter: gunicorn core.wsgi:application

• Add Environment Variables required by the starter in Advanced section.

  • Python Version: PYTHON_VERSION = 3.10.4

  • GUNICORN_CMD_ARGS = --preload --bind=0.0.0.0:2000

  • PORT = 2000

  • DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS = .onrender.com

• Auto-Deploy: Render provide this option to trigger a new deployment on every push to the repository. In case this feature is not useful, set this option to "NO" for manually managed deployments

With all the above settings specified as per project requirements, we can confirm the action and actually Create the new Service.

IMG_render_django_deployment_settings \

Render Domain settings

Render by default provides the domain itself, but the user can set up a custom domain based as well. For more information feel free to access the official documentation regarding custom domains. \

Render SSL certificates

Render Platform provides valid SSL certificates for all managed services, and also offers the possibility to customize the certificates. \

Render LIVE Service monitoring

Once the project is deployed, the users have the possibility to set up alerts in Health & Alerts section (Project Settings).

The Health Check Path is the public URL of the project that should return a 200 status code on access.

Another option is to get notified via Email in case of Service failure. \

Links & Resources

• Render Django deployment - Official Guide to deploy Django app on Render
• Custom domains on render - Official Guide to setup custom domain
• Shell Script - Official Guide to shell script
• Django - Official Guide to Django Framework
• Gunicorn - Official Guide to Gunicorn