Why should Django applications only be hosted on VPS?

Developers are familiar with applications that are slow to respond, crash when there is an influx of users, and are unavailable at important times. In 9 cases out of 10, shared hosting is to blame. Resources are shared among tens or hundreds of users, and control over the server is minimal. Using shared hosting is like renting a room in a dorm.

Now imagine: you have an apartment or even a house with several floors - a server. This is about VPS, where you decide what furniture to put, how much electricity to spend and how to use the space. In general, all resources are yours.

What resources are we talking about?

On a virtual dedicated server (VPS) you will receive:

• Dedicated resources. CPU, memory and disk are entirely yours.
• Flexibility. You choose the operating system, software and settings. Want the latest version of Python? Please. Need to optimize your database? Easily.
• Safety. Configure the server to meet data security requirements, such as encryption.

The VPS market is huge. You need to choose a provider that offers not just a server, but a solution to problems. LikeVPS stands out:

• Large selection of servers. With over 35 locations around the world, you can choose a server closer to your users.
• High speed. Bandwidth up to 1 Gbps ensures pages load instantly.
• Protection from attacks. Built-in DDoS protection will keep the server stable even during cyber attacks.
• Affordable rates. You pay only for those resources that you really need. There are many tariffs and they are divided into gradations. You see, there are no sharp upward jumps here.

What is Django and how does it work?

Let's explain what Django is with an example. Let's imagine that we are building a house:

1. House frame is Django. It sets the basis: what the walls will be made of, how the rooms will be located.
2. Interior design — appearance of the site. Django allows you to connect ready-made templates to make your site look beautiful.
3. Wiring and pipes — work of the site “inside”. For example, how orders are processed, where customer data is saved.

Django does all the behind-the-scenes work for you so you can focus on what matters most: the idea behind your project.

Now let's go through the steps to set up a VPS for Django.

Let's choose a VPS tariff

In order for your Django application to work without interruptions, you first need to choose the right VPS configuration:

For an entry-level application, the following parameters are suitable:

• 1 CPU. One processor core is enough to handle small traffic.
• 1–2 GB of RAM. This is enough to run the application and database.
• 25–50 GB SSD. Enough to store code, data and static files.

This configuration is LikeVPS costs $6.5 per month.

For larger projects, go for 2+ CPU, 4+ GB RAM and more disk space. In LikeVPS this tariff is Lite++.

How to register and get a server?

1. Go to the site LikeVPS.
2. Create an account. To do this, follow the path: Login -> Create an account -> Fill out the registration form.

3. Next, select a tariff in your personal account. For example:

• Lite. Suitable for test and small projects.
• Lite++. Suitable for higher level applications.
• Pro. For mid-range applications.

4. Pay for the tariff in any convenient way. Access data will be sent by email.

Disclaimer

This guide describes in detail the process of installing Django on a VPS. All actions are performed on the server with the OS Ubuntu 22.04, because it's popular, well-supported, and compatible with Django.

We covered setting up Django, Gunicorn, Nginx, a PostgreSQL database, and optimizing and securing the server.

Important:

• This method works for most scenarios, but your environment may vary. For example, you can use a different OS, Python version, or database.
• We cannot guarantee that everything will work for you exactly the same as in the example. There may be differences in server settings, provider restrictions, or application configurations.
• Before repeating the instructions, make sure you have basic knowledge of the server and access to a backup copy of your data to avoid losing information in the event of an error.

If you are not sure of your abilities or have difficulties, we recommend that you contact specialists to set up a server or use the support of your hosting provider. LikeVPS offers free assistance with basic setup.

Connecting to the server

After receiving the data, connect to the server via SSH.

Open a terminal (or use PuTTY on Windows).

1. Enter the command:
   ssh root@<server IP address>
2. When the system prompts,enter your password.
3. If the connection is successful, you will see a system welcome message.

Customizing the system

Before installing Django, you need to prepare the server.

Update the system and install basic utilities with this command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

sudo apt install python3-pip python3-venv nginx -y

Check that Python is installed:

python3 --version

If everything is in order, the server is ready to install your project.

Now we have a clean, ready-to-use VPS. The next step is to install Django and prepare the environment for the application.

Install Django and prepare the environment

Now that the server is ready, let's install everything necessary for the Django application to work. This includes Python, the virtual environment and itself Django.

Let's get started.

Create a user for the project

To increase security, create a separate user under which the application will run.

1. Create a new user:
   adduser myprojectuser
2. Follow the instructions to set a password and fill out information. Add the user to the sudo group:
   usermod -aG sudo myprojectuser
3. Switch to new user:
   su - myprojectuser

Set up a Python virtual environment

The virtual environment isolates your project's dependencies to avoid conflicts with system libraries.

1. Create a working directory:
   mkdir ~/myproject

cd ~/myproject

2. Create a virtual environment:
   python3 -m venv venv
3. Activate the environment:
   source venv/bin/activate

You will see that in the terminal in front of the command line appears (venv), which means activated environment.

Install Django

Now let's install Django and create a basic project:

pip install django

Create a new project:

django-admin startproject myproject .

Here myproject is the name of the project, and the dot (.) means that the project files will be created in the current directory.

Check that everything is working:

python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000

Open your browser and enter http://<your server IP address>:8000. You should see the standard Django welcome page.

The server is now ready to run with Django. You need to configure security and optimize the application. But this is the topic of subsequent articles.

So you went from choosing a VPS to installing Django. Now you have a server that:

• Consistently processes user requests.
• Protected from attacks and unauthorized access.
• Optimized for high performance with caching and compression of static files.

If you haven't chosen a VPS yet, try it LikeVPS. The provider offers servers in 35+ countries, DDoS protection, convenient management and many tariffs.

Ready for the next step? Develop projects with LikeVPS.