Serverless Django with Zappa Course Overview

Video Course - Serverless Django Applications With Lambda

Let's explore what Serverless is and isn't

Why Go Serverless? Understanding Zappa's Benefits

About the Author

Class Details

Introduction

We establish the necessary AWS credentials

Creating and Configuring an AWS Account for Zappa Deployment

Let's create a reliable development environment

How to Set Up an AWS Lambda-Like Environment with Docker

Understanding the Basics of Django and Zappa Development

Activating the Environment

Getting Started

Setting Up a Zappa Development Environment

How to Deploy a Django App to the Cloud with AWS Lambda

Serverless projects sometimes need changes

What You Need to Know About AWS Lambda Deployments

Dive into Zappa

Serving static files is different in Serverless

Django Tutorial - What are Static Files?

Two Ways to Handle Django Static Files

Serve static files directly from your project

Configuring WhiteNoise with Django for Static Files

How to Set Up S3 Buckets to Serve Static Files from Django

Final thoughts on static files

Hosting static files

A Quick Overview of HTTPS and Custom Domain Names

Setting Up a Domain Through AWS Route 53 for a Django App

Some hints for those not using AWS services

Not using AWS services

Domain Handling with Zappa - WWW and Non-WWW Options

Custom Domain Names

Creating a Cloud Database and Connecting It to a Django App

A Detailed Walkthrough for Creating Your First RDS with AWS

Connecting a Django App to a PostgreSQL Database

An Introduction to Creating Django Models [with Examples]

Final thoughts on databases

Connecting a Database

A Primer on Securing Serverless Apps in AWS

Creating a Virtual Private Cloud in AWS for a Relational Database

Securing an AWS Virtual Private Cloud for Django Deployment

Get Ready for Production

Whether you are a solo developer working on your next startup idea or a team of folks working with Django, this course shows you the way to simplify your operations overhead while saving money.  The open source Zappa utility paves the way to migrate your Django application away from old-school servers and onto the AWS Lambda serverless platform.  It's almost like having your own private Infrastructure team!

No need to watch for OS security patches or tweak Apache settings -- just focus on delivering value to your users.  All this with minimal changes to your Django application.  Leverage the power of AWS to rapidly respond to spikes in user traffic, while saving money by only paying for the web requests actually needed.

For folks ready for serverless Django, this course covers:

* Which Django apps are best to migrate and how to prepare them
* Configuring a generic and portable development environment easily set up by new developers in minutes
* Deploying and updating your code to AWS Lambda
* Best practices in serving Django static files
* Leveraging AWS services to secure your site with HTTPS and your own custom domain name
* Learning how to configure a secure network environment in AWS VPC
* Connecting your Django application to a hosted RDS database

All this while leveraging the AWS Free Tier.  While there are some lessons that may have additional cost to complete (e.g. bring your own domain name), the vast majority of this course will be using the AWS Free Tier and won't cost anything.

It's taught by Edgar Román. I was introduced to Django in 2009 and I consider it my go-to web framework. With continuous support from a vibrant community in addition to an incredibly rich ecosystem, I would be hard pressed to find another framework that matches up.

I've been using Zappa to host my Django applications for several years now, and I have found no other solution that is as powerful and cost-effective as serverless Django hosting on AWS -- especially for the solo developer working to get a product to market.

I hope you enjoy this course and harness the power of serverless Django with Zappa in your projects!

Learn how to migrate your Django application to a serverless environment hosted by AWS Lambda.

Serverless Django with Zappa

How to migrate your Django project to the AWS serverless environment

Adapt your code to changes necessary for running in the cloud

How to setup a reliable and consistent local development environment for serverless projects

How to setup and connect to a hosted RDS database

Learn about setting AWS IAM permissions for serverless projects

How to map a custom domain name to your Django project

Effectively serve Django static files via S3 or AWS Lambda

How to navigate the AWS Console to host multiple domain names

Learn about setting up a secure network environment using AWS VPC

This bucket should be fairly simple, but there are several settings you'll need to configure to ensure everything is working.

We'll need to add a CORS policy for this bucket. If you're not familiar with 

 then you can think of CORS as a set of permission instructions for web browsers to apply to any web page trying to load resources from that web server. The CORS policy is the set of permission instructions and the S3 bucket will need a CORS policy since it holds your static file resources.

While we could rely on the default CORS policy, it won't work for some static files like fonts. So it's better for us to specify our own CORS policy. And it's pretty easy to do.

Click on the bucket then click on the 'Permissions' tab. Under CORS, add the following text:

Note that this CORS policy is very open and simple. If you have a production site, you will probably want to narrow the scope of the CORS policy. It is possible that other websites could link to your static files and potentially attempt to duplicate your site.

---
title: How to Set Up S3 Buckets to Serve Static Files from Django
description: Serve static files from an S3 bucket
privateVideoUrl: https://fullstack.wistia.com/medias/6h3z3z29b5
isPublicLesson: false
code: https://gitlab.com/fullstackio/books/newline-course-apps/edgar-roman-serverless-django-with-zappa-app/-/tree/main/code/module03/Lesson_04/module03-lesson04?ref_type=heads
---

## Create an S3 bucket

This bucket should be fairly simple, but there are several settings you'll need to configure to ensure everything is working.

### Bucket settings

-   **Bucket name:** This should be something unique. For this lesson, we'll use the bucket name `serverless-course-static-bucket`. Pretty long, but it has to be unique.
-   **Region:** Make sure the region matches where you've deployed your Zappa project.
-   **Public Access Settings:**

    -   Uncheck `Block all public access`.
    -   Acknowledge that the contents of this bucket will be public - after all, that's what we're trying to achieve!

## Configure the S3 bucket

We'll need to add a CORS policy for this bucket. If you're not familiar with [CORS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-origin_resource_sharing) then you can think of CORS as a set of permission instructions for web browsers to apply to any web page trying to load resources from that web server. The CORS policy is the set of permission instructions and the S3 bucket will need a CORS policy since it holds your static file resources.

While we could rely on the default CORS policy, it won't work for some static files like fonts. So it's better for us to specify our own CORS policy. And it's pretty easy to do.

Click on the bucket then click on the 'Permissions' tab. Under CORS, add the following text:

```json
[
    {
        "AllowedHeaders": ["Authorization"],
        "AllowedMethods": ["GET"],
        "AllowedOrigins": ["*"],
        "ExposeHeaders": [],
        "MaxAgeSeconds": 3000
    }
]
```