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

Here we walk through the steps necessary to get a friendly domain working.

In this section, we are going to assume that you will use AWS services. For those not using AWS for registration and DNS services, we'll address this in the next lesson.

AWS makes this pretty straightforward and there is no need to duplicate the instructions here.

Once you complete the process, for most generic TLDs (like 

) it takes a little while for the processing to complete before you can move on. When I registered 

 it took about 25 minutes. You will get an email from Amazon Route 53 telling you the registration succeeded. Then you may move on in this lesson.

Now that you have registered your domain, AWS has automatically created a hosted zone for you. This means they are providing DNS services for you. No action is needed on your part, but if you're curious, you can check it out. Here's a screenshot of the console for 

. We're going to request that AWS generate a digital certificate for our domain.

In the upper right corner of the console, change the region to be "N. Virginia". Strangely, while your Zappa project may run in a different region, you 

When adding domain names, enter both the 

Adding both domains allows you to leverage either URL and have it covered with a single certificate. While you don't necessarily have to do this, it may save you time in the future if you change your mind and decide to use the other domain.

If you're 100% sure you will use only one of the two choices, you may enter that choice as the only domain name. Once the certificate is issued, you cannot change the domain names that it covers. You will have to create a new certificate for any modifications.

The next screen prompts for tags. They are optional here.

The next step is to review all the information. Press 

You should get a confirmation screen similar to:

This next step is to prove to AWS that you own and control the domain name for the requested certificate. This is needed so that nefarious entities cannot get a secure certificate for amazon.com or google.com.

---
title: Setting Up a Domain Through AWS Route 53 for a Django App
description: Walk through of the necessary steps
privateVideoUrl: https://fullstack.wistia.com/medias/7f9gg39ikr
isPublicLesson: false
---

Here we walk through the steps necessary to get a friendly domain working.

:::info

In this section, we are going to assume that you will use AWS services. For those not using AWS for registration and DNS services, we'll address this in the next lesson.

:::

## Register a domain with Route 53

AWS makes this pretty straightforward and there is no need to duplicate the instructions here.

See [AWS Domain Registration Documentation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/Route53/latest/DeveloperGuide/domain-register.html) for step-by-step instructions.

Once you complete the process, for most generic TLDs (like `.com`) it takes a little while for the processing to complete before you can move on. When I registered `zappaguide.com` it took about 25 minutes. You will get an email from Amazon Route 53 telling you the registration succeeded. Then you may move on in this lesson.

### View the hosted domain

Now that you have registered your domain, AWS has automatically created a hosted zone for you. This means they are providing DNS services for you. No action is needed on your part, but if you're curious, you can check it out. Here's a screenshot of the console for `zappaguide.com`.

![Hosted Zone for zappaguide.com](https://d2uusema5elisf.cloudfront.net/courses/serverless-django-with-zappa/module_05/lesson_05.02/public/assets/0-hosted-zone.png)

## Request a secure certificate

Now navigate over to the [ACM Service in the AWS Console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/acm/). We're going to request that AWS generate a digital certificate for our domain.

In the upper right corner of the console, change the region to be "N. Virginia". Strangely, while your Zappa project may run in a different region, you [must do these steps in the `us-east-1` region](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/apigateway/latest/developerguide/how-to-custom-domains.html#how-to-custom-domains-prerequisites).

![Select the Northern Virginia region](https://d2uusema5elisf.cloudfront.net/courses/serverless-django-with-zappa/module_05/lesson_05.02/public/assets/1-select-us-east-1.png)

Now click on **Request a certificate**.

Select **Request a public certificate**.

When adding domain names, enter both the _bare_ or _apex_ domain in the top box and one with the `www` prefix below. For example:

![Multiple Domains in the certificate](https://d2uusema5elisf.cloudfront.net/courses/serverless-django-with-zappa/module_05/lesson_05.02/public/assets/2-multiple-domains.png)

Adding both domains allows you to leverage either URL and have it covered with a single certificate. While you don't necessarily have to do this, it may save you time in the future if you change your mind and decide to use the other domain.

If you're 100% sure you will use only one of the two choices, you may enter that choice as the only domain name. Once the certificate is issued, you cannot change the domain names that it covers. You will have to create a new certificate for any modifications.

At the next step, select **DNS Validation**. This should be the default.

![DNS Validation](https://d2uusema5elisf.cloudfront.net/courses/serverless-django-with-zappa/module_05/lesson_05.02/public/assets/3-dns-validation.png)

The next screen prompts for tags. They are optional here.

The next step is to review all the information. Press **Confirm and request**

![Review and Confirm](https://d2uusema5elisf.cloudfront.net/courses/serverless-django-with-zappa/module_05/lesson_05.02/public/assets/4-confirm.png)

Edgar Roman

All right, let's get started with activating your domain.

I'm going to assume that using AWS services, if you're not using AWS,

we'll talk a little bit about the process in the next lesson.

First step is to get a registered domain.

If you registered your domain through AWS,

you will automatically create a hosted zone for you.

I'm going to go ahead and create one now.

Now we're going to create a secure certificate.

ACM stands for Amazon Certificate Manager.

It will create an SSL TLS certificate for us.

We're going to create a secure certificate.

This is what we need for our client browsers

to create a secure connection to our website.

An important note here is that you have to do this step

If you don't, it's not going to work properly.

Even if your Zappa project is in another region,

you'll have to do this particular step in US East One.

For our ACM certificate, just scroll down and click Get Started.

You should be on the Requested Certificate page.

For this domain name, I'm going to put dub dub dub

dot zappaguide dot com in addition to the bare or apex root

If we ever want to use dub dub dub in addition to zappaguide dot com.

Once that's filled in, go ahead and hit Next.

The next step is used to prove that you have ownership of the domain.

You can either have a DNS validation or email validation.

If you're using the hosted zone in Route 53,

DNS validation is going to be the easiest and quickest way

DNS validation requires you to make special DNS changes to prove

that you have full control over the domain name.

We're not going to use tags at this point.

We're reviewing the information we put in here.

All looks good, so we're going to confirm and request.

Fortunately, since we're using Route 53, Amazon makes this very easy.

I simply have to open up each of those domain names.

And it tells me I need to make a DNS record with this value in it.

It has a shortcut here that enables Route 53 to automatically create this

I need to confirm that I'm going to make this record.

I also have to do it for dub dub dub zappaguide.com.

And I follow the same steps here to have it create the records.

It says it may take up to 30 minutes for the changes to propagate,

but in my experience, this is actually a pretty quick process.

We can see here that a request is pending validation.

We're going to give it a few minutes to finish.

Okay, now that Amazon has issued our certificate,

we're going to associate this certificate with our zappa project.

you'll see that there's an ARN, which is an Amazon resource number,

And we're going to add a few more keys to our file here.

You notice we're adding a key certificate ARN, and we're also adding domain.

Our domain is going to be zappaguide.com.

And the ARN, I'm going to cut and paste from the Amazon console.

Now that that's saved, let's go to our shell.

We're going to use a new zappa utility command called certify.

This will associate our domain name with our zappa project.

It's going to ask us if we're sure we want to certify,

we're going to say yes, and hit continue.

At this point, zappa has requested to Amazon to associate the certificate with

As you can see by the warning here, this could take a significant amount of

To check to see if certify is complete, we can go to the website, create a new

and just type in the name, and it's working now.

However, we get an error. Once again, we run into the Django security feature.

Now it's telling us that zappaguide.com is not a properly registered host that

website. So we simply have to go back to our settings file, scroll up to allow

We'll save this. One more thing we have to do.