How to Deploy a Django app to AWS Lightsail

Deploying a Django app to AWS Lightsail is a great way to host your application in a scalable and reliable environment. Follow these steps to deploy your Django app to AWS Lightsail:

1. Sign in to your AWS account and navigate to the Lightsail console.
2. Create a new Lightsail instance and select the Django blueprint as your instance image.
3. Give your instance a unique name and select an instance plan that meets your needs.
4. Once your Lightsail instance is up and running, connect to it using SSH.
5. Clone your Django app repository onto the Lightsail instance.
6. Create a virtual environment for your Django app using the following command:

python3 -m venv venv

7. Activate the virtual environment by running:

source venv/bin/activate

8. Install the required dependencies for your Django app using pip:

pip install -r requirements.txt

9. Configure your Django app settings to run in production mode by setting DEBUG to False and specifying the ALLOWED_HOSTS.
10. Collect static files for your Django app by running:

python manage.py collectstatic

11. Create a systemd service file to run your Django app as a service:

[Unit]
Description=Django Application

[Service]
Type=simple
WorkingDirectory=/path/to/your/django/app
ExecStart=/path/to/your/venv/bin/python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target


12. Enable and start the systemd service:

sudo systemctl enable your_django_service.service
sudo systemctl start your_django_service.service

13. Finally, open port 80 on your Lightsail instance and access your Django app in a web browser.

Congratulations! You have successfully deployed your Django app to AWS Lightsail. Your app is now accessible to users on the internet.