How to Deploy a Django Web Application on a VPS

Deploying a Django application to production can be tricky. This guide covers the full stack: Ubuntu, PostgreSQL, Gunicorn, Nginx, and SSL.

Prerequisites

A VPS with Ubuntu 22.04+ (minimum 2GB RAM recommended)
A domain pointed to your server's IP
SSH access

Step 1: Install Dependencies

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -ychr(10)sudo apt install python3 python3-pip python3-venv nginx postgresql postgresql-contrib -y

Step 2: Create Database

sudo -u postgres psqlchr(10)CREATE DATABASE yourproject;chr(10)CREATE USER youruser WITH PASSWORD 'securepassword';chr(10)ALTER ROLE youruser SET client_encoding TO 'utf8';chr(10)ALTER ROLE youruser SET default_transaction_isolation TO 'read committed';chr(10)GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE yourproject TO youruser;chr(10)\q

Step 3: Set Up Your Project

cd /var/wwwchr(10)git clone your-repo-url yourprojectchr(10)cd yourprojectchr(10)python3 -m venv venvchr(10)source venv/bin/activatechr(10)pip install -r requirements.txtchr(10)pip install gunicorn

Update settings.py: set DEBUG = False, configure ALLOWED_HOSTS, set database credentials, and set STATIC_ROOT.

python manage.py migratechr(10)python manage.py collectstatic --no-inputchr(10)python manage.py createsuperuser

Step 4: Configure Gunicorn

Create /etc/systemd/system/yourproject.service:

[Unit]chr(10)Description=Gunicorn for yourprojectchr(10)After=network.targetchr(10)chr(10)[Service]chr(10)User=www-datachr(10)Group=www-datachr(10)WorkingDirectory=/var/www/yourprojectchr(10)ExecStart=/var/www/yourproject/venv/bin/gunicorn --workers 3 --bind unix:/var/www/yourproject/gunicorn.sock yourproject.wsgi:applicationchr(10)chr(10)[Install]chr(10)WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl start yourprojectchr(10)sudo systemctl enable yourproject

Step 5: Configure Nginx

Create /etc/nginx/sites-available/yourproject:

server {chr(10)listen 80;chr(10)server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;chr(10)chr(10)location /static/ {chr(10)alias /var/www/yourproject/staticfiles/;chr(10)}chr(10)chr(10)location /media/ {chr(10)alias /var/www/yourproject/media/;chr(10)}chr(10)chr(10)location / {chr(10)proxy_pass http://unix:/var/www/yourproject/gunicorn.sock;chr(10)proxy_set_header Host $host;chr(10)proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;chr(10)proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;chr(10)proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;chr(10)}chr(10)}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/yourproject /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/chr(10)sudo nginx -tchr(10)sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 6: SSL with Let's Encrypt

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginxchr(10)sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

Common Errors

502 Bad Gateway — Gunicorn isn't running or socket path is wrong
Static files missing — Run collectstatic and check STATIC_ROOT
Database errors — Check PostgreSQL credentials and permissions
Permission denied — Ensure www-data owns the project directory