How to use Django with Apache and mod_wsgi

    mod_wsgi is an Apache module which can host any Python WSGI application, including Django. Django will work with any version of Apache which supports mod_wsgi.

    The is your source for all the details about how to use mod_wsgi. You’ll probably want to start with the installation and configuration documentation.

    Once you’ve got mod_wsgi installed and activated, edit your Apache server’s file and add the following.

    The first bit in the WSGIScriptAlias line is the base URL path you want to serve your application at (/ indicates the root url), and the second is the location of a “WSGI file” – see below – on your system, usually inside of your project package (mysite in this example). This tells Apache to serve any request below the given URL using the WSGI application defined in that file.

    If you install your project’s Python dependencies inside a virtual environment, add the path using WSGIPythonHome. See the for more details.

    The WSGIPythonPath line ensures that your project package is available for import on the Python path; in other words, that import mysite works.

    The <Directory> piece ensures that Apache can access your wsgi.py file.

    Next we’ll need to ensure this wsgi.py with a WSGI application object exists. As of Django version 1.4, startproject will have created one for you; otherwise, you’ll need to create it. See the for the default contents you should put in this file, and what else you can add to it.

    If multiple Django sites are run in a single mod_wsgi process, all of them will use the settings of whichever one happens to run first. This can be solved by changing:

    1. os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "{{ project_name }}.settings")

    in wsgi.py, to:

    or by using mod_wsgi daemon mode and ensuring that each site runs in its own daemon process.

    Fixing UnicodeEncodeError for file uploads

    If you get a UnicodeEncodeError when uploading or writing files with file names or content that contains non-ASCII characters, make sure Apache is configured to support UTF-8 encoding:

    1. export LANG='en_US.UTF-8'
    2. export LC_ALL='en_US.UTF-8'

    A common location to put this configuration is /etc/apache2/envvars.

    Alternatively, if you are you can add lang and options to the WSGIDaemonProcess directive:

    See the Files section of the Unicode reference guide for details.

    1. WSGIDaemonProcess example.com python-home=/path/to/venv python-path=/path/to/mysite.com
    2. WSGIProcessGroup example.com

    If you want to serve your project in a subdirectory (https://example.com/mysite in this example), you can add WSGIScriptAlias to the configuration above:

    See the official mod_wsgi documentation for .

    Django doesn’t serve files itself; it leaves that job to whichever web server you choose.

    We recommend using a separate web server – i.e., one that’s not also running Django – for serving media. Here are some good choices:

    If, however, you have no option but to serve media files on the same Apache VirtualHost as Django, you can set up Apache to serve some URLs as static media, and others using the mod_wsgi interface to Django.

    This example sets up Django at the site root, but serves robots.txt, favicon.ico, and anything in the /static/ and /media/ URL space as a static file. All other URLs will be served using mod_wsgi:

    1. Alias /robots.txt /path/to/mysite.com/static/robots.txt
    2. Alias /favicon.ico /path/to/mysite.com/static/favicon.ico
    5. Alias /static/ /path/to/mysite.com/static/
    7. <Directory /path/to/mysite.com/static>
    8. Require all granted
    9. </Directory>
    11. <Directory /path/to/mysite.com/media>
    12. </Directory>
    14. WSGIScriptAlias / /path/to/mysite.com/mysite/wsgi.py
    16. <Directory /path/to/mysite.com/mysite>
    17. <Files wsgi.py>
    18. Require all granted
    19. </Files>
    20. </Directory>

    When is in INSTALLED_APPS, the Django development server automatically serves the static files of the admin app (and any other installed apps). This is however not the case when you use any other server arrangement. You’re responsible for setting up Apache, or whichever web server you’re using, to serve the admin files.

    The admin files live in (django/contrib/admin/static/admin) of the Django distribution.

    1. Create a symbolic link to the admin static files from within your document root (this may require +FollowSymLinks in your Apache configuration).
    2. Use an directive, as demonstrated above, to alias the appropriate URL (probably + admin/) to the actual location of the admin files.

    Django provides a handler to allow Apache to authenticate users directly against Django’s authentication backends. See the mod_wsgi authentication documentation.