Deploy Python Django on Windows IIS

7/31/2020 Steps to Deploy Python Django Web Application on Windows IIS Server | by AYUSHI SHARMA | Medium
Steps to Deploy Python Django Web Application on

Windows IIS Server
AYUSHI SHARMA
May 17, 2019 · 10 min read
Though many Django Developer might find it might consider it blasphemous,

sometimes it is actually necessary to deploy Django applications on Windows/IIS,
especially when working with a client that has based its infrastructure around the
Windows ecosystem.
This short, focused tutorial walks you through the basic setup of a Django project on
Windows. It covers the installation of Python, activating environment.
1. Install Python:
1. Download the latest Windows x86–64 executable installer from https://python.org
2. Double-click the Python installer. If you get a security warning at this point, click
“Run” to continue.
3. In the Python Setup dialog that appears, click “Customize Installation”
4. On the Optional Features step, leave the default settings and click “Next”
5. On the Advanced Options step, make the following changes:
https://medium.com/@ayushi21095/steps-to-deploy-python-django-web-application-on-windows-iis-server-379b2b87fcf9 1/15
Check the “Install for all users” box (note that this will also check the “Precompile
standard library” box)
Check “Add Python to environment variables”
In the input box below “Customize install location” change the value to the
following: C:\Python35
6. Click “Install”
7. When the installation is complete, click “Close”
Confirm the Python Installation

Open a new Command Prompt. Note that if you already had a command prompt
open you will need to close and reopen it, as the Python installation process added
new environment variables and any open command prompts will not have the new
environment variables available.
Type python and press Enter. This should open a Python interpreter:
If instead of seeing the Python interpreter you see the error “‘python’ is not recognized as
an internal or external command …” this likely means the “Add Python to environment
variables” box was not checked on the Advanced Options step of the installation process. If
this occurs you can uninstall and reinstall Python and make sure to check the “Add Python
to environment variables” checkbox, or add the following to the System environment
“Path” variable:
C:\Python35;C:\Python35\Scripts
Exit the Python interpreter by typing exit() and pressing Enter.
Close the Command Prompt.
. . .
2. Create and Configure a Python Virtual Environment for Your

Application
Python virtual environments are used to isolate application-specific Python
environments from the system-wide Python environment. Even if you will only be
running one application on a server, it’s good practice to create a virtual environment
for your application to keep the virtual environment free from any unanticipated side
effects of system updates.
1. Open a Command Prompt.
2. Navigate to the root of the C: drive: cd C:\ [then press Enter]
3. Create a new directory in which to store your virtual environments:

mkdir virtualenvs [then press Enter]
4. Navigate to the newly created virtualenvs directory:

cd virtualenvs [then press Enter]
5. Create a new virtual environment. We’ll use the name foo for the purposes of
illustration. Note that if you change this, you’ll have to adjust the rest of the steps in
this post accordingly. python -m venv Eric [then press Enter]
Activate the Virtual Environment and Upgrade pip
With the virtual environment created, the next steps are to activate the virtual
environment and update pip, Python’s package installer.
First, we’ll activate the virtual environment:
Open a Command Prompt
Navigate to the virtual environment’s directory:

cd C:\virtualenvs\Eric [then press Enter]
Activate the virtual environment:

Scripts\activate.bat [then press Enter]
At this point you will see (Eric) at the beginning of the command prompt,
indicating the virtual environment is active:
Once a virtual environment is active, all Python-related commands such as python, pip,
etc. will be executed against the active virtual environment. For example, with the virtual
environment active if a package is installed with pip, that package will only be available in
the virtual environment, not in the system’s global Python environment.
Next, to ensure we don’t run into installation or security issues with pip, let’s upgrade
it:
In the same Command Prompt, you opened above, with the virtual environment
activated, run the following command:
python -m pip install — upgrade pip [then press Enter]
If an update for pip is available, it will be downloaded and installed.
Then install all the dependent modules and packages related to the project using
command and make sure you are running it in same path where requirement.txt
file is present by- pip install -r requirement.txt.
. . .
3. Install Django and Download Django Application from github

Install gitbash from https://git-scm.com/download/win for 64-bit
Open the gitbash and go to the path where you want to copy your project.
Download the project from git using command in git bash: git clone
https://github.com/ayushi21095/User_details.git
Go to the path where your project file is located in command prompt where virtual
environment was activated.
In the Command Prompt with the virtual environment activated, install Django:
pip install wfastcgi [then press Enter]
Start the Django development server: python manage.py runserver [then press
Enter]
You should see the following output:
In a browser on the server, go to http://localhost:8000

You should see the following:
Go back to the Command Prompt and press Ctrl-C to stop the Django development
server.
. . .
4. Install IIS
Even if you already have IIS installed, you may need to go through these steps to install
the CGI feature if it wasn’t installed as part of the original IIS installation.
Open the Control Panel
In the search box in the top right, type “windows features” (without the quotes)
In the search results under “Programs and Features” click “Turn Windows features
on or off.” This launches the Add Roles and Features Wizard.
Make sure to check CGI box.
Verify the IIS Installation

Open a web browser on the server.
Enter http://localhost in the address bar and press Enter. You should see the default
IIS page.
If you don’t see the default IIS page:
1. Open Control Panel
2. Type “services” in the search box
3. Under “Administrative Tools” click “View local services”
Scroll to the bottom of the list and ensure you see “World Wide Web Publishing
Service” listed, and that the status is “Running”.
. . .
5.Configure IIS to Serve Django Applications

Thus far we’ve accomplished the following:
Installed Python
Installed IIS with CGI
Created and activated a Python virtual environment
Installed Django and wfastcgi in a Python virtual environment
Created a new Django project
Ran the Django project using the Django development server
With all the underlying infrastructure in place, the last step is to configure IIS to serve
Django applications. The Django development server is not designed for production
use, so using a production-quality web server such as IIS is mandatory for production
applications.
As with previous steps you’ll need to adjust accordingly for the actual application you
want to deploy, but for the purposes of this documentation we’ll configure IIS to serve
the test Django application we created in the previous steps.
. . .
6.Configure FastCGI in IIS

Open the IIS Manager by clicking the Windows button, clicking on Administrative
Tools, and double-clicking Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager
Click on the name of the server in the list on the left. If you see the following dialog
box, check the box “Do not show this message” and click “No.” (You can always get
to this later if necessary by clicking “Get New Web Platform Components” under
“Actions” on the right-hand side of IIS Manager.)
Double-click the “FastCGI Settings” icon
Under “Actions” on the right-hand side click “Add application …”
In the Add FastCGI Application dialog, in the “Full Path” box, type the path to the
Python executable for the application’s virtual environment:
C:\virtualenvs\Eric\Scripts\python.exe
In the Arguments input box, type the path to the wfastcgi.py file in the application’s
virtual environment:
C:\virtualenvs\Eric\Lib\site-packages\wfastcgi.py
At this point your settings in the Add FastCGI Application dialog should look like
this:
With the Add FastCGI Application dialog box still open, under the “General”
section, click on the “Environment Variables” line, then click the gray “…” button
that appears next to (Collection) on the right-hand side of the line. This opens the
Environment Variables Collection Editor dialog.
In the Environment Variables Collection Editor dialog, click “Add”
In the “Name properties” section on the right, click the input box to the right of
“Name,” remove the “Name” text that is already in the input box, and enter
DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE (note that this MUST be entered in ALL CAPS)
Click the input box to the right of “Value” and enter Ericsson.settings
Click “Add” again and enter the following:

Name: PYTHONPATH
Value: C:\User_details\Ericsson
Click “Add” again and enter the following:

Name: WSGI_HANDLER
Value: Ericsson.wsgi.application
At this point you will have three environment variables:
NOTE: All of these settings are CASE-SENSITIVE. They must be entered with exactly the
case indicated here in order to work.
Click “OK” to close the EnviromentVariables Collection Editor.
Click “OK” to close the Add FastCGI Application dialog.
. . .
7. Create and Configure a New IIS Web Site

Next we need to create a new web site in IIS for the Django application, and add a
Handler Mapping to the newly created web site so that requests coming to the IIS web
site are passed off to the Django application for processing.
Open IIS Manager
On the left-hand side under Connections, expand the tree under the server name
by clicking on the arrow to the left of the server name
Right-click on the Sites folder and click “Add Website …”
For the site name enter Ericsson
For the physical path, type the following: C:\User_details\Ericsson
For the purposes of this example configuration, change the Port to 81, since the
Default site is running on port 80. For a real-world application you’ll likely want to
use name-based virtual hosting by adding bindings and run the site on port 80.
You may leave the “Host name” blank. At this point the Add Website dialog should look
like this:
Click “OK”
Next, we’ll add a FastCGI handler mapping to this site so the requests coming into the
site will be processed by the Django application.
In IIS Manager, expand the Sites folder on the left-hand side and click on the site
On the right, double-click “Handler Mappings”
On the right, under “Actions,” click “Add Module Mapping”
In the “Request path” box enter an asterisk: *
Click the arrow on the right-hand side of the “Module” box and select “FastCgi
Module”
NOTE: Make sure to select FastCgi Module, NOT CgiModule
In the “Executable” box, enter the following:

C:\virtualenvs\Eric\Scripts\python.exe|C:\virtualenvs\Eric\Lib\site-
packages\wfastcgi.py
Note that the character after python.exe is a pipe (|), which is entered by pressing Shift-\
on your keyboard
In the “Name” box, enter Django Handler (you can call this whatever you want; it’s
merely a friendly name for the module mapping)
The Add Module Mapping dialog should now look like this:
Click the “Request Restrictions” button and uncheck the “Invoke handler only if
request is mapped to:” checkbox
Click “OK” to close the Request Restrictions dialog
Click “OK” to close the Add Module Mapping dialog
When prompted “Do you want to create a FastCGI application for this executable?”
click “No” since we created the application earlier.
Note that you CAN have it create the FastCGI application for you from the module
mapping, but the settings seem to be different and the end result isn’t fully editable. I also
detailed how to create the FastCGI application to be as thorough as possible with all the
various pieces involved.
You will now see the Django Handler listed in the Handler Mappings for the foo
website:
At this point everything should be working, so verify by loading the application in a

browser.
Open a browser on the server
Browse to http://localhost:81
You should see the following:
This is the same result as when we ran the Django test server earlier, but now the
requests are being handled by IIS.
. . .
8. Additional Steps-
Make sure in setting.py file under you project folder you do:
1. DEBUG = False
2. ALLOWED_HOSTS= [‘localhost’,’server ip’]
Python Django Web Applications Windows Iis Deployment
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7/31/2020 Steps to Deploy Python Django Web Application on Windows IIS Server | by AYUSHI SHARMA | Medium

Steps to Deploy Python Django Web Application on

Though many Django Developer might find it might consider it blasphemous,

3. In the Python Setup dialog that appears, click “Customize Installation”

5. On the Advanced Options step, make the following changes:

Check “Add Python to environment variables”

7. When the installation is complete, click “Close”

Confirm the Python Installation

Exit the Python interpreter by typing exit() and pressing Enter.

Close the Command Prompt.

2. Create and Configure a Python Virtual Environment for Your

1. Open a Command Prompt.

2. Navigate to the root of the C: drive: cd C:\ [then press Enter]

3. Create a new directory in which to store your virtual environments:

4. Navigate to the newly created virtualenvs directory:

Activate the Virtual Environment and Upgrade pip

First, we’ll activate the virtual environment:

Open a Command Prompt

Navigate to the virtual environment’s directory:

Activate the virtual environment:

If an update for pip is available, it will be downloaded and installed.

file is present by- pip install -r requirement.txt.

3. Install Django and Download Django Application from github

You should see the following output:

In a browser on the server, go to http://localhost:8000

Open the Control Panel

Make sure to check CGI box.

Verify the IIS Installation

If you don’t see the default IIS page:

1. Open Control Panel

2. Type “services” in the search box

3. Under “Administrative Tools” click “View local services”

5.Configure IIS to Serve Django Applications

Installed IIS with CGI

Created and activated a Python virtual environment

Installed Django and wfastcgi in a Python virtual environment

Created a new Django project

Ran the Django project using the Django development server

6.Configure FastCGI in IIS

Double-click the “FastCGI Settings” icon

Under “Actions” on the right-hand side click “Add application …”

In the Environment Variables Collection Editor dialog, click “Add”

Click “Add” again and enter the following:

Click “Add” again and enter the following:

At this point you will have three environment variables:

Click “OK” to close the EnviromentVariables Collection Editor.

Click “OK” to close the Add FastCGI Application dialog.

7. Create and Configure a New IIS Web Site

Open IIS Manager

Right-click on the Sites folder and click “Add Website …”

For the site name enter Ericsson

For the physical path, type the following: C:\User_details\Ericsson

On the right, double-click “Handler Mappings”

On the right, under “Actions,” click “Add Module Mapping”

In the “Request path” box enter an asterisk: *

NOTE: Make sure to select FastCgi Module, NOT CgiModule

In the “Executable” box, enter the following:

Click “OK” to close the Request Restrictions dialog

Click “OK” to close the Add Module Mapping dialog

At this point everything should be working, so verify by loading the application in a

Open a browser on the server

You should see the following: