Development with Python

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Spinning Up a Server
I’m not going to dictate how you do this—whether you choose Amazon AWS, Rack‐
space, Digital Ocean, your own server in your own data centre or a Raspberry Pi in a
cupboard behind the stairs, any solution should be fine, as long as:
• Your server is running Ubuntu (13.04 or later).
• You have root access to it.
• It’s on the public Internet.
• You can SSH into it.
I’m recommending Ubuntu as a distro because it has Python 3.4 and it has some specific
ways of configuring Nginx, which I’m going to make use of next. If you know what
you’re doing, you can probably get away with using something else, but you’re on your
own.
Some people get to this chapter, and are tempted to skip the do‐
main bit, and the “getting a real server” bit, and just use a VM on their
own PC. Don’t do this. It’s not the same, and you’ll have more diffi‐
culty following the instructions, which are complicated enough as it
is. If you’re worried about cost, dig around and you’ll find free op‐
tions for both. Email me if you need further pointers, I’m always
happy to help.
User Accounts, SSH, and Privileges
In these instructions, I’m assuming that you have a nonroot user account set up that
has “sudo” privileges, so whenever we need to do something that requires root access,
we use sudo, and I’m explicit about that in the various instructions below. If you need
to create a nonroot user, here’s how:
# these commands must be run as root
:$ useradd -m -s /bin/bash elspeth # add user named elspeth
# -m creates a home folder, -s sets elspeth to use bash by default
:$ usermod -a -G sudo elspeth # add elspeth to the sudoers group
:$ passwd elspeth # set password for elspeth
:$ su - elspeth # switch-user to being elspeth!
:$
Name your own user whatever you like! I also recommend learning up how to use
private key authentication rather than passwords for SSH. It’s a matter of taking the
public key from your own PC, and appending it to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys in the user
account on the server. You probably went through a similar procedure if you signed up
for Bitbucket or Github.
Manually Provisioning a Server to Host Our Site | 137