django-deployment-wsgi-gunicorn

Django Deployment with WSGI involves transitioning a Django application from a local development server to a production environment using a production-grade Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI) HTTP Server (like Gunicorn) sitting behind a reverse proxy (like Nginx).

The python manage.py runserver command is explicitly not secure or scalable enough for real users on the internet. In production, you need a heavy-duty server like Nginx to handle internet traffic and static files, which passes dynamic requests to an application server like Gunicorn, which finally translates them for Django.

1. Internet requests hit Nginx (Reverse Proxy).
2. Nginx checks if the request is for a static file (CSS/JS). If yes, it returns it immediately.
3. If not, Nginx forwards the request to Gunicorn via a socket.
4. Gunicorn translates the raw HTTP into Python objects based on the WSGI specification.
5. Gunicorn passes the request to Django’s wsgi.py entry point.
6. Django processes the request and sends the response back down the chain.

graph LR
  A[Client Browser] -->|HTTP| B(Nginx)
  B -->|Serves| C[Static Files]
  B -->|Forwards WSGI| D(Gunicorn Workers)
  D --> E(Django Application)
  E --> D
  D --> B
  B --> A

Nginx is the front-desk receptionist of a huge corporate building. When you ask for a brochure (static file), the receptionist hands it to you immediately. When you ask to speak to the CEO, the receptionist forwards you to the CEO’s executive assistant (Gunicorn), who translates your request into the exact format the CEO (Django) prefers to handle.

• Separation of concerns: Nginx handles network security/assets, Gunicorn handles process management, Django handles business logic.
• Horizontally scalable: Gunicorn can spin up multiple worker processes to handle concurrent requests.

• Built from: Django Web Framework — production architectural pattern.
• Related: Django Project — contains the wsgi.py file.
• Related: Django Static Files — Nginx takes over static file serving.

• A missing or misconfigured ALLOWED_HOSTS setting in production will cause Django to block all incoming requests and return 400 Bad Request errors.