How to serve the static content in nginx + django + kubernetes? - django

Question

I have a minikube running with the deployment of django app. Till today, we used server which django spins up. Now, I have added another Nginx container so that we can deploy django app cause I read django is not really for production. After reading some documentation and blogs, I configured the deployment.yaml file and it is running very much fine now.
The problem is that no static content is being served. This is really because static content is in django container and not Nginx container. (Idk if they can share volume or not, please clarify this doubt or misconception) What will be the best way so I can serve my static content?
This is my deployment file's spec:
spec:
containers:
- name: user-django-app
image: my-django-app:latest
ports:
- containerPort: 8000
env:
- name: POSTGRES_HOST
value: mysql-service
- name: POSTGRES_USER
value: admin
- name: POSTGRES_PASSWORD
value: admin
- name: POSTGRES_PORT
value: "8001"
- name: POSTGRES_DB
value: userdb
- name: user-nginx
image: nginx
volumeMounts:
- name: nginx-config
mountPath: /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
subPath: nginx.conf
volumes:
- name: nginx-config
configMap:
name: nginx-config
I believe that
server {
location /static {
alias /var/www/djangoapp/static;
}
}
needs to be changed. But I don't know what should I write? Also, how can I run python manage.py migrate and python manage.py collectstatic as soon as the deployment is made.
Kindly provide resource/docs/blogs which will assist me doing this. Thank you!
Thank you.
After #willrof 's answer, this is my current YAML file.
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: user-deployment
labels:
app: web
spec:
replicas: 1
selector:
matchLabels:
app: web
micro-service: user
template:
metadata:
name: user
labels:
app: web
micro-service: user
spec:
containers:
- name: user-django-app
image: docker.io/dev1911/drone_plus_plus_user:latest
ports:
- containerPort: 8000
env:
- name: POSTGRES_HOST
value: mysql-service
- name: POSTGRES_USER
value: admin
- name: POSTGRES_PASSWORD
value: admin
- name: POSTGRES_PORT
value: "8001"
- name: POSTGRES_DB
value: userdb
volumeMounts:
- name: shared
mountPath: /shared
command: ["/bin/sh", "-c"]
args: ["apt-get install nano"]
- name: user-nginx
image: nginx
volumeMounts:
- name: nginx-config
mountPath: /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
subPath: nginx.conf
- name: shared
mountPath: /var/www/user/static
volumes:
- name: nginx-config
configMap:
name: nginx-config
- name: shared
emptyDir: {}
And nginx-config file is
worker_processes auto;
error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log warn;
pid /var/run/nginx.pid;
events {
worker_connections 4096; ## Default: 1024
}
http {
include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
default_type application/octet-stream;
log_format ltsv 'domain:$host\t'
'host:$remote_addr\t'
'user:$remote_user\t'
'time:$time_local\t'
'method:$request_method\t'
'path:$request_uri\t'
'protocol:$server_protocol\t'
'status:$status\t'
'size:$body_bytes_sent\t'
'referer:$http_referer\t'
'agent:$http_user_agent\t'
'response_time:$request_time\t'
'cookie:$http_cookie\t'
'set_cookie:$sent_http_set_cookie\t'
'upstream_addr:$upstream_addr\t'
'upstream_cache_status:$upstream_cache_status\t'
'upstream_response_time:$upstream_response_time';
access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log ltsv;
sendfile on;
tcp_nopush on;
server_names_hash_bucket_size 128; # this seems to be required for some vhosts
keepalive_timeout 65;
gzip on;
server {
listen 80;
server_name example.com
;
location / {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
}
location /static {
alias /var/www/user/static;
}
}
# include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
}
I did not write this config but found this and edited to my use.

Answer 1

After our chat in comments, you told me you are having difficulties with using cmd and args.
Here is an example called two-containers.yaml:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: two-containers
spec:
restartPolicy: Never
containers:
- name: python
image: python
volumeMounts:
- name: shared-data
mountPath: /pod-data
command: ["/bin/sh"]
args: ["-c", "apt-get update && apt-get install -y curl && mkdir /curl-folder && cp /usr/bin/curl /curl-folder && cp -r /curl-folder /pod-data/"]
- name: user-nginx
image: nginx
volumeMounts:
- name: shared-data
mountPath: /tmp/pod-data
volumes:
- name: shared-data
emptyDir: {}
python will start up, run apt-get update then apt-get install -y curl then mkdir /curl-folder then copy usr/bin/curl to /curl-folder then copy the folder /curl-folder to /pod-data shared mounted volume.
A few observations:
The container image has to have the binary mentioned in command (like /bin/sh in python).
Try using && to chain commands consecutively in the args field it's easier to test and deploy.
Reproduction:
$ kubectl apply -f two-container-volume.yaml
pod/two-containers created
$ kubectl get pods -w
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
two-containers 2/2 Running 0 7s
two-containers 1/2 NotReady 0 30s
$ kubectl describe pod two-containers
...
Containers:
python:
Container ID: docker://911462e67d7afab9bca6cdaea154f9229c80632efbfc631ddc76c3d431333193
Image: python
Command:
/bin/sh
Args:
-c
apt-get update && apt-get install -y curl && mkdir /curl-folder && cp /usr/bin/curl /curl-folder && cp -r /curl-folder /pod-data/
State: Terminated
Reason: Completed
Exit Code: 0
user-nginx:
State: Running
The python container executed and completed correctly, now let's check the files logging inside the nginx container.
$ kubectl exec -it two-containers -c user-nginx -- /bin/bash
root#two-containers:/# cd /tmp/pod-data/curl-folder/
root#two-containers:/tmp/pod-data/curl-folder# ls
curl
If you need further help, post the yaml with the command+args as you are trying to run and we can help you troubleshoot the syntax.

Answer 2

If it's a django app, consider using whitenoise http://whitenoise.evans.io/en/stable/ to serve your static content from minikube or kubernetes.
This is straightforward advice, but I had to search quite a bit before someone mentioned it.