IaC Django Serverless Starter for AWS

The IaC Django Serverless Starter for AWS is an open source project designed to demonstrate how a Django application can be deployed using a fully serverless architecture on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

This setup leverages AWS Lambda as the execution environment, utilizing SQLite for its database needs, and employs CloudFormation/SAM for provisioning the necessary infrastructure. It includes a robust local development environment that uses Visual Studio Code and Docker for streamlined development.

While this project offers a practical opportunity to explore serverless computing with Django on AWS, it's important to note that it is intended strictly for demonstration and learning purposes. It is not recommended for production environments due to certain limitations outlined below. For production use, please refer to the commercial version of this product.

Key Features

• Serverless Architecture: Deploy Django applications without managing servers. Enjoy seamless scalability and management using AWS services such as Lambda, API Gateway, and CloudFormation.
• Simplified Development Environment: Set up a local development environment using Docker and VS Code, allowing developers to focus on coding rather than environment configuration.
• Comprehensive Deployment Tools: Utilize AWS CloudFormation and SAM for infrastructure as code, ensuring a quick and repeatable deployment process.
• High Availability: The application is deployed across three AWS availability zones, offering robustness and resilience.
• Cost-Effective: Ideal for small projects, this setup can largely operate within the AWS Free Tier limits, minimizing costs for development and testing.

What's Included

1. AWS Lambda: Serves as the execution environment for running Django applications.
2. Amazon API Gateway: Facilitates communication between clients and the serverless backend.
3. Amazon VPC & EFS: Provides secure networking and persistent storage for the application.
4. AWS CloudFormation & SAM: Manages the infrastructure as code, allowing for easy deployment and management.
5. Amazon CloudWatch: Offers monitoring and logging capabilities to track application performance and issues.

Architecture

Setup & Usage

To get started, developers need to have Docker, VS Code, Dev Containers, and an AWS account set up. The installation involves cloning the repository, configuring the environment, and running a few commands to build, deploy, and manage the application both locally and on AWS.

Steps to Deploy:

1. Build and Deploy: Create a deployment package using SAM and deploy the stack on AWS.
2. Apply Database Migrations: Ensure your database schema is up-to-date with Django migrations.
3. Collect Static Files: Gather all static assets for the Django application.
4. Create a Superuser: Set up an admin account for managing the Django application.
5. Access the Application: Use the provided API Gateway's URL to view your application live.

Clean Up: Remove all deployed resources easily with a single command to avoid incurring unnecessary costs.

Limitations

While the IaC Django Serverless Starter provides a solid way to explore serverless architectures, it comes with certain limitations:

• High Latency and Slow Cold Starts: Due to the use of SQLite and network-attached storage, expect higher latencies and slower cold starts.
• Not Suitable for Production: This setup is designed for development and testing purposes only and lacks the robustness required for production environments.
• Static and Media File Management: Static files are served by Lambda, which can be slow and resource-intensive. There is no support for media file handling.
• Security Considerations: The application’s current configuration poses several security risks, including open endpoints and insecure environment variable management.

Explore the Serverless Future with Django on AWS!

Dive into serverless computing and gain hands-on experience with AWS's powerful ecosystem through the IaC Django Serverless Starter. This project is perfect for developers and architects looking to understand serverless deployments, infrastructure as code, and scalable web applications. However, remember to use it as a learning tool, not in production.

See the project on GitHub

License: Released under the GNU GPLv3 License.

Please note: As this project is for educational and demonstration purposes, it may not be suitable for production environments. Always review and understand the limitations before using it for critical applications.