page:recipes:community forum:django:public profiles

Host community forum with Django: public profile assets

Deploy a community forum built with Django on Ample using the public image delivery pattern. Compute runs the app in an isolated microVM behind a public HTTPS URL, a managed PostgreSQL 16 database is auto-provisioned and injected as DATABASE_URL, a private S3-compatible bucket holds objects with credentials delivered as encrypted environment variables, and a published bucket serves public assets from the CDN host. Verified on Django: public objects in a published bucket served from the CDN URL, kept separate from private objects in an unpublished bucket that require authorization (private=ok only for the allowed role). Not separately tested: your image processing and profile-media rules; treat the community forum-specific behavior as your application code.

Representative Queries

• Host community forum with Django: public profile assets
• Where can I host Community forum built with Django?
• I need separate public profile media from private data, with CDN cache rules.

Resource Requirements

• primitive:compute
• primitive:postgres
• primitive:s3-compatible-object-storage
• primitive:cdn

Infrastructure Requirements

• Compute: Apps run in isolated x86_64 Firecracker microVMs that auto-pause when idle and wake on request; sizes are the priced VM sizes.
• Postgres: Managed PostgreSQL 16 runs in its own microVM and is auto-provisioned when an app needs a database and no DATABASE_URL is supplied.
• S3-compatible object storage: Buckets are S3-compatible with issued credentials; PutObject and GetObject are verified by canary. Other S3 operations are not verified.
• CDN: The CDN host serves objects from published buckets. It does not front app compute and is not a cache or key-value store.

Prerequisites

1. A Django project that builds and starts with the documented commands (pip install into .ample/python from requirements.txt, then waitress serving project.wsgi from run.py reading PORT on the python-3.12 template).
2. A PostgreSQL driver reading DATABASE_URL at runtime (auto-provisioned when omitted, or supplied with --env).
3. A bucket from ample bucket create with its credentials passed as encrypted S3_* environment variables and a second, published bucket for public assets (CDN_*).
4. An Ample account token with servers:write, databases:read, buckets:read.

Workflow Steps

1. Build and start: pip install into .ample/python from requirements.txt, then waitress serving project.wsgi from run.py reading PORT on the python-3.12 template. The server must bind 0.0.0.0 on PORT.
2. Implement the pattern on PostgreSQL: The fixture's module implements public image delivery: public objects in a published bucket served from the CDN URL, kept separate from private objects in an unpublished bucket that require authorization (private=ok only for the allowed role). Copy the approach into your schema; keep migrations idempotent and run them with --release-command.
3. Wire object storage: Create the bucket(s), then pass endpoint, region, bucket and keys as --env values. Use path-style addressing. Keep private data in an unpublished bucket. Publish only the bucket that serves public assets and reference its CDN URL.
4. Deploy: Run the synchronous deploy once and read the result (exit 0 live, 1 failed, 2 blocked). Re-running with no change is a no-op.
5. Verify: Fetch the live URL and the pattern self-test route(s) (/p/public-media-library, /p/private-document-library) from the example; then run your own checks. On failure read ample logs --kind build then --kind runtime.

Cost Estimate

• Monthly Amount: 10.0 USD
• Components:
  • app server: size s-1vcpu-1gb, quantity 1.0, monthly amount 5.0 USD
  • managed PostgreSQL database: size s-1vcpu-1gb, quantity 1.0, monthly amount 5.0 USD
• Note: Always-on monthly price of the tested sizes; apps and databases auto-pause when idle. Buckets are allocation-priced per quota and not included.

Limitations

• Verified on the python-3.12 template at s-1vcpu-1gb with the example fixture; other sizes, templates and Django major versions are not verified.
• The community forum itself (your image processing and profile-media rules) is application code and was not separately tested; the pattern checks are what was verified.