Host blog with Django: object-stored public media

Summary

Deploy a blog built with Django on Ample using the public media library 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: an object written to a published bucket with an immutable Cache-Control header, a mapping row, and the CDN URL serving it publicly. Not separately tested: your media processing, object layout and cache policy; treat the blog-specific behavior as your application code.

Infrastructure requirements

• Compute: verified (Apps run in isolated x86_64 Firecracker microVMs that auto-pause when idle and wake on request; sizes are the priced VM sizes.)
• Postgres: verified (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: verified (Buckets are S3-compatible with issued credentials; PutObject and GetObject are verified by canary. Other S3 operations are not verified.)
• CDN: verified (The CDN host serves objects from published buckets. It does not front app compute and is not a cache or key-value store.)

Prerequisites

• 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)
• A PostgreSQL driver reading DATABASE_URL at runtime (auto-provisioned when omitted, or supplied with --env)
• A bucket from ample bucket create with its credentials passed as encrypted S3_* environment variables and a second, published bucket for public assets (CDN_*)
• An Ample account token with servers:write, databases:read, buckets:read

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 media library: an object written to a published bucket with an immutable Cache-Control header, a mapping row, and the CDN URL serving it publicly. 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.

   ample deploy . --name <app-name> --public --start "python3 run.py" --env S3_ENDPOINT=... --env S3_REGION=... --env S3_BUCKET=... --env S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID=... --env S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=... --env CDN_PUBLIC_URL=...
   

5. Verify. Fetch the live URL and the pattern self-test route(s) (/p/public-media-library) from the example; then run your own checks. On failure read ample logs <deployment_id> --kind build then --kind runtime.

   ample logs <deployment_id> --kind build
   

Cost estimate

Estimated 10.00 USD per month (size prices from pricing.toml at build revision a1b8c38919e59cd035ebabaced73cf84ece24371).

• app server x1 s-1vcpu-1gb: 5.00 USD
• managed PostgreSQL database x1 s-1vcpu-1gb: 5.00 USD

Always-on monthly price of the tested sizes; apps and databases auto-pause when idle. Buckets are allocation-priced per quota and not included.