**Course Title:** Mastering Django Framework: Building Scalable Web Applications **Section Title:** Version Control and Deployment **Topic:** Deploy a Django application to a cloud service using Git and set up a CI/CD pipeline.(Lab topic) **Objective:** By the end of this topic, you will be able to: 1. Deploy a Django application to a cloud service using Git. 2. Set up a CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions. 3. Understand the benefits of continuous integration and continuous deployment. **Prerequisites:** * Basic understanding of Django and its ecosystem. * Familiarity with Git and GitHub. * A Django project set up with a virtual environment. **Step 1: Prepare Your Django Project for Deployment** Before deploying your Django application, make sure it is ready for production. This includes: * Running migrations: `python manage.py migrate` * Collecting static files: `python manage.py collectstatic` * Creating a requirements.txt file: `pip freeze > requirements.txt` **Step 2: Create a GitHub Repository** Create a new repository on GitHub for your Django project. You can do this by following these steps: 1. Log in to your GitHub account. 2. Click on the "+" button to create a new repository. 3. Fill in the repository name, description, and choose a license. 4. Click on the "Create repository" button. **Step 3: Link Your Local Repository to GitHub** Link your local repository to your GitHub repository by following these steps: 1. Open your terminal and navigate to your project directory. 2. Run the command `git add .` to stage all changes. 3. Run the command `git commit -m "Initial commit"` to commit the changes. 4. Run the command `git remote add origin https://github.com/your-username/your-repo-name.git` to link your local repository to your GitHub repository. 5. Run the command `git push -u origin master` to push your changes to GitHub. **Step 4: Set Up a CI/CD Pipeline using GitHub Actions** Create a new file in your repository called `.github/workflows/main.yml`. This file will contain the configuration for your CI/CD pipeline. Here is an example configuration: ```yaml name: Build and Deploy on: push: branches: - master jobs: build-and-deploy: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - name: Checkout code uses: actions/checkout@v2 - name: Set up Python 3.9 uses: actions/setup-python@v2 with: python-version: '3.9' - name: Install dependencies run: | python -m pip install --upgrade pip pip install -r requirements.txt - name: Build and deploy run: | python manage.py collectstatic python manage.py migrate gunicorn your_project.wsgi:application --bind 0.0.0.0:8000 ``` This configuration will build and deploy your Django application on every push to the master branch. **Step 5: Deploy Your Application to a Cloud Service** You can deploy your application to a cloud service such as Heroku or AWS. Here is an example of how to deploy to Heroku: 1. Create a new Heroku app: `heroku create` 2. Link your Heroku app to your GitHub repository: `heroku git:remote -a your-app-name` 3. Deploy your application: `git push heroku master` **Conclusion:** In this topic, you learned how to deploy a Django application to a cloud service using Git and set up a CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions. This will help you automate the deployment process and ensure that your application is always up-to-date. **Additional Resources:** * [GitHub Actions documentation](https://docs.github.com/en/actions) * [Heroku documentation](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/getting-started-with-python) **Leave a comment or ask for help if you have any questions or need further clarification on any of the steps.**