flask-db-test

Basic flask web app for testing database configurations.

This is a basic web app for quickly switching between different database configurations to test a flask deployment. The app exposes a single database model allowing you to test the ability to read from and write to a database table. For a lengthier explanation, please read this blog post.

Install

Assuming CentOS 7, Apache, and mod_wsgi. For other deployment environments read the docs, fancy pants!

sudo yum -y update
sudo yum install vim httpd python python-devel python-virtualenv httpd-devel mod_wsgi

# needed to compile the psycopg2 adapter
sudo yum groupinstall development

sudo systemctl start httpd
sudo systemctl enable httpd

Apache

Prepare the /var/www directory.

sudo mkdir /var/www/{wsgi-scripts,apps}

# setup webserver admin group and directories
sudo groupadd www
sudo usermod -a -G www yourusername
sudo chown -R root:www /var/www
sudo chmod 2775 /var/www
find /var/www -type d -exec sudo chmod 2775 {} +
find /var/www -type f -exec sudo chmod 0664 {} +

Apache configuration.

sudo vim /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Embedded mode

To run mod_wsgi in embedded mode, add the following lines to the end of httpd.conf:

WSGIScriptAlias /flasktest /var/www/wsgi-scripts/flask-db-test.wsgi

<Directory /var/www/wsgi-scripts>
    Require all granted
</Directory>

Daemon mode (recommended)

To run mod_wsgi in daemon mode, also include these lines:

WSGIDaemonProcess dev \
    processes=2 \
    threads=15 \
    stack-size=524288 \
    maximum-requests=1000 \
    display-name=%{GROUP}
WSGIProcessGroup dev

PostgreSQL

sudo vim /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo
# add to [base] and [updates] sections:
exclude=postgresql*

sudo yum localinstall http://yum.postgresql.org/9.4/redhat/rhel-7-x86_64/pgdg-centos94-9.4-1.noarch.rpm
sudo yum install postgresql94.x86_64 \
                 postgresql94-contrib.x86_64 \
                 postgresql94-libs.x86_64 \
                 postgresql94-odbc.x86_64 \
                 postgresql94-server.x86_64 \
                 postgresql94-test.x86_64 \
                 postgresql94-debuginfo.x86_64

sudo /usr/pgsql-9.4/bin/postgresql94-setup initdb
sudo systemctl enable postgresql-9.4.service
sudo systemctl start postgresql-9.4

sudo vim /var/lib/pgsql/9.4/data/pg_hba.conf
local   flasktestdb     flasktest   md5

sudo systemctl restart postgresql-9.4
sudo /bin/bash
sudo -u postgres psql

create role flasktest with login encrypted password 'test12345';
create database flasktestdb with owner flasktest;

SQLite

No special installation necessary as it is packaged along with flask.

sudo chgrp apache app-dev.db 
chmod 774 app-dev.db
sudo setenforce 0
sudo chgrp apache .

Warning: don't leave SELinux in permissive mode!

Flask

# install git
sudo yum install git

# create a symlink to pg_config
sudo ln -s /usr/pgsql-9.4/bin/pg_config /usr/local/bin/pg_config

# set selinux contexts for apache to use psycopg2
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_script_exec_t /var/www/apps/flask-db-test/venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/psycopg2/_psycopg.so
sudo restorecon -v /var/www/apps/flask-db-test/venv/lib/python2.7/site-packages/psycopg2/_psycopg.so

Install flask-db-test

cd /var/www/apps
mkdir flask-db-test
cd flask-db-test
git clone ...
mv flask-db-test.wsgi ../../wsgi-scripts
virtualenv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

Edit or add new configuration files in local/. To activate a config, create a symlink from config_live.py pointing to the desired config file.

ln -s local/config_postgres.py config_live.py

Initialize the database.

source venv/bin/activate
python manage.py init_database

If all goes well, touch the wsgi script or reload apache which will instruct modwsgi to reload the application.

# mod_wsgi in embedded mode
sudo systemctl restart httpd

# mod_wsgi in daemon mode
touch ../../wsgi-scripts/flask-db-test.wsgi