Deploying Django on AWS with Zero Downtime

Originally published on the Djangix blog. This is a condensed version — read the full article on djangix.com at the link below.

You do not need a cluster to deploy without downtime. The pattern in the full guide runs blue-green on a single EC2 host: two complete copies of the app, one live, one idle, with Nginx switching traffic between them.

Two colours, one server

Each colour gets its own directory, virtualenv, Gunicorn service, and port. The database, media, and environment stay shared, so switching colours changes code — not data.

Deploy to the idle colour

Update the inactive copy, run checks, start it, and probe its health endpoint on its own port. Only when it answers correctly do you update the Nginx upstream and reload, sending users to the new release.

Rollback and the traps

The old colour keeps running, so rollback is another proxy switch, not a rebuild. Guard the details the guide calls out: keep secrets out of the app folders, never let a deploy overwrite static files the live colour is serving, and treat database changes the old code cannot read as a separate, careful step.

Read the full article

This was a condensed summary. The complete walkthrough, with commands and configuration, is on the Djangix blog: Deploying Django on AWS with Zero Downtime