Deployment Guide

This guide covers production deployment of PropManager using Docker (recommended) or traditional (systemd + Gunicorn) methods.

Deployment Methods

Method	Best For	Complexity	Features
Docker Production	Modern deployments, cloud hosting	Low	Isolated, reproducible, easy updates
Traditional Deployment	VPS, dedicated servers	Medium	Full control, systemd integration

Docker Production

Recommended for most deployments. Uses Docker Compose to orchestrate all services.

1. System Requirements

Docker 20.10+
Docker Compose 2.0+
2GB RAM minimum (4GB recommended)
10GB disk space minimum
SSL certificate (for HTTPS)

2. Clone and Configure

# Clone repository
git clone <repository-url> /opt/PropManager
cd /opt/PropManager

# Copy environment template
cp .env.docker.example .env.docker

# CRITICAL: Edit .env.docker with production values
nano .env.docker

Required environment variables:

# Site configuration
SITE_URL=https://yourdomain.com
ALLOWED_HOSTS=yourdomain.com,www.yourdomain.com
DEBUG=False

# Security
SECRET_KEY=<generate-with-command-below>
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=<strong-random-password>

# Email (SMTP)
EMAIL_BACKEND=django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend
EMAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
EMAIL_PORT=587
EMAIL_USE_TLS=True
EMAIL_HOST_USER=your@email.com
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD=your-app-password
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL=noreply@yourdomain.com

# Optional: Payment gateways, Twilio, Weather API, etc.
# See .env.docker.example for complete list

Generate SECRET_KEY:

docker run --rm python:3.12-slim python -c "from django.core.management.utils import get_random_secret_key; print(get_random_secret_key())"

3. SSL Certificates

Option A: Let's Encrypt (Recommended)

# Install certbot
sudo apt install certbot

# Generate certificates
sudo certbot certonly --standalone -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

# Copy to docker/nginx/ssl/
sudo cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem docker/nginx/ssl/
sudo cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem docker/nginx/ssl/

# Set permissions
sudo chmod 644 docker/nginx/ssl/*.pem

Option B: Existing Certificates

Place your SSL certificates in docker/nginx/ssl/:

fullchain.pem - Certificate + intermediate chain
privkey.pem - Private key

Option C: Self-Signed (Development Only)

openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 \
  -keyout docker/nginx/ssl/privkey.pem \
  -out docker/nginx/ssl/fullchain.pem \
  -subj "/CN=yourdomain.com"

4. Deploy Application

# Start all services with nginx
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.nginx.yml up -d --build

# Wait for services to start (check with: docker compose ps)

# Run migrations
docker compose exec web python manage.py migrate

# Collect static files
docker compose exec web python manage.py collectstatic --no-input

# Access setup wizard
# Visit https://yourdomain.com/setup/ to complete configuration

5. Verify Deployment

# Check service status
docker compose ps

# All services should show "running":
# - propmanager-db
# - propmanager-redis
# - propmanager-web
# - propmanager-worker
# - propmanager-nginx

# View logs
docker compose logs -f web

# Check task queue
docker compose exec web python manage.py qinfo

6. Setup Wizard

Visit https://yourdomain.com/setup/
Complete the 8-step wizard:
- Welcome
- Admin Account (create your admin user)
- Database (auto-verified)
- Communications (email/SMS)
- Payment Gateway (configure at least one)
- Integrations (AI, Weather, Rewards - optional)
- Data Import (CSV or demo data - optional)
- Review & Complete
Access admin portal at https://yourdomain.com/admin-portal/

7. SSL Auto-Renewal (Let's Encrypt)

# Add renewal hook to copy new certificates
sudo nano /etc/letsencrypt/renewal-hooks/deploy/propmanager.sh

Contents:

#!/bin/bash
cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem /opt/PropManager/docker/nginx/ssl/
cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem /opt/PropManager/docker/nginx/ssl/
chmod 644 /opt/PropManager/docker/nginx/ssl/*.pem
docker compose -f /opt/PropManager/docker-compose.yml -f /opt/PropManager/docker-compose.nginx.yml restart nginx

sudo chmod +x /etc/letsencrypt/renewal-hooks/deploy/propmanager.sh

# Test renewal
sudo certbot renew --dry-run

8. Backups

Database Backup:

# Backup script: /opt/PropManager/backup.sh
#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_DIR="/backups/propmanager"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# PostgreSQL backup
docker compose exec -T db pg_dump -U propmanager propmanager | gzip > $BACKUP_DIR/db_$DATE.sql.gz

# Media files backup
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/media_$DATE.tar.gz media/

# Keep last 30 days
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.gz" -mtime +30 -delete

echo "Backup completed: $DATE"

chmod +x /opt/PropManager/backup.sh

# Add to cron (daily at 2am)
crontab -e
# Add: 0 2 * * * /opt/PropManager/backup.sh >> /var/log/propmanager_backup.log 2>&1

Restore from Backup:

# Stop services
docker compose down

# Restore database
gunzip -c /backups/propmanager/db_20260221_020000.sql.gz | \
  docker compose exec -T db psql -U propmanager propmanager

# Restore media files
tar -xzf /backups/propmanager/media_20260221_020000.tar.gz

# Restart services
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.nginx.yml up -d

9. Monitoring

View Logs:

# Web application
docker compose logs -f web

# Background worker
docker compose logs -f worker

# Nginx access/error logs
docker compose logs -f nginx

# Database
docker compose logs -f db

# All services
docker compose logs -f

Health Checks:

# Application health
curl https://yourdomain.com/health/

# Liveness check
curl https://yourdomain.com/live/

# Readiness check
curl https://yourdomain.com/ready/

Resource Usage:

# Container stats
docker stats

# Disk usage
docker system df

10. Updating

cd /opt/PropManager
git pull origin master

# Rebuild and restart
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.nginx.yml up -d --build

# Run migrations
docker compose exec web python manage.py migrate

# Collect static files
docker compose exec web python manage.py collectstatic --no-input

# Verify
docker compose ps

11. Troubleshooting

Services won't start:

# Check logs
docker compose logs

# Check specific service
docker compose logs db
docker compose logs web

# Restart specific service
docker compose restart web

Database connection errors:

# Verify DATABASE_URL in .env.docker
# Default: postgres://propmanager:<POSTGRES_PASSWORD>@db:5432/propmanager

# Check PostgreSQL is ready
docker compose exec db pg_isready -U propmanager

Permission errors:

# Fix media directory permissions
sudo chown -R 1000:1000 media/

# Fix static files
sudo chown -R 1000:1000 staticfiles/

Out of disk space:

# Clean up Docker
docker system prune -a

# Clean old images
docker image prune -a

# Check disk usage
df -h
du -sh media/ staticfiles/

Traditional Deployment

For deployments without Docker, using systemd and Gunicorn.

1. System Requirements

Python 3.10+
PostgreSQL 14+
Nginx (recommended reverse proxy)
systemd (for process management)

3. Environment Configuration

Create /opt/propmanager/propmanager/.env:

# Required
DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=config.settings.production
SECRET_KEY=<generate-a-64-char-random-string>
DEBUG=False
ALLOWED_HOSTS=yourdomain.com,www.yourdomain.com

# Database
DATABASE_URL=postgres://propmanager:password@localhost:5432/propmanager

# Email (SMTP)
EMAIL_BACKEND=django.core.mail.backends.smtp.EmailBackend
EMAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
EMAIL_PORT=587
EMAIL_USE_TLS=True
EMAIL_HOST_USER=your@email.com
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD=your-app-password
DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL=noreply@yourdomain.com

# Twilio (for SMS OTP and notifications)
TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID=ACxxxxxxxxxx
TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN=your_auth_token
TWILIO_PHONE_NUMBER=+15551234567

# Payment Gateways (configure via admin UI, but env vars needed for keys)
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_xxx
STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_live_xxx
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_xxx

PAYPAL_CLIENT_ID=xxx
PAYPAL_CLIENT_SECRET=xxx
PAYPAL_MODE=live

SQUARE_ACCESS_TOKEN=xxx
SQUARE_ENVIRONMENT=production
SQUARE_LOCATION_ID=xxx

# Weather
OPENWEATHERMAP_API_KEY=your_api_key

Generate a secret key:

python -c "from django.core.management.utils import get_random_secret_key; print(get_random_secret_key())"

4. Database Setup

# Create PostgreSQL database
sudo -u postgres createuser propmanager
sudo -u postgres createdb propmanager -O propmanager
sudo -u postgres psql -c "ALTER USER propmanager WITH PASSWORD 'your-secure-password';"

# Run migrations
source venv/bin/activate
python manage.py migrate

# Create admin account
python manage.py createsuperuser

# Collect static files
python manage.py collectstatic --no-input

5. Gunicorn (WSGI Server)

Install:

pip install gunicorn

Create /etc/systemd/system/propmanager.service:

[Unit]
Description=PropManager Django Application
After=network.target postgresql.service

[Service]
User=www-data
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/opt/propmanager/propmanager
ExecStart=/opt/propmanager/propmanager/venv/bin/gunicorn \
    config.wsgi:application \
    --bind 127.0.0.1:8000 \
    --workers 3 \
    --timeout 120
Restart=always
EnvironmentFile=/opt/propmanager/propmanager/.env

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl enable propmanager
sudo systemctl start propmanager

6. Django-Q2 Worker

Create /etc/systemd/system/propmanager-worker.service:

[Unit]
Description=PropManager Django-Q2 Worker
After=network.target postgresql.service

[Service]
User=www-data
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/opt/propmanager/propmanager
ExecStart=/opt/propmanager/propmanager/venv/bin/python manage.py qcluster
Restart=always
EnvironmentFile=/opt/propmanager/propmanager/.env

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl enable propmanager-worker
sudo systemctl start propmanager-worker

7. Nginx Configuration

Create /etc/nginx/sites-available/propmanager:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

    client_max_body_size 20M;

    location /static/ {
        alias /opt/propmanager/propmanager/staticfiles/;
        expires 30d;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    }

    location /media/ {
        alias /opt/propmanager/propmanager/media/;
        expires 7d;
    }

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/propmanager /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

8. SSL with Let's Encrypt

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

Production Settings

The production settings (config/settings/production.py) automatically enable:

SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT = True
SECURE_HSTS_SECONDS = 31536000 (1 year)
SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = True
CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = True
SECURE_BROWSER_XSS_FILTER = True
SECURE_CONTENT_TYPE_NOSNIFF = True
PostgreSQL database via DATABASE_URL

Environment Variables Reference

Required (Production)

Variable	Description	Example
`SECRET_KEY`	Django secret key (64+ chars)	`abc123...`
`ALLOWED_HOSTS`	Comma-separated hostnames	`yourdomain.com,www.yourdomain.com`
`DATABASE_URL`	PostgreSQL connection string	`postgres://user:pass@host:5432/db`

Email

Variable	Default	Description
`EMAIL_BACKEND`	Console backend	Django email backend class
`EMAIL_HOST`	`smtp.gmail.com`	SMTP server
`EMAIL_PORT`	`587`	SMTP port
`EMAIL_USE_TLS`	`True`	Use TLS
`EMAIL_HOST_USER`	`""`	SMTP username
`EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD`	`""`	SMTP password
`DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL`	`noreply@propmanager.com`	Sender address

Twilio (SMS)

Variable	Default	Description
`TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID`	`""`	Twilio Account SID
`TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN`	`""`	Twilio Auth Token
`TWILIO_PHONE_NUMBER`	`""`	Twilio sender phone number

Payment Gateways

Variable	Description
`STRIPE_SECRET_KEY`	Stripe secret API key
`STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY`	Stripe publishable key (frontend)
`STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET`	Stripe webhook endpoint secret
`PAYPAL_CLIENT_ID`	PayPal REST API client ID
`PAYPAL_CLIENT_SECRET`	PayPal REST API secret
`PAYPAL_MODE`	`sandbox` or `live`
`SQUARE_ACCESS_TOKEN`	Square API access token
`SQUARE_ENVIRONMENT`	`sandbox` or `production`
`SQUARE_LOCATION_ID`	Square location ID

Weather

Variable	Default	Description
`OPENWEATHERMAP_API_KEY`	`""`	OpenWeatherMap API key

Django

Variable	Default	Description
`DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE`	`config.settings.development`	Settings module path
`DEBUG`	`False`	Debug mode (never True in production)

Backup Strategy

Database

# Daily PostgreSQL backup
pg_dump propmanager > /backups/propmanager_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

# Restore
psql propmanager < /backups/propmanager_20250301.sql

Media Files

# Backup uploaded files
rsync -av /opt/propmanager/propmanager/media/ /backups/media/

Monitoring

Check application health

# Application running
sudo systemctl status propmanager

# Worker running
sudo systemctl status propmanager-worker

# Recent logs
sudo journalctl -u propmanager -n 50

# Django-Q2 task queue status
python manage.py qinfo

Django System Check

python manage.py check --deploy

This validates all production security settings are correctly configured.

Updating

cd /opt/propmanager
git pull origin main
source propmanager/venv/bin/activate
cd propmanager
pip install -r requirements/base.txt
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py collectstatic --no-input
sudo systemctl restart propmanager
sudo systemctl restart propmanager-worker

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Deployment Guide

Deployment Methods

Docker Production

1. System Requirements

2. Clone and Configure

3. SSL Certificates

4. Deploy Application

5. Verify Deployment

6. Setup Wizard

7. SSL Auto-Renewal (Let's Encrypt)

8. Backups

9. Monitoring

10. Updating

11. Troubleshooting

Traditional Deployment

1. System Requirements

3. Environment Configuration

4. Database Setup

5. Gunicorn (WSGI Server)

6. Django-Q2 Worker

7. Nginx Configuration

8. SSL with Let's Encrypt

Production Settings

Environment Variables Reference

Required (Production)

Email

Twilio (SMS)

Payment Gateways

Weather

Django

Backup Strategy

Database

Media Files

Monitoring

Check application health

Django System Check

Updating

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deployment.md

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Deployment Guide

Deployment Methods

Docker Production

1. System Requirements

2. Clone and Configure

3. SSL Certificates

4. Deploy Application

5. Verify Deployment

6. Setup Wizard

7. SSL Auto-Renewal (Let's Encrypt)

8. Backups

9. Monitoring

10. Updating

11. Troubleshooting

Traditional Deployment

1. System Requirements

3. Environment Configuration

4. Database Setup

5. Gunicorn (WSGI Server)

6. Django-Q2 Worker

7. Nginx Configuration

8. SSL with Let's Encrypt

Production Settings

Environment Variables Reference

Required (Production)

Email

Twilio (SMS)

Payment Gateways

Weather

Django

Backup Strategy

Database

Media Files

Monitoring

Check application health

Django System Check

Updating