Deploy Django on Google Cloud C4A (Arm-based Axion VMs)

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+---
+title: Deploy Django on Google Cloud C4A (Arm-based Axion VMs)
+
+minutes_to_complete: 30
+
+who_is_this_for: This learning path is intended for software developers deploying and optimizing Django-based web applications on Linux/Arm64 environments, specifically using Google Cloud C4A virtual machines powered by Axion processors.
+
+learning_objectives:
+  - Provision an Arm-based SUSE SLES virtual machine on Google Cloud (C4A with Axion processors)
+  - Install Django on a SUSE Arm64 (C4A) instance
+  - Verify Django functionality by running the development server and accessing the default welcome page on the Arm64 VM  
+  - Measure Django application performance by benchmarking request handling throughput and latency using the official ApacheBench (ab) tool with Gunicorn on Arm64 (Aarch64)
+
+prerequisites:
+  - A [Google Cloud Platform (GCP)](https://cloud.google.com/free) account with billing enabled  
+  - Basic familiarity with [Django](https://www.djangoproject.com/)
+
+author: Pareena Verma
+
+##### Tags
+skilllevels: Introductory
+subjects: Web
+cloud_service_providers: Google Cloud
+
+armips:
+  - Neoverse
+
+tools_software_languages:
+  - Django
+  - Python
+  - Gunicorn
+  - Apache Bench
+
+operatingsystems:
+  - Linux
+
+# ================================================================================
+#       FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
+# ================================================================================
+further_reading:
+  - resource:
+      title: Google Cloud documentation
+      link: https://cloud.google.com/docs
+      type: documentation
+
+  - resource:
+      title: Django documentation
+      link: https://docs.djangoproject.com/
+      type: documentation
+
+  - resource:
+      title: Apache-bench documentation
+      link: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/programs/ab.html 
+      type: documentation
+
+weight: 1
+layout: "learningpathall"
+learning_path_main_page: "yes"
+---

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+---
+# ================================================================================
+#       FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE
+# ================================================================================
+weight: 21                  # Set to always be larger than the content in this path to be at the end of the navigation.
+title: "Next Steps"         # Always the same, html page title.
+layout: "learningpathall"   # All files under learning paths have this same wrapper for Hugo processing.
+---

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/django-on-gcp/background.md

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+---
+title: Getting started with Django on Google Axion C4A (Arm Neoverse-V2)
+
+weight: 2
+
+layout: "learningpathall"
+---
+
+## Google Axion C4A Arm instances in Google Cloud
+
+Google Axion C4A is a family of Arm-based virtual machines built on Google’s custom Axion CPU, which is based on Arm Neoverse-V2 cores. Designed for high-performance and energy-efficient computing, these virtual machines offer strong performance for modern cloud workloads such as CI/CD pipelines, microservices, media processing, and general-purpose applications.
+
+The C4A series provides a cost-effective alternative to x86 virtual machines while leveraging the scalability and performance benefits of the Arm architecture in Google Cloud.
+
+To learn more about Google Axion, refer to the [Introducing Google Axion Processors, our new Arm-based CPUs](https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/compute/introducing-googles-new-arm-based-cpu) blog.
+
+## Django
+
+[Django](https://www.djangoproject.com/) is a high-level, **open-source Python web framework** that encourages **rapid development** and **clean, pragmatic design**. Developed and maintained by the [Django Software Foundation](https://www.djangoproject.com/foundation/), it simplifies web application development by handling much of the boilerplate and providing powerful built-in features.
+
+Django follows the **Model–View–Template (MVT)** architectural pattern and includes robust tools for **authentication**, **URL routing**, **form handling**, **ORM (Object Relational Mapping)**, **session management**, and **administration interface** — all out of the box.
+
+Django is known for its focus on **security**, **scalability**, and **maintainability**, making it suitable for everything from small projects to large-scale enterprise applications. It helps developers build secure, high-performance web applications quickly without reinventing common components.
+
+Common use cases include **web applications**, **content management systems**, **APIs**, **e-commerce platforms**, and **data-driven dashboards**. It integrates seamlessly with popular databases like **PostgreSQL**, **MySQL**, **SQLite**, and **Oracle**.
+
+To learn more, visit the [official Django website](https://www.djangoproject.com/) and explore the [Django documentation](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/stable/).

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+---
+title: Django Baseline Testing on Google Axion C4A Arm Virtual Machine
+weight: 5
+
+### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
+layout: learningpathall
+---
+
+## Django Baseline Testing on GCP SUSE VMs
+This baseline testing guide verifies that your **Django installation**, **web server**, and **basic application routing** are functioning correctly on a **Google Cloud SUSE Linux Arm64 (Axion C4A)** virtual machine.  
+You will first run the Django development server and access it from your browser, then create a simple Django app to ensure routing works.
+
+### Baseline 1 — View Django Welcome Page
+This test confirms that Django is installed correctly and the server runs successfully.
+
+#### Activate your Python environment
+Before running Django, activate the Python virtual environment you created during installation.
+
+```console
+source venv/bin/activate
+```
+
+#### Create a new Django project
+Run the following command to create a new Django project named `myproject`:
+
+```console
+django-admin startproject myproject
+cd myproject
+```
+
+This generates the following directory structure:
+
+```markdown
+myproject/
+├── manage.py
+└── myproject/
+    ├── settings.py
+    ├── urls.py
+    ├── asgi.py
+    └── wsgi.py
+```
+- `manage.py` is Django’s command-line utility for project management (running server, migrations, etc.).
+- The inner `myproject/` folder contains the core configuration files that define your project’s settings and URLs.-
+
+#### Run initial migrations
+Migrations prepare your project’s database by creating the required tables for Django’s internal apps (admin, authentication, etc.):
+
+```console
+python manage.py migrate
+```
+
+#### Start the Django development server
+Before starting the Django development server, you must configure your ALLOWED_HOSTS setting to allow access from your VM’s external IP.
+This ensures that Django accepts HTTP requests from outside the localhost (e.g., when testing in a browser or from another machine).
+
+**ALLOWED_HOSTS:** is a security setting in Django that defines which host/domain names your Django site can serve.
+
+- Navigate to Your Project Settings
+  Move into your Django project directory where the settings.py file is located.
+
+  ```console
+  cd ~/myproject/mysite/mysite
+  ```
+
+- Open settings.py File
+  Use any text editor (like vi or nano) to open the file.
+
+  ```console
+  vi settings.py
+  ```
+
+- Locate the `ALLOWED_HOSTS` Line
+  Inside the file, find the following line:
+
+   ```python
+  ALLOWED_HOSTS = []
+  ```
+ This setting defines which host/domain names Django will serve.
+
+- Allow All Hosts (for Testing Only)
+  To make your Django app accessible from your VM’s external IP address, update it to:
+  ```pthon
+  ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['*']
+  ```
+{{% notice Note %}}
+Allowing all hosts `('*')` is suitable **only for development or testing**.
+For production, replace `'*'` with specific domain names or IPs, such as:
+{{% /notice %}}
+
+```python
+ALLOWED_HOSTS = ['your-external-ip', 'your-domain.com']
+```
+
+#### Enable Port 8000 in GCP Firewall
+
+By default, Google Cloud VMs block external traffic on custom ports like 8000. You must open this port to access Django from your browser.
+
+**Now start the Django development server:**
+
+```console
+python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000
+```
+
+#### View in browser
+Open a web browser on your local machine (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, etc.) and enter the following URL in the address bar:
+
+```console
+http://<YOUR_VM_EXTERNAL_IP>:8000
+```
+- Replace `<YOUR_VM_EXTERNAL_IP>` with the public IP of your GCP VM.
+
+If everything is set up correctly, you should see the default Django welcome page (“The install worked successfully!”). It looks like this:
+
+![Django welcome page alt-text#center](images/django-welcome-page.png "Figure 1: Django web page")
+
+### Baseline 2 — Create a Simple Django App
+This test ensures Django’s application routing and view rendering work as expected.
+
+#### Stop the server
+Press `Ctrl + C` to stop the Django server if running.
+
+#### Create a new app
+Within your Django project directory, create a new app named `hello`:
+
+```console
+python manage.py startapp hello
+```
+
+**This creates the following directory:**
+
+```markdown
+hello/
+├── admin.py
+├── apps.py
+├── models.py
+├── tests.py
+├── views.py
+└── urls.py
+```
+
+#### Create a simple view
+Edit `hello/views.py`. Replace your existing file with this:
+
+```python
+from django.http import HttpResponse
+
+def home(request):
+    return HttpResponse("<h1>Hello, Django on GCP SUSE ARM64!</h1>")
+```
+This defines a simple view function that sends a basic HTML message as the HTTP response.
+
+#### Create app URL configuration
+Create a new file hello/urls.py and add:
+
+```python
+from django.urls import path
+from . import views
+
+urlpatterns = [
+    path('', views.home, name='home'),
+]
+```
+This maps the root URL `(/)`of your app to the `home()` view function.
+
+#### Link the app to the main project
+Replace your default `myproject/urls.py` file with this version.
+
+```python
+"""myproject URL Configuration
+
+The `urlpatterns` list routes URLs to views. For more information please see:
+    https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.2/topics/http/urls/
+Examples:
+Function views
+    1. Add an import:  from my_app import views
+    2. Add a URL to urlpatterns:  path('', views.home, name='home')
+Class-based views
+    1. Add an import:  from other_app.views import Home
+    2. Add a URL to urlpatterns:  path('', Home.as_view(), name='home')
+Including another URLconf
+    1. Import the include() function: from django.urls import include, path
+    2. Add a URL to urlpatterns:  path('blog/', include('blog.urls'))
+"""
+
+from django.contrib import admin
+from django.urls import path, include
+
+urlpatterns = [
+    path('admin/', admin.site.urls),
+    path('', include('hello.urls')),
+]
+```
+This tells Django to delegate routing for the root path (`''`) to the `hello` app’s URLs.
+
+#### Add the app to settings
+This makes Django aware of your new app so it can load its configuration and routes.
+Edit `myproject/settings.py` → add `'hello'` to INSTALLED_APPS:
+
+```python
+INSTALLED_APPS = [
+    'django.contrib.admin',
+    'django.contrib.auth',
+    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
+    'django.contrib.sessions',
+    'django.contrib.messages',
+    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
+    'hello',
+]
+```
+#### Run the server again
+
+```console
+python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000
+```
+
+#### Test your app
+Open in browser:
+
+```console
+http://<YOUR_VM_IP>:8000
+```
+You should see the Django app. It looks like this:
+
+![Django App alt-text#center](images/django-app.png "Figure 2: Django App")