How to run Python Scripts with Apache and mod_wsgi on Ubuntu 22.04

The Apache module mod_wsgi provides an interface for hosting Python-based web applications. It is a good choice for professional hosting systems as it provides a high-performance solution, but works equally well for small sites. Deployment of applications written with Python frameworks like Django, Web.py, Werkzug, Chery.py, TurboGears, and Flask is easy with mod_wsgi.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to install and configure mod_wsgi using the Apache web server on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. This guide is an updated version of the Apache WSGI guide for Ubuntu 20.04 from Hitesh Jethva.

Prerequisites

  • Ubuntu 22.04 Server or Desktop
  • You must be the system administrator and either have root or sudo permission to install and configure this software.

Getting Started

Before starting, it is a good idea to update your system with the latest version. You can update your system with the following command:

sudo apt update -y
sudo apt upgrade -y

After updating the system, restart it to implement the changes.

Install Python programming language

By default, Python comes pre-installed on Ubuntu 22.04. in case Python is not installed yet, then you can install it with this command:

sudo apt install python3 libexpat1 -y

The screenshot below shows the output of the command when python is already installed.

Install python

Now proceed with the next step.

Install Apache web server and the mod_wsgi module

In this step, we will install the Apache web server and the mod_wsgi Python module. Execute the following command to install both applications. The dependent software packages will get installed automatically.

sudo apt install apache2 apache2-utils ssl-cert libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3 -y

Install Apache WSGI Module

Once all the packages are installed, you can proceed to the next step.

WSGI module configuration in Apache

Next, you need to create a new Python script inside Apache default web root directory to serve it via WSGI Apache module. We will use a small 'Hello World' script here for demonstration purposes.

You can create the python script with the following command:

sudo nano /var/www/html/wsgitest.py

Add the following lines:

def application(environ, start_response):
    status = '200 OK'
    output = b'Hello Howtoforge!\n'
    response_headers = [('Content-type', 'text/plain'),
                        ('Content-Length', str(len(output)))]
    start_response(status, response_headers)
    return [output]

Save and close the file. Then, change the ownership of the file to www-data with the following command:

sudo chown www-data:www-data /var/www/html/wsgitest.py
sudo chmod 775 /var/www/html/wsgitest.py

Next, edit the Apache virtual host configuration file to serve this file over HTTP protocol.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf

Add the following line:

WSGIScriptAlias /wsgi /var/www/html/wsgitest.py

right before the line

</VirtualHost>

The complete virtual host file looks like this:


        # The ServerName directive sets the request scheme, hostname and port that
        # the server uses to identify itself. This is used when creating
        # redirection URLs. In the context of virtual hosts, the ServerName
        # specifies what hostname must appear in the request's Host: header to
        # match this virtual host. For the default virtual host (this file) this
        # value is not decisive as it is used as a last resort host regardless.
        # However, you must set it for any further virtual host explicitly.
        #ServerName www.example.com

        ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
        DocumentRoot /var/www/html

        # Available loglevels: trace8, ..., trace1, debug, info, notice, warn,
        # error, crit, alert, emerg.
        # It is also possible to configure the loglevel for particular
        # modules, e.g.
        #LogLevel info ssl:warn

        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

        # For most configuration files from conf-available/, which are
        # enabled or disabled at a global level, it is possible to
        # include a line for only one particular virtual host. For example the
        # following line enables the CGI configuration for this host only
        # after it has been globally disabled with "a2disconf".
        #Include conf-available/serve-cgi-bin.conf

        WSGIScriptAlias /wsgi /var/www/html/wsgitest.py



# vim: syntax=apache ts=4 sw=4 sts=4 sr noet

Save changes in the text editor and close the editor. The next step is to restart the apache webserver to apply the changes.

systemctl restart apache2

Test the Python 3 WSGI script

Now Apache HTTP server is configured to serve our Python file over the HTTP protocol.

Open a web browser and enter the URL http://your-server-ip/wsgi. replace your-server-ip with the IP address of the server. You will get a white page with the words "Hello Howtoforge!".

That's all, you now have a properly configured Apache web server to run Python applications using mod_wsgi. The next step is to deploy your python web application into the directory /var/www/html/ and alter the WSGIScriptAlias line in the /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf file to match the start script of your application. Then restart Apache again to apply the configuration change.

Download as a virtual machine

This setup is available as a virtual machine download in ova/ovf format (compatible with VMWare and Virtualbox) for howtoforge subscribers.

Log in details for the VM

  • The password for the user 'admininstrator' is: 'howtoforge'. The administrator user has sudo permissions.

Please change all passwords on the first login.

  • The IP address of the VM is 192.168.0.100
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