Using (Fast)CGI for non-PHP websites

You're not stuck with PHP if you want to make a dynamic website. You can use all sorts of frameworks and programming languages with ULYSSIS, as long as it has CGI or FastCGI support.

If you want to use a certain programming language or framework, and you can't get it to work, don't hesitate to contact us at ulyssis@ulyssis.org.

CGI

CGI is a very easy and simple way to create a dynamic website. We use Apache's mod_cgid to provide support for CGI.

FastCGI

We use Apache's mod_fcgid to provide support for FastCGI.

Example: Django

If you want to make a website using Django, we recommend that you use a virtualenv. This tool is already preinstalled on our shell servers.

You can use the following steps to get up and running with Django at ULYSSIS:

1. Log in to a shell server
2. Create a new virtualenv, you can create one in ~/.venv, for example:

   virtualenv ~/.venv

3. Activate this virtualenv:

   . ~/.venv/bin/activate

4. Install Django inside of this virtualenv:

   pip install django

5. Create a new Django project:

   django-admin.py startproject mysite

   Replace mysite with your project's desired name.

6. Install flup for FastCGI:

   pip install flup

7. Put an .htaccess file in your site's directory, e.g. the www folder:

   Options +ExecCGI
   AddHandler fcgid-script .fcgi
   RewriteEngine On
   RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
   RewriteRule ^(.*)$ mysite.fcgi/$1 [QSA,L]

8. Create the starter script (replace user with org if you are an organization, and username with your ULYSSIS username):

   #!/home/user/username/.venv/bin/python
   
   import sys, os
   
   sys.path.insert(0, '/home/user/username/mysite')
   
   os.chdir('/home/user/username/mysite')
   
   os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'mysite.settings'
   
   from django.core.servers.fastcgi import runfastcgi
   runfastcgi(method="threaded", daemonize="false")

   Call this script mysite.fcgi.

9. Make the starter script executable:

   chmod +x mysite.fcgi