Production Database

Last Updated: September 2023

In this part of the production deployment guide, you will learn how to initialize and configure the Tethys Portal database for production.

1. Install Python dependencies

Using a PostgreSQL database for production requires the psycopg2 Python package. Also, While we do not recommend having your database on the same server as Tethys Portal, the commands to automate setting up and configuring the database require that the PostgreSQL database and the psycopg2 library be installed on the web server. Starting with Tethys 5.0 or if you are using micro-tethys-platform, you will need to install postgresql and psycopg2 using conda as follows:

# conda: conda-forge channel strongly recommended
conda install -c conda-forge postgresql psycopg2

2. Set Database Settings

Set the database settings in the portal_config.yml using the tethys settings command:

tethys settings --set DATABASES.default.ENGINE django.db.backends.postgresql --set DATABASES.default.NAME tethys_platform --set DATABASES.default.USER <TETHYS_DB_USERNAME> --set DATABASES.default.PASSWORD <TETHYS_DB_PASSWORD> --set DATABASES.default.HOST <TETHYS_DB_HOST> --set DATABASES.default.PORT <TETHYS_DB_PORT>

Note

Replace <TETHYS_DB_USERNAME> and <TETHYS_DB_PASSWORD> with the values you determined during the Preparation step. Replace <TETHYS_DB_HOST> and <TETHYS_DB_PORT> with the host and port of your database. If you installed the database on the same server as your Tethys Portal, these would be localhost and 5432, respectively.

Important

DO NOT USE DEFAULT USERNAMES OR PASSWORDS FOR PRODUCTION DATABASE ACCOUNTS

3. Create Tethys Database and Database Users

Use the tethys db create command to create the database users and tables required by Tethys Portal:

PGPASSWORD=<POSTGRES_PASSWORD> tethys db create --username <TETHYS_DB_USERNAME> --password <TETHYS_DB_PASSWORD> --superuser-name <TETHYS_DB_SUPER_USERNAME> --superuser-password <TETHYS_DB_SUPER_PASSWORD>

Note

Replace <TETHYS_DB_USERNAME>, <TETHYS_DB_PASSWORD>, <TETHYS_DB_SUPER_USERNAME>, <TETHYS_DB_SUPER_PASSWORD>, and <POSTGRES_PASSWORD> with the values you determined during the Preparation step. The tethys db create command uses the portal_config.yml to get the normal database user credentials, host, and port.

Important

DO NOT USE DEFAULT USERNAMES OR PASSWORDS FOR PRODUCTION DATABASE ACCOUNTS

4. Create Tethys Database Tables

Run the following command to create the Tethys database tables:

tethys db migrate

5. Create Portal Admin User

You will need to create at least one Portal Admin account to allow you to login to your Tethys Portal. Create the account as follows:

tethys db createsuperuser --portal-superuser-name <PORTAL_SUPERUSER_USERNAME> --portal-superuser-email '<PORTAL_SUPERUSER_EMAIL>' --portal-superuser-pass <PORTAL_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD>

Note

Replace <PORTAL_SUPERUSER_USERNAME>, <PORTAL_SUPERUSER_EMAIL>, and <PORTAL_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD> with the values you determined during the Preparation step.

Important

DO NOT USE DEFAULT USERNAMES OR PASSWORDS FOR PRODUCTION PORTAL ADMIN ACCOUNTS

Tip: One Command

You can accomplish the three steps above using the tethys db configure command. It is equivalent of running the following commands:

  • tethys db init (skipped if using a Docker or system database)

  • tethys db start (skipped if using a Docker or system database)

  • tethys db create --username <TETHYS_DB_USERNAME> --password <TETHYS_DB_PASSWORD> --superuser-name <TETHYS_DB_SUPER_USERNAME> --superuser-password <TETHYS_DB_SUPER_PASSWORD>

  • tethys db migrate

  • tethys db createsuperuser --portal-superuser-name <PORTAL_SUPERUSER_USERNAME> --portal-superuser-email '<PORTAL_SUPERUSER_EMAIL>' --portal-superuser-pass <PORTAL_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD>

Simply pass all arguments to the command:

PGPASSWORD=<POSTGRES_PASSWORD> tethys db configure --username <TETHYS_DB_USERNAME> --password <TETHYS_DB_PASSWORD> --superuser-name <TETHYS_DB_SUPER_USERNAME> --superuser-password <TETHYS_DB_SUPER_PASSWORD> --portal-superuser-name <PORTAL_SUPERUSER_USERNAME> --portal-superuser-email '<PORTAL_SUPERUSER_EMAIL>' --portal-superuser-pass <PORTAL_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD>

Note

PostgreSQL is the most supported database backend for a production instance of Tethys Platform. However, it is possible to configure any database backend that is supported by Django (see Django's Databases Documentation). When using an alternative database backend, the Tethys database and database users must be created manually since the tethys db create command only supports PostgreSQL databases. The normal commands can still be used for configuring the database settings, and for migrating the tables and creating a superuser.