SSL, Domain & Reverse Proxy

Architecture Overview

In production, SecBoard runs as a Gunicorn WSGI process bound to 127.0.0.1 (loopback only). Nginx faces the internet, terminates TLS, serves static and media files directly, and proxies all other requests to Gunicorn.

Browser  ──HTTPS──►  Nginx :443  ──HTTP──►  Gunicorn 127.0.0.1:PORT
                         │
                         ├─► /static/  →  staticfiles/  (served directly)
                         └─► /media/   →  media/        (served directly)

Step 1 — Gunicorn systemd Service

SecBoard ships a ready-made service file: SecBoard_prod.service. Copy it to systemd and enable it:

sudo cp /srv/SecBoard/SecBoard_prod.service /etc/systemd/system/secboard.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable secboard
sudo systemctl start secboard
sudo systemctl status secboard

Key parameters inside the service file:

Collect static files before starting:

source /srv/SecBoard/venv/bin/activate
python manage.py collectstatic --noinput

Step 2 — Nginx: HTTP-Only Config (before SSL)

Before obtaining the SSL certificate, use the HTTP-only config (nginx_secboard_http.conf) to verify that the domain resolves correctly and the app is reachable. Replace your-domain.com with your actual domain and PORT with the Gunicorn port from the service file.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com www.your-domain.com;

    client_max_body_size 100M;

    location /static/ {
        alias /srv/SecBoard/staticfiles/;
    }

    location /media/ {
        alias /srv/SecBoard/media/;
    }

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:PORT;
        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 cp nginx_secboard_http.conf /etc/nginx/sites-available/secboard
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/secboard /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

Open http://your-domain.com/ and confirm the login page loads.

Step 3 — SSL Certificate with Certbot

Install Certbot and obtain a certificate using the webroot method:

# Install certbot (Ubuntu/Debian)
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

# Obtain certificate (webroot method)
sudo certbot certonly --webroot     -w /srv/SecBoard/letsencrypt     -d your-domain.com     -d www.your-domain.com

After a successful issuance the certificate files are at:

• /etc/letsencrypt/live/your-domain.com/fullchain.pem
• /etc/letsencrypt/live/your-domain.com/privkey.pem

Certbot automatically installs a renewal cron / systemd timer. Verify it:

sudo certbot renew --dry-run

Step 4 — Nginx: Full HTTPS Config

Replace the HTTP-only config with the full HTTPS config (nginx_secboard.conf). Adjust server_name, certificate paths, and the proxy_pass port to match your installation:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com www.your-domain.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name your-domain.com www.your-domain.com;

    ssl_certificate     /etc/letsencrypt/live/your-domain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/your-domain.com/privkey.pem;

    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers off;
    ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:10m;
    ssl_session_timeout 10m;

    add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains" always;
    add_header X-Frame-Options DENY always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff always;
    add_header Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin" always;

    client_max_body_size 100M;

    location /static/ {
        alias /srv/SecBoard/staticfiles/;
        expires 1y;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    }

    location /media/ {
        alias /srv/SecBoard/media/;
        expires 1y;
        add_header Cache-Control "public";
    }

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:PORT;
        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;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;
        proxy_connect_timeout 60s;
        proxy_send_timeout 60s;
        proxy_read_timeout 60s;
    }

    location /health/ {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:PORT/health/;
        access_log off;
    }
}

sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 5 — Django Settings for Production

Edit SecBoard/credential.py to match your domain and enable production mode:

Switch to production mode

# credential.py
debug = False   # triggers PRODUCTION = True in settings.py → enables HSTS, secure cookies

ALLOWED_HOSTS

allowed_hosts = [
    '127.0.0.1',
    'your-domain.com',
    'www.your-domain.com',
]

CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS

csrf_trusted_origins = [
    'https://your-domain.com',
    'https://www.your-domain.com',
]

Why this matters: when debug = False, Django enables SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER = ('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO', 'https'), which lets it trust the X-Forwarded-Proto header that Nginx sets. Without it, Django would not know the request arrived over HTTPS.

Restart the service after any credential changes:

sudo systemctl restart secboard
sudo systemctl reload nginx

What debug = False enables automatically

Setup Checklist

Next Steps