Python Tools for Visual Studio

Azure and Django overview

Starting with the 1.5 release, PTVS supports Django and cloud computing on Azure!

For a Video walkthrough please watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsLti4KlgAY

You can use PTVS to develop / edit / debug Django apps with or without using Azure. PTVS has built in support for deployment to Azure.

Azure itself supports multiple languages and app architectures with various mgmt tools:

C#/.Net, C++, Java, Node.js, Python, ...
"Cloud Service", "Web Sites", VMs (Windows & Linux)
IPython notebook backed by a Windows or Linux based engine in Azure
Python Azure SDK (Windows, Linux, MacOS)
Commands for creating apps, managing VMs, etc.

Full documentation on these topics, including installation are available on Azure webpages at: https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/python

Using Django with PTVS

For full documentation on Django itself please see https://www.djangoproject.com/ .

[Note: you need to have a CPython interpreter installed prior to using the Django features of PTVS]

Django deployment from PTVS to Azure is available in two modes:

PTVS 1.5+ supports Django on Azure's "Cloud Service".
PTVS 2.0+ supports Azure "Web Sites" as well.

For information on Cloud Service & Web Sites, please see Azure’s documentation (basically PAAS and Multi-tenant hosting).

You can use PTVS to create, edit, debug and deploy your Django project. While the Edit/Debug features are Cloud independent, built-in deployment support currently is limited to Windows Azure. You can however deploy to other clouds with other tools.

On Azure you can run Django on Windows and Linux VM’s, or run it as a “Cloud Service”, or in “Web Sites”. On Windows Azure / Cloud Service, IIS + FastCGI is used along with our own WFastCGI script to handle requests. You can also setup Django with Apache, etc. but there isn’t built-in support for it.

The following features are currently supported: