Django on Azure not loading static files

Question

I followed the tutorial below to create a django project on azure:

http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/python/tutorials/web-sites-with-django/

Everything worked fine until I tried to install the django_admin_bootstrapped app. Now all static requests return 404 error. I don't if the new app caused the problem or just exposed it.

I have this:

STATIC_ROOT = ''

# URL prefix for static files.
# Example: "http://media.lawrence.com/static/"
STATIC_URL = '/static/'

# Additional locations of static files
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
    # Put strings here, like "/home/html/static" or "C:/www/django/static".
    # Always use forward slashes, even on Windows.
    # Don't forget to use absolute paths, not relative paths.
    #os.path.join(PROJECT_DIR, 'site-packages/django_admin_bootstrapped/static'),
)

I read quite a bit online and some people say you have to configure your server to serve static files. I don't have direct access to the server, it's an azure website and I deploy through git. And like I said, the admin and everything used to work before I tried to install these apps that bootstrap the admin. Now even when the app is not under INSTALLED_APPS I don't get any css or js files.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I had this problem and none of the suggested answers seemed to fit. My bizarre solution was to switch off Python on the Azure web site configure page.

I arrived at this odd conclusion by installing the PTVS Django sample and following the steps in this tutorial http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/web-sites-python-ptvs-django-sql/. The only difference I could fine between my site and the working tutorial was that Django was off! If someone has an explanation I would love to hear it (PHP is enabled!!!).

Answer 2

I found my solution on this page: http://mrtn.me/blog/2012/06/27/running-django-under-windows-with-iis-using-fcgi/

I had to create a central static folder and add a web.config for iis to serve the files. web.config below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <!-- this configuration overrides the FastCGI handler to let IIS serve the static files -->
    <handlers>
    <clear/>
      <add name="StaticFile" path="*" verb="*" modules="StaticFileModule" resourceType="File" requireAccess="Read" />
    </handlers>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

Hope this helps someone!