Deployment Architecture

Complete guide to ModestWear’s production deployment on free-tier services.

Overview

ModestWear is deployed using a cost-effective, scalable architecture leveraging free tiers:

Backend: Render (Free tier)
Database: Neon PostgreSQL (Serverless, Free tier)
Redis: Upstash Redis (Free tier)
Media Storage: Cloudinary (Free tier)
Frontend: Vercel (Free tier)

Total Monthly Cost: $0 (within free tier limits)

Architecture Diagram

┌─────────────────┐
│   Vercel CDN    │  Frontend (Next.js)
│  modestwear-app │  https://modestwear-app.vercel.app
└────────┬────────┘
         │ HTTPS
         ↓
┌─────────────────┐
│  Render Web     │  Backend (Django + Gunicorn)
│  Service        │  https://modestwear.onrender.com
└────┬───┬───┬────┘
     │   │   │
     │   │   └──────→ ┌──────────────┐
     │   │            │  Cloudinary  │  Media Storage
     │   │            └──────────────┘
     │   │
     │   └──────────→ ┌──────────────┐
     │                │ Upstash Redis│  Cache + Celery
     │                └──────────────┘
     │
     └──────────────→ ┌──────────────┐
                      │Neon PostgreSQL│  Database
                      └──────────────┘

Backend Deployment (Render)

Service Configuration

Service Type: Web Service Environment: Python 3.11 Build Command: pip install -r requirements.txt Start Command: bash deploy.sh

deploy.sh Script

#!/bin/bash

# Run database migrations
python modestwear/manage.py migrate --no-input

# Collect static files
python modestwear/manage.py collectstatic --no-input

# Create superuser if doesn't exist
python modestwear/manage.py shell << EOF
from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
import os
User = get_user_model()
email = os.getenv('DJANGO_SUPERUSER_EMAIL')
if email and not User.objects.filter(email=email).exists():
    User.objects.create_superuser(
        email=email,
        username=os.getenv('DJANGO_SUPERUSER_USERNAME'),
        password=os.getenv('DJANGO_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD')
    )
    print(f'Superuser {email} created')
EOF

# Start Gunicorn server
cd modestwear
gunicorn core.wsgi:application \
    --bind 0.0.0.0:$PORT \
    --workers 2 \
    --threads 4 \
    --timeout 120 \
    --access-logfile - \
    --error-logfile - \
    --log-level info

Gunicorn Configuration

Workers: 2 (optimal for free tier: 512MB RAM)
Threads: 4 per worker
Timeout: 120 seconds
Worker Class: sync (default)

Formula: workers = (2 × CPU cores) + 1 For Render free tier (0.5 CPU): 2 workers

Environment Variables

# Django
SECRET_KEY=<generate-with-django>
DEBUG=False
ALLOWED_HOSTS=modestwear.onrender.com,modestwear-app.vercel.app

# Database
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@host:5432/db?sslmode=require

# Redis
REDIS_URL=rediss://default:token@host:6379
CELERY_BROKER_URL=rediss://default:token@host:6379
CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND=rediss://default:token@host:6379

# Email
EMAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
EMAIL_PORT=587
EMAIL_HOST_USER=your-email@gmail.com
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD=your-app-password

# Cloudinary
CLOUDINARY_URL=cloudinary://key:secret@cloud

# Social Auth
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id
FACEBOOK_APP_ID=your-app-id

# Frontend
FRONTEND_URL=https://modestwear-app.vercel.app

# Superuser (auto-created on deploy)
DJANGO_SUPERUSER_EMAIL=admin@modestwear.com
DJANGO_SUPERUSER_USERNAME=admin
DJANGO_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD=<secure-password>

Free Tier Limitations

RAM: 512 MB
CPU: 0.5 vCPU
Bandwidth: 100 GB/month
Build Minutes: 500 minutes/month
Sleep: Service sleeps after 15 minutes of inactivity

Preventing Sleep

Solution: External cron job pinging health endpoint

# UptimeRobot or cron-job.org
GET https://modestwear.onrender.com/healthz
Interval: Every 10 minutes

Health Endpoints:

# /healthz - Lightweight
def healthz(request):
    return JsonResponse({"status": "ok"})

# /health - Comprehensive
def health_check(request):
    # Check database connection
    # Check Redis connection
    # Return detailed status

Database (Neon PostgreSQL)

Configuration

Provider: Neon (Serverless PostgreSQL)
Version: PostgreSQL 15
Region: EU Central (Frankfurt)
Connection Pooling: Enabled
SSL: Required

Connection String

postgresql://user:password@ep-xxx.eu-central-1.aws.neon.tech/neondb?sslmode=require

Django Settings

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
        'NAME': 'neondb',
        'USER': 'neondb_owner',
        'PASSWORD': '<password>',
        'HOST': 'ep-xxx.eu-central-1.aws.neon.tech',
        'PORT': 5432,
        'OPTIONS': {'sslmode': 'require'},
        'CONN_MAX_AGE': 600,  # Connection pooling
        'CONN_HEALTH_CHECKS': True,
    }
}

Free Tier Limits

Storage: 512 MB
Compute: 0.25 vCPU
Active Time: 100 hours/month
Branches: 10

Optimization

Connection Pooling: Reuse connections (CONN_MAX_AGE=600)
Indexes: All foreign keys and frequently queried fields
Query Optimization: Use select_related() and prefetch_related()
Pagination: Limit result sets

Redis (Upstash)

Configuration

Provider: Upstash
Type: Redis 7.0
Region: Global (edge locations)
TLS: Required (rediss://)

Connection String

rediss://default:token@host.upstash.io:6379

Django Settings

CACHES = {
    'default': {
        'BACKEND': 'django_redis.cache.RedisCache',
        'LOCATION': 'rediss://default:token@host:6379',
        'OPTIONS': {
            'CLIENT_CLASS': 'django_redis.client.DefaultClient',
            'SOCKET_CONNECT_TIMEOUT': 5,
            'SOCKET_TIMEOUT': 5,
            'IGNORE_EXCEPTIONS': True,  # Graceful degradation
        }
    }
}

# Celery
CELERY_BROKER_URL = 'rediss://default:token@host:6379'
CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND = 'rediss://default:token@host:6379'
CELERY_BROKER_USE_SSL = {'ssl_cert_reqs': ssl.CERT_NONE}

Free Tier Limits

Storage: 256 MB
Commands: 10,000/day
Bandwidth: 1 GB/month

Celery Configuration

Free Tier Optimization: Run tasks synchronously

CELERY_TASK_ALWAYS_EAGER = True  # Execute immediately
CELERY_TASK_EAGER_PROPAGATES = True

Why?

Render free tier: Single service only
No separate worker process
Tasks run in web process
Suitable for low-volume async tasks (emails)

Production Alternative:

Upgrade to paid tier
Run separate worker service
Set CELERY_TASK_ALWAYS_EAGER = False

Media Storage (Cloudinary)

Configuration

Provider: Cloudinary
Plan: Free tier
Features: Image optimization, transformations, CDN

Django Settings

import cloudinary

cloudinary.config(
    cloudinary_url=os.getenv('CLOUDINARY_URL')
)

DEFAULT_FILE_STORAGE = 'cloudinary_storage.storage.MediaCloudinaryStorage'

Free Tier Limits

Storage: 25 GB
Bandwidth: 25 GB/month
Transformations: 25,000/month

Features Used

Auto-optimization: Compress images
Thumbnails: Auto-generate on upload
CDN: Global delivery
Transformations: Resize, crop, format conversion

Frontend (Vercel)

Configuration

Framework: Next.js 14
Deployment: Automatic from Git
Domain: modestwear-app.vercel.app

Environment Variables

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://modestwear.onrender.com
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id

Free Tier Limits

Bandwidth: 100 GB/month
Build Minutes: 6,000 minutes/month
Serverless Functions: 100 GB-hours

CI/CD Pipeline

Automatic Deployment

Git Push → GitHub → Render/Vercel → Deploy

Render:

Detects push to main branch
Runs build command
Executes migrations
Starts new service
Health check
Routes traffic to new version

Vercel:

Detects push to main branch
Builds Next.js app
Deploys to CDN
Preview deployments for PRs

Manual Deployment

# Render
git push origin main

# Or trigger from dashboard
# Render Dashboard → Manual Deploy

Monitoring & Logging

Render Logs

# View logs in dashboard
Render Dashboard → Service → Logs

# Or via CLI
render logs -f

Django Logging

LOGGING = {
    'version': 1,
    'disable_existing_loggers': False,
    'handlers': {
        'console': {
            'class': 'logging.StreamHandler',
        },
    },
    'root': {
        'handlers': ['console'],
        'level': 'INFO',
    },
}

Health Monitoring

UptimeRobot: Ping every 10 minutes
Alerts: Email on downtime
Status Page: Public status page

Security

HTTPS/TLS

Render: Automatic SSL certificates
Vercel: Automatic SSL certificates
Neon: TLS required
Upstash: TLS required (rediss://)

Django Security Settings

if not DEBUG:
    SECURE_SSL_REDIRECT = True
    SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = True
    CSRF_COOKIE_SECURE = True
    SECURE_HSTS_SECONDS = 31536000
    SECURE_HSTS_INCLUDE_SUBDOMAINS = True
    SECURE_HSTS_PRELOAD = True
    SECURE_BROWSER_XSS_FILTER = True
    SECURE_CONTENT_TYPE_NOSNIFF = True
    X_FRAME_OPTIONS = 'DENY'

CORS Configuration

CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS = [
    'https://modestwear-app.vercel.app',
    'https://modestwear.onrender.com',
]

CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS = [
    'https://modestwear-app.vercel.app',
    'https://modestwear.onrender.com',
]

Scaling Strategy

Current (Free Tier)

Users: ~100 concurrent
Requests: ~10,000/day
Storage: ~500 MB database

Scaling Path

Phase 1: Optimize Free Tier

Add caching (Redis)
Optimize queries
CDN for static files

Phase 2: Paid Tier ($7-20/month)

Render: Starter plan ($7/month)
Neon: Scale plan ($19/month)
Separate Celery worker

Phase 3: Horizontal Scaling

Multiple Render instances
Load balancer
Read replicas (Neon)
Dedicated Redis

Phase 4: Enterprise

AWS/GCP migration
Kubernetes
Auto-scaling
Multi-region

Backup & Recovery

Database Backups

Neon: Automatic daily backups (7-day retention)

Manual Backup:

pg_dump $DATABASE_URL > backup.sql

Restore:

psql $DATABASE_URL < backup.sql

Media Backups

Cloudinary: Automatic backups included

Manual Backup:

# Download all media
cloudinary-cli download --all

Troubleshooting

Service Won’t Start

Check:

Build logs for errors
Environment variables set correctly
Database connection string
Migrations completed

Database Connection Errors

Solutions:

Check DATABASE_URL format
Verify SSL mode: ?sslmode=require
Test connection: psql $DATABASE_URL
Check Neon active hours

Redis Connection Errors

Solutions:

Verify rediss:// (with double ‘s’)
Check SSL configuration
Test: redis-cli -u $REDIS_URL ping
Enable IGNORE_EXCEPTIONS for graceful degradation

Out of Memory

Solutions:

Reduce Gunicorn workers
Optimize queries
Add pagination
Upgrade to paid tier

Cost Optimization

Current Setup (Free)

Service	Plan	Cost
Render	Free	$0
Neon	Free	$0
Upstash	Free	$0
Cloudinary	Free	$0
Vercel	Free	$0
Total		$0/month

Paid Upgrade Path

Service	Plan	Cost
Render	Starter	$7/month
Neon	Scale	$19/month
Upstash	Pay-as-you-go	~$5/month
Cloudinary	Plus	$89/month
Vercel	Pro	$20/month
Total		$140/month

Deployment Architecture

Overview

Architecture Diagram

Backend Deployment (Render)

Service Configuration

deploy.sh Script

Gunicorn Configuration

Environment Variables

Free Tier Limitations

Preventing Sleep

Database (Neon PostgreSQL)

Configuration

Connection String

Django Settings

Free Tier Limits

Optimization

Redis (Upstash)

Configuration

Connection String

Django Settings

Free Tier Limits

Celery Configuration

Media Storage (Cloudinary)

Configuration

Django Settings

Free Tier Limits

Features Used

Frontend (Vercel)

Configuration

Environment Variables

Free Tier Limits

CI/CD Pipeline

Automatic Deployment

Manual Deployment

Monitoring & Logging

Render Logs

Django Logging

Health Monitoring

Security

HTTPS/TLS

Django Security Settings

CORS Configuration

Scaling Strategy

Current (Free Tier)

Scaling Path

Backup & Recovery

Database Backups

Media Backups

Troubleshooting

Service Won’t Start

Database Connection Errors

Redis Connection Errors

Out of Memory

Cost Optimization

Current Setup (Free)

Paid Upgrade Path

Next Steps