django_multisite2

With django_multisite2 a single instance of a Django project can server multiple sites using a single settings file (multi-tenant). The current SITE_ID is extracted from the URL.

In settings, the static SITE_ID is replaced with django_multisite2 dynamic SiteID:

# settings.py
SITE_ID = SiteID(default=1)

the dynamic SiteID behaves like an integer. When combined with django_multisite2 middleware, SiteID will return the current SITE_ID based on the url. For example, each url below is an alias of the same server instance. With django_multisite2 you might have something like this:

# https://harare.example.com
>>> from django.conf import settings
>>> settings.SITE_ID
10

# https://kampala.example.com
>>> from django.conf import settings
>>> settings.SITE_ID
20

Python 3.11+ Django 4.2+. New releases are cut from the main branch.

Older versions of Django are supported by the original django-multisite project.

Installation

Install with pip:

pip install django-multisite2

Replace your SITE_ID in settings.py to:

from multisite import SiteID
SITE_ID = SiteID(default=1)

add to INSTALLED_APPS:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    'django.contrib.sites',
    'multisite',
    ...
]

Edit settings.py MIDDLEWARE:

MIDDLEWARE = (
    ...
    'multisite.middleware.DynamicSiteMiddleware',
    ...
)

Using a custom cache

Append to settings.py, in order to use a custom cache that can be safely cleared:

# The cache connection to use for django-multisite.
# Default: 'default'
CACHE_MULTISITE_ALIAS = 'multisite'

# The cache key prefix that django-multisite should use.
# If not set, defaults to the KEY_PREFIX used in the defined
# CACHE_MULTISITE_ALIAS or the default cache (empty string if not set)
CACHE_MULTISITE_KEY_PREFIX = ''

If you have set CACHE_MULTISITE_ALIAS to a custom value, e.g. 'multisite', add a separate backend to settings.py CACHES:

CACHES = {
    'default': {
        ...
    },
    'multisite': {
        'BACKEND': 'django.core.cache.backends.locmem.LocMemCache',
        'TIMEOUT': 60 * 60 * 24,  # 24 hours
        ...
    },
}

Domain fallbacks

By default, if the domain name is unknown, multisite will respond with an HTTP 404 Not Found error. To change this behaviour, add to settings.py:

# The view function or class-based view that django-multisite will
# use when it cannot match the hostname with a Site. This can be
# the name of the function or the function itself.
# Default: None
MULTISITE_FALLBACK = 'django.views.generic.base.RedirectView

# Keyword arguments for the MULTISITE_FALLBACK view.
# Default: {}
MULTISITE_FALLBACK_KWARGS = {'url': 'http://example.com/',
                             'permanent': False}

Templates

This feature has been removed in version 2.0.0.

If required, create template subdirectories for domain level templates (in a location specified in settings.TEMPLATES['DIRS'].

Multisite's template loader will look for templates in folders with the names of domains, such as:

templates/example.com

The template loader will also look for templates in a folder specified by the optional MULTISITE_DEFAULT_TEMPLATE_DIR setting, e.g.:

templates/multisite_templates

Cross-domain cookies

In order to support cross-domain cookies, for purposes like single-sign-on, prepend the following to the top of settings.py MIDDLEWARE (MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES for Django < 1.10):

MIDDLEWARE = (
    'multisite.middleware.CookieDomainMiddleware',
    ...
)

CookieDomainMiddleware will consult the Public Suffix List for effective top-level domains. It caches this file in the system's default temporary directory as effective_tld_names.dat. To change this in settings.py:

MULTISITE_PUBLIC_SUFFIX_LIST_CACHE = '/path/to/multisite_tld.dat'

By default, any cookies without a domain set will be reset to allow *.domain.tld. To change this in settings.py:

MULTISITE_COOKIE_DOMAIN_DEPTH = 1  # Allow only *.subdomain.domain.tld

In order to fetch a new version of the list, run:

manage.py update_public_suffix_list

Post-migrate signal: post_migrate_sync_alias

The post-migrate signal post_migrate_sync_alias is registered in the apps.py. post_migrate_sync_alias ensures the domain in multisite's Alias model is updated to match that of django's Site model. This signal must run AFTER any post-migrate signals that manipulate Django's Site model. If you have an app that manipulates Django's Site model, place it before multisite in settings. INSTALLED_APPS. If this is not possible, you may configure multisite to not connect the post-migrate signal in apps.py so that you can do it somewhere else in your code.

To configure multisite to not connect the post-post_migrate_sync_alias in the apps.py, update your settings:

MULTISITE_REGISTER_POST_MIGRATE_SYNC_ALIAS = False

With the settings attribute set to False, it is your responsibility to connect the signal in your code. Note that if you do not sync the Alias and Site models after the Site model has changed, multisite may not recognize the domain and switch to the fallback view or raise a Http404 error.

Development Environments

Multisite returns a valid Alias when in "development mode" (defaulting to the alias associated with the default SiteID.

Development mode is either:

• Running tests, i.e. manage.py test
• Running locally in settings.DEBUG = True, where the hostname is a top-level name, i.e. localhost

In order to have multisite use aliases in local environments, add entries to your local etc/hosts file to match aliases in your applications. E.g.

127.0.0.1 example.com
127.0.0.1 examplealias.com

And access your application at example.com:8000 or examplealias.com:8000 instead of the usual localhost:8000.

Tests

To run the tests:

python runtests.py