Links for Solving Django's Top Enterprise Headaches
The following list is a collection of resources for solving many of the headaches that come with using a dynamically typed language like Python in the enterprise with Django as a commonly misunderstood web framework. These resources I found very helpful when I found them during my time consulting on numerous enterprise Django apps across commercial, non-profit and government clients before joining Twilio.
These links also go along with my How to Solve Django's Top 5 Enterprise Headaches talk presented at DjangoCon 2014. You can also find the reveal.js source code to the presentation on GitHub.
Integrating with Active Directory
- Check this Stack Overflow question on What are the differences between LDAP and Active Directory for some solid backround knowledge.
- Use python-ldap to integrate with Active Directory.
- Here's a snippet for working with Active Directory and the User object so the User model can be updated each time a user authenticates.
- This post on custom Django User models is helpful for understanding how to integrate with external authentication mechanisms.
Passing Security Audits
- Python vs OWASP Top 10 is a video where Jacobian rolls through each of the top ten and what to do about addressing each security concern.
- The official Django security docs page provides a good overview of security features baked into Django.
- Reading Django and the OWASP Top 10 and watching Jacobian's talk on Django vs the OWASP Top 10 provide further insight into how Django assists with the top web application vulnerabilities.
Tranferring Data from Legacy Systems
- Working with legacy databases is the official Django documentation on the topic.
- Generate Django models from a database via the inspectdb command.
- Create a database graph from your Django models using the django-extensions to genereate GraphViz files.
Securing Python Package Installations
- How to get pip working behind a proxy server basically explains how to set the https_proxy variable on Linux so pip can properly connect to PyPI.
- Setting up a custom PyPI server walks through how to do exactly that.
- Setting Up Your Own PyPI Server is another good article with a walkthrough for setting up your own server.
Correcting Dynamic Typing Misconceptions
- CIO Magazine - Dynamic Languages: Not Just For Scripting Any More provides social proof for CIOs who look to peer organizations for what they should or should not be doing.
- Organizations that use Python is a list of exactly what it says. Examples can be used for social proof that Python is a widely used programming language.