This is the backend for the IoT Rec project. It provides an API for the Android app (see iotrec-android), an admin interface to manage hardware devices and system data, as well as a public frontend page to gather training data from visitors.
The project is implemented in Python using Django and Django REST framework.
The API is responsible for user authentication and authorization as well as providing information on known BLE beacons and their metadata to the Android app. It also takes care of calculating the recommendations that the system makes. The Android app makes requests containing a BLE beacon ID and some context data. The API then assesses whether a recommendation should be made to the user. This calculation is based on a recommendation model which is based on – among other things – training data elicited from a specialized page. In order to improve recommendation quality, the API can receive and process feedback entries. Since the project was created in the context of a Master's thesis, the API also facilitates user tests made at the end of the thesis.
Make sure to set environment variable DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE to iotrec.settings.development.
Customize development settings in iotrec-backend/iotrec/settings/development.py
- add a
SECRET_KEY - add your local IP address to
ALLOWED_HOSTS
In iotrec_api/fixtures/sites.json, insert IP address and domain of your local and remote (i.e. production) application instances.
Install required packages
sudo apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev
sudo -H pip3 install mysqlclient
Clone repository, e.g. in /var/www
Enter project directory and install dependencies
sudo pip3 install -r requirements.txt
Set up a sub-domain
Create Apache virtual hosts
iotrec-le-ssl.conf
<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
<VirtualHost *:443>
WSGIPassAuthorization On
WSGIDaemonProcess iotrec python-path=/var/www/iotrec-backend:/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages
WSGIProcessGroup iotrec
WSGIScriptAlias / /var/www/iotrec-backend/iotrec/wsgi.py
DocumentRoot /var/www/iotrec-backend
ServerName example.com
Protocols h2 http:/1.1
<Directory /var/www/iotrec-backend/iotrec>
<Files wsgi.py>
Require all granted
</Files>
</Directory>
Alias /static/ /var/www/iotrec-backend/iotrec/static/
<Directory /var/www/iotrec-backend/iotrec/static>
Require all granted
</Directory>
Alias /training/media/ /var/www/iotrec-backend/iotrec/media/
<Directory /var/www/iotrec-backend/iotrec/media>
Require all granted
</Directory>
Alias /favicon.ico /var/www/iotrec-backend/favicon.ico
SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem
SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/chain.pem
Include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-apache.conf
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/example.com-access.log combined
ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/example.com-error.log
</VirtualHost>
</IfModule>
iotrec.conf
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot /var/www/iotrec-backend
ServerName example.com
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{SERVER_NAME} =example.com
RewriteRule ^ https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [END,QSA,R=permanent]
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/example.com-access.log combined
ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/example.com-error.log
</VirtualHost>
Customize production settings in iotrec-backend/iotrec/settings/production.py
- add a
SECRET_KEY - add your domain to
ALLOWED_HOSTS - add database credentials
Generate static files (run in project root directory)
sudo python3 manage.py collectstatic --settings=iotrec.settings.production
Run migrations
sudo python3 manage.py migrate --settings=iotrec.settings.production
Optionally, flush the database
sudo python3 manage.py flush --settings=iotrec.settings.production
Optionally, create a super user account (required when setting up for the first time)
sudo python3 manage.py createsuperuser --settings=iotrec.settings.production
Restart web server
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Open the system crontab
sudo nano /etc/crontab
Add the following line to enable the jobs to run regularly
* * * * * www-data cd /var/www/iotrec-backend && sudo python3 manage.py cron --settings=iotrec.settings.production
Fixtures, i.e. files with initial data that can be imported into the database, can be created either manually or by dumping an existing database model into a JSON file:
python3 manage.py dumpdata iotrec_api.category --settings=iotrec.settings.development > categories.json
Import Sites by running
sudo python3 manage.py loaddata sites.json --settings=iotrec.settings.production
To set up the categories dataset, access the Django Console via sudo python3 manage.py shell --settings=iotrec.settings.production and run
from iotrec_api.models import Category; Category.objects.all().delete(); exit()
Back on the system command line, load the Categories from the fixture.
Note: The post_save receiver in iotrec_api/utils/category.py should be disabled/commented before doing this.
sudo python3 manage.py loaddata categories.json --settings=iotrec.settings.production
Access Django Console via sudo python3 manage.py shell --settings=iotrec.settings.production and run
from iotrec_api.models import Category; Category.objects.rebuild(); exit()
To set up training data, access the Django Console via sudo python3 manage.py shell and run
from training.models import ContextFactor; ContextFactor.objects.all().delete(); exit()
This will also delete all ContextFactorValues and all Samples (due to cascading delete strategy).
Import ContextFactors, ContextFactorValues and ReferenceThings by running
sudo python3 manage.py loaddata context_factors.json reference_things.json --settings=iotrec.settings.production
Import Scenarios, Things and Questions for experiment by running
sudo python3 manage.py loaddata scenarios.json things.json questions.json --settings=iotrec.settings.production
Import the Chroniker jobs that periodically recalculate baselines by running
sudo python3 manage.py loaddata jobs.json --settings=iotrec.settings.production
Restart web server
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Log in as super user
sudo -s
Dump the data
python3 manage.py dumpdata --natural-foreign --exclude auth.permission --exclude contenttypes --indent 4 --settings=iotrec.settings.production > dumpdata.json
Transfer the resulting json file to the other machine
Load the data
python3 manage.py loaddata dumpdata.json --settings=iotrec.settings.production