Upgrading Ubuntu to 24.04: Lessons Learned with Django and NextCloud

Today, I embarked on a journey to upgrade one of my servers from Ubuntu 22.04 to the shiny new Ubuntu 24.04. This server hosts several of my Django websites (running behind Nginx with Gunicorn) and a NextCloud instance, so I anticipated a bit of post-upgrade tweaking. But what followed was a reminder of how upgrades can disrupt even the most stable setups.

The Upgrade Process

The Ubuntu upgrade itself was smooth—no errors or warnings popped up during the process. After installation completed and a reboot to the new version, everything seemed to have gone well. Or so I thought.

Django Websites Down: First Clue

When I tested my Django websites, I noticed they weren’t accessible. Nginx was serving default error pages, and Gunicorn wasn’t doing its job. Panic didn’t set in, but I knew troubleshooting would take some time.

Finding the Problem

After some investigation and a bit of trial and error, I identified two issues:
1. Virtual Environments (venv): The virtual environments for my Django projects weren’t being recognized correctly.
2. Gunicorn Socket: The Gunicorn socket needed to be started and enabled again.

Fixing the Issues

To address the problems:
1. I reactivated the virtual environments for each Django project:
bash rm -rf .venv python3 -m venv .venv source .venv/bin/activate pip install -r requirements.txt
This ensured that Gunicorn had the correct environment to run each project.

1. I restarted and enabled the Gunicorn socket:
   bash sudo systemctl start gunicorn.socket sudo systemctl enable gunicorn.socket
   This brought the websites back online.

NextCloud: A Work in Progress

With the Django sites running smoothly again, I turned my attention to the NextCloud instance. It’s currently not operational, but I’ll be diving into its logs and configuration files to get it back up and running.

Key Takeaways

• Always expect some manual intervention when upgrading a server OS, especially with applications dependent on services like Nginx, Gunicorn, and Python virtual environments.
• Double-check the state of services like Gunicorn after a major upgrade—they may need to be re-enabled.
• Document your fixes! A note saved today will save hours in future troubleshooting.

Now, I’m off to tackle the NextCloud issue. Hopefully, it’ll be a straightforward fix! Stay tuned.

Have you had similar upgrade challenges? Let me know your stories in the comments!