# Deploying the Nominatim Python frontend
-The Nominatim can be run as a Python-based
+Nominatim can be run as a Python-based
[ASGI web application](https://asgi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/). You have the
choice between [Falcon](https://falcon.readthedocs.io/en/stable/)
and [Starlette](https://www.starlette.io/) as the ASGI framework.
!!! Note
Throughout this page, we assume your Nominatim project directory is
- located in `/srv/nominatim-project` and you have installed Nominatim
- using the default installation prefix `/usr/local`. If you have put it
- somewhere else, you need to adjust the commands and configuration
- accordingly.
+ located in `/srv/nominatim-project`. If you have put it somewhere else,
+ you need to adjust the commands and configuration accordingly.
- We further assume that your web server runs as user `www-data`. Older
- versions of CentOS may still use the user name `apache`. You also need
- to adapt the instructions in this case.
### Installing the required packages
+The Nominatim frontend is best run from its own virtual environment. If
+you have already created one for the database backend during the
+[installation](Installation.md#building-nominatim), you can use that. Otherwise
+create one now with:
+
+```sh
+sudo apt-get install virtualenv
+virtualenv /srv/nominatim-venv
+```
+
+The Nominatim frontend is contained in the 'nominatim-api' package. To
+install directly from the source tree run:
+
+```sh
+cd Nominatim
+/srv/nominatim-venv/bin/pip install packaging/nominatim-api
+```
+
The recommended way to deploy a Python ASGI application is to run
the ASGI runner [uvicorn](https://uvicorn.org/)
together with [gunicorn](https://gunicorn.org/) HTTP server. We use
Falcon here as the web framework.
-Create a virtual environment for the Python packages and install the necessary
-dependencies:
+Add the necessary packages to your virtual environment:
``` sh
-sudo apt install virtualenv
-virtualenv /srv/nominatim-venv
-/srv/nominatim-venv/bin/pip install SQLAlchemy PyICU psycopg[binary] \
- psycopg2-binary python-dotenv PyYAML falcon uvicorn gunicorn
+/srv/nominatim-venv/bin/pip install falcon uvicorn gunicorn
```
### Setting up Nominatim as a systemd job
Next you need to set up the service that runs the Nominatim frontend. This is
easiest done with a systemd job.
+First you need to tell systemd to create a socket file to be used by
+hunicorn. Create the following file `/etc/systemd/system/nominatim.socket`:
+
+``` systemd
+[Unit]
+Description=Gunicorn socket for Nominatim
+
+[Socket]
+ListenStream=/run/nominatim.sock
+SocketUser=www-data
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
+```
+
+Now you can add the systemd service for Nominatim itself.
Create the following file `/etc/systemd/system/nominatim.service`:
``` systemd
[Service]
Type=simple
-Environment="PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/lib/nominatim/lib-python/"
User=www-data
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/srv/nominatim-project
-ExecStart=/srv/nominatim-venv/bin/gunicorn -b unix:/run/nominatim.sock -w 4 -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker nominatim.server.falcon.server:run_wsgi
+ExecStart=/srv/nominatim-venv/bin/gunicorn -b unix:/run/nominatim.sock -w 4 -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker "nominatim_api.server.falcon.server:run_wsgi()"
ExecReload=/bin/kill -s HUP $MAINPID
StandardOutput=append:/var/log/gunicorn-nominatim.log
StandardError=inherit
[`NOMINATIM_API_POOL_SIZE`](../customize/Settings.md#nominatim_api_pool_size)
connections to the database to serve requests in parallel.
-Make the new service known to systemd and start it:
+Make the new services known to systemd and start it:
``` sh
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
-sudo systemctl enable nominatim
-sudo systemctl start nominatim
+sudo systemctl enable nominatim.socket
+sudo systemctl start nominatim.socket
+sudo systemctl enable nominatim.service
+sudo systemctl start nominatim.service
```
This sets the service up, so that Nominatim is automatically started