Jan. 18, 2023

Change the database from SQLite to MySQL in Django

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The default database shipped with Django is SQLite. It is meant to be used on tests only and not in production. Changing SQLite to MySQL takes the following steps:


  • First create a JSON type file with the data that is currently in the SQLite database. To do that, enter the following command on the bash terminal
    • python manage.py dumpdata > name_of_file.json

  • Edit the settings.py file in Django to connect to the MySQL database.

  • Then run the migrate command to set up the database. Notice the double dash before run.
    • python manage.py migrate —run-syncdb

    ContentType.objects is a model created by Django that has information of the models you created. It needs to be removed. You need to do it with the Django’s shell.
  • Start Django’s shell with this command:
    • python manage.py shell

  • Then import the module:
    • from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType

  • Delete the ContentType objects:
    • ContentType.objects.all().delete()

  • Exit the shell:
    • quit()

  • Run loaddata as follows, still in the bash, to get the data stored in the JSON file created on the first step.
    • python manage.py loaddate name_of_file.json