Utilize a Cloud Database

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Quick Guide

1. Consider joining forces! Simmate is designed for sharing results, so reach out to simmate.team@gmail.com to discuss becoming part of our team. This will help you bypass the complexities of managing your own database. If you decide to join, you'll only need to follow steps 3 and 4 of this guide.

2. Establish a cloud database that is supported by django. We strongly suggest using Postgres as well as setting up a connection pool for your database. If you need assistance with this setup, you can utilize our "deploy" button in the following section. A 10GB database is sufficient to begin with.

3. Ensure you have the necessary database dependencies installed. For example for postgres, execute the following command:

   conda install -n my_env -c conda-forge psycopg2
   

4. Update the file ~/simmate/my_env-settings.yaml with your connection details that align with the django format. For example, the following can be added to your settings file:

   database:
     engine: django.db.backends.postgresql
     host: simmate-database-do-user-8843535-0.b.db.ondigitalocean.com
     name: simmate-database-00-pool
     user: doadmin
     password: ryGEc5PDxC2IHDSM
     port: 25061
     options:
       sslmode: require
   

5. If you have created a brand new database in step 2, you will need to reset your database to build initial tables. Use the command simmate database reset to do this. Do NOT execute this command if you have joined a shared database!

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Setup with Digital Ocean

We recommend using Postgres via DigitalOcean. If you don't have a Digital Ocean account, please sign up using our referral link. The button below will direct you to the appropriate page.

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Setup with Docker-Desktop

If you would like to practice with Postgres on your local computer, you can use:

docker run --name some-postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword -d postgres

Refer to the offical guide here.

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