Hello,
I am not sure if this is 100% the right forum to give feedback on the Devnet Learning labs.
I started my endeavor into further enhancing my automation skills.
With one of the first labs setting up the required Workstation using CENTOS 8.1 I ran into several issues.
Most of the errors reported I could resolve with some online research. However the below procedure isn't fool proof and for some people might cause a setback.
Workstation Setup Instructions
This lab can be completed from a Windows, Mac, or Linux workstation as long as the above pre-reqs are installed. To assist with lab completion, here are some suggested steps to prepare common platforms.
If your environment requires a proxy server to access Internet resources, be sure that it is configured correctly on your system, and adjust any steps/commands listed below as needed.
Install Python
- CentOS Sample Setup Instructions Example
- Standard Development Tools
- sudo yum -y groupinstall development
- Python 3.7.5
- sudo yum -y install gcc
- sudo yum -y install wget
- sudo wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.7.5/Python-3.7.5.tgz
- sudo tar xzf Python-3.7.5.tgz
- cd Python-3.7.5
- sudo./configure --enable-optimizations
- sudo make altinstall
- OpenSSL Development Library
- sudo yum -y install openssl-devel
Till this point it worked but then issues appeared.
Pull Down Sample Code and Prep Python Environment
With the software pre-reqs installed on your workstation, clone the sample code from GitHub, setup the Python environment, and install any Python requirements with pip.
#From your working directory
git clone https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/aci-learning-labs-code-samples
cd aci-learning-labs-code-samples
python3.7 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
At this point I got error message like this:
WARNING: pip is configured with locations that require TLS/SSL, however the ssl module in Python is not available.
Which I resolved via this info:
Install the necessary packages for Python and ssl: $ sudo yum install libreadline-gplv2-dev libncursesw5-dev libssl-dev libsqlite3-dev tk-dev libgdbm-dev libc6-dev libbz2-dev
Install ACI Toolkit
With your Virtual Environment activated, you can now download and install the ACI Toolkit using git.
Full details on ACI Toolkit available in documentation
# From your working directory
git clone https://github.com/datacenter/acitoolkit.git
cd acitoolkit
python setup.py install
Here I got the next issues reported:
(venv) [bas@localhost ~]$ cd acitoolkit/
(venv) [bas@localhost acitoolkit]$ python setup.py install
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "setup.py", line 5, in <module>
from setuptools import setup
File "/home/bas/aci-learning-labs-code-samples/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/setuptools/__init__.py", line 20, in <module>
from setuptools.dist import Distribution, Feature
File "/home/bas/aci-learning-labs-code-samples/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/setuptools/dist.py", line 35, in <module>
from setuptools import windows_support
File "/home/bas/aci-learning-labs-code-samples/venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages/setuptools/windows_support.py", line 2, in <module>
import ctypes
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/ctypes/__init__.py", line 7, in <module>
from _ctypes import Union, Structure, Array
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_ctypes'
(venv) [bas@localhost acitoolkit]$ cd ,,
bash: cd: ,,: No such file or directory
I have not yet resolved this.
Brgds,
Bas.
