Install Python Modules on Azure App Services

Artikel
06/29/2015

Installing Python packages in Azure App Services is little tricky using pip. In this blog, I would provide best practice to do that.

Pip Install on Azure App Services might fail because

It may simply be that the package is not available on the Python Package Index.
It could be that a compiler is missing (Azure App Service is a sandbox environment and does not have all the modules/compilers installed inside it).

Below is one such common scenario

 building 'Crypto.Random.OSRNG.winrandom' extension  
warning: GMP or MPIR library not found; Not building Crypto.PublicKey._fastmath.  
error: Microsoft Visual C++ 9.0 is required (Unable to find vcvarsall.bat). Get it from https://aka.ms/vcpython27

It's recommend to use wheels for installing Python dependencies. Many of the popular modules already provide wheel files listed in PyPI.

Let's say if I want to install below list of Python modules

 django<2  
pycrypto==2.6.1  
pandas==0.18.1  
numpy==1.11.1

Creating Wheel Files in Local Environment

I'm using Python 3.5.2 x64 for this blog. So i will create wheel files for Python35 x64.

Note : You don't have to create wheels for all the Python modules. Do this only for modules which have trouble installing in Azure App Services

I have python35 x64 installed in my local environment @ C:\Python35 folder
Create a requirements.txt file and add above modules inside it.
Install wheel module using below command (we would use this module to create wheels later)

 > C:\Python35\python.exe -m pip install wheel

Use Below Command to create wheel files inside wheelhouse folder in Local environment

 > C:\Python35\python.exe -m pip wheel -r requirements.txt -w wheelhouse

Above step would have created a wheelhouse folder with wheel files for modules listed in requirements.txt file (In my cases it created wheel files for Python35 arch as you can see in file names)
Creating Wheel Files

Alternatively, You can also Download wheel files available online @ https://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/

Upgrade Python version on Web Apps

Default Python/Pip versions on Azure Web Apps are little old (as of 01/17 -This might change in future). Older version of Python/Pip have few known issues during deployment/run-time.

Follow Below steps to update Python version on your web app.

Navigate to Azure portal
Click on App Service blade of Web App, select Extensions and then Add.
From the list of extensions, scroll down until you spot the Python logos, then choose the version you need

For this blog I'm choosing Python 3.5.2 x64, It would install new version of python @ D:\home\Python35

Install requirements on Azure App Services

While moving your code to Azure App services make sure to include below line of code as first line in requirements.txt file

 --find-links wheelhouse

find links in requirements.txt

Install Manually using Kudu

Navigate to kudu console of your app (https://Your_app_name.scm.azurewebsites.net/DebugConsole)
Navigate to the folder where you have requirements.txt file and run bellow command

 > D:\home\Python35\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade -r requirements.txt

After running above command, all the Python modules listed in requirements.txt file would be installed @ D:\home\Python35\Lib\ folder

You might have different path for python.exe depending on python version you are using.

Install using Deployment Script

If you are using Deployment script, Include below line of code in deploy.cmd

 :: 2. Install packages
echo Pip install requirements.  
D:\home\Python35\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade -r requirements.txt  
IF !ERRORLEVEL! NEQ 0 goto error

For more details refer Django app with HttpPlatformHandler in Azure App Services - Windows

Install modules in non-default folder

As I have mentioned earlier, running above command would install modules

@ D:\home\Python35\Lib\ folder.

Use -t option to install dependencies in non-default folder

 D:\home\Python35\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade -r requirements.txt -t D:\home\site\wwwroot\pymodules

Above Command would install Python modules @ D:\home\site\wwwroot\pymodules folder

Set PYTHONPATH in App settings at Azure portal for web app

I have seen few wheel files/Python modules having trouble installing with older version of Pip/Python. Try with newer version's of Python/pip if you have any issues.

Comments

Anonymous
July 05, 2015
Thanks for the post. Saved me few hours :)
Anonymous
September 07, 2016
I have been struggling with --find-links for an entire day, and I will be very grateful if sb could help me out here.I have been developing using Azure Storage( the most recent version) and it requires cryptograph, which requires cffi, idna, etc...However, when I try to test it against Azure Webapp, the deployment failes, saying 'error : unable to find vcvarsall.bat'With some research, I figured putting --find-links wheelhouse at the top of my requirements.txt and have wheels(cffi-1.8.2-cp26-cp26m-win32.whl (md5) and cryptography-1.5-cp26-cp26m-win32.whl (md5)) located at wheelhouse folder in the root. This was not helping at all, and I was running into same problems.I tried --no-index and it gives "Could not find any downloads that satisfy the requirement cffi==1.8.2". Somebody says if I want to use --no-index, then I should have all wheels located in wheelhouse; otherwise, i will get that error.With this, I would like to use my wheels for cffi and cryptograph and the rest download from pypi. Anyone have any clue...? HELP!
- Anonymous
  September 08, 2016
  Hi Jang,Your issue could most probably because you are using older version of pip in web apps. to use newer version refer below blog linkhttps://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/azureossds/2016/08/25/deploying-django-app-to-azure-app-services-using-git-and-new-version-of-python/
Anonymous
September 23, 2016
Thanks for the post - but I ran into an issue. First, the .whl I got wasn't named "pycrypto-2.6.1-cp27-none-win32.whl" like yours, it was named "pycrypto-2.6.1-cp27-cp27m-win32.whl". At first it didn't work, but by renaming it it did the trick, installed it and said "deployment successful", no errors, all requirements satisfied - including pycrypto.I can indeed find a pycrypto-2.6.1.dist-info folder inside wwwroot\env\Lib\site-packages. It's filled with files such as "WHEEL", "RECORD", "METADATA", which is unusual but I'm guessing it's binary.The problem is, this is what my python code tells me:"ImportError: No module named Crypto.PublicKey"
- Anonymous
  September 25, 2016
  Check if your python app is using virtual env... that could be reason for import error- pip on azure is very old.. I will update this blog soon on how to use newer version of pip/python..Meanwhile, below blog has details on how to do that..https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/azureossds/2016/08/25/deploying-django-app-to-azure-app-services-using-git-and-new-version-of-python/
Anonymous
February 24, 2017
hi When I try to use D:\home\Python35\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade -r requirements.txt this command it says access is denied in azure console. How can I sort this out? Thanks
- Anonymous
  February 27, 2017
  Can you share your requirements.txt ? it should technically work.
  - Anonymous
    March 24, 2017
    The comment has been removed
  - Anonymous
    March 24, 2017
    The comment has been removed
  - Anonymous
    March 24, 2017
    The comment has been removed
    - Anonymous
      March 28, 2017
      Hi Augustine C,Sorry that you have been that issue.. By default azure has D:\Python27 andD:\Python34but these are very old.. you have to use site extensions to install newer versions of python ..From the error message you had.. looks like you are trying to use the default python versions in azure.. you don't have access to that folder..WindowsError: [Error 5] Access is denied: ‘D:\Python27\Lib\site-packages\requests’Below link has details on how to upgrade python version on app services... check if it helpshttps://prmadi.com/running-flask-app-with-httpplatformhandler-in-azure-app-services/
Anonymous
April 21, 2017
Hi, i ran into some problems, maybe you can help me?https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/azure/en-US/313d4b2e-78bb-45e0-9805-063185b48685Thanks in advance.
- Anonymous
  April 24, 2017
  Done. I have also updated blog to show details on "Upgrading Python Version using Site Extension".
Anonymous
June 22, 2017
I'm struggling to make the Extensions for an app. The code has dependency for Exifread. Followed this article and see all the libs in the environment. It still keeps loading version 2.7 instead of version 3.6.1...I couldn't find a place to update PYTHONPATH on the portal. Tried it in web.config and it yielded same result.... the last mile for me to complete the app. Appreciate any help.Python Path:[u'D:\home\site\wwwroot\env\Lib\site-packages', '.', 'D:\Windows\SYSTEM32\python27.zip', 'D:\Python27\DLLs', 'D:\Python27\lib', 'D:\Python27\lib\plat-win', 'D:\Python27\lib\lib-tk', 'D:\Python27', 'D:\Python27\lib\site-packages', 'D:\home\site\wwwroot\env']
- Anonymous
  June 23, 2017
  Hi Jay,I feel that something else I going wrong here. looks like the Virtual env you have created is based on python27. I would prefer not to use virtual env. Check below links for detailsFlask app Using HTTP platform Handler - https://prmadi.com/running-flask-app-with-httpplatformhandler-in-azure-app-services/Django app Using Http Platform handler -https://prmadi.com/django-app-with-httpplatformhandler-in-azure-app-services-windows/You can set PYTHONPATH using application settings in azure portal

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