openwhisk-python

This repository demonstrates the building of the complex Python based Serverless actions with Apache Openwhisk in IBM Cloud.

creating an account

In order to follow the next steps you need to create an account on IBM Cloud. Alternatively you might want to install Apache OpenWhisk on your system. In my opinion - see my book Serverless Swift - it is great if the Serverless infrastructure is being managed by the vendor.

If you decide to run the native Apache OpenWhisk (and not Serverless in IBM Cloud) change the instructions below from ibmcloud fn ... to wsk ...

sign up to IBM Cloud

You might want to sign in/up to IBM Cloud. After creating an account on http://cloud.ibm.com use this link to download a CLI: https://cloud.ibm.com/functions/learn/cli

Please mind that I will be using CF based Namespace for the following actions (as they are required for Serverless Swift to operate).

The CF based Namespace look like something this: serverless.swift@roboticsind.com_dev

login from IBM Cloud CLI

The easiest way to login from CLI is using your browser's existing session in IBM Cloud. Simply type:

ibmcloud login -a cloud.ibm.com -o "serverless.swift@roboticsind.com" -s "dev" --sso

This should open a new window, and the session token should be presented to you. Copy it and paste in the terminal window.

Get a one-time code from https://identity-1.us-south.iam.cloud.ibm.com/identity/passcode to proceed.
Open the URL in the default browser? [Y/n] > 
One-time code > 
Authenticating...
OK

Targeted account Marek  ...

Also you need to target the environment:

ibmcloud resource groups
...some groups here...

ibmcloud target -g Default

connect to IBM Cloud Functions

You would need to dowload the CF plugin:

ibmcloud plugin install cloud-functions

And now you can test if the connection works (if not, check my book - Serverless Swift - for hints):

ibmcloud fn list

Cloud the above code to your directory:

git clone https://github.com/blumareks/openwhisk-python.git
cd openwhisk-python

download the libraries with virtualenv

Now you are ready to create the environment in order to create the complex Python action with additional libraries.

docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/tmp" openwhisk/python3action bash -c   "cd tmp && virtualenv virtualenv && source virtualenv/bin/activate && pip install -r requirements.txt"

The logs:

Using base prefix '/usr/local'
New python executable in /tmp/virtualenv/bin/python
Installing setuptools, pip, wheel...done.
Collecting yattag
  Downloading yattag-1.14.0.tar.gz (26 kB)
Building wheels for collected packages: yattag
  Building wheel for yattag (setup.py): started
  Building wheel for yattag (setup.py): finished with status 'done'
  Created wheel for yattag: filename=yattag-1.14.0-py3-none-any.whl size=15658 sha256=492d02876192b4240b96a3586d7affe22b3bf67e7bf3ee023daa7fd73b5168d2
  Stored in directory: /root/.cache/pip/wheels/e7/aa/fd/c1d0692564453adf9b34ddaf9a22e9a9f48b53d35ddc096864
Successfully built yattag
Installing collected packages: yattag
Successfully installed yattag-1.14.0

This command should have create for your the dependency directory virtualenv

compressing your action

You are ready to zip your files and resources for your action:

zip -q -r yattag.zip __main__.py searchfile.py virtualenv

creating updating your Action

If you haven'y done it before, create your package:

ibmcloud fn package create test

Update your action in IBM Cloud

ibmcloud fn action update test/yathello yattag.zip --web true --kind python:3 

test and call your action:

Calling your web action (--web true):

curl $(ibmcloud fn action get test/yathello --url | tail -1)

And if you want to debug it:

ibmcloud fn action invoke test/yathello --blocking

You can also add a parameter url (the parameter name just to demonstrate the multiples):

ibmcloud fn action invoke test/yathello --param url myurl --param name Marek --blocking

Let me know how it worked for you. Follow / DM me on Twitter: @blumareks