Python for Windows: Quick Installation

Only recently I added Python to the list of tools I use in my job. I had always used PowerShell if I needed to script something, until I saw how easy Python is to use. I will be keeping it in my arsenal from now on.

In near future I plan to make a blog post on how to use Python with REST APIs and in this blog post I wanted to provide quick instructions on how to install Python in Windows, that I can later use as a reference.

Installing Python

Latest version of Python for Windows can be downloaded from https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/. Executable installer is probably the easiest. When installing, make sure to check “Add Python 3.6 to PATH” option, it makes life much easier.

Installing Libraries

Python installation already includes lots of libraries that you can use for scripting. ElementTree library, for example, which is used for XML parsing, comes with the interpreter.

Depending on what you want to use Python for, you may need to install additional libraries. For instance, if you want to call REST APIs, you may need Requests – library for HTTP cals.

Python uses a package manager called “pip”. If it is not already in your PATH variable, find pip under Python installation directory and run from command line as administrator:

pip install requests

Once the library is installed you can use it by importing it into your scripts:

import requests

Writing Code

At this point you can call Python interpreter in Windows command line and start running Python commands. If you want to write a script, however, you will need an IDE. Nothing wrong in using Notepad, but there are more efficient ways to do that.

Python for Windows comes with IDE, which is called simply IDLE. It is very basic, but it provides all essential features, such as as code completion, syntax highlighting and a primitive debugger. It is not perfect but it has everything to get you started.

Conclusion

That is a quick crash course with three simple steps to get Python up and running. I tried to keep it short to demonstrate how you can start using Python with minimum effort.

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NetApp VSC Single File Restore Explained

In one of my previous posts I spoke about three basic types of NetApp Virtual Storage Console restores: datastore restore, VM restore and backup mount. The last and the least used feature, but very underrated, is the Single File Restore (SFR), which lets you restore single files from VM backups. You can do the same thing by mounting the backup, connecting vmdk to VM and restore files. But SFR is a more convenient way to do this.

Workflow

SFR is pretty much an out-of-the-box feature and is installed with VSC. When you create an SFR session, you specify an email address, where VSC sends an .sfr file and a link to Restore Agent. Restore Agent is a separate application which you install into VM, where you want restore files to (destination VM). You load the .sfr file into Restore Agent and from there you are able to mount source VM .vmdks and map them to OS.

VSC uses the same LUN cloning feature here. When you click “Mount” in Restore Agent – LUN is cloned, mapped to an ESX host and disk is connected to VM on the fly. You copy all the data you want, then click “Dismount” and LUN clone is destroyed.

Restore Types

There are two types of SFR restores: Self-Service and Limited Self-Service. The only difference between them is that when you create a Self-Service session, user can choose the backup. With Limited Self-Service, backup is chosen by admin during creation of SFR session. The latter one is used when destination VM doesn’t have connection to SMVI server, which means that Remote Agent cannot communicate with SMVI and control the mount process. Similarly, LUN clone is deleted only when you delete the SFR session and not when you dismount all .vmdks.

There is another restore type, mentioned in NetApp documentation, which is called Administartor Assisted restore. It’s hard to say what NetApp means by that. I think its workflow is same as for Self-Service, but administrator sends the .sfr link to himself and do all the job. And it brings a bit of confusion, because there is an “Admin Assisted” column on SFR setup tab. And what it actually does, I believe, is when Port Group is configured as Admin Assisted, it forces SFR to create a Limited Self-Service session every time you create an SFR job. You won’t have an option to choose Self-Assisted at all. So if you have port groups that don’t have connectivity to VSC, check the Admin Assisted option next to them.

Notes

Keep in mind that SFR doesn’t support VM’s with IDE drives. If you try to create SFR session for VMs which have IDE virtual hard drives connected, you will see all sorts of errors.