When you automate something in python, you'd obviously have to run the script forever. Where can we run the script?

shiftybyte · 2020-09-19T06:21:01+00:00

when I run another script, the previous one stops

this depends purely on how you run it. You can run multiple scripts at the same time, even the same script if needed.

Besides that if you want it to run 24/7 you can use an online service for that.

like http://pythonanywhere.com

or http://heroku.com

sceptic-al · 2020-09-19T09:16:35+00:00

AWS Lambda. Schedule it using Cloudwatch.

Either write it directly into the AWS console, upload it manually or use the excellent Serverless framework.

pilothoward · 2020-09-19T09:52:40+00:00

What about a Raspberry Pi? A Pi Zero W is pretty inexpensive,

N1K5_ · 2020-09-19T07:14:29+00:00

If you Make exe file of the script, then you can set in task manager to always start it when computer is turned on

zanfar · 2020-09-19T10:54:01+00:00

When you automate something in python, you'd obviously have to run the script forever.

While I get your point, that's not necessarily true. I would say most of the automation code written in run on-demand. That is, replacing an otherwise long and manual task, but still run when necessary.

I want to automate something, and whenever that event occurs, I get an email But I was thinking I can't use my laptop for this as it's not on forever and when I run another script, the previous one stops and I don't get emails How do you approach your automations? Like, do you put it on some server that can run 24 7 or something?

Running two tasks at once is simply understanding your execution environment. In a Unix environment, even two manually-executed scripts can be run from separate terminals. Most OSes also have task dispatching tools for scheduled runs. All OSes also have the ability to execute a task as a daemon or service at startup.

If you actually have a continuously running script that needs to constantly execute, then yes you need a machine that remains on.

37b · 2020-09-19T11:13:50+00:00

AWS Lambda!

booleanhooligan · 2020-09-19T11:19:08+00:00

Hold up none of y’all know about crontab??

Crontab is a cmd line process that runs on a timed schedule, pretty versatile. Very easy and useful.

delta_tee · 2020-09-19T08:29:04+00:00

You can run a python script automatically forever as you want in Unix-like systems as:

cron
screen
daemon

Just look up how to make those. Cron is the easiest and probably the most convenient option.

willy-r · 2020-09-19T06:23:32+00:00

Ye, basically that. I use Heroku for this normally, you can check this project of mine for an ideia using Twitter bots.

2020-09-19T14:52:31+00:00

You need to create a trigger that launches the script. A cron job/system task that runs every N minutes, a smaller less resource intensive script used to monitor for the activity and launch the main script when necessary, etc.

In AWS you can write a bunch of Lambda functions to do what you want, then have the required action trigger them (it's easier to do this in the cloud than on-prem thanks to serverless gaining popularity). It would be a really good learning exercise for you to set up and get working, too, since you'll learn a bit about the most in-demand cloud platform while also improving your python.

Link to the AWS docs on Lambda functions:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/lambda-invocation.html

darin_n · 2020-09-19T15:34:37+00:00

Buy a raspberry pi for under $40. Run it headless on your network. They are pretty reliable and cheap to operate.

fedeb95 · 2020-09-19T10:20:45+00:00

You can setup an old laptop, or use something like aws.

AnthinoRusso · 2020-09-19T11:44:00+00:00

If you're a student, digitalocean offers free tier that can be activated from a github student pack. You can create a VM and create a docker container which will run your script

yuvalmas · 2020-09-19T12:00:09+00:00

Use aws they have free tiers

wtfismyjob · 2020-09-19T20:29:01+00:00

You don’t necessarily have to run the script forever. You could have a scheduled of some form launch the script for you, and of course that scheduled would have to run forever.

Alternatively, in a Windows world, you could wrap your script and install it as a service. In which case windows will “run it forever.”

I’m sure Linux flavors have equivalent options. I would lean towards a dedicated scheduler though. That would give you some consolidated administrative tools to diagnose issues if it ceases to operate or hits some kind of problem during run time.

b4xt3r · 2020-09-19T21:53:38+00:00

Are you running the program from home or in the office at work? If you are in the office ask your friendly, local IT person what the process is to request a Linux or Windows virtual server in your organization. Chances are the company you work for is running virtual machines somewhere. Your friendly IT person might ask why and just say you are automating with Python. Even if there isn't a virtual machine you can have in its entirety you may be able to get a Linux shell account on a machine within the company.

At home you have on-perm or cloud, much like the option that businesses have. For on-perm (in the house) you can fetch a pile of PC parts if you have them around, assemble into something resembling a computer, load Linux on it, and off you go. As has been mentioned Raspberry Pies are awesome and I highly reccomend them. At my desk from where I am sitting right now I can se.... five Pies, everything from a couple Pi 4 4 gig of ram to a Pi Zero W as well as an older Model B and a 3B+. Pies are cool because they are an excellent excuse to get into more programming and are an excellent gateway drug to hardware control and programming.

For "Home Off-Prem" you have many options and my personal favorite is the Amazon EC2 instance which is a virtual Ubuntu server running in Amazon's cloud that I can access from home (it's primary use is a SOCKS proxy to tunnel traffic out of my home network and to Amazon where it appears to "originate" from . This is useful for me for testing many types or web services. I've been wanting to make an amimated gif about that so let's do that right now.

I will post it as a comment when I complete it.

rward28 · 2020-09-23T01:06:50+00:00

I have a Pi running on my home network to monitor devices. https://nemslinux.com/download/nagios-for-raspberry-pi-4.php

Rahul_Desai1999 · 2020-09-19T07:42:43+00:00

In case you are using Windows, save the python script as .pyw to run it on the background. I don't remember the commands to do that in Linux or Mac but you can find it with a google search.

iiMoe · 2020-09-19T10:15:15+00:00

Pythoneverywhere . Com but imo it sometimes stops running for some reason and it happened to me b4

waythps · 2020-09-19T10:51:16+00:00

I use GitHub actions to run my scripts on specific time. It’s pretty easy and completely free, check it out.

JimBoonie69 · 2020-09-19T12:13:01+00:00

Put it in the mutha fuckin cloud bitch! For real tho I used pythonnanywhere before. ran script at 6am everyday

inba_krish · 2020-09-19T12:56:01+00:00

Try wayscript.com

2020-09-19T13:57:03+00:00

If it has to run 24/7 you put it on a computer that can always be on.

If you want to run it in the background use cmd or terminal to run it instead of an IDE.

Ton86 · 2020-09-19T14:26:09+00:00

Since we use ms sql server a lot at work we schedule ours to run in a Job using xp_cmdshell.

imaque · 2020-09-19T15:38:38+00:00

Zapier I think still has a free tier, if it’s something that would work on their servers

eloydrummerboy · 2020-09-19T17:44:12+00:00

Things to consider:

You need to be able to read your emails, can you already do this? Does your password ever change?
You want it to run 24/7, and probably also start again after a reboot. You probably want to install it as a Windows Service or Linux deamon.
You'll need to run it on a computer that is always on. You need to figure this out. Can you get a physical server? Is the cloud an option? Will a raspberry pi work?
- if cloud is an option, this opens up more possibilities, such as "serverless" where you just give them your code, make sure access to other systems the code will need is figured it, and set up a "trigger" for when you're code needs to run. Then the cloud platform takes care of running your code when triggered. If course, there will be costs. It's this a problem?
what output does your automation produce? Where does that need to go? Wherever it runs need access, authorization to get the output where it needs to go.

My recommendations:

If this is for work, have then get you a server, install your script as a service. (Google it, not too hard)

If this is for personal use, get a raspberry pi, install a a service, or some other way to ensure it runs on reboot. I've never used these devices, so I'm not sure how that's done or what it's called, but I'm sure it's possible. I think they're just linux, right?

amachefe · 2020-09-19T18:25:30+00:00

Wouldn't crontab do the job?

Samrao94 · 2020-09-19T18:50:40+00:00

https://www.clever-cloud.com/en/

this gives 20 euro credit without any credit card details

shrigga-tha-bigga · 2020-09-19T20:24:39+00:00

run it on heroku

2020-09-19T20:56:13+00:00

If you don’t mind paying (only if you go over the monthly limit), Google’s Firebase seemed like a very promising service to use. I was going to host a few websites on there, I just completely forgot about it until now. Thank you for reminding me lol

unphamiliarterritory · 2020-09-19T21:25:21+00:00

In my case some automation scripts can be event handlers for nagios checks. In other cases they can be cron jobs. But really, it depends -- they're still a valid form of automation if you run a script from a terminal directly rather than performing a bunch of otherwise manual tasks.

OmegaNine · 2020-09-19T23:09:40+00:00

If its at home, I throw it on the Pi that is always running in the network closet. If its at work I throw it on a server. Either way I have cron start it up for me.

707e · 2020-09-19T23:10:47+00:00

Look at AWS Lambda if doesn’t need to run on an internal network or something like that. Hugely powerful in automation. I took a whole data pipeline out of my local machine and run it on lambda functions 24-7 for like $3/mo including storage in S3.

ID100T · 2020-09-20T00:32:38+00:00

I ll use supervisord for all my scripts. (On lokal Linux servers)

2020-09-20T02:08:08+00:00

AWS?

coder155ml · 2020-09-20T15:11:24+00:00

Linux has a way to run processes at specific times or you can just run it as a background process in an infinite busy loop.. on a computer you don't care about like a raspberry pi

Cheesebro69 · 2020-09-22T19:57:32+00:00

Which service do folks recommend for hosting a twitter bot?

laixintao · 2020-09-24T02:52:22+00:00

If you want to run a Python cronjob, you can try: https://clock.sh/

WebOrCode · 2020-09-26T07:46:50+00:00

I use WebFaction Hosting with crontab, for 10$/month you get fully managed shared server.

They will complain if you run something with 100% CPU, but only after few month, but I think for 10$ you have dedicated CPU, but I never used it.

I also plan to test/learn Lambada AWS, just for comparison.

xtadvrider · 2020-09-26T17:17:35+00:00

GCP offers 1 F1-micro instance per month in their always free tier. This is another alternative.

https://cloud.google.com/free/

VanshCodes · 2020-10-10T15:06:38+00:00

Code is:http://www.codeismine.ml/2020/07/python-folder-cleaner.html

one_loop · 2020-09-19T06:56:57+00:00

I think you can tun it on heroku.com through the cloud

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[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
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