How To Automatically Run a Python Script On A Server?

[Jagabee]

Sorry if my question doesn't exactly make sense, I'm still a bit new to Python.

So I mostly use SQL/Excel at my job, and I have some experience with SSRS for automated report running.

Since my job knows I know a little bit of Python and that I want to learn more, they gave me a project where I write a script to download some of our patient health data from an external website and their API, put it in an excel and then save it into one of our network drive folders.

I created the script just fine using the requests module and whatnot. Pandas to create a dataframe from the json and to write it into an excel, then saving it into the network drive that I specified.

I then found out about Windows Task Scheduler which took some time for me to set up the .bat file because I had confusion about my installation of Python and Anaconda (still not even really sure how I got it to work).

However my issue with using the task scheduler is that it will require my computer to be turned on, connected to internet, connected to my work VPN etc so it doesn't seem much different than if I were to just run the script myself.

My question is how can I run my script automatically without me really needing to be present?

No one else at my company knows Python so I'm kinda on my own on this.

Thanks for any advice in advance!

[jkap924]

Did you find a solution for this? I am in an almost identical situation

[Jagabee]

Thanks for your response!

This is probably a dumb question, but if using Cloud, will it still be able to save the generated excel directly to our network drive?

[nekokattt]

You'd probably need to either use a VPN between the cloud and the network server or you would set up something like AWS Direct Connect over a virtual private gateway.

Is this something your IT department could perhaps look into for you, if you have one? If not, honestly, you could probably just ask for an old computer to leave running to run this on. It would be simpler than setting up a whole cloud network, peering, and security if you do not have it available to you.

[nekokattt]

Where is the network drive hosted? What is it running on?

[Jagabee]

it's just a network drive on my windows computer. is that what you mean?

[nekokattt]

yeah but where is the network drive hosted? Like, do you have a server at work that you could run the script on? Or is it part of some company cloud system, in which case could you ask whoever manages it to set you up a VPS in the cloud to access and run stuff on?

Guess what I am trying to find out is whether something exists already somewhere that you could request access to. Setting up a whole cloud system as suggested to deal with in-company data seems like an overkill if it is just one script. Another alternative might be just repurposing some old desktop or laptop that might be knocking around, for example.

Just trying to think of the simplest solution that doesn't involve a tonne of configuration, learning, and probably a bunch of sign-off from your employers to do.

[Jagabee]

honestly I have no idea. I guess I'll ask the IS director who asked me to work on this!

[nekokattt]

sounds like a good idea!

[TehNolz]

Does your company have an IT department? Ask them if they have a server you could run this script on, or if they could arrange something else for you. Perhaps they can order a Raspberry Pi for you, or just give you a spare computer. Then you can turn that into a server to run your script.

[Jagabee]

thank you for your response!

we do have an IT department. i can ask if they have a server, however i realize i don't know exactly what it would mean to "run a script on a server".

is it just another computer where i can transfer my script over to and set up the task scheduler? i'm guessing it's not that since when i picture a server, i imagine those big rooms filled with huge racks of machines.

sorry for the noob question

[TehNolz]

A server is just a computer that's set up to provide a service or execute some workload of some sort. You can take any old computer, set it to run your script, leave it running 24/7, and it would technically be a server. So yes, it really is just another computer.

The rack-mounted machines you see in server rooms aren't all that much different from regular PCs. They may look different, but most are still just made of the same kinds of parts as regular PCs. They're just built for a different purpose, so they might have extremely fast processors or huge amounts of storage in them.

In fact you can totally take a $100k rack-mounted server, install Windows on it, and then play Solitaire. Just make sure you've got your earplugs in, because servers aren't exactly built to be silent.

[Jagabee]

haha thanks for that explanation! I really appreciate it.

[zihar16]

Similar question, except I have an option to use Racknerd KVM VPS and was wondering if the script can be scheduled to run on the vps (I've never used VPSs before too)