PIP - Offline Install

Applies To: Diskover 2.5.x+
Platforms: RHEL / Rocky Linux 8 & 9, Ubuntu / Debian 22 & 24

Overview

This guide covers how to install Python pip packages on Diskover hosts that have no internet access. In air-gapped or restricted network environments, you cannot pull packages from PyPI — instead, the Diskover team provides pre-built tarballs containing all required Python wheel (.whl) files for each component.

Starting with Diskover 2.5.x, all Python dependencies are installed into a dedicated virtual environment (/opt/python-venv-diskover) rather than the system Python. This page explains how to set up that venv on an offline host and install Diskover's pip dependencies from the provided tarballs.

When to use this guide:

• Deploying Diskover in an air-gapped or network-restricted environment

• Installing or upgrading Python packages on a host that cannot reach PyPI

• Performing a manual (non-Ansible) offline pip installation

Note: For general pip usage, venv setup on internet-connected hosts, and background on how Python fits into the Diskover stack, see the PIP page.

Understanding Offline pip Installation

When a Diskover host cannot reach the internet, pip cannot download packages from PyPI. Instead, the Diskover team provides pre-built tarballs containing all the Python wheel (.whl) files needed for each component. You stage these tarballs on the target host and install from them locally.

All wheel packages included in the tarballs are sourced from the official Python Package Index at https://pypi.org/.

The two pip tarballs provided are:

These tarballs are version- and platform-specific — they are built to match a particular Diskover version, OS (RHEL/Rocky 8 or 9), and Python version. To request the correct tarballs for your environment, contact Diskover Support.

The installation uses two key pip flags:

• --no-index — tells pip not to query PyPI

• --find-links=<local-path> — points pip to the local directory containing the extracted wheel files

This works the same way whether you're installing into the Diskover venv or the system Python.

Diskover Python Virtual Environment (Offline Setup)

Python 3.11+ and the venv module must be available on the target host before proceeding. Install these from your system's OS repositories or whatever Python packages ship with your OS image.

Python version requirements

Diskover requires Python 3.11 or newer for the virtual environment:

• If your system Python is 3.12 or newer, you can use the system version directly.

• Otherwise, install Python 3.11 using your OS package manager.

Check your system version with:

python3 -V

Create the Diskover venv

RHEL / Rocky Linux:

If the system Python version is older than 3.12, install the target Python version and development headers:

dnf install python3.11 python3.11-devel gcc

If the system Python is already 3.12+:

dnf install gcc python3-devel

Create the virtual environment (replace 3.11 with your target version if different):

python3.11 -m venv /opt/python-venv-diskover

Ubuntu / Debian:

Install the venv module and development headers:

apt install python3-venv gcc python3.11-dev

Create the virtual environment:

python3.11 -m venv /opt/python-venv-diskover

Add the venv to your system PATH

Create a profile script so the venv is available to all users and services:

cat > /etc/profile.d/diskover-venv.sh << 'EOF'
# Add Diskover venv to PATH for CLI usage
export PATH="/opt/python-venv-diskover/bin:$PATH"
EOF
chmod 0644 /etc/profile.d/diskover-venv.sh

Source it in your current session (or log out and back in):

source /etc/profile.d/diskover-venv.sh

Verify the venv is active:

which python3
# Expected: /opt/python-venv-diskover/bin/python3

which pip
# Expected: /opt/python-venv-diskover/bin/pip

Obtain the Pip Tarballs

The pip tarballs (admin-pips.tgz and worker-pips.tgz) are provided by the Diskover team as part of the offline installation artifact set. Contact Diskover Support to request them for your target OS and Diskover version.

Note: These tarballs are typically provided alongside the other offline artifacts (Elasticsearch, RabbitMQ, Python RPMs, etc.). If you already have the full set of offline tarballs, you should already have the pip tarballs included.

Stage Tarballs on the Target Host

Transfer the pip tarballs to the target machine using whatever method your network allows — SCP, shared mount, etc.

Via SCP:

scp admin-pips.tgz username@web-host:/tmp/
scp worker-pips.tgz username@worker-host:/tmp/

On the target host, extract the tarballs:

# On the web host
tar -xvzf /tmp/admin-pips.tgz -C /tmp/offline-pips/

# On the worker host
tar -xvzf /tmp/worker-pips.tgz -C /tmp/offline-pips/

After extraction, the wheel files will be available at:

• /tmp/offline-pips/admin-pips/ — Diskover Admin dependencies (web host)

• /tmp/offline-pips/worker-pips/ — Diskoverd dependencies (worker host)

Install Packages on the Offline Host

Using the venv (recommended)

Diskover Admin (on the web host):

/opt/python-venv-diskover/bin/pip install --no-index --find-links=/tmp/offline-pips/admin-pips/ -r /var/www/diskover-admin/etc/requirements.txt

Diskoverd (on the worker host):

/opt/python-venv-diskover/bin/pip install --no-index --find-links=/tmp/offline-pips/worker-pips/ -r /opt/diskover/requirements.txt

Install all wheels in a directory (alternative):

If you want to install every package in a tarball without referencing a requirements file:

/opt/python-venv-diskover/bin/pip install --no-index --find-links=/tmp/offline-pips/admin-pips/ /tmp/offline-pips/admin-pips/*.whl

System Python (legacy)

These commands install into the system Python and are provided for reference only. Use the venv commands above for Diskover 2.5.x+ deployments.

Diskover Admin:

python3 -m pip install --no-index --find-links=/tmp/offline-pips/admin-pips/ -r /var/www/diskover-admin/etc/requirements.txt

Diskoverd (Task Worker):

python3 -m pip install --no-index --find-links=/tmp/offline-pips/worker-pips/ -r /opt/diskover/requirements.txt

Windows Offline Installation

On Windows worker hosts, the same tarball-based workflow applies. The Diskover team provides a worker-pips.tgz built for Windows. Contact Diskover Support to request the Windows-specific tarballs.

Stage and extract on the Windows host

Transfer the worker-pips.tgz to the Windows machine and extract it to a local directory (e.g., C:\pip-packages\).

Install packages

Install all wheels:

python -m pip install --no-index --find-links="C:\pip-packages" (Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\pip-packages\*.whl").FullName

Install from a specific requirements file:

python -m pip install --no-index --find-links="C:\pip-packages" -r "C:\Program Files\Diskover\requirements.txt"

Troubleshooting

"No matching distribution found"

The wheel files in the tarball don't match the target host's Python version or OS architecture. For example, wheels built for Python 3.12 on RHEL 9 won't install on a host running Python 3.11 on RHEL 8.

Fix:

• Verify the Python version on the target host: python3 -V

• Verify the OS version: cat /etc/os-release

• Contact Diskover Support to request tarballs that match your Python version and OS

"Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement"

A required wheel is missing from the extracted tarball directory, or the tarball wasn't fully extracted.

Fix:

• Verify the tarball was extracted completely: ls -la /tmp/offline-pips/admin-pips/ (or worker-pips)

• Check that .whl files are present in the directory

• Re-extract the tarball: tar -xvzf /tmp/admin-pips.tgz -C /tmp/offline-pips/

• If files are still missing, the tarball may be incomplete — contact Diskover Support for a fresh copy

Permission denied during pip install

The pip install command needs to be run as root (or with sudo) when installing into the Diskover venv at /opt/python-venv-diskover.

Fix:

• Run the install command as root or with sudo:

  sudo /opt/python-venv-diskover/bin/pip install --no-index --find-links=/tmp/offline-pips/admin-pips/ -r /var/www/diskover-admin/etc/requirements.txt

• Verify the venv directory permissions: ls -la /opt/python-venv-diskover/

Venv python3 not found after creation

After creating the venv, running which python3 still points to the system Python instead of the venv.

Fix:

• Ensure the PATH profile script was created and sourced:

  cat /etc/profile.d/diskover-venv.sh
  source /etc/profile.d/diskover-venv.sh

• Verify the venv binary exists: ls /opt/python-venv-diskover/bin/python3

• If the venv was created with the wrong Python version, remove it and recreate:

  rm -rf /opt/python-venv-diskover
  python3.11 -m venv /opt/python-venv-diskover

Wrong tarball for OS version

The offline pip tarballs are built per OS version (RHEL/Rocky 8 or 9). Using tarballs built for the wrong OS version will result in install failures.

Fix:

• Verify the target OS: cat /etc/os-release

• Ensure the tarballs you received match your OS version

• Contact Diskover Support to request the correct tarballs

Quick Reference