Install AWS ParallelCluster in a virtual environment (recommended)

We recommend that you install AWS ParallelCluster in a virtual environment to avoid requirement version conflicts with other pip packages.

Prerequisites

• AWS ParallelCluster requires Python 3.7 or later. If you don't already have it installed, download a compatible version for your platform at python.org.

To install AWS ParallelCluster in a virtual environment

1. If virtualenv isn't installed, install virtualenv using pip3. If python3 -m virtualenv help displays help information, go to step 2.

   $ python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
   $ python3 -m pip install --user --upgrade virtualenv

   Run exit to leave the current terminal window and open a new terminal window to pick up changes to the environment.

2. Create a virtual environment and name it.

   $ python3 -m virtualenv ~/apc-ve

   Alternatively, you can use the -p option to specify a specific version of Python.

   $ python3  -m virtualenv -p $(which python3) ~/apc-ve

3. Activate your new virtual environment.

   $ source ~/apc-ve/bin/activate

4. Install AWS ParallelCluster into your virtual environment.

   (apc-ve)~$ python3 -m pip install --upgrade "aws-parallelcluster"

5. Install Node Version Manager and the latest Long-Term Support (LTS) Node.js version. AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK) (AWS CDK) requires Node.js for CloudFormation for template generation.

   Note

   If your Node.js installation isn't working on your platform, you can install an LTS version prior to the latest LTS version. For more information, see the Node.js release schedule and the AWS CDK prerequisites.

   Example Node.js installation command:

   $  nvm install --lts=Hydrogen

   $ curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.38.0/install.sh | bash
   $ chmod ug+x ~/.nvm/nvm.sh
   $ source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh
   $ nvm install --lts
   $ node --version

6. Verify that AWS ParallelCluster is installed correctly.

   $ pcluster version
   {
     "version": "3.7.0"
   }

You can use the deactivate command to exit the virtual environment. Each time you start a session, you must reactivate the environment.

To upgrade to the latest version of AWS ParallelCluster, run the installation command again.

(apc-ve)~$ python3 -m pip install --upgrade "aws-parallelcluster"