Installation of Apache Airflow (The safe way)

As in the documentation of apache-airflow, they provided a lot of ways of installation on different OS but when it comes to installing it to your machine, you encounter many errors. So, In this blog, I am going to share my few installation processes and their files, which I found very useful and easy.

Use "virtualenv" to do this task (highly recommended)

As the process of installation involves many lib and modules with different versions sometimes, for this reason, we should use virtualenv.

Install with PyPI:-

This should be the first way to install Airflow on your machine. Use pip commands for this process.

1. pip install "apache-airflow[celery,postgres]==2.5.0" --constraint "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/airflow/constraints-2.5.0/constraints-3.7.txt"

2. airflow db init

3. airflow standalone

above codes will do all the required things automatically, if got any error then checkout StackOverflow or any other community to get help.

Install with Docker:-

In this process of installation, we need some files such as reuirements.txt, Dockerfile, and docker-compose.yaml which includes all configurations like DB, ports etc.

You should have the Docker desktop application on your machine to get started further.

Here, I am attaching files that I had modified slightly for my use, but you can add more according to your requirements.

Below is the docker-compose.yaml file which you should copy but better if you look into the official yaml file because I've removed a few things from inside which aren't of my use.

# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
# distributed with this work for additional information
# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
# with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
# specific language governing permissions and limitations
# under the License.
#

# Basic Airflow cluster configuration for CeleryExecutor with Redis and PostgreSQL.
#
# WARNING: This configuration is for local development. Do not use it in a production deployment.
#
# This configuration supports basic configuration using environment variables or an .env file
# The following variables are supported:
#
# AIRFLOW_IMAGE_NAME           - Docker image name used to run Airflow.
#                                Default: apache/airflow:2.5.0
# AIRFLOW_UID                  - User ID in Airflow containers
#                                Default: 50000
# Those configurations are useful mostly in case of standalone testing/running Airflow in test/try-out mode
#
# _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_USERNAME   - Username for the administrator account (if requested).
#                                Default: airflow
# _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_PASSWORD   - Password for the administrator account (if requested).
#                                Default: airflow
# _PIP_ADDITIONAL_REQUIREMENTS - Additional PIP requirements to add when starting all containers.
#                                Default: ''
#
# Feel free to modify this file to suit your needs.
---
version: '3.11'
x-airflow-common:
  &airflow-common
  # In order to add custom dependencies or upgrade provider packages you can use your extended image.
  # Comment the image line, place your Dockerfile in the directory where you placed the docker-compose.yaml
  # and uncomment the "build" line below, Then run `docker-compose build` to build the images.
  image: ${AIRFLOW_IMAGE_NAME:-apache/airflow:2.5.0}
  # build: .
  environment:
    &airflow-common-env
    AIRFLOW__CORE__EXECUTOR: CeleryExecutor
    AIRFLOW__DATABASE__SQL_ALCHEMY_CONN: postgresql+psycopg2://airflow:airflow@postgres/airflow
    # For backward compatibility, with Airflow <2.3
    AIRFLOW__CORE__SQL_ALCHEMY_CONN: postgresql+psycopg2://airflow:airflow@postgres/airflow
    AIRFLOW__CELERY__RESULT_BACKEND: db+postgresql://airflow:airflow@postgres/airflow
    AIRFLOW__CELERY__BROKER_URL: redis://:@redis:6379/0
    AIRFLOW__CORE__FERNET_KEY: ''
    AIRFLOW__CORE__DAGS_ARE_PAUSED_AT_CREATION: 'true'
    AIRFLOW__CORE__LOAD_EXAMPLES: 'false'
    AIRFLOW__API__AUTH_BACKENDS: 'airflow.api.auth.backend.basic_auth'
    _PIP_ADDITIONAL_REQUIREMENTS: ${_PIP_ADDITIONAL_REQUIREMENTS:-}
  volumes:
    - ./dags:/opt/airflow/dags
    - ./logs:/opt/airflow/logs
    - ./plugins:/opt/airflow/plugins
  user: "${AIRFLOW_UID:-50000}:0"
  depends_on:
    &airflow-common-depends-on
    redis:
      condition: service_healthy
    postgres:
      condition: service_healthy

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:13
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: airflow
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: airflow
      POSTGRES_DB: airflow
    volumes:
      - postgres-db-volume:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "pg_isready", "-U", "airflow"]
      interval: 5s
      retries: 5
    restart: always

  redis:
    image: redis:latest
    expose:
      - 6379
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 30s
      retries: 50
    restart: always

  airflow-webserver:
    <<: *airflow-common
    command: webserver
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "--fail", "http://localhost:8080/health"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 5
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      <<: *airflow-common-depends-on
      airflow-init:
        condition: service_completed_successfully

  airflow-scheduler:
    <<: *airflow-common
    command: scheduler
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", 'airflow jobs check --job-type SchedulerJob --hostname "$${HOSTNAME}"']
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 5
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      <<: *airflow-common-depends-on
      airflow-init:
        condition: service_completed_successfully


  airflow-triggerer:
    <<: *airflow-common
    command: triggerer
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", 'airflow jobs check --job-type TriggererJob --hostname "$${HOSTNAME}"']
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 5
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      <<: *airflow-common-depends-on
      airflow-init:
        condition: service_completed_successfully

  airflow-init:
    <<: *airflow-common
    entrypoint: /bin/bash
    # yamllint disable rule:line-length
    command:
      - -c
      - |
        function ver() {
          printf "%04d%04d%04d%04d" $${1//./ }
        }
        airflow_version=$$(AIRFLOW__LOGGING__LOGGING_LEVEL=INFO && gosu airflow airflow version)
        airflow_version_comparable=$$(ver $${airflow_version})
        min_airflow_version=2.2.0
        min_airflow_version_comparable=$$(ver $${min_airflow_version})
        if (( airflow_version_comparable < min_airflow_version_comparable )); then
          echo
          echo -e "\033[1;31mERROR!!!: Too old Airflow version $${airflow_version}!\e[0m"
          echo "The minimum Airflow version supported: $${min_airflow_version}. Only use this or higher!"
          echo
          exit 1
        fi
        if [[ -z "${AIRFLOW_UID}" ]]; then
          echo
          echo -e "\033[1;33mWARNING!!!: AIRFLOW_UID not set!\e[0m"
          echo "If you are on Linux, you SHOULD follow the instructions below to set "
          echo "AIRFLOW_UID environment variable, otherwise files will be owned by root."
          echo "For other operating systems you can get rid of the warning with manually created .env file:"
          echo "    See: https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow/stable/howto/docker-compose/index.html#setting-the-right-airflow-user"
          echo
        fi
        one_meg=1048576
        mem_available=$$(($$(getconf _PHYS_PAGES) * $$(getconf PAGE_SIZE) / one_meg))
        cpus_available=$$(grep -cE 'cpu[0-9]+' /proc/stat)
        disk_available=$$(df / | tail -1 | awk '{print $$4}')
        warning_resources="false"
        if (( mem_available < 4000 )) ; then
          echo
          echo -e "\033[1;33mWARNING!!!: Not enough memory available for Docker.\e[0m"
          echo "At least 4GB of memory required. You have $$(numfmt --to iec $$((mem_available * one_meg)))"
          echo
          warning_resources="true"
        fi
        if (( cpus_available < 2 )); then
          echo
          echo -e "\033[1;33mWARNING!!!: Not enough CPUS available for Docker.\e[0m"
          echo "At least 2 CPUs recommended. You have $${cpus_available}"
          echo
          warning_resources="true"
        fi
        if (( disk_available < one_meg * 10 )); then
          echo
          echo -e "\033[1;33mWARNING!!!: Not enough Disk space available for Docker.\e[0m"
          echo "At least 10 GBs recommended. You have $$(numfmt --to iec $$((disk_available * 1024 )))"
          echo
          warning_resources="true"
        fi
        if [[ $${warning_resources} == "true" ]]; then
          echo
          echo -e "\033[1;33mWARNING!!!: You have not enough resources to run Airflow (see above)!\e[0m"
          echo "Please follow the instructions to increase amount of resources available:"
          echo "   https://airflow.apache.org/docs/apache-airflow/stable/howto/docker-compose/index.html#before-you-begin"
          echo
        fi
        mkdir -p /sources/logs /sources/dags /sources/plugins
        chown -R "${AIRFLOW_UID}:0" /sources/{logs,dags,plugins}
        exec /entrypoint airflow version
    # yamllint enable rule:line-length
    environment:
      <<: *airflow-common-env
      _AIRFLOW_DB_UPGRADE: 'true'
      _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_CREATE: 'true'
      _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_USERNAME: ${_AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_USERNAME:-airflow}
      _AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_PASSWORD: ${_AIRFLOW_WWW_USER_PASSWORD:-airflow}
      _PIP_ADDITIONAL_REQUIREMENTS: ''
    user: "0:0"
    volumes:
      - .:/sources

  airflow-cli:
    <<: *airflow-common
    profiles:
      - debug
    environment:
      <<: *airflow-common-env
      CONNECTION_CHECK_MAX_COUNT: "0"
    # Workaround for entrypoint issue. See: https://github.com/apache/airflow/issues/16252
    command:
      - bash
      - -c
      - airflow

  # You can enable flower by adding "--profile flower" option e.g. docker-compose --profile flower up
  # or by explicitly targeted on the command line e.g. docker-compose up flower.
  # See: https://docs.docker.com/compose/profiles/
  flower:
    <<: *airflow-common
    command: celery flower
    profiles:
      - flower
    ports:
      - "5555:5555"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "--fail", "http://localhost:5555/"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 5
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      <<: *airflow-common-depends-on
      airflow-init:
        condition: service_completed_successfully

Below is the `Dockerfile`:-

FROM apache/airflow:2.5.0
COPY requirements.txt /requirements.txt
RUN pip install --user --upgrade pip
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir --user -r /requirements.txt

Below are the contents of requirements.txt file which can vary, so use yours:-

scikit-learn==0.24.2
matplotlib==3.3.3
mysql-connector-python==8.0.20
psycopg2-binary==2.8.5
pandas==1.0.4

Make a `.env` file and add the following line to the .env file:

AIRFLOW_UID=50000

make a virtualenv and activate it, after activating your virtualenv and putting the above files in the same directory of the installation, you should execute the below codes in your terminal.

docker-compose up airflow-init

then go to your localhost:8080 to see the page.

You can execute "docker-compose up -d" the next time if you want to run airflow in localhost.

You can also start the airflow-webserver container in your Docker desktop directly.