Dec 23: Week_1: Introduction to my automation script and how to run it:

Have you ever wondered how much of your computer’s processing power is being used or how quickly it’s communicating with the internet while gaming? These are crucial questions a gamer should always ask, especially gamers that play games like Call of duty and other games that require a stable internet connection and peek perfomance.

My Python script provides a straight forward answer to these questions. Its important to note that this script can also be used by non-gamers that need constant information regarding their computer performance and internet speed. The script also sends an automatic email to your internet service provider when the internet speed is too low. Cool right?. So!, lets get right into it.

Its important to know that my blog will be divided into four parts and I will be adding a link to the next automation blog at the end of each blog. Please, feel free to contribute to my blog, by doing so, we can improve the script and share ideas on how to make it better. Also let me know if you encounter any problems while running the script.

My first blog provides an introduction to my script and how to run it properly. Its important to note that the language used to run the script is python.

FULL AUTOMATION SCRIPT AND EXPLANATION:

Note: Please do not run the script until you have read how to run it.

import psutil
import speedtest
import time
import smtplib
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

def get_speed():
    st = speedtest.Speedtest()
    download_speed = st.download() / 10**6
    upload_speed = st.upload() / 10**6
    return download_speed, upload_speed

def send_email(to_email, subject, message):
    # Replace these with your email details
    sender_email = "your_email@gmail.com"
    sender_password = "your_email_password"
    
    # Set up the email server
    server = smtplib.SMTP("smtp.gmail.com", 587)
    server.starttls()
    server.login(sender_email, sender_password)

    # Create the email message
    msg = MIMEText(message)
    msg["Subject"] = subject
    msg["From"] = sender_email
    msg["To"] = to_email

    # Send the email
    server.sendmail(sender_email, to_email, msg.as_string())

    # Close the connection
    server.quit()

def monitor_and_output():
    while True:
        download_speed, upload_speed = get_speed()

        print(f"Download Speed: {download_speed:.2f} Mbps | Upload Speed: {upload_speed:.2f} Mbps")

        if download_speed < 5 or upload_speed < 5:
            # Internet speed is below 5 Mbps, send an email
            to_email = "provider_email@example.com"
            subject = "Internet Speed Alert"
            message = "Dear Internet Provider,\n\nMy internet speed is below 5 Mbps. Please check and resolve the issue.\n\nBest regards,\nYour Name"
            
            send_email(to_email, subject, message)

        time.sleep(300)  # Sleep for 5 minutes (300 seconds)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    monitor_and_output()

I will explain the script in groups or lines to ease understanding. So, let’s go through the script group by group:

Group 1

import psutil
import speedtest
import time
import smtplib
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

These lines import the necessary libraries needed to ensure the code runs properly.

The psutil library provides an interface to retrieve system utilization information, like CPU, memory, disk, and network usage. The speedtest library in Python facilitates network speed testing by connecting to Speedtest.net servers. It measures download and upload speeds, aiding in assessing internet connection performance. The time library is a module that provides functions to manipulate time, measure elapsed time, and create delays in code execution. smtplib is a Python library that enables sending emails using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). MIMEText from email.mime.text is for creating a simple text email.

Group 2

def get_speed():
    st = speedtest.Speedtest()
    download_speed = st.download() / 10**6
    upload_speed = st.upload() / 10**6
    return download_speed, upload_speed

This function uses the speedtest library to measure download and upload speeds and returns the values in Mbps.

Group 3

def send_email(to_email, subject, message):
    # Replace these with your email details
    sender_email = "your_email@gmail.com"
    sender_password = "your_email_password"
    
    # Set up the email server
    server = smtplib.SMTP("smtp.gmail.com", 587)
    server.starttls()
    server.login(sender_email, sender_password)

    # Create the email message
    msg = MIMEText(message)
    msg["Subject"] = subject
    msg["From"] = sender_email
    msg["To"] = to_email

    # Send the email
    server.sendmail(sender_email, to_email, msg.as_string())

    # Close the connection
    server.quit()

This function sends an email using the smtplib library. Please note, you need to replace “your_email@gmail.com” and “your_email_password” with your actual email address and password.

Group 4

def monitor_and_output():
    while True:
        download_speed, upload_speed = get_speed()

        print(f"Download Speed: {download_speed:.2f} Mbps | Upload Speed: {upload_speed:.2f} Mbps")

        if download_speed < 5 or upload_speed < 5:
            # Internet speed is below 5 Mbps, send an email
            to_email = "provider_email@example.com"
            subject = "Internet Speed Alert"
            message = "Dear Internet Provider,\n\nMy internet speed is below 5 Mbps. Please check and resolve the issue.\n\nBest regards,\nYour Name"
            
            send_email(to_email, subject, message)

        time.sleep(300)  # Sleep for 5 minutes (300 seconds)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    monitor_and_output()

The def function defines the main function monitor_and_output. It contains an infinite loop (while True) to continuously monitor and output system and network information. Inside the loop:

CPU and memory usage are obtained using the previously defined functions.
Network speed is measured using the get_network_speed function.
The information is then printed to the console, displaying CPU and memory usage percentages, as well as download and upload speeds in Mbps.
There is a 5-second delay (time.sleep(5)) at the end of each iteration to control the monitoring interval. You can adjust this value based on how often you want to collect data.

This function continuously monitors the internet speed using the get_speed() function. If the download or upload speed is below 5 Mbps, it sends an email alert using the send_email() function. The script runs indefinitely, checking the speed every 5 minutes (time.sleep(300)).

Group 5

if __name__ == "__main__":
    monitor_and_output()

This block ensures that the monitor_and_output function is executed only if the script is run as the main program (not imported as a module).

In conclusion, this Python script uses the psutil and speedtest libraries to monitor CPU and memory usage, as well as download and upload speeds and automatically send an email to your provider if the speed falls below 5 Mbps. The monitor_and_output function continuously collects and prints this information in an infinite loop with a specified interval.

HOW TO PROPERLY RUN THE SCRIPT:

After a lot of trial and error in trying to figure out how to run the script properly which I will share on my other blogs, I was finally able to figure out how to run it properly. I will explain it in steps to ease understanding.

Step 1: Command line

First, a command line (cli) is needed to run the code. In my case, I used Ubuntu through WSL on windows, because of these my commands would be mostly based on Ubuntu but it could also be similar to other command line commands.

Step 2: Create a new directory and a virtual environment

Create a new directory on your cli.

mkdir my_directory

Change ‘my_directory’ to any name you want.

In the new directory, create a virtual environment. Using a virtual environment in cli allows you to create isolated Python environments for your projects, each with its own set of dependencies. This helps prevent conflicts between different projects that might require different package versions. Run the following commands to create a virtual environment:

cd my_directory

# Always update your cli (you're welcome)
sudo apt update

Install virtualenv if not already installed

sudo apt install python3-venv

Create a virtual environment named ‘venv’

python3 -m venv venv

Step 2: Activate the Virtual Environment

Activate the virtual environment by running the following command:

source venv/bin/activate

Step 3: Install the required tools

The tools needed to run this code properly is psutil and speedtest-cli.

psutil is a python library that allows us to access information about system utilization, including CPU and memory usage.

On the other hand, speedtest-cli is also a python library that we can use to perform internet speed tests, measuring both download and upload speeds. Both tools can be installed using the following command:

pip install psutil speedtest-cli

Step 4: Save the script in a file

The next step is to create a file (e.g., performance_script.py), copy and paste the Python script into it and save it. You can create a file using the following command.

touch performance_script.py

Use the following command to open the file in vim text editor.

vim performance_script.py

You can also use nano and other text editors. Once you have opened the file, copy and paste the full script, then save and exit.

Step 5: Run the Script

This is the final step. Once you’ve saved the script and exited, you can run it using the following command:

python performance_script.py

HOW TO STOP RUNNING THE SCRIPT AND HOW TO DEACTIVATE THE VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT:

Once you’re done running the script, you can stop it using ctrl+c to stop running it. You can also deactivate the virtual environment by running the following command:

deactivate

On my next blog, I will be sharing the Cost-Benefit Analysis of My Automation Journey. You can access my next blog by clicking the link below.

Enechukwu_Blogs

Video gaming is one of the underrated activity in our society. My blogs talks about the health benefits of video gaming and also provides an automated solution to a major problem gamers and other PC users in general encounter. Read the blogs to find out 😉.