NameError: name '_mysql' is not defined when trying to use mysql functions in aws lambda in python language

Question

My aws lambda function based on python 3.9 language failed with this error message.  
NameError: name '_mysql' is not defined

I have uploaded the function code using s3.  pip freeze gives me this list.
```
aiofiles==0.8.0
aiomysql==0.0.22
aiosqlite==0.17.0
anyio==3.5.0
asgiref==3.5.0
asyncpg==0.25.0
attrs==21.4.0
bcrypt==3.2.0
certifi==2021.10.8
cffi==1.15.0
cfgv==3.3.1
charset-normalizer==2.0.12
click==8.0.4
configparser==5.2.0
databases==0.5.5
distlib==0.3.4
dnspython==2.2.1
ecdsa==0.17.0
email-validator==1.1.3
emoji==1.7.0
fastapi==0.75.0
filelock==3.6.0
greenlet==1.1.2
h11==0.13.0
identify==2.4.12
idna==3.3
iniconfig==1.1.1
Jinja2==3.0.3
mangum==0.14.1
MarkupSafe==2.1.1
mysql-connector-python==8.0.28
mysqlclient==2.1.0
natsort==8.1.0
nodeenv==1.6.0
packaging==21.3
passlib==1.7.4
platformdirs==2.5.1
pluggy==1.0.0
pre-commit==2.17.0
protobuf==3.19.4
psycopg2-binary==2.9.3
py==1.11.0
pyasn1==0.4.8
pycparser==2.21
pydantic==1.9.0
PyMySQL==0.9.3
pymysql-utils==2.1.5
pyparsing==3.0.7
pytest==7.1.1
python-dotenv==0.19.2
python-jose==3.3.0
python-multipart==0.0.5
PyYAML==6.0
requests==2.27.1
rsa==4.8
seedir==0.3.0
six==1.16.0
sniffio==1.2.0
SQLAlchemy==1.4.32
starlette==0.17.1
toml==0.10.2
tomli==2.0.1
typing_extensions==4.1.1
urllib3==1.26.9
uvicorn==0.17.6
virtualenv==20.13.4
```

Am I missing any package?  I am using sqlalchemy.  Please help me.

Answer

There's not a lot to go on here - for example, it's impossible to tell whether there is a library missing or it's some other dependency so I can only give generic advice.

If you are using Python packages in your Lambda the best thing you can do is package them (those packages/dependencies) in the function. There are a couple of ways of doing this: Using a [ZIP file](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/python-package.html) or using a [container image](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/python-image.html) - use whichever is most comfortable for you - if you haven't had experience with containers then the ZIP file is probably the way to go.

Note that you should create the ZIP on an Amazon Linux 2 instance in order to get package for the appropriate architecture that is compatible with Lambda. And with some careful coding (or by creating a separate Python utility) you will be able to test that your packaging is working correctly prior to putting it into a ZIP and uploading to Lambda.

In my experience, ensuring that all the packages are included with your function handler is the best way to avoid the issue you're having.

NameError: name '_mysql' is not defined when trying to use mysql functions in aws lambda in python language

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