PyTorch Net.train() fails to establish connection - what for? - neural-network

Question

I am trying to train a neural network in PyTorch following a git tutorial. When it comes to train the network I get a row of exceptions linked to a failed connection attempt (probably with some google server):
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/***/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/urllib3/connection.py", line 157, in _new_conn
(self._dns_host, self.port), self.timeout, **extra_kw
File "/home/***/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/urllib3/util/connection.py", line 61, in create_connection
for res in socket.getaddrinfo(host, port, family, socket.SOCK_STREAM):
File "/home/***/.conda/envs/cv-nd/lib/python3.6/socket.py", line 745, in getaddrinfo
for res in _socket.getaddrinfo(host, port, family, type, proto, flags):
socket.gaierror: [Errno -2] Name or service not known
During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/***/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py", line 672, in urlopen
chunked=chunked,
File "/home/***/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py", line 387, in _make_request
conn.request(method, url, **httplib_request_kw)
File "/home/***/.conda/envs/cv-nd/lib/python3.6/http/client.py", line 1262, in request
self._send_request(method, url, body, headers, encode_chunked)
File "/home/***/.conda/envs/cv-nd/lib/python3.6/http/client.py", line 1308, in _send_request
self.endheaders(body, encode_chunked=encode_chunked)
File "/home/***/.conda/envs/cv-nd/lib/python3.6/http/client.py", line 1257, in endheaders
self._send_output(message_body, encode_chunked=encode_chunked)
File "/home/***/.conda/envs/cv-nd/lib/python3.6/http/client.py", line 1036, in _send_output
self.send(msg)
File "/home/*.*/.conda/envs/cv-nd/lib/python3.6/http/client.py", line 974, in send
self.connect()
File "/home/*.*/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/urllib3/connection.py", line 184, in connect
conn = self._new_conn()
File "/home/*.*/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/urllib3/connection.py", line 169, in _new_conn
self, "Failed to establish a new connection: %s" % e
urllib3.exceptions.NewConnectionError: <urllib3.connection.HTTPConnection object at 0x7ff4d4cc87f0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno -2] Name or service not known
During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/*.*/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/requests/adapters.py", line 449, in send
timeout=timeout
File "/home/*.*/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/urllib3/connectionpool.py", line 720, in urlopen
method, url, error=e, _pool=self, _stacktrace=sys.exc_info()[2]
File "/home/*.*/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/urllib3/util/retry.py", line 436, in increment
raise MaxRetryError(_pool, url, error or ResponseError(cause))
urllib3.exceptions.MaxRetryError: HTTPConnectionPool(host='metadata.google.internal', port=80): Max retries exceeded with url: /computeMetadata/v1/instance/attributes/keep_alive_token (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPConnection object at 0x7ff4d4cc87f0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno -2] Name or service not known',))
During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "NB2.py", line 229, in <module>
with active_session():
File "/home/*.*/.conda/envs/cv-nd/lib/python3.6/contextlib.py", line 81, in __enter__
return next(self.gen)
File "/home/*.*/Code/faceNNtrain/Facial_Keypoint_Detection/workspace_utils.py", line 31, in active_session
token = requests.request("GET", TOKEN_URL, headers=TOKEN_HEADERS).text
File "/home/*.*/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/requests/api.py", line 61, in request
return session.request(method=method, url=url, **kwargs)
File "/home/*.*/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/requests/sessions.py", line 530, in request
resp = self.send(prep, **send_kwargs)
File "/home/*.*/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/requests/sessions.py", line 643, in send
r = adapter.send(request, **kwargs)
File "/home/*.*/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/requests/adapters.py", line 516, in send
raise ConnectionError(e, request=request)
requests.exceptions.ConnectionError: HTTPConnectionPool(host='metadata.google.internal', port=80): Max retries exceeded with url: /computeMetadata/v1/instance/attributes/keep_alive_token (Caused by NewConnectionError('<urllib3.connection.HTTPConnection object at 0x7ff4d4cc87f0>: Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno -2] Name or service not known',))
I am confused since there is no external call required, and it is nowhere defined in my code (including model definition) - it probably sits somewhere hidden in the libraries, but still, it fails, messes everything up and idk how to fix it. I checked my local firewall and all, but the only host from the errors I could check (metadata.google.internal) is also not reachable from other clients. Any ideas?