Use pip to manage two versions of python 2.7 on RHEL7 - python-2.7

Question

Goal: Have python 2.7.14 and python 3.6 on my RHEL server and use pip2/pip3 to manage both.
Note: Although this server lacks an internet connection, I can download them separately and upload them to this server.
I recently installed RHEL 7.2 on a VM, this installs python 2.7.5 by default.
I decided upgrade this by doing a parallel install of 2.7.14 (using make altinstall method and keeping the existing 2.7.5 intact). Also installed python 3.6 as I plan to port all my existing python code to it in the future.
The problem arises when I try to install pip for the Python 2.7.14 or any libraries (as you will see in a little bit).
I first did a easy_install of pip:
[root#VMW01 bin]# easy_install pip
Searching for pip
Best match: pip 9.0.1
Adding pip 9.0.1 to easy-install.pth file
Installing pip script to /usr/local/bin
Installing pip3 script to /usr/local/bin
Installing pip3.5 script to /usr/local/bin
Using /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages
Processing dependencies for pip
Finished processing dependencies for pip
This installs pip for python 2.7.5 and 3.6 but not for python 2.7.14.
Next, I downloaded the get-pip.py:
This gets installed fine for python 2.7.5 but not for python 2.7.14:
[root#VMW01 pshah]# python get-pip.py
Collecting pip
Downloading pip-9.0.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl (1.3MB)
100% |████████████████████████████████| 1.3MB 978kB/s
Collecting wheel
Downloading wheel-0.30.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl (49kB)
100% |████████████████████████████████| 51kB 9.2MB/s
Installing collected packages: pip, wheel
Successfully installed pip-9.0.1 wheel-0.30.0
[root#VMW01 pshah]# /usr/local/bin/python2.7 get-pip.py
pip is configured with locations that require TLS/SSL, however the ssl module in Python is not available.
Collecting pip
Could not fetch URL https://pypi.python.org/simple/pip/: There was a problem confirming the ssl certificate: Can't connect to HTTPS URL because the SSL module is not available. - skipping
Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement pip (from versions: )
No matching distribution found for pip
This seems like a lack of a SSL libray.
First, I did install this using yum:
[root#VMW01 pshah]# yum install openssl
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, search-disabled-repos, subscription-manager
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
Package 1:openssl-1.0.1e-42.el7_1.9.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Nothing to do
[root#VMW01 pshah]# yum install openssl-devel
Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, search-disabled-repos, subscription-manager
This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
Package 1:openssl-devel-1.0.1e-42.el7_1.9.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Nothing to do
Second, this seems to be present for python 2.7.5
[root#VMW01 pshah]# python
Python 2.7.5 (default, Oct 11 2015, 17:47:16)
[GCC 4.8.3 20140911 (Red Hat 4.8.3-9)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import ssl
>>>
Am I overarching too much? Should I settle with the default installation of 2.7.5 and python 3.6?
I know virtualenv might be a solution here, but i'm not sure how I can make it work with Apache executing python scripts.
Thanks.

Answer 1

As it mentions here: https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/installing I did a local install of pip but called the python executable for python 2.7.14.
Downloaded the .whl files for wheel, setuptools and pip and then ran the below:
[root#VMW01 pshah]# /usr/local/bin/python2.7 get-pip.py --no-index --find-link=.
Collecting pip
Collecting setuptools
Collecting wheel
Installing collected packages: pip, setuptools, wheel
Successfully installed pip-9.0.1 setuptools-36.5.0 wheel-0.30.0
I believe calling pip2.7 will install packages for the python 2.7.14 now.
Tested this by installing the xlrd library (Note - I had the xlrd tarball in the local directory):
[root#VMW01 pshah]# pip2.7 install xlrd-1.1.0.tar.gz
pip is configured with locations that require TLS/SSL, however the ssl module in Python is not available.
Processing ./xlrd-1.1.0.tar.gz
Building wheels for collected packages: xlrd
Running setup.py bdist_wheel for xlrd ... done
Stored in directory: /root/.cache/pip/wheels/b9/dc/43/e6acfa12bc48cdf3654dd7f44c66880548ea0322324bc6095f
Successfully built xlrd
Installing collected packages: xlrd
Successfully installed xlrd-1.1.0
[root#VMW01 pshah]# /usr/local/bin/python2.7
Python 2.7.14 (default, Oct 6 2017, 18:31:52)
[GCC 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-4)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import xlrd
>>>