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Deploy GitLab Runners

Deploy a GitLab Runner on the DSRI to run your GitLab CI/CD pipeline jobs on the DSRI.

Why use a DSRI GitLab runner?​

  • Run larger workloads with more CPU and memory than GitLab shared runners
  • Jobs run directly on DSRI infrastructure using the Kubernetes executor
  • Define your pipeline in a simple .gitlab-ci.yml file in your repository
  • Use any Docker image as your job environment
  • Integrate with your existing GitLab repositories at gitlab.maastrichtuniversity.nl

For more information about GitLab CI/CD, go to https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/

Prerequisites​

Request access first

Before deploying a GitLab runner, contact us via the Topdesk Form or by emailing the RCS team.

Get a GitLab Runner token​

  1. Go to your GitLab project on gitlab.maastrichtuniversity.nl
  2. Navigate to Settings → CI/CD and expand Runners
CI/CD must be enabled

If you don't see the CI/CD option in Settings, go to Settings → General → Visibility, project features, permissions and enable CI/CD pipelines.

  1. Click "New project runner"
  2. Add the tag openshift
  3. Click Create runner
  4. Copy the token (it starts with glrt-)

Deploy the runner​

Make sure you are in the correct project:

oc project my-project

1. Create the token secret​

oc create secret generic gitlab-runner-secret \
    --from-literal=runner-token=<your-glrt-token>

2. Create the runner configuration​

Create a file called config.toml:

[[runners]]
    executor = "kubernetes"
    [runners.kubernetes]
        [runners.kubernetes.volumes]
            [[runners.kubernetes.volumes.empty_dir]]
                name = "empty-dir"
                mount_path = "/"
                medium = "Memory"

Create a ConfigMap from it:

oc create configmap custom-config-toml --from-file config.toml=config.toml

3. Create the GitLab Runner resource​

Create a file called gitlab-runner.yaml:

apiVersion: apps.gitlab.com/v1beta2
kind: Runner
metadata:
  name: gitlab-runner
spec:
  gitlabUrl: https://gitlab.maastrichtuniversity.nl
  token: gitlab-runner-secret
  config: custom-config-toml
  tags: openshift
  serviceAccount: gitlab-runner-jobs

Apply it:

oc create -f gitlab-runner.yaml

4. Verify the deployment​

oc get pods
oc get runner

You should see the runner pod running. Then confirm the runner registered on GitLab by going to Settings → CI/CD → Runners in your GitLab project. The runner should appear with status Online.

Use the runner in a pipeline​

In your GitLab repository, create a .gitlab-ci.yml file and set tags to target your DSRI runner. Here is a simple example to verify your runner is working:

stages:
  - test

test-dsri-runner:
  stage: test
  image: alpine
  tags:
    - openshift
  script:
    - echo "Runner is working on DSRI!"
tip

Always specify an image in your job. The runner requires a Docker image to run jobs in. If no image is specified the job will fail.

Commit the file and GitLab will automatically trigger a pipeline. Go to CI/CD → Pipelines in your project to monitor the job. Once confirmed working, replace the example script with your own commands.

Clean up​

To remove the runner:

oc delete -f gitlab-runner.yaml
oc delete configmap custom-config-toml
oc delete secret gitlab-runner-secret

See also​