Introduction

GitLab is a single application DevOps platform that is designed to manage the entire software development lifecycle. It enables professionals to perform all the tasks in a project — from project planning and source code management to monitoring and security. Additionally, it allows teams to collaborate and build better software.

With GitLab gaining popularity in the recent years with the various features it provides, its demand has increased. Several GitLab customers use IBM Power, which leads to the need for GitLab on IBM Power Architecture. The GitLab Runner includes support for Linux on IBM Power and provides built binary files and images for GitLab Runner 4.3 and later versions, whereas GitLab Runner Operator 1.6.0 and later versions provide support for IBM Power. GitLab Runner Operator 1.8.0, which is the latest version (at the time of writing this blog), is now certified by Red Hat and is listed on OperatorHub.

This blog shows how to install GitLab Runner Operator on Linux for IBM Power and test its basic features.

Prerequisites

Make sure that the following prerequisites are fulfilled for installing the GitLab Runner Operator on Power:

• A ppc64le Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform cluster for deploying the GitLab Runner Operator

  You can deploy a Red Hat OpenShift cluster on IBM Power Systems Virtual Servers using the steps in the Setting up IBM Power Systems Virtual Server for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform tutorial.

• A GitLab project where you will be creating the GitLab runners to run the pipelines

Steps

Installing GitLab Runner Operator

Perform the following steps to install GitLab Runner Operator:

1. Search for GitLab Runner Operator in the OperatorHub section on your ppc64le cluster and click Install to install it.
   
2. Notice that within a few seconds, the GitLab Runner Operator get installed.
   

Create GitLab Runner

Perform the following steps to create a GitLab Runner:

1. Create a namespace for your project.

   oc new-project gitlab-runner-system

2. Create the secret file with your GitLab project's runner token:

   In your GitLab project, click Settings -> CI/CD. Then expand Runners. Copy your registration token.

   

   In the gitlab-runner-secret.yml file, replace your project runner secret with the registration token that you just copied.

   cat > gitlab-runner-secret.yml << EOF
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Secret
   metadata:
     name: gitlab-runner-secret
   type: Opaque
   stringData:
     runner-registration-token: <REPLACE_ME> # your project runner secret
   EOF
   
   oc apply -f gitlab-runner-secret.yml

3. Create the runner from the custom resource definition (CRD) file.

   Create a CRD file with the following information. The tags value must be openshift for the job to run.

   cat > gitlab-runner.yml << EOF
   apiVersion: apps.gitlab.com/v1beta2
   kind: Runner
   metadata:
     name: gitlab-runner
   spec:
     gitlabUrl: <YOUR GITLAB INSTANCE URL>
     buildImage: alpine
     token: gitlab-runner-secret
     tags: openshift
   EOF
   
   oc apply -f gitlab-runner.yml

4. Confirm that GitLab Runner is installed by running the following command:

   oc get runners
   
   NAME               AGE
   
   gitlab-runner      14d
   

   You can also check the runner and controller pods as shown below:

   
5. Verify that runner is listed in the Available specific runners list for the GitLab project. In your GitLab project, click Settings -> CI/CD. Then expand Runners.
   
6. Configure the code to use the new runner.

   Modify the tag field in the .gitlab-ci.yaml file to use the newly available runner. Refer to the sample repository used in this blog.

   

   A new build will now use the 'openshift' runner. It will create a new pod to run the build.

   

You have now configured your GitLab project to use GitLab Runner for Power. The GitLab Runner Operator will manage the lifecycle of your runners.

Summary

This blog explained how to install GitLab Runner Operator on IBM Power for building and deploying applications on OpenShift. This information will help users interested in using the functionalities of GitLab Runner Operator on IBM Power.

Take the next step

Join the Power Developer eXchange Community (PDeX). PDeX is a place for anyone interested in developing open source apps on IBM Power. Whether you're new to Power or a seasoned expert, we invite you to join and begin exchanging ideas, sharing experiences, and collaborating with other members today!

Originally published on IBM Developer by Sneha Kanekar.