How to Set Up Gitlab Runner on Ubuntu 20 - A Comprehensive Guide

Gitlab Runner is an open source project that allows you to run jobs and send the results to Gitlab. It is a powerful tool that can be used to automate various tasks such as building, testing, and deploying code. In this guide, we will show you how to set up Gitlab Runner on Ubuntu 20.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you will need to have access to an Ubuntu 20 server. Additionally, you will need to have a Gitlab account and a project that you want to use the Runner with.

Step 1: Install Docker

The first step is to install Docker. Docker is a container platform that allows you to run applications in a secure and isolated environment. You can install Docker by running the following command:


$ sudo apt-get install docker.io

Once the installation is complete, you can start the Docker service with the following command:


$ sudo systemctl start docker

Step 2: Install Gitlab Runner

The next step is to install the Gitlab Runner. You can install it by running the following command:


$ curl -L https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/runner/gitlab-runner/script.deb.sh | sudo bash

Once the installation is complete, you can install the Gitlab Runner package with the following command:


$ sudo apt-get install gitlab-runner

Step 3: Configure Gitlab Runner

Once the installation is complete, you can configure the Gitlab Runner. You can do this by running the following command:


$ sudo gitlab-runner register

You will be asked to provide some information such as the Gitlab URL, the token, and the description. You can find the token in the project's settings page. Once the registration is complete, you can start the Gitlab Runner service with the following command:


$ sudo systemctl start gitlab-runner

Step 4: Create a Job

The last step is to create a job. You can do this by creating a .gitlab-ci.yml file in the root of your project. This file will contain the instructions for the job. For example, you can create a job that will run the tests for your project with the following code:


test:
  stage: test
  script:
    - npm install
    - npm test

Once the job is created, you can commit and push the changes to your Gitlab repository. The Gitlab Runner will detect the changes and execute the job.

Conclusion

In this guide, we have shown you how to set up Gitlab Runner on Ubuntu 20. We have also shown you how to configure the Runner and create a job. We hope that you have found this guide helpful and that it has helped you to get started with Gitlab Runner.

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