Seamlessly Automate Your DevOps Workflow: A Step-by-Step Guide to Installing GitLab Runner on Ubuntu 20.04

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) are essential components of modern DevOps practices. GitLab Runner is a key tool that works with GitLab CI/CD to automate the process of running jobs in a pipeline. In this blog post, we'll walk through the process of installing and configuring GitLab Runner on an Ubuntu 20.04 system.

Step 1: Update the System

Before installing any new software, it's always a good idea to update your system's package list. Open a terminal and execute the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

This ensures that all of your system's software is up to date, potentially preventing compatibility issues.

Step 2: Install GitLab Runner

To install GitLab Runner, you need to add the official GitLab repository to your system and install the package. Run the following commands:

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

These commands will download the script that adds the GitLab Runner repository and install the gitlab-runner package.

Step 3: Register the Runner

With GitLab Runner installed, the next step is to register it with your GitLab instance. You'll need a registration token from your GitLab project or group settings. Use the following command to start the registration process:

sudo gitlab-runner register

During registration, you will be prompted for the GitLab instance URL and the registration token. You'll also be asked to enter a description for the runner, tags associated with the runner, and to choose an executor. For most use cases, the "docker" executor is a good choice.

Step 4: Configure the Runner

After registration, you can configure the runner's behavior by editing the /etc/gitlab-runner/config.toml file. You can specify the Docker image to use for the jobs, set up cache mechanisms, and more. An example configuration might look like this:

[[runners]]
  name = "My Runner"
  url = "https://gitlab.com/"
  token = "REGISTRATION_TOKEN"
  executor = "docker"
  [runners.custom_build_dir]
  [runners.docker]
    tls_verify = false
    image = "ubuntu:20.04"
    privileged = false
    disable_entrypoint_overwrite = false
    oom_kill_disable = false
    disable_cache = false
    volumes = ["/cache"]
    shm_size = 0

Make sure to replace "REGISTRATION_TOKEN" with your actual registration token.

Step 5: Start the Runner

Once configured, you can start the runner using the following command:

sudo gitlab-runner start

This will start the GitLab Runner service. You can confirm that it's running by checking its status:

sudo gitlab-runner status

If everything is set up correctly, you should see a message indicating that the runner is running.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you've successfully installed and configured GitLab Runner on your Ubuntu 20.04 system. Your GitLab CI/CD pipelines should now be able to run jobs automatically, using the runner to execute the necessary tasks. This automation can greatly improve the efficiency and reliability of your software development lifecycle.