Introduction

This section provides a short introduction to Gitlab CI.

Your first pipeline in Gitlab CI

  • In this first video, we are going to create a very simple pipeline in Gitlab
  • what is a pipeline anyway?
  • the analogy to an assembly line needed to build a car
  • notice a few characteristics:
    • a series of steps that need to be done on a certain order
    • the steps are connected
    • the output from the previous step is the input for the next step
    • some steps could be done in parallel (wheels)
  • many more steps are required to build the final product
  • not only the production part is important but also the final testing part before the car goes to the consumer
  • the goal is to get the product out of the factory
  • you will later see that building and delivering software is, in some regard, quite similar to the step needed to manufacture a car
  • let’s try to build something similar with Gitlab CI and have two major stages:
    • build & test
    • Build a car assembly line using Gitlab CI
    • Add chassis
    • Add engine
    • Add wheels
  • later in the test phase, we will test it.
  • to get started with Gitlab CI you do not need to download any software or anything similar
  • create a free account at gitlab.com
  • create a new project. This will we a normal Git repository with nothing inside
  • new file .gitlab-ci.yaml
  • as in the car assembly, in a software pipeline, we also have a series of steps or jobs what we need to perform
  • always use spaces for indentation, not tabs.
  • after committing, Gitlab will create the pipeline for us
  • every time we make a change in the repository, the pipeline will start
  • GitLab will execute your scripts with the tool called GitLab Runner, which runs similarly to your terminal
  • Gitlab does not save anything unless told so
  • we will use artifacts to save the car.txt file
  • inspect final artifact
  • where is the build folder in the repository?
  • nothing is automatically committed to the repository

YOUR NOTES

Gitlab architecture

  • you need at least one Gitlab Server and one Runner
  • the server will provide the interface, store the repositories
  • the execution of the pipeline will be delegated to the Gitlab Runner
  • so the Gitlab Server does not run the jobs
  • this allows for a very scalable architecture
  • see the Runners under the project Settings > CI/CD > Runners
  • we are using Shared Runners provided by Gitlab.com
  • you can create your own runners on your own IT infrastructure and still use gitlab.com
  • you can assign runners for specific projects

YOUR NOTES

Why Gitlab / Gitlab CI?

  • Gitlab is a modern tool, and Gitlab will probably become one of the market leaders in the next years
  • Gitlab offers:
    • a modern, scalable architecture
    • you can easily work with Docker
    • pipeline as a code
    • partially open source
  • you need to try it on your own and see if it solves YOUR problems

YOUR NOTES

How much does Gitlab cost?

  • there are two ways to run Gitlab
    • gitlab.com
    • self-hosted on your server infrastructure
  • gitlab.com
    • has a free package
    • 2000 pipeline minutes
    • easy to start and try it out
  • self-hosted
    • has a free option as well (Community Edition)
    • you need to take care of running Gitlab (installation, updates, infrastructure, backups, …)
    • have control over your data

YOUR NOTES