How to Set Up a CI/CD Runner

Installing the CI Executor

The installation procedure varies by environment. This section covers Windows and Docker.

Windows-Based Executor

1. Create a folder and download the installer

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   mkdir D:\gitlab-runner
   cd D:\gitlab-runner
   ```

Download the installer from [Windows Runner](https://GitLab-runner-downloads.s3.amazonaws.com/latest/binaries/GitLab-runner-windows-amd64.exe) into `D:\\gitlab-runner`

1. Install

```bash
   .\gitlab-runner.exe install
   .\gitlab-runner.exe start
   ```

After installation, run `.\gitlab-runner.exe --version` to verify

![image](https://github.com/loustack17/loustack17.github.io/assets/33840759/c1028651-082c-46a3-be50-c4ee3885b5ad)

### Container-Based Executor

1. Install [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/)
2. Run the Docker-based installation

```bash

   docker run -d --name gitlab-runner --restart always \\
       -v /srv/GitLab-runner/config:/etc/GitLab-runner \\
       -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \\
       gitLab/gitlab-runner:latest

1. Verify the installation

1

  docker exec -it gitlab-runner gitlab-runner --version

Registering the CI Executor

• Runners come in 3 categories
• Shared Runner: available to all projects
• Group Runner: available to projects within a group
• Specific Runner: available to a specific project

The registration process is largely the same across categories; this example uses a Shared Runner.

1. Obtain the Runner Token

• Shared Runner: log in → Admin Area → Overview → Runners

• Specific Runner tokens are found in the project settings

• Group Runner tokens are found in the group settings

1. Run .\gitlab-runner.exe register or docker exec -it gitlab-runner gitlab-runner register to register the runner

2. Fill in the registration details

• Instance URL: the platform URL
• Registration token: the Runner Token
• Description: a description of the runner
• Tags: labels for the runner
• Maintenance note: maintenance information
• Executor: how the runner executes jobs

• If you want Docker-based CI/CD, choose docker as the executor
• Here I wanted full control over the CI/CD environment, so I chose shell

1. On success you will see the following

Check the runner status

References

• Run the Runner in a container | Docs
• Registering runners | Docs