• Install on Red Hat OpenShift
  • Prerequisites
  • Install the OpenShift Operator
• Install on Kubernetes
  • Prerequisites
  • Install the Kubernetes Operator
    • Install GitLab Runner
    • Install other versions of GitLab Runner Operator for OpenShift
• Install GitLab Runner Operator on Kubernetes clusters in offline environments
• Uninstall Operator
  • Uninstall on Red Hat OpenShift
  • Uninstall on Kubernetes
    • Configuration

Install GitLab Runner Operator

Install on Red Hat OpenShift

You can install the GitLab Runner on Red Hat OpenShift v4 and later using the GitLab Runner Operator available from the stable channel of OperatorHub embedded in OpenShift’s web console. Once installed, you can run your GitLab CI/CD jobs using the newly deployed GitLab Runner instance. Each CI/CD job will run in a separate pod.

Prerequisites

• OpenShift 4.x cluster with administrator privileges
• GitLab Runner registration token

Install the OpenShift Operator

First you must install the OpenShift Operator.

1. Open the OpenShift UI and log in as a user with administrator privileges.
2. In the left pane, click Operators, then OperatorHub.

3. In the main pane, below All Items, search for the keyword GitLab Runner.

   

4. To install, click the GitLab Runner Operator.
5. On the GitLab Runner Operator summary page, click Install.
6. On the Install Operator page:
   1. Under Update Channel, select stable.
   2. Under Installed Namespace, select the desired namespace and click Install.

   

On the Installed Operators page, when the GitLab Operator is ready, the status changes to Succeeded.

Install on Kubernetes

You can install the GitLab Runner on Kubernetes v1.21 and later using the GitLab Runner Operator available from the stable channel of OperatorHub.io. Once installed, you can run your GitLab CI/CD jobs using the newly deployed GitLab Runner instance. Each CI/CD job will run in a separate pod.

Prerequisites

• Kubernetes v1.21 and later
• Cert manager v1.7.1

Install the Kubernetes Operator

Follow the instructions at OperatorHub.io.

1. Install the prerequisites.
2. On the top right, select Install and follow the instructions to install OLM and the Operator.

Install GitLab Runner

1. Obtain a runner authentication token. You can either:
   • Create a shared, group, or project runner.
   • Locate the runner authentication token in the config.toml file. Runner authentication tokens have the prefix, glrt-.

2. Create the secret file with your GitLab Runner token:

   cat > gitlab-runner-secret.yml << EOF
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Secret
   metadata:
     name: gitlab-runner-secret
   type: Opaque
   # Only one of the following fields can be set. The Operator fails to register the runner if both are provided.
   # NOTE: runner-registration-token is deprecated and will be removed in GitLab 18.0. You should use runner-token instead.
   stringData:
     runner-token: REPLACE_ME # your project runner token
     # runner-registration-token: "" # your project runner secret
   EOF
   

3. Create the secret in your cluster by running:

   kubectl apply -f gitlab-runner-secret.yml
   

4. Create the Custom Resource Definition (CRD) file and include the following configuration.

   cat > gitlab-runner.yml << EOF
   apiVersion: apps.gitlab.com/v1beta2
   kind: Runner
   metadata:
     name: gitlab-runner
   spec:
     gitlabUrl: https://gitlab.example.com
     buildImage: alpine
     token: gitlab-runner-secret
   EOF
   

5. Now apply the CRD file by running the command:

   kubectl apply -f gitlab-runner.yml
   

6. Confirm that GitLab Runner is installed by running:

   kubectl get runner
   NAME             AGE
   gitlab-runner    5m
   

7. The runner pod should also be visible:

   kubectl get pods
   NAME                             READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
   gitlab-runner-bf9894bdb-wplxn    1/1     Running   0          5m
   

Install other versions of GitLab Runner Operator for OpenShift

If you do not want to use the version of GitLab Runner Operator that’s available in the Red Hat OperatorHub, you can install a different version.

To find out the official currently-available Operator versions, view the tags in the gitlab-runner-operator repository. To find out which version of GitLab Runner the Operator is running, view the contents of the APP_VERSION file of the commit or tag you are interested in, for example, https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gl-openshift/gitlab-runner-operator/-/blob/1-17-stable/APP_VERSION.

To install a specific version, create this catalogsource.yaml file and replace <VERSION> with a tag or a specific commit:

apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
kind: CatalogSource
metadata:
  name: gitlab-runner-catalog
  namespace: openshift-marketplace
spec:
  sourceType: grpc
  image: registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gl-openshift/gitlab-runner-operator/gitlab-runner-operator-catalog-source:<VERSION>
  displayName: GitLab Runner Operators
  publisher: GitLab Community

Create the CatalogSource with:

oc apply -f catalogsource.yaml

In a minute the new Runner should show up in the OpenShift cluster’s OperatorHub section.

Install GitLab Runner Operator on Kubernetes clusters in offline environments

Prerequisites:

• Images required by the installation process are accessible.

To pull container images during installation, the GitLab Runner Operator requires a connection to the public internet on an external network. If you have Kubernetes clusters installed in an offline environment, you can use local a image registry or a local package repository to pull images or packages during installation.

The local repository must provide the following images:

1. Set up local repositories or registries in the disconnected network environment to host the downloaded software packages and container images. You can use:

   • A Docker registry for container images.
   • A local package registry for Kubernetes binaries and dependencies.

2. For GitLab Runner Operator v1.23.2 and later, download the latest version of operator.k8s.yaml file:

   curl -O "https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gl-openshift/gitlab-runner- 
   operator/-/releases/vGITLAB_RUNNER_OPERATOR_VERSION/downloads/operator.k8s.yaml"
   

3. In the operator.k8s.yaml file, update the following URLS:

   • GitLab Runner Operator image
   • RBAC Proxy image

4. Install the updated version of the operator.k8s.yaml file:

   kubectl apply -f PATH_TO_UPDATED_OPERATOR_K8S_YAML
   GITLAB_RUNNER_OPERATOR_VERSION = 1.23.2+
   

Uninstall Operator

Uninstall on Red Hat OpenShift

1. Delete Runner CRD:

   kubectl delete -f gitlab-runner.yml
   

2. Delete secret:

   kubectl delete -f gitlab-runner-secret.yml
   

3. Follow the instructions at the Red Hat documentation for Deleting Operators from a cluster using the web console.

Uninstall on Kubernetes

1. Delete Runner CRD:

   kubectl delete -f gitlab-runner.yml
   

2. Delete secret:

   kubectl delete -f gitlab-runner-secret.yml
   

3. Delete the Operator subscription:

   kubectl delete subscription my-gitlab-runner-operator -n operators
   

4. Find out the version of the installed CSV:

   kubectl get clusterserviceversion -n operators
   NAME                            DISPLAY         VERSION   REPLACES   PHASE
   gitlab-runner-operator.v1.7.0   GitLab Runner   1.7.0                Succeeded
   

5. Delete the CSV:

   kubectl delete clusterserviceversion gitlab-runner-operator.v1.7.0 -n operators
   

Configuration

To configure GitLab Runner in OpenShift, see the Configuring GitLab Runner on OpenShift page.