156 lines
5.7 KiB
Markdown
156 lines
5.7 KiB
Markdown
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---
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stage: Verify
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group: Runner
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info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
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---
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# Runner Cloud for Windows (beta) **(FREE)**
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Runner Cloud runners for Windows are in [beta](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/gitlab-the-product/#beta)
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and shouldn't be used for production workloads.
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During this beta period, the [shared runner pipeline quota](../../../user/admin_area/settings/continuous_integration.md#shared-runners-pipeline-minutes-quota)
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applies for groups and projects in the same manner as Linux runners. This may
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change when the beta period ends, as discussed in this [related issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/30834).
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Windows runners on GitLab.com autoscale by launching virtual machines on
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the Google Cloud Platform. This solution uses an
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[autoscaling driver](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/custom-executor-drivers/autoscaler/tree/master/docs/readme.md)
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developed by GitLab for the [custom executor](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/custom.html).
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Windows runners execute your CI/CD jobs on `n1-standard-2` instances with
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2 vCPUs and 7.5 GB RAM. You can find a full list of available Windows packages in
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the [package documentation](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/shared-runners/images/gcp/windows-containers/blob/main/cookbooks/preinstalled-software/README.md).
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We want to keep iterating to get Windows runners in a stable state and
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[generally available](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/gitlab-the-product/#generally-available-ga).
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You can follow our work towards this goal in the
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[related epic](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/2162).
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## Configuration
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The full contents of our `config.toml` are:
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NOTE:
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Settings that aren't public are shown as `X`.
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```toml
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concurrent = X
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check_interval = 3
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[[runners]]
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name = "windows-runner"
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url = "https://gitlab.com/"
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token = "TOKEN"
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executor = "custom"
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builds_dir = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\builds"
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cache_dir = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\cache"
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shell = "powershell"
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[runners.custom]
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config_exec = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.exe"
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config_args = ["--config", "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\config.toml", "custom", "config"]
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prepare_exec = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.exe"
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prepare_args = ["--config", "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\config.toml", "custom", "prepare"]
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run_exec = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.exe"
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run_args = ["--config", "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\config.toml", "custom", "run"]
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cleanup_exec = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.exe"
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cleanup_args = ["--config", "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\config.toml", "custom", "cleanup"]
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```
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The full contents of our `autoscaler/config.toml` are:
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```toml
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Provider = "gcp"
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Executor = "winrm"
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OS = "windows"
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LogLevel = "info"
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LogFormat = "text"
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LogFile = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.log"
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VMTag = "windows"
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[GCP]
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ServiceAccountFile = "PATH"
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Project = "some-project-df9323"
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Zone = "us-east1-c"
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MachineType = "n1-standard-2"
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Image = "IMAGE"
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DiskSize = 50
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DiskType = "pd-standard"
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Subnetwork = "default"
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Network = "default"
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Tags = ["TAGS"]
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Username = "gitlab_runner"
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[WinRM]
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MaximumTimeout = 3600
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ExecutionMaxRetries = 0
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[ProviderCache]
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Enabled = true
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Directory = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\machines"
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```
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## Example `.gitlab-ci.yml` file
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Below is a sample `.gitlab-ci.yml` file that shows how to start using the runners for Windows:
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```yaml
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.shared_windows_runners:
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tags:
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- shared-windows
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- windows
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- windows-1809
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stages:
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- build
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- test
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before_script:
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- Set-Variable -Name "time" -Value (date -Format "%H:%m")
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- echo ${time}
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- echo "started by ${GITLAB_USER_NAME}"
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build:
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extends:
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- .shared_windows_runners
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stage: build
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script:
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- echo "running scripts in the build job"
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test:
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extends:
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- .shared_windows_runners
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stage: test
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script:
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- echo "running scripts in the test job"
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```
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## Limitations and known issues
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- All the limitations mentioned in our [beta
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definition](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/#beta).
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- The average provisioning time for a new Windows VM is 5 minutes.
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This means that you may notice slower build start times
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on the Windows runner fleet during the beta. In a future
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release we intend to update the autoscaler to enable
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the pre-provisioning of virtual machines. This is intended to significantly reduce
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the time it takes to provision a VM on the Windows fleet. You can
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follow along in the [related issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/custom-executor-drivers/autoscaler/-/issues/32).
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- The Windows runner fleet may be unavailable occasionally
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for maintenance or updates.
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- The Windows runner virtual machine instances do not use the
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GitLab Docker executor. This means that you can't specify
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[`image`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#image) or [`services`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#services) in
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your pipeline configuration.
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- For the beta release, we have included a set of software packages in
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the base VM image. If your CI job requires additional software that's
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not included in this list, then you must add installation
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commands to [`before_script`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#before_script) or [`script`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#script) to install the required
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software. Note that each job runs on a new VM instance, so the
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installation of additional software packages needs to be repeated for
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each job in your pipeline.
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- The job may stay in a pending state for longer than the
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Linux runners.
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- There is the possibility that we introduce breaking changes which will
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require updates to pipelines that are using the Windows runner
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fleet.
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