GitLab, as you know is a web-based DevOps tool that offers functionality to automate entire lifecycle spanning from planning to creation, build, verify, testing, deploying, etc.
GitLab CI/CD is a built-in tool of GitLab that allows you to apply major methods of Continuous Integration, Delivery, and Deployment etc to your software. Thus any third-party applications or integrations is not needed. This blog gives you an insight on GitLab CI/CD tool for continuous software development methodologies.
What is CI/CD?
Continuous integration (CI) is a practice in which developers merge their own code to a shared repository multiple times a day.
Whereas in Continuous delivery (CD) code changes are built, tested, and prepared automatically for a release to production.
Gitlab CI/CD
It is a tool built into GitLab for sharing public and private code and storing. Its also provide software versioning, task management. GitLab CI/CD could be used for building, testing, deploying and monitoring the application.
- GitLab used for sharing public and private code and storing.
- Its also provide software versioning, task management.
- GitLab CI/CD is used for build, test, deploy and monitor the application.
Advantages of GitLab CI/CD −
- Its easy to use as it only needs to execute the shared codes.
- Its easy to learn
- Faster code deployment and development.
- Economical
- Secure
GitLab – CI/CD Variables
The table shows GitLab CI/CD variables.
List of new variables in GitLab 9.0
Getting Started:
First we need to create a project in Gitlab and import repository from Github. The following snippet gives you an insight on this.
Then we need to create file .gitlab-ci.yml and add it to the root directory repository.
Gitlab Runner
Its a process that run the tasks defined in.gitlab-ci.yml file. It can be a VM, a VPS or a cluster of containers. It allows to create our own Runner (Specific Runners) or use a Runner provided by GitLab (Shared Runners), which serves all projects.
To start running your jobs, you may either add specific runners to the project or use shared runners. If you setup the runners, you can see or on the runners page at Settings > CI / CD, as shown below.
Shared Runners: These are useful in jobs of multiple projects which have the same requirements. Rather than using multiple jobs for many projects, you can use very few number of Runners to handle multiple projects which will be easy to maintain and update.
Specific Runners: These runners are useful in deploying a project, with jobs having certain requirements or specific demand for the projects. Specific runners employ FIFO (First In First Out) process for organizing the data with first-come first-served basis.
The GitLab CI/CD tool is thus interesting and important tool for a quick delivery of accurate codes.