gitlab-runner Installation Guide Installation Guide

gitlab-runner is a free and open-source multi-platform build agent for GitLab CI/CD. GitLab Runner executes CI/CD jobs defined in GitLab pipelines, providing a FOSS alternative to GitHub Actions runners or CircleCI executors

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum (2+ for concurrent jobs)

RAM: 2GB minimum (4GB+ recommended)

Storage: 10GB for builds and caches

Network: HTTPS access to GitLab instance

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port N/A (default gitlab-runner port)

Metrics on port 9252

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install gitlab-runner
sudo dnf install -y gitlab-runner

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now gitlab-runner

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=N/A/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
gitlab-runner --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install gitlab-runner
sudo apt install -y gitlab-runner

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now gitlab-runner

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow N/A

# Verify installation
gitlab-runner --version

bash

# Install gitlab-runner
sudo pacman -S gitlab-runner

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now gitlab-runner

# Verify installation
gitlab-runner --version

bash

# Install gitlab-runner
apk add --no-cache gitlab-runner

# Enable and start service
rc-update add gitlab-runner default
rc-service gitlab-runner start

# Verify installation
gitlab-runner --version

bash

# Install gitlab-runner
sudo zypper install -y gitlab-runner

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now gitlab-runner

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=N/A/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
gitlab-runner --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install gitlab-runner

# Start service
brew services start gitlab-runner

# Verify installation
gitlab-runner --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install gitlab-runner

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'gitlab-runner_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service gitlab-runner start

# Verify installation
gitlab-runner --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install gitlab-runner

# Or using Scoop
scoop install gitlab-runner

# Verify installation
gitlab-runner --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/gitlab-runner

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
gitlab-runner --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable gitlab-runner

# Start service
sudo systemctl start gitlab-runner

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop gitlab-runner

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart gitlab-runner

# Check status
sudo systemctl status gitlab-runner

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u gitlab-runner -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add gitlab-runner default

# Start service
rc-service gitlab-runner start

# Stop service
rc-service gitlab-runner stop

# Restart service
rc-service gitlab-runner restart

# Check status
rc-service gitlab-runner status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'gitlab-runner_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service gitlab-runner start

# Stop service
service gitlab-runner stop

# Restart service
service gitlab-runner restart

# Check status
service gitlab-runner status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start gitlab-runner
brew services stop gitlab-runner
brew services restart gitlab-runner

# Check status
brew services list | grep gitlab-runner

powershell

# Start service
net start gitlab-runner

# Stop service
net stop gitlab-runner

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service gitlab-runner
Stop-Service gitlab-runner
Restart-Service gitlab-runner

# Check status
Get-Service gitlab-runner

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream gitlab-runner_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:N/A;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name gitlab-runner.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name gitlab-runner.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/gitlab-runner.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/gitlab-runner.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://gitlab-runner_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName gitlab-runner.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://gitlab-runner.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName gitlab-runner.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/gitlab-runner.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/gitlab-runner.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:N/A/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:N/A/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend gitlab-runner_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/gitlab-runner.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend gitlab-runner_backend

backend gitlab-runner_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server gitlab-runner1 127.0.0.1:N/A check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R gitlab-runner:gitlab-runner /etc/gitlab-runner
sudo chmod 750 /etc/gitlab-runner

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=N/A/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status gitlab-runner

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u gitlab-runner -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep gitlab-runner)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/gitlab-runner"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/gitlab-runner-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/gitlab-runner /var/lib/gitlab-runner

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/gitlab-runner-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop gitlab-runner

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/gitlab-runner/gitlab-runner-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start gitlab-runner

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u gitlab-runner -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/gitlab-runner/gitlab-runner.log

# Check configuration
gitlab-runner --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/gitlab-runner

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep N/A

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost N/A

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep gitlab-runner)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep gitlab-runner)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep N/A

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  gitlab-runner:
    image: gitlab-runner:latest
    ports:
      - "N/A:N/A"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/gitlab-runner
      - ./data:/var/lib/gitlab-runner
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update gitlab-runner

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade gitlab-runner

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu gitlab-runner

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade gitlab-runner

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update gitlab-runner

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade gitlab-runner

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/gitlab-runner-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/gitlab-runner

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart gitlab-runner

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/gitlab-runner

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/gitlab-runner -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/gitlab-runner

Official Documentation: https://docs.gitlab-runner.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/gitlab-runner/gitlab-runner

Community Forum: https://forum.gitlab-runner.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.gitlab-runner.org/best-practices

---

Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

Related Miscellaneous Guides

ackee Installation Guide

Appwrite Installation Guide

arangodb Installation Guide