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diff --git a/doc/ci/runners/runner_cloud/windows_runner_cloud.md b/doc/ci/runners/runner_cloud/windows_runner_cloud.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..ef4d4076c91 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/ci/runners/runner_cloud/windows_runner_cloud.md @@ -0,0 +1,155 @@ +--- +stage: Verify +group: Runner +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 +--- + +# Runner Cloud for Windows (beta) **(FREE)** + +Runner Cloud runners for Windows are in [beta](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/gitlab-the-product/#beta) +and shouldn't be used for production workloads. + +During this beta period, the [shared runner pipeline quota](../../../user/admin_area/settings/continuous_integration.md#shared-runners-pipeline-minutes-quota) +applies for groups and projects in the same manner as Linux runners. This may +change when the beta period ends, as discussed in this [related issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/30834). + +Windows runners on GitLab.com autoscale by launching virtual machines on +the Google Cloud Platform. This solution uses an +[autoscaling driver](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/custom-executor-drivers/autoscaler/tree/master/docs/readme.md) +developed by GitLab for the [custom executor](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/custom.html). +Windows runners execute your CI/CD jobs on `n1-standard-2` instances with +2 vCPUs and 7.5 GB RAM. You can find a full list of available Windows packages in +the [package documentation](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/shared-runners/images/gcp/windows-containers/blob/main/cookbooks/preinstalled-software/README.md). + +We want to keep iterating to get Windows runners in a stable state and +[generally available](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/gitlab-the-product/#generally-available-ga). +You can follow our work towards this goal in the +[related epic](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/2162). + +## Configuration + +The full contents of our `config.toml` are: + +NOTE: +Settings that aren't public are shown as `X`. + +```toml +concurrent = X +check_interval = 3 + +[[runners]] + name = "windows-runner" + url = "https://gitlab.com/" + token = "TOKEN" + executor = "custom" + builds_dir = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\builds" + cache_dir = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\cache" + shell = "powershell" + [runners.custom] + config_exec = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.exe" + config_args = ["--config", "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\config.toml", "custom", "config"] + prepare_exec = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.exe" + prepare_args = ["--config", "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\config.toml", "custom", "prepare"] + run_exec = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.exe" + run_args = ["--config", "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\config.toml", "custom", "run"] + cleanup_exec = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.exe" + cleanup_args = ["--config", "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\config.toml", "custom", "cleanup"] +``` + +The full contents of our `autoscaler/config.toml` are: + +```toml +Provider = "gcp" +Executor = "winrm" +OS = "windows" +LogLevel = "info" +LogFormat = "text" +LogFile = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.log" +VMTag = "windows" + +[GCP] + ServiceAccountFile = "PATH" + Project = "some-project-df9323" + Zone = "us-east1-c" + MachineType = "n1-standard-2" + Image = "IMAGE" + DiskSize = 50 + DiskType = "pd-standard" + Subnetwork = "default" + Network = "default" + Tags = ["TAGS"] + Username = "gitlab_runner" + +[WinRM] + MaximumTimeout = 3600 + ExecutionMaxRetries = 0 + +[ProviderCache] + Enabled = true + Directory = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\machines" +``` + +## Example `.gitlab-ci.yml` file + +Below is a sample `.gitlab-ci.yml` file that shows how to start using the runners for Windows: + +```yaml +.shared_windows_runners: + tags: + - shared-windows + - windows + - windows-1809 + +stages: + - build + - test + +before_script: + - Set-Variable -Name "time" -Value (date -Format "%H:%m") + - echo ${time} + - echo "started by ${GITLAB_USER_NAME}" + +build: + extends: + - .shared_windows_runners + stage: build + script: + - echo "running scripts in the build job" + +test: + extends: + - .shared_windows_runners + stage: test + script: + - echo "running scripts in the test job" +``` + +## Limitations and known issues + +- All the limitations mentioned in our [beta + definition](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/#beta). +- The average provisioning time for a new Windows VM is 5 minutes. + This means that you may notice slower build start times + on the Windows runner fleet during the beta. In a future + release we intend to update the autoscaler to enable + the pre-provisioning of virtual machines. This is intended to significantly reduce + the time it takes to provision a VM on the Windows fleet. You can + follow along in the [related issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/custom-executor-drivers/autoscaler/-/issues/32). +- The Windows runner fleet may be unavailable occasionally + for maintenance or updates. +- The Windows runner virtual machine instances do not use the + GitLab Docker executor. This means that you can't specify + [`image`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#image) or [`services`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#services) in + your pipeline configuration. +- For the beta release, we have included a set of software packages in + the base VM image. If your CI job requires additional software that's + not included in this list, then you must add installation + commands to [`before_script`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#before_script) or [`script`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#script) to install the required + software. Note that each job runs on a new VM instance, so the + installation of additional software packages needs to be repeated for + each job in your pipeline. +- The job may stay in a pending state for longer than the + Linux runners. +- There is the possibility that we introduce breaking changes which will + require updates to pipelines that are using the Windows runner + fleet. |