Execute a Github Action on your Runner

Now that we've got our GitHub Self-Hosted Runner set up let's test it out by running some tests with GitHub Actions!

Steps

1. Configure our forked metal-cli repo to use the new Self-Hosted Runner

Let's go back to our fork of metal-cli. For me it's https://github.com/cprivitere/metal-cli.

Navigate to the Runner settings again by going to Settings > Actions > Runners. You should see your new self-hosted runner listed.

Now we must edit our Github Actions workflow to use the new self-hosted runner. To do that, navigate to the file:

metal-cli/.github/workflows/test.yml

Edit the test.yml file with the following changes.

• Replace:

      runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  

  with

      runs-on: self-hosted
  

• Underneath the on: line, add:

    workflow_dispatch:
  

Your test.yml file should now look like:

name: Go Tests
on:
  pull_request:
  workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: self-hosted
    timeout-minutes: 10
    steps:
    - name: Set up Go
      uses: actions/setup-go@v4.0.0
      with:
        go-version: '1.19'
    - name: Check out code into the Go module directory
      uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - name: Get dependencies
      run: go mod download
    - name: Build
      run: go build -v ./...
    - name: TF tests
      run: go test -v -cover -parallel 4 ./...

You can now commit your changes.

2. Ensure your GitHub Actions are being run on your Self-Hosted Runner

Go back to Settings > Actions > General and click on Allow all actions and reusable workflows. Save the changes.

Next, click on Actions and click on Go Tests' on the left side.

Click the Run workflow drop down on the right side and run it for the main branch.

Now watch the output on your GitHub Runner and the output inside GitHub. The following should appear:

Running job: test

Discussion

Before proceeding to the next part let's take a few minutes to discuss what we did. Here are some questions to start the discussion.

• Can I use a mix of self-hosted and github-hosted runners within a workflow?
• What sort of logging do I get from my self-hosted runner?
• Can I see the results of my self-hosted runner on Github?