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Setup a Github Self-Hosted Runner

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Setup a Github Self-Hosted Runner

In this steps we'll be getting familiar with GitHub Self-Hosted Runners. If it's your first time using Self-Hosted Runners, take a few minutes to flip through their documentation.

Steps

1. Setup your forked repo to use Self-Hosted Runners

Navigate to your metal-cli fork. For me it's https://github.com/cprivitere/metal-cli, however it'll be different per person. It'll be in the format: 

https://github.com/<your-github-username>/metal-cli

Click on the Settings tab, you should see a view like this:

Metal CLI Settings Screenshot

On the left bar, click on Actions, then Runners.

Metal CLI Settings Runners Screenshot

To create a new Self-Hosted Runner, click the new self-hosted runner button.

Metal CLI Settings Runners New Screenshot

Choose the correct OS and architecture option, if you're using the recommend system from the previous step, it would be Linux and x64.

Metal CLI Settings Runner OS Screenshot

You should now see instructions for downloading, configuring, and using the GitHub Runner software.

Metal CLI Settings Runner Instructions Screenshot

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2. Run the commands to download and configure the runner

The first step to installing the GitHub Runner software would be to SSH into the machine you created earlier. 

ssh root@your-metal-server

You'll also need to install gcc, create a new user, and switch to it. Github Runners do not run as root. 

apt update
apt install build-essential gcc
useradd -m ghrunner -s /bin/bash
su - ghrunner

Next, copy and paste the Download and Configure sections from the Add New Runner page from the previous step.

!!! note

  • Take the defaults by just pressing enter when it asks for the group, name, labels, and work folder.
  • Don't forget to run ./run.sh
  • If you were doing this as a long lived runner in production this would be better executed as a systemctl service, but long lived runners are not recommended, so just running ./run.sh inline is fine for today.

Your runner should now say it's Listening for Jobs.

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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 you have more than one self-hosted runner?
  • What sorts of pre-requisites would your code repositories need on your own runners?
  • How should I secure my runners?

Step 13 of 16