Managing Runners in GitHub Actions

1. Introduction

GitHub Actions is a powerful tool for automating workflows and CI/CD processes. Central to this functionality are runners, which are servers that execute your workflows. This lesson focuses on understanding and managing runners effectively.

2. What are Runners?

Runners are the agents that run your GitHub Actions jobs. Each runner processes one job at a time and can be self-hosted or provided by GitHub.

3. Types of Runners

• GitHub-hosted runners: Managed by GitHub and come pre-installed with popular tools.
• Self-hosted runners: You can set up and manage your own runners on your infrastructure.

4. Managing Runners

4.1 Adding a Self-hosted Runner

Follow these steps to add a self-hosted runner:

1. Navigate to your GitHub repository.
2. Go to Settings > Actions > Runners.
3. Click on Add runner.
4. Select your operating system.
5. Follow the instructions provided to download and configure the runner.

4.2 Configuring a Self-hosted Runner

Once added, configure the runner by editing the config.sh or config.cmd file.

./config.sh --url https://github.com/USERNAME/REPO --token YOUR_RUNNER_TOKEN

4.3 Using Runners in Workflows

To specify a runner in your workflow, use the runs-on key:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: self-hosted
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v2

5. Best Practices

• Regularly update self-hosted runners to ensure compatibility and security.
• Use labels to categorize your runners for easier management.
• Monitor runner performance and resource utilization.

6. FAQ