When someone says they have built a CI/CD pipeline in GitLab, they mean they have created a process to automate the tasks involved in building, testing, and deploying an application. CI/CD stands for Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment/Delivery (CD).
CI ensures that code changes are automatically built and tested when pushed to a repository.
CD automates the deployment of the application to staging or production environments.
Key Concepts of GitLab CI/CD:
GitLab Runner: A tool that executes the tasks defined in the pipeline.
.gitlab-ci.yml: The configuration file where the pipeline's stages, jobs, and steps are defined.
Stages: A pipeline is divided into stages like build, test, and deploy.
Jobs: Tasks within a stage, e.g., running tests, building Docker images, etc.
Summary of GitLab CI/CD Workflow
- Define the Workflow:
A CI/CD pipeline is defined in a .gitlab-ci.yml file stored in your GitLab repository.
The file contains stages, jobs, and the steps to automate tasks like building, testing, and deploying.
- Pipeline Trigger:
The pipeline is triggered automatically whenever code is pushed to the repository, or when a merge request is created.
- Pipeline Stages:
Stages represent the sequence of tasks (e.g., build, test, deploy).
Each stage contains one or more jobs, which run specific tasks.
- Jobs Execution:
Each job runs in its own isolated environment, using GitLab Runners (Docker, virtual machines, etc.).
Jobs execute scripts, run tests, build software, or deploy applications.
- Parallel & Sequential Execution:
Jobs in the same stage run in parallel.
The pipeline moves to the next stage only if all jobs in the current stage pass.
- Monitoring:
Pipeline progress is visible in the Pipelines section of the GitLab project.
Logs for each job can be reviewed to debug errors or verify success.
- Artifacts:
Jobs can produce artifacts (e.g., built files, logs) that are stored and passed to subsequent stages.
- Deployment:
The final stage deploys the application (e.g., to a server, database, or cloud environment).
GitLab supports manual approvals, environment configurations, and rollback mechanisms.
Flow Example:
Push Code → Pipeline starts automatically.
Stage 1 (Build): Compiles the application or validates syntax.
Stage 2 (Test): Runs tests to ensure functionality.
Stage 3 (Deploy): Deploys the application if all tests pass.
GitLab CI/CD ensures faster development cycles, automation of repetitive tasks, and improved code quality!
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