So there I was, Monday morning, coffee in hand, ready to tackle the day. I had a bunch of CI/CD pipelines to run and a to-do list longer than a CVS receipt. Feeling optimistic, I hit "run" on my pipelines and leaned back, expecting them to zoom through like a Ferrari on an open road. Instead, it felt like I had strapped a rocket to a tortoise. My pipelines were crawling slower than my grandma on her morning walk.
I sighed, took another sip of my now lukewarm coffee, and wondered what was going on.
This couldn't just be a one-time thing, right? As I stared at the progress bar moving at a glacial pace, I decided to get to the bottom of this mystery. And let me tell you, what I found was quite the rabbit hole.
1. GitLab's pricing strategy
First off, I discovered that GitLab's pricing strategy isn't exactly in our favor.
You see, GitLab charges for runner usage by the minute. The longer your pipelines take, the more you pay.
It was like finding out that the pizza place around the corner purposely slows down their oven to make you buy more drinks while you wait. With this kind of setup, GitLab doesn't really have a reason to speed things up. More time means more money for them. Clever, but not great for my productivity.
2. Shared runners and high demand
Next, I learned that GitLab runners are shared among all users. Imagine you're at an all-you-can-eat buffet, but every time you reach for the food, a hundred other hands are grabbing at it too.
During peak times, the demand for these runners spikes, causing a traffic jam that makes rush hour look like a breeze. My jobs were stuck in a queue, waiting for their turn like kids at a popular amusement park ride. No wonder everything was so slow!
3. Limited resources of GitLab runners
To add insult to injury, these GitLab runners are hosted on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) with limited resources.
We're talking 2vCPUs and a few gigabytes of RAM. It's like trying to win a race with a tricycle while everyone else is on motorcycles. These limited resources just can't handle the intensive workloads that CI/CD pipelines often require, causing even more delays.
After my deep dive into the world of GitLab runners, I realized that the slow performance wasn't just a minor inconvenience; it was a systemic issue. GitLab's pricing strategy, shared runner congestion, and limited resources were all conspiring against my productivity. But hey, every problem has a solution, right?
That's where Cloud-Runner comes in. I stumbled upon this gem while searching for alternatives and decided to give it a try. And let me tell you, it was like swapping a bicycle for a jet engine.
My pipelines started zipping through tasks faster than my morning espresso can cool down. No more waiting in line, no more watching progress bars creep along – just pure, unadulterated speed.
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