# Auto DevOps > [Introduced][ce-37115] in GitLab 10.0. Generally available on GitLab 11.0. Auto DevOps provides pre-defined CI/CD configuration which allows you to automatically detect, build, test, deploy, and monitor your applications. Leveraging CI/CD best practices and tools, Auto DevOps aims to simplify the setup and execution of a mature & modern software development lifecycle. ## Overview With Auto DevOps, the software development process becomes easier to set up as every project can have a complete workflow from verification to monitoring with minimal configuration. Just push your code and GitLab takes care of everything else. This makes it easier to start new projects and brings consistency to how applications are set up throughout a company. For an introduction to Auto DevOps, watch [AutoDevOps in GitLab 11.0](https://youtu.be/0Tc0YYBxqi4). ## Enabled by default Starting with GitLab 11.3, the Auto DevOps pipeline is enabled by default for all projects. If it has not been explicitly enabled for the project, Auto DevOps will be automatically disabled on the first pipeline failure. Your project will continue to use an alternative [CI/CD configuration file](../../ci/yaml/README.md) if one is found. A GitLab administrator can [change this setting](../../user/admin_area/settings/continuous_integration.md#auto-devops-core-only) in the admin area. ## Quick start If you are using GitLab.com, see the [quick start guide](quick_start_guide.md) for how to use Auto DevOps with GitLab.com and a Kubernetes cluster on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). If you are using a self-hosted instance of GitLab, you will need to configure the [Google OAuth2 OmniAuth Provider](../../integration/google.md) before you can configure a cluster on GKE. Once this is set up, you can follow the steps on the [quick start guide](quick_start_guide.md) to get started. ## Comparison to application platforms and PaaS Auto DevOps provides functionality that is often included in an application platform or a Platform as a Service (PaaS). It takes inspiration from the innovative work done by [Heroku](https://www.heroku.com/) and goes beyond it in multiple ways: 1. Auto DevOps works with any Kubernetes cluster; you're not limited to running on GitLab's infrastructure. (Note that many features also work without Kubernetes.) 1. There is no additional cost (no markup on the infrastructure costs), and you can use a self-hosted Kubernetes cluster or Containers as a Service on any public cloud (for example, [Google Kubernetes Engine](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/)). 1. Auto DevOps has more features including security testing, performance testing, and code quality testing. 1. Auto DevOps offers an incremental graduation path. If you need advanced customizations, you can start modifying the templates without having to start over on a completely different platform. Review the [customizing](#customizing) section for more information. ## Features Comprised of a set of stages, Auto DevOps brings these best practices to your project in a simple and automatic way: 1. [Auto Build](#auto-build) 1. [Auto Test](#auto-test) 1. [Auto Code Quality](#auto-code-quality-starter) **(STARTER)** 1. [Auto SAST (Static Application Security Testing)](#auto-sast-ultimate) **(ULTIMATE)** 1. [Auto Dependency Scanning](#auto-dependency-scanning-ultimate) **(ULTIMATE)** 1. [Auto License Management](#auto-license-management-ultimate) **(ULTIMATE)** 1. [Auto Container Scanning](#auto-container-scanning-ultimate) **(ULTIMATE)** 1. [Auto Review Apps](#auto-review-apps) 1. [Auto DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing)](#auto-dast-ultimate) **(ULTIMATE)** 1. [Auto Deploy](#auto-deploy) 1. [Auto Browser Performance Testing](#auto-browser-performance-testing-premium) **(PREMIUM)** 1. [Auto Monitoring](#auto-monitoring) As Auto DevOps relies on many different components, it's good to have a basic knowledge of the following: - [Kubernetes](https://kubernetes.io/docs/home/) - [Helm](https://docs.helm.sh/) - [Docker](https://docs.docker.com) - [GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/) - [Prometheus](https://prometheus.io/docs/introduction/overview/) Auto DevOps provides great defaults for all the stages; you can, however, [customize](#customizing) almost everything to your needs. For an overview on the creation of Auto DevOps, read the blog post [From 2/3 of the Self-Hosted Git Market, to the Next-Generation CI System, to Auto DevOps](https://about.gitlab.com/2017/06/29/whats-next-for-gitlab-ci/). ## Requirements To make full use of Auto DevOps, you will need: 1. **GitLab Runner** (needed for all stages) - Your Runner needs to be configured to be able to run Docker. Generally this means using the [Docker](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/docker.html) or [Kubernetes executor](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/kubernetes.html), with [privileged mode enabled](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/docker.html#use-docker-in-docker-with-privileged-mode). The Runners do not need to be installed in the Kubernetes cluster, but the Kubernetes executor is easy to use and is automatically autoscaling. Docker-based Runners can be configured to autoscale as well, using [Docker Machine](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/autoscaling.html). Runners should be registered as [shared Runners](../../ci/runners/README.md#registering-a-shared-runner) for the entire GitLab instance, or [specific Runners](../../ci/runners/README.md#registering-a-specific-runner) that are assigned to specific projects. 1. **Base domain** (needed for Auto Review Apps and Auto Deploy) - You will need a domain configured with wildcard DNS which is going to be used by all of your Auto DevOps applications. [Read the specifics](#auto-devops-base-domain). 1. **Kubernetes** (needed for Auto Review Apps, Auto Deploy, and Auto Monitoring) - To enable deployments, you will need Kubernetes 1.5+. You need a [Kubernetes cluster][kubernetes-clusters] for the project, or a Kubernetes [default service template](../../user/project/integrations/services_templates.md) for the entire GitLab installation. 1. **A load balancer** - You can use NGINX ingress by deploying it to your Kubernetes cluster using the [`nginx-ingress`](https://github.com/kubernetes/charts/tree/master/stable/nginx-ingress) Helm chart. 1. **Prometheus** (needed for Auto Monitoring) - To enable Auto Monitoring, you will need Prometheus installed somewhere (inside or outside your cluster) and configured to scrape your Kubernetes cluster. To get response metrics (in addition to system metrics), you need to [configure Prometheus to monitor NGINX](../../user/project/integrations/prometheus_library/nginx_ingress.md#configuring-nginx-ingress-monitoring). The [Prometheus service](../../user/project/integrations/prometheus.md) integration needs to be enabled for the project, or enabled as a [default service template](../../user/project/integrations/services_templates.md) for the entire GitLab installation. If you do not have Kubernetes or Prometheus installed, then Auto Review Apps, Auto Deploy, and Auto Monitoring will be silently skipped. ## Auto DevOps base domain The Auto DevOps base domain is required if you want to make use of [Auto Review Apps](#auto-review-apps) and [Auto Deploy](#auto-deploy). It can be defined in any of the following places: - either under the cluster's settings, whether for [projects](../../user/project/clusters/index.md#base-domain) or [groups](../../user/group/clusters/index.md#base-domain) - or in instance-wide settings in the **admin area > Settings** under the "Continuous Integration and Delivery" section - or at the project level as a variable: `KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN` - or at the group level as a variable: `KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN`. The base domain variable `KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN` follows the same order of precedence as other environment [variables](../../ci/variables/README.md#priority-of-environment-variables). NOTE: **Note** `AUTO_DEVOPS_DOMAIN` environment variable is deprecated and [is scheduled to be removed](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/56959). A wildcard DNS A record matching the base domain(s) is required, for example, given a base domain of `example.com`, you'd need a DNS entry like: ``` *.example.com 3600 A 1.2.3.4 ``` In this case, `example.com` is the domain name under which the deployed apps will be served, and `1.2.3.4` is the IP address of your load balancer; generally NGINX ([see requirements](#requirements)). How to set up the DNS record is beyond the scope of this document; you should check with your DNS provider. Alternatively you can use free public services like [nip.io](http://nip.io) which provide automatic wildcard DNS without any configuration. Just set the Auto DevOps base domain to `1.2.3.4.nip.io`. Once set up, all requests will hit the load balancer, which in turn will route them to the Kubernetes pods that run your application(s). NOTE: **Note:** From GitLab 11.8, `KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN` replaces `AUTO_DEVOPS_DOMAIN`. Support for `AUTO_DEVOPS_DOMAIN` was [removed in GitLab 12.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/56959). ## Using multiple Kubernetes clusters **(PREMIUM)** When using Auto DevOps, you may want to deploy different environments to different Kubernetes clusters. This is possible due to the 1:1 connection that [exists between them](../../user/project/clusters/index.md#multiple-kubernetes-clusters-premium). In the [Auto DevOps template] (used behind the scenes by Auto DevOps), there are currently 3 defined environment names that you need to know: - `review/` (every environment starting with `review/`) - `staging` - `production` Those environments are tied to jobs that use [Auto Deploy](#auto-deploy), so except for the environment scope, they would also need to have a different domain they would be deployed to. This is why you need to define a separate `KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN` variable for all the above [based on the environment](../../ci/variables/README.md#limiting-environment-scopes-of-environment-variables-premium). The following table is an example of how the three different clusters would be configured. | Cluster name | Cluster environment scope | `KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN` variable value | Variable environment scope | Notes | | ------------ | -------------- | ----------------------------- | ------------- | ------ | | review | `review/*` | `review.example.com` | `review/*` | The review cluster which will run all [Review Apps](../../ci/review_apps/index.md). `*` is a wildcard, which means it will be used by every environment name starting with `review/`. | | staging | `staging` | `staging.example.com` | `staging` | (Optional) The staging cluster which will run the deployments of the staging environments. You need to [enable it first](#deploy-policy-for-staging-and-production-environments). | | production | `production` | `example.com` | `production` | The production cluster which will run the deployments of the production environment. You can use [incremental rollouts](#incremental-rollout-to-production-premium). | To add a different cluster for each environment: 1. Navigate to your project's **Operations > Kubernetes** and create the Kubernetes clusters with their respective environment scope as described from the table above. ![Auto DevOps multiple clusters](img/autodevops_multiple_clusters.png) 1. After the clusters are created, navigate to each one and install Helm Tiller and Ingress. Wait for the Ingress IP address to be assigned. 1. Make sure you have [configured your DNS](#auto-devops-base-domain) with the specified Auto DevOps domains. 1. Navigate to each cluster's page, through **Operations > Kubernetes**, and add the domain based on its Ingress IP address. Now that all is configured, you can test your setup by creating a merge request and verifying that your app is deployed as a review app in the Kubernetes cluster with the `review/*` environment scope. Similarly, you can check the other environments. ## Enabling/Disabling Auto DevOps When first using Auto Devops, review the [requirements](#requirements) to ensure all necessary components to make full use of Auto DevOps are available. If this is your fist time, we recommend you follow the [quick start guide](quick_start_guide.md). GitLab.com users can enable/disable Auto DevOps at the project-level only. Self-managed users can enable/disable Auto DevOps at either the project-level or instance-level. ### Enabling/disabling Auto DevOps at the instance-level (Administrators only) Even when disabled at the instance level, group owners and project maintainers can still enable Auto DevOps at the group and project level, respectively. 1. Go to **Admin area > Settings > Continuous Integration and Deployment**. 1. Toggle the checkbox labeled **Default to Auto DevOps pipeline for all projects**. 1. If enabling, optionally set up the Auto DevOps [base domain](#auto-devops-base-domain) which will be used for Auto Deploy and Auto Review Apps. 1. Click **Save changes** for the changes to take effect. ### Enabling/disabling Auto DevOps at the group-level > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/52447) in GitLab 11.10. Only administrators and group owners can enable or disable Auto DevOps at the group level. To enable or disable Auto DevOps at the group-level: 1. Go to group's **Settings > CI/CD > Auto DevOps** page. 1. Toggle the **Default to Auto DevOps pipeline** checkbox (checked to enable, unchecked to disable). 1. Click **Save changes** button for the changes to take effect. When enabling or disabling Auto DevOps at group-level, group configuration will be implicitly used for the subgroups and projects inside that group, unless Auto DevOps is specifically enabled or disabled on the subgroup or project. ### Enabling/disabling Auto DevOps at the project-level If enabling, check that your project doesn't have a `.gitlab-ci.yml`, or if one exists, remove it. 1. Go to your project's **Settings > CI/CD > Auto DevOps**. 1. Toggle the **Default to Auto DevOps pipeline** checkbox (checked to enable, unchecked to disable) 1. When enabling, it's optional but recommended to add in the [base domain](#auto-devops-base-domain) that will be used by Auto DevOps to [deploy your application](#auto-deploy) and choose the [deployment strategy](#deployment-strategy). 1. Click **Save changes** for the changes to take effect. When the feature has been enabled, an Auto DevOps pipeline is triggered on the default branch. ### Feature flag to enable for a percentage of projects There is also a feature flag to enable Auto DevOps by default to your chosen percentage of projects. This can be enabled from the console with the following, which uses the example of 10%: `Feature.get(:force_autodevops_on_by_default).enable_percentage_of_actors(10)` ### Deployment strategy > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/38542) in GitLab 11.0. You can change the deployment strategy used by Auto DevOps by going to your project's **Settings > CI/CD > Auto DevOps**. The available options are: - **Continuous deployment to production**: Enables [Auto Deploy](#auto-deploy) with `master` branch directly deployed to production. - **Continuous deployment to production using timed incremental rollout**: Sets the [`INCREMENTAL_ROLLOUT_MODE`](#timed-incremental-rollout-to-production-premium) variable to `timed`, and production deployment will be executed with a 5 minute delay between each increment in rollout. - **Automatic deployment to staging, manual deployment to production**: Sets the [`STAGING_ENABLED`](#deploy-policy-for-staging-and-production-environments) and [`INCREMENTAL_ROLLOUT_MODE`](#incremental-rollout-to-production-premium) variables to `1` and `manual`. This means: - `master` branch is directly deployed to staging. - Manual actions are provided for incremental rollout to production. ## Stages of Auto DevOps The following sections describe the stages of Auto DevOps. Read them carefully to understand how each one works. ### Auto Build Auto Build creates a build of the application using an existing `Dockerfile` or Heroku buildpacks. Either way, the resulting Docker image is automatically pushed to the [Container Registry][container-registry] and tagged with the commit SHA or tag. #### Auto Build using a Dockerfile If a project's repository contains a `Dockerfile`, Auto Build will use `docker build` to create a Docker image. If you are also using Auto Review Apps and Auto Deploy and choose to provide your own `Dockerfile`, make sure you expose your application to port `5000` as this is the port assumed by the [default Helm chart](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/charts/auto-deploy-app). #### Auto Build using Heroku buildpacks Auto Build builds an application using a project's `Dockerfile` if present, or otherwise it will use [Herokuish](https://github.com/gliderlabs/herokuish) and [Heroku buildpacks](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/buildpacks) to automatically detect and build the application into a Docker image. Each buildpack requires certain files to be in your project's repository for Auto Build to successfully build your application. For example, the following files are required at the root of your application's repository, depending on the language: - A `Pipfile` or `requirements.txt` file for Python projects. - A `Gemfile` or `Gemfile.lock` file for Ruby projects. For the requirements of other languages and frameworks, read the [buildpacks docs](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/buildpacks#officially-supported-buildpacks). TIP: **Tip:** If Auto Build fails despite the project meeting the buildpack requirements, set a project variable `TRACE=true` to enable verbose logging, which may help to troubleshoot. ### Auto Test Auto Test automatically runs the appropriate tests for your application using [Herokuish](https://github.com/gliderlabs/herokuish) and [Heroku buildpacks](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/buildpacks) by analyzing your project to detect the language and framework. Several languages and frameworks are detected automatically, but if your language is not detected, you may succeed with a [custom buildpack](#custom-buildpacks). Check the [currently supported languages](#currently-supported-languages). Auto Test uses tests you already have in your application. If there are no tests, it's up to you to add them. ### Auto Code Quality **(STARTER)** Auto Code Quality uses the [Code Quality image](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/codequality) to run static analysis and other code checks on the current code. The report is created, and is uploaded as an artifact which you can later download and check out. Any differences between the source and target branches are also [shown in the merge request widget](../../user/project/merge_requests/code_quality.md). ### Auto SAST **(ULTIMATE)** > Introduced in [GitLab Ultimate][ee] 10.3. Static Application Security Testing (SAST) uses the [SAST Docker image](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/sast) to run static analysis on the current code and checks for potential security issues. The the Auto SAST stage will be skipped on licenses other than Ultimate and requires GitLab Runner 11.5 or above. Once the report is created, it's uploaded as an artifact which you can later download and check out. Any security warnings are also shown in the merge request widget. Read more how [SAST works](../../user/application_security/sast/index.md). ### Auto Dependency Scanning **(ULTIMATE)** > Introduced in [GitLab Ultimate][ee] 10.7. Dependency Scanning uses the [Dependency Scanning Docker image](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/dependency-scanning) to run analysis on the project dependencies and checks for potential security issues. The Auto Dependency Scanning stage will be skipped on licenses other than Ultimate and requires GitLab Runner 11.5 or above. Once the report is created, it's uploaded as an artifact which you can later download and check out. Any security warnings are also shown in the merge request widget. Read more about [Dependency Scanning](../../user/application_security/dependency_scanning/index.md). ### Auto License Management **(ULTIMATE)** > Introduced in [GitLab Ultimate][ee] 11.0. License Management uses the [License Management Docker image](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/license-management) to search the project dependencies for their license. The Auto License Management stage will be skipped on licenses other than Ultimate. Once the report is created, it's uploaded as an artifact which you can later download and check out. Any licenses are also shown in the merge request widget. Read more how [License Management works](../../user/application_security/license_management/index.md). ### Auto Container Scanning **(ULTIMATE)** > Introduced in GitLab 10.4. Vulnerability Static Analysis for containers uses [Clair](https://github.com/coreos/clair) to run static analysis on a Docker image and checks for potential security issues. The Auto Container Scanning stage will be skipped on licenses other than Ultimate. Once the report is created, it's uploaded as an artifact which you can later download and check out. Any security warnings are also shown in the merge request widget. Read more how [Container Scanning works](../../user/application_security/container_scanning/index.md). ### Auto Review Apps This is an optional step, since many projects do not have a Kubernetes cluster available. If the [requirements](#requirements) are not met, the job will silently be skipped. [Review Apps][review-app] are temporary application environments based on the branch's code so developers, designers, QA, product managers, and other reviewers can actually see and interact with code changes as part of the review process. Auto Review Apps create a Review App for each branch. Auto Review Apps will deploy your app to your Kubernetes cluster only. When no cluster is available, no deployment will occur. The Review App will have a unique URL based on the project ID, the branch or tag name, and a unique number, combined with the Auto DevOps base domain. For example, `13083-review-project-branch-123456.example.com`. A link to the Review App shows up in the merge request widget for easy discovery. When the branch or tag is deleted, for example after the merge request is merged, the Review App will automatically be deleted. Review apps are deployed using the [auto-deploy-app](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/charts/auto-deploy-app) chart with Helm. The app will be deployed into the [Kubernetes namespace](../../user/project/clusters/index.md#deployment-variables) for the environment. Since GitLab 11.4, a [local Tiller](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/22036) is used. Previous versions of GitLab had a Tiller installed in the project namespace. CAUTION: **Caution:** Your apps should *not* be manipulated outside of Helm (using Kubernetes directly). This can cause confusion with Helm not detecting the change and subsequent deploys with Auto DevOps can undo your changes. Also, if you change something and want to undo it by deploying again, Helm may not detect that anything changed in the first place, and thus not realize that it needs to re-apply the old config. ### Auto DAST **(ULTIMATE)** > Introduced in [GitLab Ultimate][ee] 10.4. Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) uses the popular open source tool [OWASP ZAProxy](https://github.com/zaproxy/zaproxy) to perform an analysis on the current code and checks for potential security issues. The Auto DAST stage will be skipped on licenses other than Ultimate. Once the report is created, it's uploaded as an artifact which you can later download and check out. Any security warnings are also shown in the merge request widget. Read how [DAST works](../../user/application_security/dast/index.md). ### Auto Browser Performance Testing **(PREMIUM)** > Introduced in [GitLab Premium][ee] 10.4. Auto Browser Performance Testing utilizes the [Sitespeed.io container](https://hub.docker.com/r/sitespeedio/sitespeed.io/) to measure the performance of a web page. A JSON report is created and uploaded as an artifact, which includes the overall performance score for each page. By default, the root page of Review and Production environments will be tested. If you would like to add additional URL's to test, simply add the paths to a file named `.gitlab-urls.txt` in the root directory, one per line. For example: ``` / /features /direction ``` Any performance differences between the source and target branches are also [shown in the merge request widget](../../user/project/merge_requests/browser_performance_testing.md). ### Auto Deploy This is an optional step, since many projects do not have a Kubernetes cluster available. If the [requirements](#requirements) are not met, the job will silently be skipped. After a branch or merge request is merged into the project's default branch (usually `master`), Auto Deploy deploys the application to a `production` environment in the Kubernetes cluster, with a namespace based on the project name and unique project ID, for example `project-4321`. Auto Deploy doesn't include deployments to staging or canary by default, but the [Auto DevOps template] contains job definitions for these tasks if you want to enable them. You can make use of [environment variables](#environment-variables) to automatically scale your pod replicas. Apps are deployed using the [auto-deploy-app](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/charts/auto-deploy-app) chart with Helm. The app will be deployed into the [Kubernetes namespace](../../user/project/clusters/index.md#deployment-variables) for the environment. Since GitLab 11.4, a [local Tiller](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/22036) is used. Previous versions of GitLab had a Tiller installed in the project namespace. CAUTION: **Caution:** Your apps should *not* be manipulated outside of Helm (using Kubernetes directly). This can cause confusion with Helm not detecting the change and subsequent deploys with Auto DevOps can undo your changes. Also, if you change something and want to undo it by deploying again, Helm may not detect that anything changed in the first place, and thus not realize that it needs to re-apply the old config. > [Introduced][ce-19507] in GitLab 11.0. For internal and private projects a [GitLab Deploy Token](../../user/project/deploy_tokens/index.md#gitlab-deploy-token) will be automatically created, when Auto DevOps is enabled and the Auto DevOps settings are saved. This Deploy Token can be used for permanent access to the registry. When the GitLab Deploy Token has been manually revoked, it won't be automatically created. If the GitLab Deploy Token cannot be found, `CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD` is used. Note that `CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD` is only valid during deployment. This means that Kubernetes will be able to successfully pull the container image during deployment but in cases where the image needs to be pulled again, e.g. after pod eviction, Kubernetes will fail to do so as it will be attempting to fetch the image using `CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD`. #### Migrations > [Introduced][ce-21955] in GitLab 11.4 Database initialization and migrations for PostgreSQL can be configured to run within the application pod by setting the project variables `DB_INITIALIZE` and `DB_MIGRATE` respectively. If present, `DB_INITIALIZE` will be run as a shell command within an application pod as a helm post-install hook. As some applications will not run without a successful database initialization step, GitLab will deploy the first release without the application deployment and only the database initialization step. After the database initialization completes, GitLab will deploy a second release with the application deployment as normal. Note that a post-install hook means that if any deploy succeeds, `DB_INITIALIZE` will not be processed thereafter. If present, `DB_MIGRATE` will be run as a shell command within an application pod as a helm pre-upgrade hook. For example, in a Rails application in an image built with [Herokuish](https://github.com/gliderlabs/herokuish): - `DB_INITIALIZE` can be set to `RAILS_ENV=production /bin/herokuish procfile exec bin/rails db:setup` - `DB_MIGRATE` can be set to `RAILS_ENV=production /bin/herokuish procfile exec bin/rails db:migrate` Unless you have a `Dockerfile` in your repo, your image is built with Herokuish, and you must prefix commands run in these images with `/bin/herokuish procfile exec` to replicate the environment where your application will run. ### Auto Monitoring See the [requirements](#requirements) for Auto Monitoring to enable this stage. Once your application is deployed, Auto Monitoring makes it possible to monitor your application's server and response metrics right out of the box. Auto Monitoring uses [Prometheus](../../user/project/integrations/prometheus.md) to get system metrics such as CPU and memory usage directly from [Kubernetes](../../user/project/integrations/prometheus_library/kubernetes.md), and response metrics such as HTTP error rates, latency, and throughput from the [NGINX server](../../user/project/integrations/prometheus_library/nginx_ingress.md). The metrics include: - **Response Metrics:** latency, throughput, error rate - **System Metrics:** CPU utilization, memory utilization In order to make use of monitoring you need to: 1. [Deploy Prometheus](../../user/project/integrations/prometheus.md) into your Kubernetes cluster 1. If you would like response metrics, ensure you are running at least version 0.9.0 of NGINX Ingress and [enable Prometheus metrics](https://github.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/blob/master/docs/examples/customization/custom-vts-metrics-prometheus/nginx-vts-metrics-conf.yaml). 1. Finally, [annotate](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/annotations/) the NGINX Ingress deployment to be scraped by Prometheus using `prometheus.io/scrape: "true"` and `prometheus.io/port: "10254"`. To view the metrics, open the [Monitoring dashboard for a deployed environment](../../ci/environments.md#monitoring-environments). ![Auto Metrics](img/auto_monitoring.png) ## Customizing While Auto DevOps provides great defaults to get you started, you can customize almost everything to fit your needs; from custom [buildpacks](#custom-buildpacks), to [`Dockerfile`s](#custom-dockerfile), [Helm charts](#custom-helm-chart), or even copying the complete [CI/CD configuration](#customizing-gitlab-ciyml) into your project to enable staging and canary deployments, and more. ### Custom buildpacks If the automatic buildpack detection fails for your project, or if you want to use a custom buildpack, you can override the buildpack(s) using a project variable or a `.buildpacks` file in your project: - **Project variable** - Create a project variable `BUILDPACK_URL` with the URL of the buildpack to use. - **`.buildpacks` file** - Add a file in your project's repo called `.buildpacks` and add the URL of the buildpack to use on a line in the file. If you want to use multiple buildpacks, you can enter them in, one on each line. CAUTION: **Caution:** Using multiple buildpacks isn't yet supported by Auto DevOps. ### Custom `Dockerfile` If your project has a `Dockerfile` in the root of the project repo, Auto DevOps will build a Docker image based on the Dockerfile rather than using buildpacks. This can be much faster and result in smaller images, especially if your Dockerfile is based on [Alpine](https://hub.docker.com/_/alpine/). ### Custom Helm Chart Auto DevOps uses [Helm](https://helm.sh/) to deploy your application to Kubernetes. You can override the Helm chart used by bundling up a chart into your project repo or by specifying a project variable: - **Bundled chart** - If your project has a `./chart` directory with a `Chart.yaml` file in it, Auto DevOps will detect the chart and use it instead of the [default one](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/charts/auto-deploy-app). This can be a great way to control exactly how your application is deployed. - **Project variable** - Create a [project variable](../../ci/variables/README.md#gitlab-cicd-environment-variables) `AUTO_DEVOPS_CHART` with the URL of a custom chart to use or create two project variables `AUTO_DEVOPS_CHART_REPOSITORY` with the URL of a custom chart repository and `AUTO_DEVOPS_CHART` with the path to the chart. ### Custom Helm chart per environment **(PREMIUM)** You can specify the use of a custom Helm chart per environment by scoping the environment variable to the desired environment. See [Limiting environment scopes of variables](../../ci/variables/README.md#limiting-environment-scopes-of-environment-variables-premium). ### Customizing `.gitlab-ci.yml` Everything about Auto DevOps is customizable since the [Auto DevOps template] is just an example of a [`.gitlab-ci.yml`](../../ci/yaml/README.md) and uses only features that are available to any `.gitlab-ci.yml`. Auto DevOps is completely customizable because the [Auto DevOps template]: - Is just an implementation of a [`.gitlab-ci.yml`](../../ci/yaml/README.md) file. - Uses only features available to any implementation of `.gitlab-ci.yml`. If you want to modify the CI/CD pipeline used by Auto DevOps, you can [`include` the template](../../ci/yaml/README.md#includetemplate) and customize as needed. To do this, add a `.gitlab-ci.yml` file to the root of your repository containing the following: ```yml include: - template: Auto-DevOps.gitlab-ci.yml ``` Then add any extra changes you want. Your additions will be merged with the [Auto DevOps template] using the behaviour described for [`include`](../../ci/yaml/README.md#include). It is also possible to copy and paste the contents of the [Auto DevOps template] into your project and edit this as needed. You may prefer to do it that way if you want to specifically remove any part of it. ### Using components of Auto-DevOps If you only require a subset of the features offered by Auto-DevOps, you can include individual Auto-DevOps jobs into your own `.gitlab-ci.yml`. For example, to make use of [Auto Build](#auto-build), you can add the following to your `.gitlab-ci.yml`: ```yaml include: - template: Jobs/Build.gitlab-ci.yml ``` Consult the [Auto DevOps template] for information on available jobs. ### PostgreSQL database support In order to support applications that require a database, [PostgreSQL][postgresql] is provisioned by default. The credentials to access the database are preconfigured, but can be customized by setting the associated [variables](#environment-variables). These credentials can be used for defining a `DATABASE_URL` of the format: ```yaml postgres://user:password@postgres-host:postgres-port/postgres-database ``` ### Environment variables The following variables can be used for setting up the Auto DevOps domain, providing a custom Helm chart, or scaling your application. PostgreSQL can also be customized, and you can easily use a [custom buildpack](#custom-buildpacks). | **Variable** | **Description** | | ------------ | --------------- | | `AUTO_DEVOPS_CHART` | The Helm Chart used to deploy your apps; defaults to the one [provided by GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/charts/auto-deploy-app). | | `AUTO_DEVOPS_CHART_REPOSITORY` | The Helm Chart repository used to search for charts; defaults to `https://charts.gitlab.io`. | | `AUTO_DEVOPS_CHART_REPOSITORY_NAME` | From Gitlab 11.11, this variable can be used to set the name of the helm repository; defaults to "gitlab" | | `AUTO_DEVOPS_CHART_REPOSITORY_USERNAME` | From Gitlab 11.11, this variable can be used to set a username to connect to the helm repository. Defaults to no credentials. (Also set AUTO_DEVOPS_CHART_REPOSITORY_PASSWORD) | | `AUTO_DEVOPS_CHART_REPOSITORY_PASSWORD` | From Gitlab 11.11, this variable can be used to set a password to connect to the helm repository. Defaults to no credentials. (Also set AUTO_DEVOPS_CHART_REPOSITORY_USERNAME) | | `REPLICAS` | The number of replicas to deploy; defaults to 1. | | `PRODUCTION_REPLICAS` | The number of replicas to deploy in the production environment. Takes precedence over `REPLICAS` and defaults to 1. For zero downtime upgrades, set to 2 or greater. | | `CANARY_REPLICAS` | The number of canary replicas to deploy for [Canary Deployments](../../user/project/canary_deployments.md); defaults to 1 | | `CANARY_PRODUCTION_REPLICAS` | The number of canary replicas to deploy for [Canary Deployments](../../user/project/canary_deployments.md) in the production environment. This takes precedence over `CANARY_REPLICAS`; defaults to 1 | | `ADDITIONAL_HOSTS` | Fully qualified domain names specified as a comma-separated list that are added to the ingress hosts. | | `_ADDITIONAL_HOSTS` | For a specific environment, the fully qualified domain names specified as a comma-separated list that are added to the ingress hosts. This takes precedence over `ADDITIONAL_HOSTS`. | | `POSTGRES_ENABLED` | Whether PostgreSQL is enabled; defaults to `"true"`. Set to `false` to disable the automatic deployment of PostgreSQL. | | `POSTGRES_USER` | The PostgreSQL user; defaults to `user`. Set it to use a custom username. | | `POSTGRES_PASSWORD` | The PostgreSQL password; defaults to `testing-password`. Set it to use a custom password. | | `POSTGRES_DB` | The PostgreSQL database name; defaults to the value of [`$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG`](../../ci/variables/README.md#predefined-environment-variables). Set it to use a custom database name. | | `POSTGRES_VERSION` | Tag for the [`postgres` Docker image](https://hub.docker.com/_/postgres) to use. Defaults to `9.6.2`. | | `BUILDPACK_URL` | The buildpack's full URL. It can point to either Git repositories or a tarball URL. For Git repositories, it is possible to point to a specific `ref`, for example `https://github.com/heroku/heroku-buildpack-ruby.git#v142` | | `SAST_CONFIDENCE_LEVEL` | The minimum confidence level of security issues you want to be reported; `1` for Low, `2` for Medium, `3` for High; defaults to `3`.| | `DEP_SCAN_DISABLE_REMOTE_CHECKS` | Whether remote Dependency Scanning checks are disabled; defaults to `"false"`. Set to `"true"` to disable checks that send data to GitLab central servers. [Read more about remote checks](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/dependency-scanning#remote-checks).| | `DB_INITIALIZE` | From GitLab 11.4, this variable can be used to specify the command to run to initialize the application's PostgreSQL database. It runs inside the application pod. | | `DB_MIGRATE` | From GitLab 11.4, this variable can be used to specify the command to run to migrate the application's PostgreSQL database. It runs inside the application pod. | | `STAGING_ENABLED` | From GitLab 10.8, this variable can be used to define a [deploy policy for staging and production environments](#deploy-policy-for-staging-and-production-environments). | | `CANARY_ENABLED` | From GitLab 11.0, this variable can be used to define a [deploy policy for canary environments](#deploy-policy-for-canary-environments-premium). | | `INCREMENTAL_ROLLOUT_MODE`| From GitLab 11.4, this variable, if present, can be used to enable an [incremental rollout](#incremental-rollout-to-production-premium) of your application for the production environment.
Set to: | | `TEST_DISABLED` | From GitLab 11.0, this variable can be used to disable the `test` job. If the variable is present, the job will not be created. | | `CODE_QUALITY_DISABLED` | From GitLab 11.0, this variable can be used to disable the `codequality` job. If the variable is present, the job will not be created. | | `LICENSE_MANAGEMENT_DISABLED` | From GitLab 11.0, this variable can be used to disable the `license_management` job. If the variable is present, the job will not be created. | | `SAST_DISABLED` | From GitLab 11.0, this variable can be used to disable the `sast` job. If the variable is present, the job will not be created. | | `DEPENDENCY_SCANNING_DISABLED` | From GitLab 11.0, this variable can be used to disable the `dependency_scanning` job. If the variable is present, the job will not be created. | | `CONTAINER_SCANNING_DISABLED` | From GitLab 11.0, this variable can be used to disable the `sast:container` job. If the variable is present, the job will not be created. | | `REVIEW_DISABLED` | From GitLab 11.0, this variable can be used to disable the `review` and the manual `review:stop` job. If the variable is present, these jobs will not be created. | | `DAST_DISABLED` | From GitLab 11.0, this variable can be used to disable the `dast` job. If the variable is present, the job will not be created. | | `PERFORMANCE_DISABLED` | From GitLab 11.0, this variable can be used to disable the `performance` job. If the variable is present, the job will not be created. | | `K8S_SECRET_*` | From GitLab 11.7, any variable prefixed with [`K8S_SECRET_`](#application-secret-variables) will be made available by Auto DevOps as environment variables to the deployed application. | | `KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN` | From GitLab 11.8, this variable can be used to set a domain per cluster. See [cluster domains](../../user/project/clusters/index.md#base-domain) for more information. | | `ROLLOUT_RESOURCE_TYPE` | From GitLab 11.9, this variable allows specification of the resource type being deployed when using a custom helm chart. Default value is `deployment`. | | `ROLLOUT_STATUS_DISABLED` | From GitLab 12.0, this variable allows to disable rollout status check because it doesn't support all resource types, for example, `cronjob`. | | `HELM_UPGRADE_EXTRA_ARGS` | From GitLab 11.11, this variable allows extra arguments in `helm` commands when deploying the application. Note that using quotes will not prevent word splitting. | TIP: **Tip:** Set up the replica variables using a [project variable](../../ci/variables/README.md#gitlab-cicd-environment-variables) and scale your application by just redeploying it! CAUTION: **Caution:** You should *not* scale your application using Kubernetes directly. This can cause confusion with Helm not detecting the change, and subsequent deploys with Auto DevOps can undo your changes. #### Application secret variables > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/49056) in GitLab 11.7. Some applications need to define secret variables that are accessible by the deployed application. Auto DevOps detects variables where the key starts with `K8S_SECRET_` and make these prefixed variables available to the deployed application, as environment variables. To configure your application variables: 1. Go to your project's **Settings > CI/CD**, then expand the section called **Variables**. 2. Create a CI Variable, ensuring the key is prefixed with `K8S_SECRET_`. For example, you can create a variable with key `K8S_SECRET_RAILS_MASTER_KEY`. 3. Run an Auto Devops pipeline either by manually creating a new pipeline or by pushing a code change to GitLab. Auto DevOps pipelines will take your application secret variables to populate a Kubernetes secret. This secret is unique per environment. When deploying your application, the secret is loaded as environment variables in the container running the application. Following the example above, you can see the secret below containing the `RAILS_MASTER_KEY` variable. ```sh $ kubectl get secret production-secret -n minimal-ruby-app-54 -o yaml apiVersion: v1 data: RAILS_MASTER_KEY: MTIzNC10ZXN0 kind: Secret metadata: creationTimestamp: 2018-12-20T01:48:26Z name: production-secret namespace: minimal-ruby-app-54 resourceVersion: "429422" selfLink: /api/v1/namespaces/minimal-ruby-app-54/secrets/production-secret uid: 57ac2bfd-03f9-11e9-b812-42010a9400e4 type: Opaque ``` Environment variables are generally considered immutable in a Kubernetes pod. Therefore, if you update an application secret without changing any code then manually create a new pipeline, you will find that any running application pods will not have the updated secrets. In this case, you can either push a code update to GitLab to force the Kubernetes Deployment to recreate pods or manually delete running pods to cause Kubernetes to create new pods with updated secrets. NOTE: **Note:** Variables with multiline values are not currently supported due to limitations with the current Auto DevOps scripting environment. #### Advanced replica variables setup Apart from the two replica-related variables for production mentioned above, you can also use others for different environments. There's a very specific mapping between Kubernetes' label named `track`, GitLab CI/CD environment names, and the replicas environment variable. The general rule is: `TRACK_ENV_REPLICAS`. Where: - `TRACK`: The capitalized value of the `track` [Kubernetes label](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/labels/) in the Helm Chart app definition. If not set, it will not be taken into account to the variable name. - `ENV`: The capitalized environment name of the deploy job that is set in `.gitlab-ci.yml`. That way, you can define your own `TRACK_ENV_REPLICAS` variables with which you will be able to scale the pod's replicas easily. In the example below, the environment's name is `qa` and it deploys the track `foo` which would result in looking for the `FOO_QA_REPLICAS` environment variable: ```yaml QA testing: stage: deploy environment: name: qa script: - deploy foo ``` The track `foo` being referenced would also need to be defined in the application's Helm chart, like: ```yaml replicaCount: 1 image: repository: gitlab.example.com/group/project tag: stable pullPolicy: Always secrets: - name: gitlab-registry application: track: foo tier: web service: enabled: true name: web type: ClusterIP url: http://my.host.com/ externalPort: 5000 internalPort: 5000 ``` #### Deploy policy for staging and production environments > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-yml/merge_requests/160) in GitLab 10.8. TIP: **Tip:** You can also set this inside your [project's settings](#deployment-strategy). The normal behavior of Auto DevOps is to use Continuous Deployment, pushing automatically to the `production` environment every time a new pipeline is run on the default branch. However, there are cases where you might want to use a staging environment and deploy to production manually. For this scenario, the `STAGING_ENABLED` environment variable was introduced. If `STAGING_ENABLED` is defined in your project (e.g., set `STAGING_ENABLED` to `1` as a CI/CD variable), then the application will be automatically deployed to a `staging` environment, and a `production_manual` job will be created for you when you're ready to manually deploy to production. #### Deploy policy for canary environments **(PREMIUM)** > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-yml/merge_requests/171) in GitLab 11.0. A [canary environment](../../user/project/canary_deployments.md) can be used before any changes are deployed to production. If `CANARY_ENABLED` is defined in your project (e.g., set `CANARY_ENABLED` to `1` as a CI/CD variable) then two manual jobs will be created: - `canary` which will deploy the application to the canary environment - `production_manual` which is to be used by you when you're ready to manually deploy to production. #### Incremental rollout to production **(PREMIUM)** > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/5415) in GitLab 10.8. TIP: **Tip:** You can also set this inside your [project's settings](#deployment-strategy). When you have a new version of your app to deploy in production, you may want to use an incremental rollout to replace just a few pods with the latest code. This will allow you to first check how the app is behaving, and later manually increasing the rollout up to 100%. If `INCREMENTAL_ROLLOUT_MODE` is set to `manual` in your project, then instead of the standard `production` job, 4 different [manual jobs](../../ci/pipelines.md#manual-actions-from-pipeline-graphs) will be created: 1. `rollout 10%` 1. `rollout 25%` 1. `rollout 50%` 1. `rollout 100%` The percentage is based on the `REPLICAS` variable and defines the number of pods you want to have for your deployment. If you say `10`, and then you run the `10%` rollout job, there will be `1` new pod + `9` old ones. To start a job, click on the play icon next to the job's name. You are not required to go from `10%` to `100%`, you can jump to whatever job you want. You can also scale down by running a lower percentage job, just before hitting `100%`. Once you get to `100%`, you cannot scale down, and you'd have to roll back by redeploying the old version using the [rollback button](../../ci/environments.md#retrying-and-rolling-back) in the environment page. Below, you can see how the pipeline will look if the rollout or staging variables are defined. Without `INCREMENTAL_ROLLOUT_MODE` and without `STAGING_ENABLED`: ![Staging and rollout disabled](img/rollout_staging_disabled.png) Without `INCREMENTAL_ROLLOUT_MODE` and with `STAGING_ENABLED`: ![Staging enabled](img/staging_enabled.png) With `INCREMENTAL_ROLLOUT_MODE` set to `manual` and without `STAGING_ENABLED`: ![Rollout enabled](img/rollout_enabled.png) With `INCREMENTAL_ROLLOUT_MODE` set to `manual` and with `STAGING_ENABLED` ![Rollout and staging enabled](img/rollout_staging_enabled.png) CAUTION: **Caution:** Before GitLab 11.4 this feature was enabled by the presence of the `INCREMENTAL_ROLLOUT_ENABLED` environment variable. This configuration is deprecated and will be removed in the future. #### Timed incremental rollout to production **(PREMIUM)** > [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/7545) in GitLab 11.4. TIP: **Tip:** You can also set this inside your [project's settings](#deployment-strategy). This configuration based on [incremental rollout to production](#incremental-rollout-to-production-premium). Everything behaves the same way, except: - It's enabled by setting the `INCREMENTAL_ROLLOUT_MODE` variable to `timed`. - Instead of the standard `production` job, the following jobs with a 5 minute delay between each are created: 1. `timed rollout 10%` 1. `timed rollout 25%` 1. `timed rollout 50%` 1. `timed rollout 100%` ## Currently supported languages Note that not all buildpacks support Auto Test yet, as it's a relatively new enhancement. All of Heroku's [officially supported languages](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/heroku-ci#currently-supported-languages) support it, and some third-party buildpacks as well e.g., Go, Node, Java, PHP, Python, Ruby, Gradle, Scala, and Elixir all support Auto Test, but notably the multi-buildpack does not. As of GitLab 10.0, the supported buildpacks are: ``` - heroku-buildpack-multi v1.0.0 - heroku-buildpack-ruby v168 - heroku-buildpack-nodejs v99 - heroku-buildpack-clojure v77 - heroku-buildpack-python v99 - heroku-buildpack-java v53 - heroku-buildpack-gradle v23 - heroku-buildpack-scala v78 - heroku-buildpack-play v26 - heroku-buildpack-php v122 - heroku-buildpack-go v72 - heroku-buildpack-erlang fa17af9 - buildpack-nginx v8 ``` ## Limitations The following restrictions apply. ### Private project support CAUTION: **Caution:** Private project support in Auto DevOps is experimental. When a project has been marked as private, GitLab's [Container Registry][container-registry] requires authentication when downloading containers. Auto DevOps will automatically provide the required authentication information to Kubernetes, allowing temporary access to the registry. Authentication credentials will be valid while the pipeline is running, allowing for a successful initial deployment. After the pipeline completes, Kubernetes will no longer be able to access the Container Registry. **Restarting a pod, scaling a service, or other actions which require on-going access to the registry may fail**. On-going secure access is planned for a subsequent release. ## Troubleshooting - Auto Build and Auto Test may fail in detecting your language/framework. There may be no buildpack for your application, or your application may be missing the key files the buildpack is looking for. For example, for ruby apps, you must have a `Gemfile` to be properly detected, even though it is possible to write a Ruby app without a `Gemfile`. Try specifying a [custom buildpack](#custom-buildpacks). - Auto Test may fail because of a mismatch between testing frameworks. In this case, you may need to customize your `.gitlab-ci.yml` with your test commands. - Auto Deploy will fail if GitLab can not create a Kubernetes namespace and service account for your project. For help debugging this issue, see [Troubleshooting failed deployment jobs](../../user/project/clusters/index.md#troubleshooting-failed-deployment-jobs). ### Disable the banner instance wide If an administrator would like to disable the banners on an instance level, this feature can be disabled either through the console: ```sh sudo gitlab-rails console ``` Then run: ```ruby Feature.get(:auto_devops_banner_disabled).enable ``` Or through the HTTP API with an admin access token: ```sh curl --data "value=true" --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: personal_access_token" https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/features/auto_devops_banner_disabled ``` [ce-37115]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/37115 [kubernetes-clusters]: ../../user/project/clusters/index.md [docker-in-docker]: ../../docker/using_docker_build.md#use-docker-in-docker-executor [review-app]: ../../ci/review_apps/index.md [container-registry]: ../../user/project/container_registry.md [postgresql]: https://www.postgresql.org/ [Auto DevOps template]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/blob/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Auto-DevOps.gitlab-ci.yml [ee]: https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/ [ce-21955]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/21955 [ce-19507]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/19507 ## Development guides Configuring [GDK for Auto DevOps](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-development-kit/blob/master/doc/howto/auto_devops.md).