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# Review Apps
Review Apps are automatically deployed by each pipeline, both in
[CE](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/22010) and
[EE](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/merge_requests/6665).
## How does it work?
1. On every [pipeline][gitlab-pipeline] during the `test` stage, the
[`review` job][review-job] is automatically started.
1. The `review` job [triggers a pipeline][cng-pipeline] in the
[`CNG-mirror`][cng-mirror] project.
- We use the `CNG-mirror` project so that the `CNG`, (**C**loud **N**ative
**G**itLab), project's registry is not overloaded with a lot of transient
Docker images.
1. The `CNG-mirror` pipeline creates the Docker images of each component (e.g.
`gitlab-rails-ee`, `gitlab-shell`, `gitaly` etc.) based on the commit from the
[GitLab pipeline][gitlab-pipeline] and store them in its
[registry][cng-mirror-registry].
1. Once all images are built, the Review App is deployed using
[the official GitLab Helm chart][helm-chart] to the
[`review-apps-ee` Kubernetes cluster on GCP][review-apps-ee]
- The actual scripts used to deploy the Review App can be found at
[`scripts/review_apps/review-apps.sh`][review-apps.sh]
- These scripts are basically
[our official Auto DevOps scripts][Auto-DevOps.gitlab-ci.yml] where the
default CNG images are overriden with the images built and stored in the
[`CNG-mirror` project's registry][cng-mirror-registry].
- Since we're using [the official GitLab Helm chart][helm-chart], this means
you get a dedicated environment for your branch that's very close to what it
would look in production.
1. Once the `review` job succeeds, you should be able to use your Review App
thanks to the direct link to it from the MR widget. The default username is
`root` and its password can be found in the 1Password secure note named
**gitlab-{ce,ee} Review App's root password** (note that there's currently
[a bug where the default password seems to be overriden][password-bug]).
**Additional notes:**
- The Kubernetes cluster is connected to the `gitlab-{ce,ee}` projects using
[GitLab's Kubernetes integration][gitlab-k8s-integration]. This basically
allows to have a link to the Review App directly from the merge request widget.
- The manual `stop_review` in the `test` stage can be used to stop a Review App
manually, and is also started by GitLab once a branch is deleted.
- Review Apps are cleaned up regularly using a pipeline schedule that runs
the [`scripts/review_apps/automated_cleanup.rb`][automated_cleanup.rb] script.
- If the Review App deployment fails, you can simply retry it (there's no need
to run the `stop_review` job first).
- If you're unable to log in using the `root` username and password, you may
encounter [this bug][password-bug]. Stop the Review App via the `stop_review`
manual job and then retry the `review` job to redeploy the Review App.
## Frequently Asked Questions
**Isn't it too much to trigger CNG image builds on every test run? This creates
thousands of unused Docker images.**
> We have to start somewhere and improve later. Also, we're using the
CNG-mirror project to store these Docker images so that we can just wipe out
the registry at some point, and use a new fresh, empty one.
**How big are the Kubernetes clusters (`review-apps-ce` and `review-apps-ee`)?**
> The clusters are currently set up with a single pool of preemptible nodes,
with a minimum of 1 node and a maximum of 100 nodes.
**What are the machine running on the cluster?**
> We're currently using `n1-standard-4` (4 vCPUs, 15 GB memory) machines.
**How do we secure this from abuse? Apps are open to the world so we need to
find a way to limit it to only us.**
> This isn't enabled for forks.
[gitlab-pipeline]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/pipelines/35850709
[review-job]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/-/jobs/118076368
[cng-mirror]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/CNG-mirror
[cng-pipeline]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/CNG-mirror/pipelines/35883435
[cng-mirror-registry]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/build/CNG-mirror/container_registry
[helm-chart]: https://gitlab.com/charts/gitlab/
[review-apps-ee]: https://console.cloud.google.com/kubernetes/clusters/details/us-central1-b/review-apps-ee?project=gitlab-review-apps
[review-apps.sh]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/blob/master/scripts/review_apps/review-apps.sh
[automated_cleanup.rb]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/blob/master/scripts/review_apps/automated_cleanup.rb
[Auto-DevOps.gitlab-ci.yml]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/blob/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Auto-DevOps.gitlab-ci.yml
[gitlab-k8s-integration]: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/clusters/index.html
[password-bug]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/53621
---
[Return to Testing documentation](index.md)
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