HadesCI: Scalable Continuous Integration for Programming Exercises

Welcome to HadesCI, a robust Continuous Integration (CI) tool designed with scalability in mind. HadesCI's primary mission is to provide a straightforward, scalable, and adaptable CI solution tailored for executing build jobs in large-scale programming courses.

Design Goals

HadesCI embodies several core design principles:

• Simplicity: Unlike many other CI implementations, HadesCI focuses on delivering just the essentials required to execute build jobs efficiently.

• Scalability: HadesCI has scalability at its core, capable of queuing and executing a vast number of build jobs in parallel, making it ideal for large-scale operations.

• Container-Based: HadesCI executes build jobs within containers, ensuring a high level of isolation and security between jobs.

• Kubernetes Native: As a Kubernetes-native solution, HadesCI leverages the power and flexibility of Kubernetes as its primary execution platform.

• Extensibility: HadesCI is designed to be highly extensible, allowing for easy integration with other build execution platforms as needed.

Architecture

HadesCI is built upon the following key components:

• API: Serving as the main entry point, the API handles all incoming requests

• Queue: The queue component is responsible for managing the queue of build jobs, ensuring efficient scheduling.

• Scheduler: The scheduler orchestrates the execution of build jobs, coordinating with the executor components.

  • Docker Executor: Designed for local development, the Docker executor is responsible for running build jobs within Docker containers.

  • Kubernetes Executor: Intended for production use, the Kubernetes executor executes build jobs within a Kubernetes cluster.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• You need a kubeconfig file to connect to a Kubernetes cluster.
• Docker
• Docker Compose
• Kubectl
• Minikube

Running in Docker Mode

To run HadesCI in Docker mode, follow these steps:

1. Copy the .env.example file to .env.
   • The default is to use docker as the executor!
   • Changes should not be necessary for a local test.
2. Start the HadesCI services using Docker Compose

docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d

Running in Kubernetes Mode

We assume that you have a Kubernetes cluster running and a kubeconfig file to connect to it.

To run HadesCI in Kubernetes mode, follow these steps:

1. Copy the .env.example file to .env.
   • Change the HADES_EXECUTOR variable to kubernetes.
2. Adjust the Kubeconfig volume mount in the docker-compose.k8s.yml file.
3. Start the HadesCI services using Docker Compose

docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.k8s.yml up -d