📒 Description

📒 Description

Github Actions is an event based scheduler that triggers based on user defined events. A commmon use for Github Actions is Continuous Integration / Continuous Development (CI/CD). But Github Actions can be configured to trigger off of any user defined event. This makes them very powerful for scheduling jobs.

Requirements

In order to use Github Self-hosted Runners (GSR) you need three things:

• Github Hostname:
  • https://github-hostname.com
• Github Organization
  • https://github-hostname/settings/organizations
• Github Personal Access Token
  • Settings > Developer Settings > Personal Access Tokens > Tokens (classic)

Note

A Github personal token is an identifier that lets Github Actions know who you are. Think of it as a userId. Make sure you allow all permissions.

Git Runner Code

You must download the code for a Git runner here. Note the version number because self-hosting may require versions within a certain range. Once you have identified the version you want, copy the download code into your container.

Git Runner Commands

Rest API commands can be found here.

Pay special attention to the hostname and the token type. For standardized API calls see the Github CLI.

🐳 Container Deployment

Building Container

You must configure the gh.config and gh.secret files prior to building. The gh.config point toward your hostname and organization while the gh.secret is simply your Github Personal Access token.

# gh.config
export GH_HOSTNAME=<hostname>
export GH_ORG=<Github organization>

# gh.secret
ghp_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Perform a build with the following commands:

cd containers
singularity build base.sif base.def
singularity build runner.sif runner.def

Finally run a test to verify that the runner is successful.

singularity run \
  --userns \
  --writable \
  --app test \
  runner.sif

Deploying Instances

If you need multiple Git runners operating on the system try using instances:

singularity instance start --userns --tmp-sandbox --writable runner.sif runner1
singularity instance start --userns --tmp-sandbox --writable runner.sif runner2

# Start runners
singularity run --app start_runner instance://runner1
singularity run --app start_runner instance://runner2

# List runners
singularity instance list

# Shell into runner
singularity shell instance://runner1

# Stop all runners
singularity run --app stop_runner instance://runner1
singularity run --app stop_runner instance://runner2