---
stage: Verify
group: Runner
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---

# Configuring GitLab Runner on OpenShift

DETAILS:
**Tier:** Free, Premium, Ultimate
**Offering:** GitLab.com, Self-managed

This document explains how to configure GitLab Runner on OpenShift.

## Passing properties to GitLab Runner Operator

When creating a `Runner`, you can configure it by setting properties in its `spec`. For example, you can specify the GitLab URL it will be registered in, or the name of the secret that contains the registration token:

```yaml
apiVersion: apps.gitlab.com/v1beta2
kind: Runner
metadata:
 name: dev
spec:
 gitlabUrl: https://gitlab.example.com
 token: gitlab-runner-secret # Name of the secret containing the Runner token
```

Read about all the available properties in [Operator properties](#operator-properties).

## Operator properties

This is a list of the supported properties that can be passed to the Operator.

Some properties are only available with more recent versions of the Operator.

| Setting | Operator | Description |
| ------- | -------- | ----------- |
| `gitlabUrl`      | all      | The fully qualified domain name for the GitLab instance, for example, `https://gitlab.example.com`. |
| `token`          | all      | Name of `Secret` containing the `runner-registration-token` key used to register the runner. |
| `tags`           | all      | List of comma-separated tags to be applied to the runner. |
| `concurrent`     | all      | Limits how many jobs can run concurrently. The maximum number is all defined runners. 0 does not mean unlimited. Default is `10`. |
| `interval`       | all      | Defines the number of seconds between checks for new jobs. Default is `30`. |
| `locked`         | 1.8      | Defines if the runner should be locked to a project. Default is `false`. |
| `runUntagged`    | 1.8      | Defines if jobs without tags should be run. Default is `true` if no tags were specified. Otherwise, it's `false`. |
| `protected`      | 1.8      | Defines if the runner should run jobs on protected branches only. Default is `false`. |
| `cloneURL`       | all      | Overwrite the URL for the GitLab instance. Used only if the runner can’t connect to the GitLab URL. |
| `env`            | all      | Name of `ConfigMap` containing key-value pairs that will be injected as environment variables in the Runner pod. |
| `runnerImage`    | 1.7      | Overwrites the default GitLab Runner image. Default is the Runner image the operator was bundled with. |
| `helperImage`    | all      | Overwrites the default GitLab Runner helper image. |
| `buildImage`     | all      | The default Docker image to use for builds when none is specified. |
| `cacheType`      | all      | Type of cache used for Runner artifacts. One of: `gcs`, `s3`, `azure`. |
| `cachePath`      | all      | Defines the cache path on the file system. |
| `cacheShared`    | all      | Enable sharing of cache between runners. |
| `s3`             | all      | Options used to set up S3 cache. Refer to [Cache properties](#cache-properties). |
| `gcs`            | all      | Options used to set up GCS cache. Refer to [Cache properties](#cache-properties). |
| `azure`          | all      | Options used to set up Azure cache. Refer to [Cache properties](#cache-properties). |
| `ca`             | all      | Name of TLS secret containing the custom certificate authority (CA) certificates. |
| `serviceaccount` | all      | Use to override service account used to run the Runner pod. |
| `config`         | all      | Use to provide a custom config map with a [configuration template](../register/index.md#register-with-a-configuration-template). |

## Cache properties

### S3 cache

| Setting | Operator | Description |
| ------- | -------- | ----------- |
| `server`        | all      | The S3 server address. |
| `credentials`   | all      | Name of the `Secret` containing the `accesskey` and `secretkey` properties used to access the object storage. |
| `bucket`        | all      | Name of the bucket in which the cache will be stored. |
| `location`      | all      | Name of the S3 region which the cache will be stored. |
| `insecure`      | all      | Use insecure connections or `HTTP`. |

### GCS cache

| Setting | Operator | Description |
| ------- | -------- | ----------- |
| `credentials`     | all      | Name of the `Secret` containing the `access-id` and `private-key` properties used to access the object storage. |
| `bucket`          | all      | Name of the bucket in which the cache will be stored. |
| `credentialsFile` | all      | Takes GCS credentials file, `keys.json`. |

### Azure cache

| Setting | Operator | Description |
| ------- | -------- | ----------- |
| `credentials`     | all      | Name of the `Secret` containing the `accountName` and `privateKey` properties used to access the object storage. |
| `container`       | all      | Name of the Azure container in which the cache will be stored. |
| `storageDomain`   | all      | The domain name of the Azure blob storage. |

## Configure a proxy environment

To create a proxy environment:

1. Edit the `custom-env.yaml` file. For example:

   ```yaml
   apiVersion: v1
   data:
     HTTP_PROXY: example.com
   kind: ConfigMap
   metadata:
     name: custom-env
   ```

1. Update OpenShift to apply the changes.

   ```shell
   oc apply -f custom-env.yaml
   ```

1. Update your [`gitlab-runner.yml`](../install/operator.md#install-gitlab-runner) file.

   ```yaml
   apiVersion: apps.gitlab.com/v1beta2
   kind: Runner
   metadata:
     name: dev
   spec:
     gitlabUrl: https://gitlab.example.com
     token: gitlab-runner-secret # Name of the secret containing the Runner token
     env: custom-env
   ```

If the proxy can't reach the Kubernetes API, you might see an error in your CI/CD job:

```shell
ERROR: Job failed (system failure): prepare environment: setting up credentials: Post https://172.21.0.1:443/api/v1/namespaces/<KUBERNETES_NAMESPACE>/secrets: net/http: TLS handshake timeout. Check https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/shells/index.html#shell-profile-loading for more information
```

To resolve this error, add the IP address of the Kubernetes API to `NO_PROXY` configuration in the `custom-env.yaml` file:

```yaml
   apiVersion: v1
   data:
     NO_PROXY: 172.21.0.1
     HTTP_PROXY: example.com
   kind: ConfigMap
   metadata:
     name: custom-env
```

You can verify the IP address of the Kubernetes API by running:

```shell
oc get services --namespace default --field-selector='metadata.name=kubernetes' | grep -v NAME | awk '{print $3}'
```

## Customize `config.toml` with a configuration template

NOTE:
The use of a configuration template to customize `config.toml` is currently limited to specifying `[runners.kubernetes.volumes]` settings.
Support to extend this to other settings is proposed in [issue 49](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gl-openshift/gitlab-runner-operator/-/issues/49).

You can customize the runner's `config.toml` file by using the [configuration template](../register/index.md#register-with-a-configuration-template).

1. Create a custom config template file. For example, let's instruct our runner to mount an `EmptyDir` volume. Create the `custom-config.toml` file:

   ```toml
   [[runners]]
     [runners.kubernetes]
       [runners.kubernetes.volumes]
         [[runners.kubernetes.volumes.empty_dir]]
           name = "empty-dir"
           mount_path = "/path/to/empty_dir"
           medium = "Memory"
   ```

1. Create a `ConfigMap` named `custom-config-toml` from our `custom-config.toml` file:

   ```shell
    oc create configmap custom-config-toml --from-file config.toml=custom-config.toml
   ```

1. Set the `config` property of the `Runner`:

   ```yaml
   apiVersion: apps.gitlab.com/v1beta2
   kind: Runner
   metadata:
     name: dev
   spec:
     gitlabUrl: https://gitlab.example.com
     token: gitlab-runner-secret
     config: custom-config-toml
   ```

## Configure a custom TLS cert

1. To set a custom TLS cert, create a secret with key `tls.crt`. In this example, the file is named `custom-tls-ca-secret.yaml`:

   ```yaml
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Secret
   metadata:
       name: custom-tls-ca
   type: Opaque
   stringData:
       tls.crt: |
           -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
           MIIEczCCA1ugAwIBAgIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQQFAD..AkGA1UEBhMCR0Ix
           .....
           7vQMfXdGsRrXNGRGnX+vWDZ3/zWI0joDtCkNnqEpVn..HoX
           -----END CERTIFICATE-----
   ```

1. Create the secret:

   ```shell
   oc apply -f custom-tls-ca-secret.yaml
   ```

1. Set the `ca` key in the `runner.yaml` to the same name as the name of our secret:

   ```yaml
   apiVersion: apps.gitlab.com/v1beta2
   kind: Runner
   metadata:
     name: dev
   spec:
     gitlabUrl: https://gitlab.example.com
     token: gitlab-runner-secret
     ca: custom-tls-ca
   ```

## Configure the CPU and memory size of runner pods

To set [CPU limits](../executors/kubernetes/index.md#cpu-requests-and-limits) and [memory limits](../executors/kubernetes/index.md#memory-requests-and-limits) in a custom `config.toml` file, follow the instructions in [this topic](#customize-configtoml-with-a-configuration-template).

## Configure job concurrency per runner based on cluster resources

Set the `concurrent` property of the `Runner` resource:

```yaml
apiVersion: apps.gitlab.com/v1beta2
kind: Runner
metadata:
  name: dev
spec:
  gitlabUrl: https://gitlab.example.com
  token: gitlab-runner-secret
  concurrent: 2
```

Job concurrency is dictated by the requirements of the project.

1. Start by trying to determine the compute and memory resources required to execute a CI job.
1. Calculate how many times that job would be able to execute given the resources in the cluster.

If you set too large a concurrency value, the Kubernetes executor will process the jobs as soon as it can.
However, the Kubernetes cluster's scheduler capacity determines when the job is scheduled.

## Troubleshooting

### Root vs non-root

The GitLab Runner Operator and the GitLab Runner pod run as non-root users. As a result, the build image used in the job would need to run as a non-root user to be able to complete successfully.
This is to ensure that jobs can run successfully with the least permission. However, for this to work,
the build image used for the CI jobs also needs to be built to run as non-root and should not write to
a restricted filesystem. Keep in mind that most container filesystems on an OpenShift cluster will be read-only, except for mounted
volumes, `/var/tmp`, `/tmp` and other volumes mounted on the root filesystem as `tmpfs`.

#### Overriding the `HOME` environment variable

If creating a custom build image or [overriding env variables](#configure-a-proxy-environment), ensure that the HOME environment variables is not set to `/` which would be read-only.
Especially if your jobs would need to write files to the home directory.
You could create a directory under `/home` for example `/home/ci` and set `ENV HOME=/home/ci` in your `Dockerfile`.

For the runner pods [it's expected that `HOME` would be set to `/home/gitlab-runner`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/gitlab-runner-ubi-images/-/blob/e265820a00a6a1b9a271dc132de2618ced43cf92/runner/Dockerfile.OCP#L14).
If this variable is changed, the new location must have the [proper permissions](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/gitlab-runner-ubi-images/-/blob/e265820a00a6a1b9a271dc132de2618ced43cf92/runner/Dockerfile.OCP#L38).
These guidelines are also documented in the [Red Hat Container Platform Docs > Creating Images > Support arbitrary user ids](https://docs.openshift.com/container-platform/4.7/openshift_images/create-images.html#support-arbitrary-user-ids).

### Overriding `locked` variable

If set the `locked` variable to `true` when you register a runner token, the error
"Runner configuration other than name, description, and exector is reserved and cannot be specified"
appears.

```yaml
  locked: true # REQUIRED
  tags: ""
  runUntagged: false
  protected: false
  maximumTimeout: 0
```

For more information, see [issue 472](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/charts/gitlab-runner/-/issues/472#note_1483346437).

#### Watch out for SCC

By default, when installed in a new OpenShift project, the GitLab Runner Operator will run as non-root.
There are exceptions, when all the service accounts in a project are granted `anyuid` access, such as the `default` project.
In that case, the user of the image will be `root`. This can be easily checked by running the `whoami` inside any container shell, e.g. a job.
Read more about SCC in [Red Hat Container Platform Docs > Managing security context constraints](https://docs.openshift.com/container-platform/4.7/authentication/managing-security-context-constraints.html).

#### Run As anyuid SCC

Though discouraged, in the event that is it absolutely necessary for a CI job to run as the root
user or to write to the root filesystem, you will need to set the `anyuid` SCC on the GitLab Runner
service account, `gitlab-runner-sa`, which is used by the GitLab Runner container.

In OpenShift 4.3.8 and earlier:

```shell
oc adm policy add-scc-to-user anyuid -z gitlab-runner-sa -n <runner_namespace>

# Check that the anyiud SCC is set:
oc get scc anyuid -o yaml
```

In OpenShift 4.3.8 and later:

```shell
oc create -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: Role
metadata:
  name: scc-anyuid
  namespace: <runner_namespace>
rules:
- apiGroups:
  - security.openshift.io
  resourceNames:
  - anyuid
  resources:
  - securitycontextconstraints
  verbs:
  - use
EOF

oc create -f - <<EOF
kind: RoleBinding
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: sa-to-scc-anyuid
  namespace: <runner_namespace>
subjects:
  - kind: ServiceAccount
    name: gitlab-runner-sa
roleRef:
  kind: Role
  name: scc-anyuid
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
EOF
```

#### Configure SETFCAP

If you use Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (RHOCP) 4.11 or later, you may get the following error message:

```shell
error reading allowed ID mappings:error reading subuid mappings for user
```

Some jobs (for example, buildah) need the `SETFCAP` capability granted to run correctly. To fix this issue:

1. Add the SETFCAP capability to the SCC that GitLab Runner is using (replace the `gitlab-scc` with the SCC assigned to your GitLab Runner pod):

   ```shell
   oc patch scc gitlab-scc --type merge -p '{"allowedCapabilities":["SETFCAP"]}'
   ```

1. Update your `config.toml` and add the `SETFCAP` capability under the `kubernetes` section:

   ```yaml
   [[runners]]
     [runners.kubernetes]
     [runners.kubernetes.pod_security_context]
       [runners.kubernetes.build_container_security_context]
       [runners.kubernetes.build_container_security_context.capabilities]
         add = ["SETFCAP"]
   ```

1. Create a configmap using this `config.toml` in the namespace where GitLab Runner is deployed:

   ```shell
   oc create configmap custom-config-toml --from-file config.toml=config.toml
   ```

1. Modify the runner you want to fix, adding the `config:` parameter to point to the recently created configmap (replace my-runner with the correct runner pod name)

   ```shell
   oc patch runner my-runner --type merge -p '{"spec": {"config": "custom-config-toml"}}'
   ```

For more information, see the [Red Hat documentation](https://access.redhat.com/solutions/7016013).

### Using FIPS Compliant GitLab Runner

NOTE:
Currently, for Operator, you can change only the helper image. [An issue exists](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/28814) to change the GitLab Runner image as well.

To use a [FIPS compliant GitLab Runner Helper](../install/index.md#fips-compliant-gitlab-runner), change the helper image as follows:

```yaml
apiVersion: apps.gitlab.com/v1beta2
kind: Runner
metadata:
 name: dev
spec:
 gitlabUrl: https://gitlab.example.com
 token: gitlab-runner-secret
 helperImage: gitlab/gitlab-runner-helper:ubi-fips
 concurrent: 2
```

#### Register GitLab Runner by using a self-signed certificate

When you use a self-signed certificate with your GitLab self-managed installation, you must create a secret that contains the CA certificate used to sign your private certificates.

The name of the secret is then provided as the CA in the Runner spec section:

```yaml
KIND:     Runner
VERSION:  apps.gitlab.com/v1beta2

FIELD:    ca <string>

DESCRIPTION:
     Name of tls secret containing the custom certificate authority (CA)
     certificates
```

The secret can be created using the following command:

```shell
oc create secret generic mySecret --from-file=tls.crt=myCert.pem -o yaml
```

#### Register GitLab Runner with an external URL that points to an IP address

If the runner cannot match the self-signed certificate with the hostname, you might get an error message. This can happen when the GitLab self-managed instance is configured to be accessed from an IP address instead of a hostname (where ###.##.##.## is the IP address of the GitLab server):

```shell
[31;1mERROR: Registering runner... failed               [0;m  [31;1mrunner[0;m=A5abcdEF [31;1mstatus[0;m=couldn't execute POST against https://###.##.##.##/api/v4/runners:
Post https://###.##.##.##/api/v4/runners: x509: cannot validate certificate for ###.##.##.## because it doesn't contain any IP SANs
[31;1mPANIC: Failed to register the runner. You may be having network problems.[0;m
```

To fix this issue:

1. On the GitLab self-managed server, modify the `openssl` to add the IP address to the `subjectAltName` parameter:

   ```shell
   # vim /etc/pki/tls/openssl.cnf

   [ v3_ca ]
   subjectAltName=IP:169.57.64.36 <---- Add this line. 169.57.64.36 is your GitLab server IP.
    ```

1. Then re-generate a self-signed CA with the commands below:

   ```shell
   # cd /etc/gitlab/ssl
   # openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 3650 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout /etc/gitlab/ssl/169.57.64.36.key -out /etc/gitlab/ssl/169.57.64.36.crt
   # openssl dhparam -out /etc/gitlab/ssl/dhparam.pem 4096
   # gitlab-ctl restart
   ```

1. Use this new certificate to generate a new secret.
