GitLab-managed Kubernetes resources

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Use GitLab-managed Kubernetes resources to provision Kubernetes resources with environment templates. An environment template can:

  • Create namespaces and service accounts automatically for new environments
  • Manage access permissions through role bindings
  • Configure other required Kubernetes resources

When developers deploy applications, GitLab creates the resources based on the environment template.

Configure GitLab-managed Kubernetes resources

Prerequisites:

Turn on Kubernetes resource management

To turn on resource management, modify the agent configuration file to include the required permissions: 

ci_access:
  projects:
    - id: <your_group/your_project>
      access_as:
        ci_job: {}
      resource_management:
        enabled: true
  groups:
    - id: <your_other_group>
      access_as:
        ci_job: {}
      resource_management:
        enabled: true

Create environment templates

Environment templates define what Kubernetes resources are created, updated, or removed.

The default environment template creates a Namespace and configures a RoleBinding for the CI/CD job.

To overwrite the default template, add a template configuration file called default.yaml in the agent directory: 

.gitlab/agents/<agent-name>/environment_templates/default.yaml

To create an environment template, add a template configuration file in the agent directory at: 

.gitlab/agents/<agent-name>/environment_templates/<template-name>.yaml

You can specify which template is included in a CI/CD pipeline. For more information, see Use templates in CI/CD pipelines.

Supported Kubernetes resources

The following Kubernetes resources (kind) are supported:

  • Namespace
  • ServiceAccount
  • RoleBinding
  • FluxCD Source Controller objects:
    • GitRepository
    • HelmRepository
    • HelmChart
    • Bucket
    • OCIRepository
  • FluxCD Kustomize Controller objects:
    • Kustomization
  • FluxCD Helm Controller objects:
    • HelmRelease
  • FluxCD Notification Controller objects:
    • Alert
    • Provider
    • Receiver

Example environment template

The following example creates a namespace and grants a group administrator access to a cluster. 

objects:
  - apiVersion: v1
    kind: Namespace
    metadata:
      name: '{{ .environment.slug }}-{{ .project.id }}-{{ .agent.id }}'
  - apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
    kind: RoleBinding
    metadata:
      name: bind-{{ .agent.id }}-{{ .project.id }}-{{ .environment.slug }}
      namespace: {{ .project.slug }}-{{ .project.id }}-{{ .environment.slug }}
    subjects:
      - kind: Group
        apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
        name: gitlab:project_env:{{ .project.id }}:{{ .environment.slug }}
    roleRef:
      apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
      kind: ClusterRole
      name: admin

# Resource lifecycle configuration
apply_resources: on_start    # Resources are applied when environment is started/restarted
delete_resources: on_stop    # Resources are removed when environment is stopped

Template variables

Environment templates support limited variable substitution. The following variables are available:

Category Variable Description
Agent {{ .agent.id }} The agent identifier.
Agent {{ .agent.name }} The agent name.
Agent {{ .agent.url }} The agent URL.
Environment {{ .environment.name }} The environment name.
Environment {{ .environment.slug }} The environment slug.
Environment {{ .environment.url }} The environment URL.
Environment {{ .environment.tier }} The environment tier.
Project {{ .project.id }} The project identifier.
Project {{ .project.slug }} The project slug.
Project {{ .project.path }} The project path.
Project {{ .project.url }} The project URL.
CI Pipeline {{ .ci_pipeline.id }} The pipeline identifier.
CI Job {{ .ci_job.id }} The CI/CD job identifier.
User {{ .user.id }} The user identifier.
User {{ .user.username }} The username.

All variables should be referenced using the double curly brace syntax, for example: {{ .project.id }}. See text/template documentation for more information on the templating system used.

Resource lifecycle management

Use the following settings to configure when Kubernetes resources should be applied or removed from an environment: 

# Apply resources when environment is started or restarted
apply_resources: on_start

# Never delete resources
delete_resources: never

# Delete resources when environment is stopped
delete_resources: on_stop

Use managed resources in CI/CD pipelines

To use managed Kubernetes resources in your CI/CD pipelines, specify the agent and optionally the template name in your environment configuration: 

deploy:
  environment:
    name: production
    kubernetes:
      agent: agent-name
      template: my-template  # Optional, uses default template if not specified

Troubleshooting

Any errors related to managed Kubernetes resources can be found on:

  • The environment page in your GitLab project
  • The CI/CD job logs when using the feature in pipelines