Using Kubernetes Clusters
Overview
Kubernetes is an open source container orchestration platform. It is designed to automate your management of application containers, from deploying and scaling to operating. Kubernetes orchestration allows you to partition as you go, scaling up and down as necessary. You can respond quickly and efficiently to customer demand while limiting hardware usage within your production environment and minimizing disruption to feature rollouts.
How you can use Kubernetes with GitLab
Deploy GitLab on Kubernetes or use GitLab to test and deploy your software on Kubernetes. GitLab can be used with or within Kubernetes in three distinct ways:
- Deploy software from GitLab CI/CD pipelines to Kubernetes
- Use Kubernetes to manage runners attached to your GitLab instance
- Run the GitLab application and services on a Kubernetes cluster
Each approach outlined above can be used with or without the others. For example, an Omnibus GitLab instance running on a virtual machine can deploy software stored within it to Kubernetes through a Docker runner.
Next steps
-
Review the documentation on getting setup with Kubernetes within GitLab along with what features are included in free. -
Select Projects (in the top navigation bar) > Your projects > select the Project you've already created. -
Select Operations (in the left sidebar) > Kubernetes to get started in your own project.