Specific Runner tags refer to labels or tags that you can assign to GitLab Runners during the registration process. These tags help you define specific characteristics or capabilities of the Runner, allowing you to target jobs to specific Runners based on their tags.
Here's an example of how to specify specific Runner tags during registration:
When running the sudo gitlab-runner register command, you will be prompted for various details. One of the prompts will be for the Runner tags.
Provide the tags you want to assign to the Runner, separated by commas. For example:
Please enter the gitlab-ci tags for this runner (comma separated): mytag, docker, linux
In this example, the Runner is assigned three tags: mytag, docker, and linux.
The tags you specify can be customized based on your requirements. Some common use cases for Runner tags include specifying the operating system, specific hardware capabilities, or software configurations.
Once registered, you can use these tags in your .gitlab-ci.yml file to define which Runner should handle specific jobs. For example:
job1:
tags:
- mytag
script:
- echo "This job will run on a Runner with the 'mytag' tag"
The job defined in this example will be assigned to a Runner that has the mytag tag.
By utilizing specific Runner tags, you can have more control over job distribution and ensure that certain jobs are executed on Runners with the required characteristics or capabilities.