Commit e4e6563d authored by Kristin Brooks's avatar Kristin Brooks

move environments doc to correct dir and update links

parent b3ef8386
......@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ The following documentation relates to the DevOps **Release** stage:
| [Auto Deploy](topics/autodevops/stages.md#auto-deploy) | Configure GitLab for the deployment of your application. |
| [Canary Deployments](user/project/canary_deployments.md) **(PREMIUM)** | Employ a popular CI strategy where a small portion of the fleet is updated to the new version first. |
| [Deploy Boards](user/project/deploy_boards.md) **(PREMIUM)** | View the current health and status of each CI environment running on Kubernetes, displaying the status of the pods in the deployment. |
| [Environments and deployments](ci/environments.md) | With environments, you can control the continuous deployment of your software within GitLab. |
| [Environments and deployments](ci/environments/index.md) | With environments, you can control the continuous deployment of your software within GitLab. |
| [Environment-specific variables](ci/variables/README.md#limit-the-environment-scopes-of-environment-variables) | Limit the scope of variables to specific environments. |
| [GitLab CI/CD](ci/README.md) | Explore the features and capabilities of Continuous Deployment and Delivery with GitLab. |
| [GitLab Pages](user/project/pages/index.md) | Build, test, and deploy a static site directly from GitLab. |
......
......@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ The following table lists basic ports that must be open between the **primary**
See the full list of ports used by GitLab in [Package defaults](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/package-information/defaults.html)
NOTE: **Note:**
[Web terminal](../../../ci/environments.md#web-terminals) support requires your load balancer to correctly handle WebSocket connections.
[Web terminal](../../../ci/environments/index.md#web-terminals) support requires your load balancer to correctly handle WebSocket connections.
When using HTTP or HTTPS proxying, your load balancer must be configured to pass through the `Connection` and `Upgrade` hop-by-hop headers. See the [web terminal](../../integration/terminal.md) integration guide for more details.
NOTE: **Note:**
......
......@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ for details on managing SSL certificates and configuring NGINX.
| 443 | 443 | TCP or HTTPS (*1*) (*2*) |
| 22 | 22 | TCP |
- (*1*): [Web terminal](../../ci/environments.md#web-terminals) support requires
- (*1*): [Web terminal](../../ci/environments/index.md#web-terminals) support requires
your load balancer to correctly handle WebSocket connections. When using
HTTP or HTTPS proxying, this means your load balancer must be configured
to pass through the `Connection` and `Upgrade` hop-by-hop headers. See the
......
......@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ Learn how to install, configure, update, and maintain your GitLab instance.
- [Mattermost](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/gitlab-mattermost/): Integrate with [Mattermost](https://mattermost.com), an open source, private cloud workplace for web messaging.
- [PlantUML](integration/plantuml.md): Create simple diagrams in AsciiDoc and Markdown documents
created in snippets, wikis, and repositories.
- [Web terminals](integration/terminal.md): Provide terminal access to your applications deployed to Kubernetes from within GitLab's CI/CD [environments](../ci/environments.md#web-terminals).
- [Web terminals](integration/terminal.md): Provide terminal access to your applications deployed to Kubernetes from within GitLab's CI/CD [environments](../ci/environments/index.md#web-terminals).
## User settings and permissions
......
......@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Only project maintainers and owners can access web terminals.
With the introduction of the [Kubernetes integration](../../user/project/clusters/index.md),
GitLab gained the ability to store and use credentials for a Kubernetes cluster.
One of the things it uses these credentials for is providing access to
[web terminals](../../ci/environments.md#web-terminals) for environments.
[web terminals](../../ci/environments/index.md#web-terminals) for environments.
## How it works
......
......@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Users with Developer or higher [permissions](../user/permissions.md) can access
## List all effective feature flag specs under the specified environment
Get all effective feature flag specs under the specified [environment](../ci/environments.md).
Get all effective feature flag specs under the specified [environment](../ci/environments/index.md).
For instance, there are two specs, `staging` and `production`, for a feature flag.
When you pass `production` as a parameter to this endpoint, the system returns
......@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ GET /projects/:id/feature_flag_scopes
| Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
| ------------------- | ---------------- | ---------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `id` | integer/string | yes | The ID or [URL-encoded path of the project](README.md#namespaced-path-encoding). |
| `environment` | string | yes | The [environment](../ci/environments.md) name |
| `environment` | string | yes | The [environment](../ci/environments/index.md) name |
```shell
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/feature_flag_scopes?environment=production
......@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ POST /projects/:id/feature_flags/:name/scopes
| ------------------- | ---------------- | ---------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `id` | integer/string | yes | The ID or [URL-encoded path of the project](README.md#namespaced-path-encoding). |
| `name` | string | yes | The name of the feature flag. |
| `environment_scope` | string | yes | The [environment spec](../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) of the feature flag. |
| `environment_scope` | string | yes | The [environment spec](../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) of the feature flag. |
| `active` | boolean | yes | Whether the spec is active. |
| `strategies` | json | yes | The [strategies](../user/project/operations/feature_flags.md#feature-flag-strategies) of the feature flag spec. |
......@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ GET /projects/:id/feature_flags/:name/scopes/:environment_scope
| ------------------- | ---------------- | ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `id` | integer/string | yes | The ID or [URL-encoded path of the project](README.md#namespaced-path-encoding). |
| `name` | string | yes | The name of the feature flag. |
| `environment_scope` | string | yes | The URL-encoded [environment spec](../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) of the feature flag. |
| `environment_scope` | string | yes | The URL-encoded [environment spec](../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) of the feature flag. |
```shell
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/:id/feature_flags/new_live_trace/scopes/production
......@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ PUT /projects/:id/feature_flags/:name/scopes/:environment_scope
| ------------------- | ---------------- | ---------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `id` | integer/string | yes | The ID or [URL-encoded path of the project](README.md#namespaced-path-encoding). |
| `name` | string | yes | The name of the feature flag. |
| `environment_scope` | string | yes | The URL-encoded [environment spec](../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) of the feature flag. |
| `environment_scope` | string | yes | The URL-encoded [environment spec](../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) of the feature flag. |
| `active` | boolean | yes | Whether the spec is active. |
| `strategies` | json | yes | The [strategies](../user/project/operations/feature_flags.md#feature-flag-strategies) of the feature flag spec. |
......@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ DELETE /projects/:id/feature_flags/:name/scopes/:environment_scope
| ------------------- | ---------------- | ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `id` | integer/string | yes | The ID or [URL-encoded path of the project](README.md#namespaced-path-encoding). |
| `name` | string | yes | The name of the feature flag. |
| `environment_scope` | string | yes | The URL-encoded [environment spec](../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) of the feature flag. |
| `environment_scope` | string | yes | The URL-encoded [environment spec](../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) of the feature flag. |
```shell
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" --request DELETE https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/1/feature_flags/new_live_trace/scopes/production
......
......@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ POST /projects/:id/feature_flags
| `name` | string | yes | The name of the feature flag. |
| `description` | string | no | The description of the feature flag. |
| `scopes` | JSON | no | The [feature flag specs](../user/project/operations/feature_flags.md#define-environment-specs) of the feature flag. |
| `scopes:environment_scope` | string | no | The [environment spec](../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs). |
| `scopes:environment_scope` | string | no | The [environment spec](../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs). |
| `scopes:active` | boolean | no | Whether the spec is active. |
| `scopes:strategies` | JSON | no | The [strategies](../user/project/operations/feature_flags.md#feature-flag-strategies) of the feature flag spec. |
......
......@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ GitLab CI/CD uses a number of concepts to describe and run your build and deploy
|:--------------|:-------------|
| [Pipelines](pipelines/index.md) | Structure your CI/CD process through pipelines. |
| [Environment variables](variables/README.md) | Reuse values based on a variable/value key pair. |
| [Environments](environments.md) | Deploy your application to different environments (e.g., staging, production). |
| [Environments](environments/index.md) | Deploy your application to different environments (e.g., staging, production). |
| [Job artifacts](pipelines/job_artifacts.md) | Output, use, and reuse job artifacts. |
| [Cache dependencies](caching/index.md) | Cache your dependencies for a faster execution. |
| [GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/) | Configure your own GitLab Runners to execute your scripts. |
......
---
type: reference
redirect_to: 'environments/index.md'
---
# Environments and deployments
> Introduced in GitLab 8.9.
Environments allow control of the continuous deployment of your software,
all within GitLab.
## Introduction
There are many stages required in the software development process before the software is ready
for public consumption.
For example:
1. Develop your code.
1. Test your code.
1. Deploy your code into a testing or staging environment before you release it to the public.
This helps find bugs in your software, and also in the deployment process as well.
GitLab CI/CD is capable of not only testing or building your projects, but also
deploying them in your infrastructure, with the added benefit of giving you a
way to track your deployments. In other words, you will always know what is
currently being deployed or has been deployed on your servers.
It's important to know that:
- Environments are like tags for your CI jobs, describing where code gets deployed.
- Deployments are created when [jobs](yaml/README.md#introduction) deploy versions of code to environments,
so every environment can have one or more deployments.
GitLab:
- Provides a full history of your deployments for each environment.
- Keeps track of your deployments, so you always know what is currently being deployed on your
servers.
If you have a deployment service such as [Kubernetes](../user/project/clusters/index.md)
associated with your project, you can use it to assist with your deployments, and
can even access a [web terminal](#web-terminals) for your environment from within GitLab!
## Configuring environments
Configuring environments involves:
1. Understanding how [pipelines](pipelines/index.md) work.
1. Defining environments in your project's [`.gitlab-ci.yml`](yaml/README.md) file.
1. Creating a job configured to deploy your application. For example, a deploy job configured with [`environment`](yaml/README.md#environment) to deploy your application to a [Kubernetes cluster](../user/project/clusters/index.md).
The rest of this section illustrates how to configure environments and deployments using
an example scenario. It assumes you have already:
- Created a [project](../gitlab-basics/create-project.md) in GitLab.
- Set up [a Runner](runners/README.md).
In the scenario:
- We are developing an application.
- We want to run tests and build our app on all branches.
- Our default branch is `master`.
- We deploy the app only when a pipeline on `master` branch is run.
### Defining environments
Let's consider the following `.gitlab-ci.yml` example:
```yaml
stages:
- test
- build
- deploy
test:
stage: test
script: echo "Running tests"
build:
stage: build
script: echo "Building the app"
deploy_staging:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy to staging server"
environment:
name: staging
url: https://staging.example.com
only:
- master
```
We have defined three [stages](yaml/README.md#stages):
- `test`
- `build`
- `deploy`
The jobs assigned to these stages will run in this order. If any job fails, then
the pipeline fails and jobs that are assigned to the next stage won't run.
In our case:
- The `test` job will run first.
- Then the `build` job.
- Lastly the `deploy_staging` job.
With this configuration, we:
- Check that the tests pass.
- Ensure that our app is able to be built successfully.
- Lastly we deploy to the staging server.
NOTE: **Note:**
The `environment` keyword defines where the app is deployed.
The environment `name` and `url` is exposed in various places
within GitLab. Each time a job that has an environment specified
succeeds, a deployment is recorded, along with the Git SHA, and environment name.
CAUTION: **Caution**:
Some characters are not allowed in environment names. Use only letters,
numbers, spaces, and `-`, `_`, `/`, `{`, `}`, or `.`. Also, it must not start nor end with `/`.
In summary, with the above `.gitlab-ci.yml` we have achieved the following:
- All branches will run the `test` and `build` jobs.
- The `deploy_staging` job will run [only](yaml/README.md#onlyexcept-basic) on the `master`
branch, which means all merge requests that are created from branches don't
get deployed to the staging server.
- When a merge request is merged, all jobs will run and the `deploy_staging`
job will deploy our code to a staging server while the deployment
will be recorded in an environment named `staging`.
#### Environment variables and Runner
Starting with GitLab 8.15, the environment name is exposed to the Runner in
two forms:
- `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_NAME`. The name given in `.gitlab-ci.yml` (with any variables
expanded).
- `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG`. A "cleaned-up" version of the name, suitable for use in URLs,
DNS, etc.
If you change the name of an existing environment, the:
- `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_NAME` variable will be updated with the new environment name.
- `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG` variable will remain unchanged to prevent unintended side
effects.
Starting with GitLab 9.3, the environment URL is exposed to the Runner via
`$CI_ENVIRONMENT_URL`. The URL is expanded from either:
- `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
- The external URL from the environment if not defined in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
#### Set dynamic environment URLs after a job finishes
> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/17066) in GitLab 12.9.
In a job script, you can specify a static [environment URL](#using-the-environment-url).
However, there may be times when you want a dynamic URL. For example,
if you deploy a Review App to an external hosting
service that generates a random URL per deployment, like `https://94dd65b.amazonaws.com/qa-lambda-1234567`,
you don't know the URL before the deployment script finishes.
If you want to use the environment URL in GitLab, you would have to update it manually.
To address this problem, you can configure a deployment job to report back a set of
variables, including the URL that was dynamically-generated by the external service.
GitLab supports [dotenv](https://github.com/bkeepers/dotenv) file as the format,
and expands the `environment:url` value with variables defined in the dotenv file.
To use this feature, specify the
[`artifacts:reports:dotenv`](pipelines/job_artifacts.md#artifactsreportsdotenv) keyword in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
<i class="fa fa-youtube-play youtube" aria-hidden="true"></i>
For an overview, see [Set dynamic URLs after a job finished](https://youtu.be/70jDXtOf4Ig).
##### Example of setting dynamic environment URLs
The following example shows a Review App that creates a new environment
per merge request. The `review` job is triggered by every push, and
creates or updates an environment named `review/your-branch-name`.
The environment URL is set to `$DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL`:
```yaml
review:
script:
- DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL=$(deploy-script) # In script, get the environment URL.
- echo "DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL=$DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL" >> deploy.env # Add the value to a dotenv file.
artifacts:
reports:
dotenv: deploy.env # Report back dotenv file to rails.
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG
url: $DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL # and set the variable produced in script to `environment:url`
on_stop: stop_review
stop_review:
script:
- ./teardown-environment
when: manual
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG
action: stop
```
As soon as the `review` job finishes, GitLab updates the `review/your-branch-name`
environment's URL.
It parses the report artifact `deploy.env`, registers a list of variables as runtime-created,
uses it for expanding `environment:url: $DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL` and sets it to the environment URL.
You can also specify a static part of the URL at `environment:url:`, such as
`https://$DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL`. If the value of `DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL` is
`123.awesome.com`, the final result will be `https://123.awesome.com`.
The assigned URL for the `review/your-branch-name` environment is visible in the UI.
[See where the environment URL is displayed](#using-the-environment-url).
> **Notes:**
>
> - `stop_review` doesn't generate a dotenv report artifact, so it won't recognize the `DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL` variable. Therefore you should not set `environment:url:` in the `stop_review` job.
> - If the environment URL is not valid (for example, the URL is malformed), the system doesn't update the environment URL.
### Configuring manual deployments
Adding `when: manual` to an automatically executed job's configuration converts it to
a job requiring manual action.
To expand on the [previous example](#defining-environments), the following includes
another job that deploys our app to a production server and is
tracked by a `production` environment.
The `.gitlab-ci.yml` file for this is as follows:
```yaml
stages:
- test
- build
- deploy
test:
stage: test
script: echo "Running tests"
build:
stage: build
script: echo "Building the app"
deploy_staging:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy to staging server"
environment:
name: staging
url: https://staging.example.com
only:
- master
deploy_prod:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy to production server"
environment:
name: production
url: https://example.com
when: manual
only:
- master
```
The `when: manual` action:
- Exposes a "play" button in GitLab's UI for that job.
- Means the `deploy_prod` job will only be triggered when the "play" button is clicked.
You can find the "play" button in the pipelines, environments, deployments, and jobs views.
| View | Screenshot |
|:----------------|:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Pipelines | ![Pipelines manual action](img/environments_manual_action_pipelines.png) |
| Single pipeline | ![Pipelines manual action](img/environments_manual_action_single_pipeline.png) |
| Environments | ![Environments manual action](img/environments_manual_action_environments.png) |
| Deployments | ![Deployments manual action](img/environments_manual_action_deployments.png) |
| Jobs | ![Builds manual action](img/environments_manual_action_jobs.png) |
Clicking on the play button in any view will trigger the `deploy_prod` job, and the
deployment will be recorded as a new environment named `production`.
NOTE: **Note:**
If your environment's name is `production` (all lowercase),
it will get recorded in [Value Stream Analytics](../user/project/cycle_analytics.md).
### Configuring dynamic environments
Regular environments are good when deploying to "stable" environments like staging or production.
However, for environments for branches other than `master`, dynamic environments
can be used. Dynamic environments make it possible to create environments on the fly by
declaring their names dynamically in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
Dynamic environments are a fundamental part of [Review apps](review_apps/index.md).
### Configuring incremental rollouts
Learn how to release production changes to only a portion of your Kubernetes pods with
[incremental rollouts](environments/incremental_rollouts.md).
#### Allowed variables
The `name` and `url` parameters for dynamic environments can use most available CI/CD variables,
including:
- [Predefined environment variables](variables/README.md#predefined-environment-variables)
- [Project and group variables](variables/README.md#gitlab-cicd-environment-variables)
- [`.gitlab-ci.yml` variables](yaml/README.md#variables)
However, you cannot use variables defined:
- Under `script`.
- On the Runner's side.
There are also other variables that are unsupported in the context of `environment:name`.
For more information, see [Where variables can be used](variables/where_variables_can_be_used.md).
#### Example configuration
GitLab Runner exposes various [environment variables](variables/README.md) when a job runs, so
you can use them as environment names.
In the following example, the job will deploy to all branches except `master`:
```yaml
deploy_review:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy a review app"
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
url: https://$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG.example.com
only:
- branches
except:
- master
```
In this example:
- The job's name is `deploy_review` and it runs on the `deploy` stage.
- We set the `environment` with the `environment:name` as `review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME`.
Since the [environment name](yaml/README.md#environmentname) can contain slashes (`/`), we can
use this pattern to distinguish between dynamic and regular environments.
- We tell the job to run [`only`](yaml/README.md#onlyexcept-basic) on branches,
[`except`](yaml/README.md#onlyexcept-basic) `master`.
For the value of:
- `environment:name`, the first part is `review`, followed by a `/` and then `$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME`,
which receives the value of the branch name.
- `environment:url`, we want a specific and distinct URL for each branch. `$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME`
may contain a `/` or other characters that would be invalid in a domain name or URL,
so we use `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG` to guarantee that we get a valid URL.
For example, given a `$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME` of `100-Do-The-Thing`, the URL will be something
like `https://100-do-the-4f99a2.example.com`. Again, the way you set up
the web server to serve these requests is based on your setup.
We have used `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG` here because it is guaranteed to be unique. If
you're using a workflow like [GitLab Flow](../topics/gitlab_flow.md), collisions
are unlikely and you may prefer environment names to be more closely based on the
branch name. In that case, you could use `$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME` in `environment:url` in
the example above: `https://$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME.example.com`, which would give a URL
of `https://100-do-the-thing.example.com`.
NOTE: **Note:**
You are not required to use the same prefix or only slashes (`/`) in the dynamic environments'
names. However, using this format will enable the [grouping similar environments](#grouping-similar-environments)
feature.
### Configuring Kubernetes deployments
> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/27630) in GitLab 12.6.
If you are deploying to a [Kubernetes cluster](../user/project/clusters/index.md)
associated with your project, you can configure these deployments from your
`gitlab-ci.yml` file.
The following configuration options are supported:
- [`namespace`](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/namespaces/)
In the following example, the job will deploy your application to the
`production` Kubernetes namespace.
```yaml
deploy:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy to production server"
environment:
name: production
url: https://example.com
kubernetes:
namespace: production
only:
- master
```
When deploying to a Kubernetes cluster using GitLab's Kubernetes integration,
information about the cluster and namespace will be displayed above the job
trace on the deployment job page:
![Deployment cluster information](img/environments_deployment_cluster_v12_8.png)
NOTE: **Note:**
Kubernetes configuration is not supported for Kubernetes clusters
that are [managed by GitLab](../user/project/clusters/index.md#gitlab-managed-clusters).
To follow progress on support for GitLab-managed clusters, see the
[relevant issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/38054).
### Complete example
The configuration in this section provides a full development workflow where your app is:
- Tested.
- Built.
- Deployed as a Review App.
- Deployed to a staging server once the merge request is merged.
- Finally, able to be manually deployed to the production server.
The following combines the previous configuration examples, including:
- Defining [simple environments](#defining-environments) for testing, building, and deployment to staging.
- Adding [manual actions](#configuring-manual-deployments) for deployment to production.
- Creating [dynamic environments](#configuring-dynamic-environments) for deployments for reviewing.
```yaml
stages:
- test
- build
- deploy
test:
stage: test
script: echo "Running tests"
build:
stage: build
script: echo "Building the app"
deploy_review:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy a review app"
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
url: https://$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG.example.com
only:
- branches
except:
- master
deploy_staging:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy to staging server"
environment:
name: staging
url: https://staging.example.com
only:
- master
deploy_prod:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy to production server"
environment:
name: production
url: https://example.com
when: manual
only:
- master
```
A more realistic example would also include copying files to a location where a
webserver (for example, NGINX) could then access and serve them.
The example below will copy the `public` directory to `/srv/nginx/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG/public`:
```yaml
review_app:
stage: deploy
script:
- rsync -av --delete public /srv/nginx/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
url: https://$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG.example.com
```
This example requires that NGINX and GitLab Runner are set up on the server this job will run on.
NOTE: **Note:**
See the [limitations](#limitations) section for some edge cases regarding the naming of
your branches and Review Apps.
The complete example provides the following workflow to developers:
- Create a branch locally.
- Make changes and commit them.
- Push the branch to GitLab.
- Create a merge request.
Behind the scenes, GitLab Runner will:
- Pick up the changes and start running the jobs.
- Run the jobs sequentially as defined in `stages`:
- First, run the tests.
- If the tests succeed, build the app.
- If the build succeeds, the app is deployed to an environment with a name specific to the
branch.
So now, every branch:
- Gets its own environment.
- Is deployed to its own unique location, with the added benefit of:
- Having a [history of deployments](#viewing-deployment-history).
- Being able to [rollback changes](#retrying-and-rolling-back) if needed.
For more information, see [Using the environment URL](#using-the-environment-url).
### Protected environments
Environments can be "protected", restricting access to them.
For more information, see [Protected environments](environments/protected_environments.md).
## Working with environments
Once environments are configured, GitLab provides many features for working with them,
as documented below.
### Viewing environments and deployments
A list of environments and deployment statuses is available on each project's **Operations > Environments** page.
For example:
![Environment view](img/environments_available.png)
This example shows:
- The environment's name with a link to its deployments.
- The last deployment ID number and who performed it.
- The job ID of the last deployment with its respective job name.
- The commit information of the last deployment, such as who committed it, to what
branch, and the Git SHA of the commit.
- The exact time the last deployment was performed.
- A button that takes you to the URL that you defined under the `environment` keyword
in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
- A button that re-deploys the latest deployment, meaning it runs the job
defined by the environment name for that specific commit.
The information shown in the **Environments** page is limited to the latest
deployments, but an environment can have multiple deployments.
> **Notes:**
>
> - While you can create environments manually in the web interface, we recommend
> that you define your environments in `.gitlab-ci.yml` first. They will
> be automatically created for you after the first deploy.
> - The environments page can only be viewed by users with [Reporter permission](../user/permissions.md#project-members-permissions)
> and above. For more information on permissions, see the [permissions documentation](../user/permissions.md).
> - Only deploys that happen after your `.gitlab-ci.yml` is properly configured
> will show up in the **Environment** and **Last deployment** lists.
### Viewing deployment history
GitLab keeps track of your deployments, so you:
- Always know what is currently being deployed on your servers.
- Can have the full history of your deployments for every environment.
Clicking on an environment shows the history of its deployments. Here's an example **Environments** page
with multiple deployments:
![Deployments](img/deployments_view.png)
This view is similar to the **Environments** page, but all deployments are shown. Also in this view
is a **Rollback** button. For more information, see [Retrying and rolling back](#retrying-and-rolling-back).
### Retrying and rolling back
If there is a problem with a deployment, you can retry it or roll it back.
To retry or rollback a deployment:
1. Navigate to **Operations > Environments**.
1. Click on the environment.
1. In the deployment history list for the environment, click the:
- **Retry** button next to the last deployment, to retry that deployment.
- **Rollback** button next to a previously successful deployment, to roll back to that deployment.
#### What to expect with a rollback
Pressing the **Rollback** button on a specific commit will trigger a _new_ deployment with its
own unique job ID.
This means that you will see a new deployment that points to the commit you are rolling back to.
NOTE: **Note:**
The defined deployment process in the job's `script` determines whether the rollback succeeds or not.
### Using the environment URL
The [environment URL](yaml/README.md#environmenturl) is exposed in a few
places within GitLab:
- In a merge request widget as a link:
![Environment URL in merge request](img/environments_mr_review_app.png)
- In the Environments view as a button:
![Environment URL in environments](img/environments_available.png)
- In the Deployments view as a button:
![Environment URL in deployments](img/deployments_view.png)
You can see this information in a merge request itself if:
- The merge request is eventually merged to the default branch (usually `master`).
- That branch also deploys to an environment (for example, `staging` or `production`).
For example:
![Environment URLs in merge request](img/environments_link_url_mr.png)
#### Going from source files to public pages
With GitLab's [Route Maps](review_apps/index.md#route-maps) you can go directly
from source files to public pages in the environment set for Review Apps.
### Stopping an environment
Stopping an environment:
- Moves it from the list of **Available** environments to the list of **Stopped**
environments on the [**Environments** page](#viewing-environments-and-deployments).
- Executes an [`on_stop` action](yaml/README.md#environmenton_stop), if defined.
This is often used when multiple developers are working on a project at the same time,
each of them pushing to their own branches, causing many dynamic environments to be created.
NOTE: **Note:**
Starting with GitLab 8.14, dynamic environments are stopped automatically
when their associated branch is deleted.
#### Automatically stopping an environment
Environments can be stopped automatically using special configuration.
Consider the following example where the `deploy_review` job calls `stop_review`
to clean up and stop the environment:
```yaml
deploy_review:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy a review app"
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
url: https://$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG.example.com
on_stop: stop_review
only:
- branches
except:
- master
stop_review:
stage: deploy
variables:
GIT_STRATEGY: none
script:
- echo "Remove review app"
when: manual
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
action: stop
```
Setting the [`GIT_STRATEGY`](yaml/README.md#git-strategy) to `none` is necessary in the
`stop_review` job so that the [GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/) won't
try to check out the code after the branch is deleted.
When you have an environment that has a stop action defined (typically when
the environment describes a Review App), GitLab will automatically trigger a
stop action when the associated branch is deleted. The `stop_review` job must
be in the same `stage` as the `deploy_review` job in order for the environment
to automatically stop.
You can read more in the [`.gitlab-ci.yml` reference](yaml/README.md#environmenton_stop).
#### Environments auto-stop
> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/20956) in GitLab 12.8.
You can set a expiry time to environments and stop them automatically after a certain period.
For example, consider the use of this feature with Review Apps environments.
When you set up Review Apps, sometimes they keep running for a long time
because some merge requests are left as open. An example for this situation is when the author of the merge
request is not actively working on it, due to priority changes or a different approach was decided on, and the merge requests was simply forgotten.
Idle environments waste resources, therefore they
should be terminated as soon as possible.
To address this problem, you can specify an optional expiration date for
Review Apps environments. When the expiry time is reached, GitLab will automatically trigger a job
to stop the environment, eliminating the need of manually doing so. In case an environment is updated, the expiration is renewed
ensuring that only active merge requests keep running Review Apps.
To enable this feature, you need to specify the [`environment:auto_stop_in`](yaml/README.md#environmentauto_stop_in) keyword in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
You can specify a human-friendly date as the value, such as `1 hour and 30 minutes` or `1 day`.
`auto_stop_in` uses the same format of [`artifacts:expire_in` docs](yaml/README.md#artifactsexpire_in).
##### Auto-stop example
In the following example, there is a basic review app setup that creates a new environment
per merge request. The `review_app` job is triggered by every push and
creates or updates an environment named `review/your-branch-name`.
The environment keeps running until `stop_review_app` is executed:
```yaml
review_app:
script: deploy-review-app
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
on_stop: stop_review_app
auto_stop_in: 1 week
stop_review_app:
script: stop-review-app
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
action: stop
when: manual
```
As long as a merge request is active and keeps getting new commits,
the review app will not stop, so developers don't need to worry about
re-initiating review app.
On the other hand, since `stop_review_app` is set to `auto_stop_in: 1 week`,
if a merge request becomes inactive for more than a week,
GitLab automatically triggers the `stop_review_app` job to stop the environment.
You can also check the expiration date of environments through the GitLab UI. To do so,
go to **Operations > Environments > Environment**. You can see the auto-stop period
at the left-top section and a pin-mark button at the right-top section. This pin-mark
button can be used to prevent auto-stopping the environment. By clicking this button, the `auto_stop_in` setting is over-written
and the environment will be active until it's stopped manually.
![Environment auto stop](img/environment_auto_stop_v12_8.png)
NOTE: **NOTE**
Due to the resource limitation, a background worker for stopping environments only
runs once every hour. This means environments will not be stopped at the exact
timestamp as the specified period, but will be stopped when the hourly cron worker
detects expired environments.
#### Delete a stopped environment
> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/22629) in GitLab 12.9.
You can delete [stopped environments](#stopping-an-environment) in one of two
ways: through the GitLab UI or through the API.
##### Delete environments through the UI
To view the list of **Stopped** environments, navigate to **Operations > Environments**
and click the **Stopped** tab.
From there, you can click the **Delete** button directly, or you can click the
environment name to see its details and **Delete** it from there.
You can also delete environments by viewing the details for a
stopped environment:
1. Navigate to **Operations > Environments**.
1. Click on the name of an environment within the **Stopped** environments list.
1. Click on the **Delete** button that appears at the top for all stopped environments.
1. Finally, confirm your chosen environment in the modal that appears to delete it.
##### Delete environments through the API
Environments can also be deleted by using the [Environments API](../api/environments.md#delete-an-environment).
### Grouping similar environments
> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/7015) in GitLab 8.14.
As documented in [Configuring dynamic environments](#configuring-dynamic-environments), you can
prepend environment name with a word, followed by a `/`, and finally the branch
name, which is automatically defined by the `CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME` variable.
In short, environments that are named like `type/foo` are all presented under the same
group, named `type`.
In our [minimal example](#example-configuration), we named the environments `review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME`
where `$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME` is the branch name. Here is a snippet of the example:
```yaml
deploy_review:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy a review app"
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
```
In this case, if you visit the **Environments** page and the branches
exist, you should see something like:
![Environment groups](img/environments_dynamic_groups.png)
### Monitoring environments
If you have enabled [Prometheus for monitoring system and response metrics](../user/project/integrations/prometheus.md),
you can monitor the behavior of your app running in each environment. For the monitoring
dashboard to appear, you need to Configure Prometheus to collect at least one
[supported metric](../user/project/integrations/prometheus_library/index.md).
NOTE: **Note:**
Since GitLab 9.2, all deployments to an environment are shown directly on the monitoring dashboard.
Once configured, GitLab will attempt to retrieve [supported performance metrics](../user/project/integrations/prometheus_library/index.md)
for any environment that has had a successful deployment. If monitoring data was
successfully retrieved, a **Monitoring** button will appear for each environment.
![Environment Detail with Metrics](img/deployments_view.png)
Clicking on the **Monitoring** button will display a new page showing up to the last
8 hours of performance data. It may take a minute or two for data to appear
after initial deployment.
All deployments to an environment are shown directly on the monitoring dashboard,
which allows easy correlation between any changes in performance and new
versions of the app, all without leaving GitLab.
![Monitoring dashboard](img/environments_monitoring.png)
#### Linking to external dashboard
Add a [button to the Monitoring dashboard](../user/project/operations/linking_to_an_external_dashboard.md) linking directly to your existing external dashboards.
#### Embedding metrics in GitLab Flavored Markdown
Metric charts can be embedded within GitLab Flavored Markdown. See [Embedding Metrics within GitLab Flavored Markdown](../user/project/integrations/prometheus.md#embedding-metric-charts-within-gitlab-flavored-markdown) for more details.
### Web terminals
> Web terminals were added in GitLab 8.15 and are only available to project Maintainers and Owners.
If you deploy to your environments with the help of a deployment service (for example,
the [Kubernetes integration](../user/project/clusters/index.md)), GitLab can open
a terminal session to your environment.
This is a powerful feature that allows you to debug issues without leaving the comfort
of your web browser. To enable it, just follow the instructions given in the service integration
documentation.
Once enabled, your environments will gain a "terminal" button:
![Terminal button on environment index](img/environments_terminal_button_on_index.png)
You can also access the terminal button from the page for a specific environment:
![Terminal button for an environment](img/environments_terminal_button_on_show.png)
Wherever you find it, clicking the button will take you to a separate page to
establish the terminal session:
![Terminal page](img/environments_terminal_page.png)
This works just like any other terminal. You'll be in the container created
by your deployment so you can:
- Run shell commands and get responses in real time.
- Check the logs.
- Try out configuration or code tweaks etc.
You can open multiple terminals to the same environment, they each get their own shell
session and even a multiplexer like `screen` or `tmux`.
NOTE: **Note:**
Container-based deployments often lack basic tools (like an editor), and may
be stopped or restarted at any time. If this happens, you will lose all your
changes. Treat this as a debugging tool, not a comprehensive online IDE.
### Check out deployments locally
Since GitLab 8.13, a reference in the Git repository is saved for each deployment, so
knowing the state of your current environments is only a `git fetch` away.
In your Git configuration, append the `[remote "<your-remote>"]` block with an extra
fetch line:
```text
fetch = +refs/environments/*:refs/remotes/origin/environments/*
```
### Scoping environments with specs
> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/2112) in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 9.4.
> - [Scoping for environment variables was moved to Core](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/30779) to Core in GitLab 12.2.
You can limit the environment scope of a variable by
defining which environments it can be available for.
Wildcards can be used, and the default environment scope is `*`, which means
any jobs will have this variable, not matter if an environment is defined or
not.
For example, if the environment scope is `production`, then only the jobs
having the environment `production` defined would have this specific variable.
Wildcards (`*`) can be used along with the environment name, therefore if the
environment scope is `review/*` then any jobs with environment names starting
with `review/` would have that particular variable.
Some GitLab features can behave differently for each environment.
For example, you can
[create a secret variable to be injected only into a production environment](variables/README.md#limit-the-environment-scopes-of-environment-variables).
In most cases, these features use the _environment specs_ mechanism, which offers
an efficient way to implement scoping within each environment group.
Let's say there are four environments:
- `production`
- `staging`
- `review/feature-1`
- `review/feature-2`
Each environment can be matched with the following environment spec:
| Environment Spec | `production` | `staging` | `review/feature-1` | `review/feature-2` |
|:-----------------|:-------------|:----------|:-------------------|:-------------------|
| * | Matched | Matched | Matched | Matched |
| production | Matched | | | |
| staging | | Matched | | |
| review/* | | | Matched | Matched |
| review/feature-1 | | | Matched | |
As you can see, you can use specific matching for selecting a particular environment,
and also use wildcard matching (`*`) for selecting a particular environment group,
such as [Review Apps](review_apps/index.md) (`review/*`).
NOTE: **Note:**
The most _specific_ spec takes precedence over the other wildcard matching.
In this case, `review/feature-1` spec takes precedence over `review/*` and `*` specs.
### Environments Dashboard **(PREMIUM)**
See [Environments Dashboard](environments/environments_dashboard.md) for a summary of each
environment's operational health.
## Limitations
In the `environment: name`, you are limited to only the [predefined environment variables](variables/predefined_variables.md).
Re-using variables defined inside `script` as part of the environment name will not work.
## Further reading
Below are some links you may find interesting:
- [The `.gitlab-ci.yml` definition of environments](yaml/README.md#environment)
- [A blog post on Deployments & Environments](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/08/26/ci-deployment-and-environments/)
- [Review Apps - Use dynamic environments to deploy your code for every branch](review_apps/index.md)
- [Deploy Boards for your applications running on Kubernetes](../user/project/deploy_boards.md) **(PREMIUM)**
<!-- ## Troubleshooting
Include any troubleshooting steps that you can foresee. If you know beforehand what issues
one might have when setting this up, or when something is changed, or on upgrading, it's
important to describe those, too. Think of things that may go wrong and include them here.
This is important to minimize requests for support, and to avoid doc comments with
questions that you know someone might ask.
Each scenario can be a third-level heading, e.g. `### Getting error message X`.
If you have none to add when creating a doc, leave this section in place
but commented out to help encourage others to add to it in the future. -->
This document was moved to [another location](environments/index.md).
---
type: reference
disqus_identifier: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/environments.html'
---
# Environments and deployments
> Introduced in GitLab 8.9.
Environments allow control of the continuous deployment of your software,
all within GitLab.
## Introduction
There are many stages required in the software development process before the software is ready
for public consumption.
For example:
1. Develop your code.
1. Test your code.
1. Deploy your code into a testing or staging environment before you release it to the public.
This helps find bugs in your software, and also in the deployment process as well.
GitLab CI/CD is capable of not only testing or building your projects, but also
deploying them in your infrastructure, with the added benefit of giving you a
way to track your deployments. In other words, you will always know what is
currently being deployed or has been deployed on your servers.
It's important to know that:
- Environments are like tags for your CI jobs, describing where code gets deployed.
- Deployments are created when [jobs](../yaml/README.md#introduction) deploy versions of code to environments,
so every environment can have one or more deployments.
GitLab:
- Provides a full history of your deployments for each environment.
- Keeps track of your deployments, so you always know what is currently being deployed on your
servers.
If you have a deployment service such as [Kubernetes](../../user/project/clusters/index.md)
associated with your project, you can use it to assist with your deployments, and
can even access a [web terminal](#web-terminals) for your environment from within GitLab!
## Configuring environments
Configuring environments involves:
1. Understanding how [pipelines](../pipelines/index.md) work.
1. Defining environments in your project's [`.gitlab-ci.yml`](../yaml/README.md) file.
1. Creating a job configured to deploy your application. For example, a deploy job configured with [`environment`](../yaml/README.md#environment) to deploy your application to a [Kubernetes cluster](../../user/project/clusters/index.md).
The rest of this section illustrates how to configure environments and deployments using
an example scenario. It assumes you have already:
- Created a [project](../../gitlab-basics/create-project.md) in GitLab.
- Set up [a Runner](../runners/README.md).
In the scenario:
- We are developing an application.
- We want to run tests and build our app on all branches.
- Our default branch is `master`.
- We deploy the app only when a pipeline on `master` branch is run.
### Defining environments
Let's consider the following `.gitlab-ci.yml` example:
```yaml
stages:
- test
- build
- deploy
test:
stage: test
script: echo "Running tests"
build:
stage: build
script: echo "Building the app"
deploy_staging:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy to staging server"
environment:
name: staging
url: https://staging.example.com
only:
- master
```
We have defined three [stages](../yaml/README.md#stages):
- `test`
- `build`
- `deploy`
The jobs assigned to these stages will run in this order. If any job fails, then
the pipeline fails and jobs that are assigned to the next stage won't run.
In our case:
- The `test` job will run first.
- Then the `build` job.
- Lastly the `deploy_staging` job.
With this configuration, we:
- Check that the tests pass.
- Ensure that our app is able to be built successfully.
- Lastly we deploy to the staging server.
NOTE: **Note:**
The `environment` keyword defines where the app is deployed.
The environment `name` and `url` is exposed in various places
within GitLab. Each time a job that has an environment specified
succeeds, a deployment is recorded, along with the Git SHA, and environment name.
CAUTION: **Caution**:
Some characters are not allowed in environment names. Use only letters,
numbers, spaces, and `-`, `_`, `/`, `{`, `}`, or `.`. Also, it must not start nor end with `/`.
In summary, with the above `.gitlab-ci.yml` we have achieved the following:
- All branches will run the `test` and `build` jobs.
- The `deploy_staging` job will run [only](../yaml/README.md#onlyexcept-basic) on the `master`
branch, which means all merge requests that are created from branches don't
get deployed to the staging server.
- When a merge request is merged, all jobs will run and the `deploy_staging`
job will deploy our code to a staging server while the deployment
will be recorded in an environment named `staging`.
#### Environment variables and Runner
Starting with GitLab 8.15, the environment name is exposed to the Runner in
two forms:
- `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_NAME`. The name given in `.gitlab-ci.yml` (with any variables
expanded).
- `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG`. A "cleaned-up" version of the name, suitable for use in URLs,
DNS, etc.
If you change the name of an existing environment, the:
- `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_NAME` variable will be updated with the new environment name.
- `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG` variable will remain unchanged to prevent unintended side
effects.
Starting with GitLab 9.3, the environment URL is exposed to the Runner via
`$CI_ENVIRONMENT_URL`. The URL is expanded from either:
- `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
- The external URL from the environment if not defined in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
#### Set dynamic environment URLs after a job finishes
> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/17066) in GitLab 12.9.
In a job script, you can specify a static [environment URL](#using-the-environment-url).
However, there may be times when you want a dynamic URL. For example,
if you deploy a Review App to an external hosting
service that generates a random URL per deployment, like `https://94dd65b.amazonaws.com/qa-lambda-1234567`,
you don't know the URL before the deployment script finishes.
If you want to use the environment URL in GitLab, you would have to update it manually.
To address this problem, you can configure a deployment job to report back a set of
variables, including the URL that was dynamically-generated by the external service.
GitLab supports [dotenv](https://github.com/bkeepers/dotenv) file as the format,
and expands the `environment:url` value with variables defined in the dotenv file.
To use this feature, specify the
[`artifacts:reports:dotenv`](../pipelines/job_artifacts.md#artifactsreportsdotenv) keyword in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
<i class="fa fa-youtube-play youtube" aria-hidden="true"></i>
For an overview, see [Set dynamic URLs after a job finished](https://youtu.be/70jDXtOf4Ig).
##### Example of setting dynamic environment URLs
The following example shows a Review App that creates a new environment
per merge request. The `review` job is triggered by every push, and
creates or updates an environment named `review/your-branch-name`.
The environment URL is set to `$DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL`:
```yaml
review:
script:
- DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL=$(deploy-script) # In script, get the environment URL.
- echo "DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL=$DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL" >> deploy.env # Add the value to a dotenv file.
artifacts:
reports:
dotenv: deploy.env # Report back dotenv file to rails.
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG
url: $DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL # and set the variable produced in script to `environment:url`
on_stop: stop_review
stop_review:
script:
- ./teardown-environment
when: manual
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG
action: stop
```
As soon as the `review` job finishes, GitLab updates the `review/your-branch-name`
environment's URL.
It parses the report artifact `deploy.env`, registers a list of variables as runtime-created,
uses it for expanding `environment:url: $DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL` and sets it to the environment URL.
You can also specify a static part of the URL at `environment:url:`, such as
`https://$DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL`. If the value of `DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL` is
`123.awesome.com`, the final result will be `https://123.awesome.com`.
The assigned URL for the `review/your-branch-name` environment is visible in the UI.
[See where the environment URL is displayed](#using-the-environment-url).
> **Notes:**
>
> - `stop_review` doesn't generate a dotenv report artifact, so it won't recognize the `DYNAMIC_ENVIRONMENT_URL` variable. Therefore you should not set `environment:url:` in the `stop_review` job.
> - If the environment URL is not valid (for example, the URL is malformed), the system doesn't update the environment URL.
### Configuring manual deployments
Adding `when: manual` to an automatically executed job's configuration converts it to
a job requiring manual action.
To expand on the [previous example](#defining-environments), the following includes
another job that deploys our app to a production server and is
tracked by a `production` environment.
The `.gitlab-ci.yml` file for this is as follows:
```yaml
stages:
- test
- build
- deploy
test:
stage: test
script: echo "Running tests"
build:
stage: build
script: echo "Building the app"
deploy_staging:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy to staging server"
environment:
name: staging
url: https://staging.example.com
only:
- master
deploy_prod:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy to production server"
environment:
name: production
url: https://example.com
when: manual
only:
- master
```
The `when: manual` action:
- Exposes a "play" button in GitLab's UI for that job.
- Means the `deploy_prod` job will only be triggered when the "play" button is clicked.
You can find the "play" button in the pipelines, environments, deployments, and jobs views.
| View | Screenshot |
|:----------------|:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Pipelines | ![Pipelines manual action](../img/environments_manual_action_pipelines.png) |
| Single pipeline | ![Pipelines manual action](../img/environments_manual_action_single_pipeline.png) |
| Environments | ![Environments manual action](../img/environments_manual_action_environments.png) |
| Deployments | ![Deployments manual action](../img/environments_manual_action_deployments.png) |
| Jobs | ![Builds manual action](../img/environments_manual_action_jobs.png) |
Clicking on the play button in any view will trigger the `deploy_prod` job, and the
deployment will be recorded as a new environment named `production`.
NOTE: **Note:**
If your environment's name is `production` (all lowercase),
it will get recorded in [Value Stream Analytics](../../user/project/cycle_analytics.md).
### Configuring dynamic environments
Regular environments are good when deploying to "stable" environments like staging or production.
However, for environments for branches other than `master`, dynamic environments
can be used. Dynamic environments make it possible to create environments on the fly by
declaring their names dynamically in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
Dynamic environments are a fundamental part of [Review apps](../review_apps/index.md).
### Configuring incremental rollouts
Learn how to release production changes to only a portion of your Kubernetes pods with
[incremental rollouts](../environments/incremental_rollouts.md).
#### Allowed variables
The `name` and `url` parameters for dynamic environments can use most available CI/CD variables,
including:
- [Predefined environment variables](../variables/README.md#predefined-environment-variables)
- [Project and group variables](../variables/README.md#gitlab-cicd-environment-variables)
- [`.gitlab-ci.yml` variables](../yaml/README.md#variables)
However, you cannot use variables defined:
- Under `script`.
- On the Runner's side.
There are also other variables that are unsupported in the context of `environment:name`.
For more information, see [Where variables can be used](../variables/where_variables_can_be_used.md).
#### Example configuration
GitLab Runner exposes various [environment variables](../variables/README.md) when a job runs, so
you can use them as environment names.
In the following example, the job will deploy to all branches except `master`:
```yaml
deploy_review:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy a review app"
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
url: https://$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG.example.com
only:
- branches
except:
- master
```
In this example:
- The job's name is `deploy_review` and it runs on the `deploy` stage.
- We set the `environment` with the `environment:name` as `review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME`.
Since the [environment name](../yaml/README.md#environmentname) can contain slashes (`/`), we can
use this pattern to distinguish between dynamic and regular environments.
- We tell the job to run [`only`](../yaml/README.md#onlyexcept-basic) on branches,
[`except`](../yaml/README.md#onlyexcept-basic) `master`.
For the value of:
- `environment:name`, the first part is `review`, followed by a `/` and then `$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME`,
which receives the value of the branch name.
- `environment:url`, we want a specific and distinct URL for each branch. `$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME`
may contain a `/` or other characters that would be invalid in a domain name or URL,
so we use `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG` to guarantee that we get a valid URL.
For example, given a `$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME` of `100-Do-The-Thing`, the URL will be something
like `https://100-do-the-4f99a2.example.com`. Again, the way you set up
the web server to serve these requests is based on your setup.
We have used `$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG` here because it is guaranteed to be unique. If
you're using a workflow like [GitLab Flow](../../topics/gitlab_flow.md), collisions
are unlikely and you may prefer environment names to be more closely based on the
branch name. In that case, you could use `$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME` in `environment:url` in
the example above: `https://$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME.example.com`, which would give a URL
of `https://100-do-the-thing.example.com`.
NOTE: **Note:**
You are not required to use the same prefix or only slashes (`/`) in the dynamic environments'
names. However, using this format will enable the [grouping similar environments](#grouping-similar-environments)
feature.
### Configuring Kubernetes deployments
> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/27630) in GitLab 12.6.
If you are deploying to a [Kubernetes cluster](../../user/project/clusters/index.md)
associated with your project, you can configure these deployments from your
`gitlab-ci.yml` file.
The following configuration options are supported:
- [`namespace`](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/namespaces/)
In the following example, the job will deploy your application to the
`production` Kubernetes namespace.
```yaml
deploy:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy to production server"
environment:
name: production
url: https://example.com
kubernetes:
namespace: production
only:
- master
```
When deploying to a Kubernetes cluster using GitLab's Kubernetes integration,
information about the cluster and namespace will be displayed above the job
trace on the deployment job page:
![Deployment cluster information](../img/environments_deployment_cluster_v12_8.png)
NOTE: **Note:**
Kubernetes configuration is not supported for Kubernetes clusters
that are [managed by GitLab](../../user/project/clusters/index.md#gitlab-managed-clusters).
To follow progress on support for GitLab-managed clusters, see the
[relevant issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/38054).
### Complete example
The configuration in this section provides a full development workflow where your app is:
- Tested.
- Built.
- Deployed as a Review App.
- Deployed to a staging server once the merge request is merged.
- Finally, able to be manually deployed to the production server.
The following combines the previous configuration examples, including:
- Defining [simple environments](#defining-environments) for testing, building, and deployment to staging.
- Adding [manual actions](#configuring-manual-deployments) for deployment to production.
- Creating [dynamic environments](#configuring-dynamic-environments) for deployments for reviewing.
```yaml
stages:
- test
- build
- deploy
test:
stage: test
script: echo "Running tests"
build:
stage: build
script: echo "Building the app"
deploy_review:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy a review app"
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
url: https://$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG.example.com
only:
- branches
except:
- master
deploy_staging:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy to staging server"
environment:
name: staging
url: https://staging.example.com
only:
- master
deploy_prod:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy to production server"
environment:
name: production
url: https://example.com
when: manual
only:
- master
```
A more realistic example would also include copying files to a location where a
webserver (for example, NGINX) could then access and serve them.
The example below will copy the `public` directory to `/srv/nginx/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG/public`:
```yaml
review_app:
stage: deploy
script:
- rsync -av --delete public /srv/nginx/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
url: https://$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG.example.com
```
This example requires that NGINX and GitLab Runner are set up on the server this job will run on.
NOTE: **Note:**
See the [limitations](#limitations) section for some edge cases regarding the naming of
your branches and Review Apps.
The complete example provides the following workflow to developers:
- Create a branch locally.
- Make changes and commit them.
- Push the branch to GitLab.
- Create a merge request.
Behind the scenes, GitLab Runner will:
- Pick up the changes and start running the jobs.
- Run the jobs sequentially as defined in `stages`:
- First, run the tests.
- If the tests succeed, build the app.
- If the build succeeds, the app is deployed to an environment with a name specific to the
branch.
So now, every branch:
- Gets its own environment.
- Is deployed to its own unique location, with the added benefit of:
- Having a [history of deployments](#viewing-deployment-history).
- Being able to [rollback changes](#retrying-and-rolling-back) if needed.
For more information, see [Using the environment URL](#using-the-environment-url).
### Protected environments
Environments can be "protected", restricting access to them.
For more information, see [Protected environments](protected_environments.md).
## Working with environments
Once environments are configured, GitLab provides many features for working with them,
as documented below.
### Viewing environments and deployments
A list of environments and deployment statuses is available on each project's **Operations > Environments** page.
For example:
![Environment view](../img/environments_available.png)
This example shows:
- The environment's name with a link to its deployments.
- The last deployment ID number and who performed it.
- The job ID of the last deployment with its respective job name.
- The commit information of the last deployment, such as who committed it, to what
branch, and the Git SHA of the commit.
- The exact time the last deployment was performed.
- A button that takes you to the URL that you defined under the `environment` keyword
in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
- A button that re-deploys the latest deployment, meaning it runs the job
defined by the environment name for that specific commit.
The information shown in the **Environments** page is limited to the latest
deployments, but an environment can have multiple deployments.
> **Notes:**
>
> - While you can create environments manually in the web interface, we recommend
> that you define your environments in `.gitlab-ci.yml` first. They will
> be automatically created for you after the first deploy.
> - The environments page can only be viewed by users with [Reporter permission](../../user/permissions.md#project-members-permissions)
> and above. For more information on permissions, see the [permissions documentation](../../user/permissions.md).
> - Only deploys that happen after your `.gitlab-ci.yml` is properly configured
> will show up in the **Environment** and **Last deployment** lists.
### Viewing deployment history
GitLab keeps track of your deployments, so you:
- Always know what is currently being deployed on your servers.
- Can have the full history of your deployments for every environment.
Clicking on an environment shows the history of its deployments. Here's an example **Environments** page
with multiple deployments:
![Deployments](../img/deployments_view.png)
This view is similar to the **Environments** page, but all deployments are shown. Also in this view
is a **Rollback** button. For more information, see [Retrying and rolling back](#retrying-and-rolling-back).
### Retrying and rolling back
If there is a problem with a deployment, you can retry it or roll it back.
To retry or rollback a deployment:
1. Navigate to **Operations > Environments**.
1. Click on the environment.
1. In the deployment history list for the environment, click the:
- **Retry** button next to the last deployment, to retry that deployment.
- **Rollback** button next to a previously successful deployment, to roll back to that deployment.
#### What to expect with a rollback
Pressing the **Rollback** button on a specific commit will trigger a _new_ deployment with its
own unique job ID.
This means that you will see a new deployment that points to the commit you are rolling back to.
NOTE: **Note:**
The defined deployment process in the job's `script` determines whether the rollback succeeds or not.
### Using the environment URL
The [environment URL](../yaml/README.md#environmenturl) is exposed in a few
places within GitLab:
- In a merge request widget as a link:
![Environment URL in merge request](../img/environments_mr_review_app.png)
- In the Environments view as a button:
![Environment URL in environments](../img/environments_available.png)
- In the Deployments view as a button:
![Environment URL in deployments](../img/deployments_view.png)
You can see this information in a merge request itself if:
- The merge request is eventually merged to the default branch (usually `master`).
- That branch also deploys to an environment (for example, `staging` or `production`).
For example:
![Environment URLs in merge request](../img/environments_link_url_mr.png)
#### Going from source files to public pages
With GitLab's [Route Maps](../review_apps/index.md#route-maps) you can go directly
from source files to public pages in the environment set for Review Apps.
### Stopping an environment
Stopping an environment:
- Moves it from the list of **Available** environments to the list of **Stopped**
environments on the [**Environments** page](#viewing-environments-and-deployments).
- Executes an [`on_stop` action](../yaml/README.md#environmenton_stop), if defined.
This is often used when multiple developers are working on a project at the same time,
each of them pushing to their own branches, causing many dynamic environments to be created.
NOTE: **Note:**
Starting with GitLab 8.14, dynamic environments are stopped automatically
when their associated branch is deleted.
#### Automatically stopping an environment
Environments can be stopped automatically using special configuration.
Consider the following example where the `deploy_review` job calls `stop_review`
to clean up and stop the environment:
```yaml
deploy_review:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy a review app"
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
url: https://$CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG.example.com
on_stop: stop_review
only:
- branches
except:
- master
stop_review:
stage: deploy
variables:
GIT_STRATEGY: none
script:
- echo "Remove review app"
when: manual
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
action: stop
```
Setting the [`GIT_STRATEGY`](../yaml/README.md#git-strategy) to `none` is necessary in the
`stop_review` job so that the [GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/) won't
try to check out the code after the branch is deleted.
When you have an environment that has a stop action defined (typically when
the environment describes a Review App), GitLab will automatically trigger a
stop action when the associated branch is deleted. The `stop_review` job must
be in the same `stage` as the `deploy_review` job in order for the environment
to automatically stop.
You can read more in the [`.gitlab-ci.yml` reference](../yaml/README.md#environmenton_stop).
#### Environments auto-stop
> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/20956) in GitLab 12.8.
You can set a expiry time to environments and stop them automatically after a certain period.
For example, consider the use of this feature with Review Apps environments.
When you set up Review Apps, sometimes they keep running for a long time
because some merge requests are left as open. An example for this situation is when the author of the merge
request is not actively working on it, due to priority changes or a different approach was decided on, and the merge requests was simply forgotten.
Idle environments waste resources, therefore they
should be terminated as soon as possible.
To address this problem, you can specify an optional expiration date for
Review Apps environments. When the expiry time is reached, GitLab will automatically trigger a job
to stop the environment, eliminating the need of manually doing so. In case an environment is updated, the expiration is renewed
ensuring that only active merge requests keep running Review Apps.
To enable this feature, you need to specify the [`environment:auto_stop_in`](../yaml/README.md#environmentauto_stop_in) keyword in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
You can specify a human-friendly date as the value, such as `1 hour and 30 minutes` or `1 day`.
`auto_stop_in` uses the same format of [`artifacts:expire_in` docs](../yaml/README.md#artifactsexpire_in).
##### Auto-stop example
In the following example, there is a basic review app setup that creates a new environment
per merge request. The `review_app` job is triggered by every push and
creates or updates an environment named `review/your-branch-name`.
The environment keeps running until `stop_review_app` is executed:
```yaml
review_app:
script: deploy-review-app
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
on_stop: stop_review_app
auto_stop_in: 1 week
stop_review_app:
script: stop-review-app
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
action: stop
when: manual
```
As long as a merge request is active and keeps getting new commits,
the review app will not stop, so developers don't need to worry about
re-initiating review app.
On the other hand, since `stop_review_app` is set to `auto_stop_in: 1 week`,
if a merge request becomes inactive for more than a week,
GitLab automatically triggers the `stop_review_app` job to stop the environment.
You can also check the expiration date of environments through the GitLab UI. To do so,
go to **Operations > Environments > Environment**. You can see the auto-stop period
at the left-top section and a pin-mark button at the right-top section. This pin-mark
button can be used to prevent auto-stopping the environment. By clicking this button, the `auto_stop_in` setting is over-written
and the environment will be active until it's stopped manually.
![Environment auto stop](../img/environment_auto_stop_v12_8.png)
NOTE: **NOTE**
Due to the resource limitation, a background worker for stopping environments only
runs once every hour. This means environments will not be stopped at the exact
timestamp as the specified period, but will be stopped when the hourly cron worker
detects expired environments.
#### Delete a stopped environment
> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/22629) in GitLab 12.9.
You can delete [stopped environments](#stopping-an-environment) in one of two
ways: through the GitLab UI or through the API.
##### Delete environments through the UI
To view the list of **Stopped** environments, navigate to **Operations > Environments**
and click the **Stopped** tab.
From there, you can click the **Delete** button directly, or you can click the
environment name to see its details and **Delete** it from there.
You can also delete environments by viewing the details for a
stopped environment:
1. Navigate to **Operations > Environments**.
1. Click on the name of an environment within the **Stopped** environments list.
1. Click on the **Delete** button that appears at the top for all stopped environments.
1. Finally, confirm your chosen environment in the modal that appears to delete it.
##### Delete environments through the API
Environments can also be deleted by using the [Environments API](../../api/environments.md#delete-an-environment).
### Grouping similar environments
> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/7015) in GitLab 8.14.
As documented in [Configuring dynamic environments](#configuring-dynamic-environments), you can
prepend environment name with a word, followed by a `/`, and finally the branch
name, which is automatically defined by the `CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME` variable.
In short, environments that are named like `type/foo` are all presented under the same
group, named `type`.
In our [minimal example](#example-configuration), we named the environments `review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME`
where `$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME` is the branch name. Here is a snippet of the example:
```yaml
deploy_review:
stage: deploy
script:
- echo "Deploy a review app"
environment:
name: review/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
```
In this case, if you visit the **Environments** page and the branches
exist, you should see something like:
![Environment groups](../img/environments_dynamic_groups.png)
### Monitoring environments
If you have enabled [Prometheus for monitoring system and response metrics](../../user/project/integrations/prometheus.md),
you can monitor the behavior of your app running in each environment. For the monitoring
dashboard to appear, you need to Configure Prometheus to collect at least one
[supported metric](../../user/project/integrations/prometheus_library/index.md).
NOTE: **Note:**
Since GitLab 9.2, all deployments to an environment are shown directly on the monitoring dashboard.
Once configured, GitLab will attempt to retrieve [supported performance metrics](../../user/project/integrations/prometheus_library/index.md)
for any environment that has had a successful deployment. If monitoring data was
successfully retrieved, a **Monitoring** button will appear for each environment.
![Environment Detail with Metrics](../img/deployments_view.png)
Clicking on the **Monitoring** button will display a new page showing up to the last
8 hours of performance data. It may take a minute or two for data to appear
after initial deployment.
All deployments to an environment are shown directly on the monitoring dashboard,
which allows easy correlation between any changes in performance and new
versions of the app, all without leaving GitLab.
![Monitoring dashboard](../img/environments_monitoring.png)
#### Linking to external dashboard
Add a [button to the Monitoring dashboard](../../user/project/operations/linking_to_an_external_dashboard.md) linking directly to your existing external dashboards.
#### Embedding metrics in GitLab Flavored Markdown
Metric charts can be embedded within GitLab Flavored Markdown. See [Embedding Metrics within GitLab Flavored Markdown](../../user/project/integrations/prometheus.md#embedding-metric-charts-within-gitlab-flavored-markdown) for more details.
### Web terminals
> Web terminals were added in GitLab 8.15 and are only available to project Maintainers and Owners.
If you deploy to your environments with the help of a deployment service (for example,
the [Kubernetes integration](../../user/project/clusters/index.md)), GitLab can open
a terminal session to your environment.
This is a powerful feature that allows you to debug issues without leaving the comfort
of your web browser. To enable it, just follow the instructions given in the service integration
documentation.
Once enabled, your environments will gain a "terminal" button:
![Terminal button on environment index](../img/environments_terminal_button_on_index.png)
You can also access the terminal button from the page for a specific environment:
![Terminal button for an environment](../img/environments_terminal_button_on_show.png)
Wherever you find it, clicking the button will take you to a separate page to
establish the terminal session:
![Terminal page](../img/environments_terminal_page.png)
This works just like any other terminal. You'll be in the container created
by your deployment so you can:
- Run shell commands and get responses in real time.
- Check the logs.
- Try out configuration or code tweaks etc.
You can open multiple terminals to the same environment, they each get their own shell
session and even a multiplexer like `screen` or `tmux`.
NOTE: **Note:**
Container-based deployments often lack basic tools (like an editor), and may
be stopped or restarted at any time. If this happens, you will lose all your
changes. Treat this as a debugging tool, not a comprehensive online IDE.
### Check out deployments locally
Since GitLab 8.13, a reference in the Git repository is saved for each deployment, so
knowing the state of your current environments is only a `git fetch` away.
In your Git configuration, append the `[remote "<your-remote>"]` block with an extra
fetch line:
```text
fetch = +refs/environments/*:refs/remotes/origin/environments/*
```
### Scoping environments with specs
> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/2112) in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 9.4.
> - [Scoping for environment variables was moved to Core](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/30779) to Core in GitLab 12.2.
You can limit the environment scope of a variable by
defining which environments it can be available for.
Wildcards can be used, and the default environment scope is `*`, which means
any jobs will have this variable, not matter if an environment is defined or
not.
For example, if the environment scope is `production`, then only the jobs
having the environment `production` defined would have this specific variable.
Wildcards (`*`) can be used along with the environment name, therefore if the
environment scope is `review/*` then any jobs with environment names starting
with `review/` would have that particular variable.
Some GitLab features can behave differently for each environment.
For example, you can
[create a secret variable to be injected only into a production environment](../variables/README.md#limit-the-environment-scopes-of-environment-variables).
In most cases, these features use the _environment specs_ mechanism, which offers
an efficient way to implement scoping within each environment group.
Let's say there are four environments:
- `production`
- `staging`
- `review/feature-1`
- `review/feature-2`
Each environment can be matched with the following environment spec:
| Environment Spec | `production` | `staging` | `review/feature-1` | `review/feature-2` |
|:-----------------|:-------------|:----------|:-------------------|:-------------------|
| * | Matched | Matched | Matched | Matched |
| production | Matched | | | |
| staging | | Matched | | |
| review/* | | | Matched | Matched |
| review/feature-1 | | | Matched | |
As you can see, you can use specific matching for selecting a particular environment,
and also use wildcard matching (`*`) for selecting a particular environment group,
such as [Review Apps](../review_apps/index.md) (`review/*`).
NOTE: **Note:**
The most _specific_ spec takes precedence over the other wildcard matching.
In this case, `review/feature-1` spec takes precedence over `review/*` and `*` specs.
### Environments Dashboard **(PREMIUM)**
See [Environments Dashboard](../environments/environments_dashboard.md) for a summary of each
environment's operational health.
## Limitations
In the `environment: name`, you are limited to only the [predefined environment variables](../variables/predefined_variables.md).
Re-using variables defined inside `script` as part of the environment name will not work.
## Further reading
Below are some links you may find interesting:
- [The `.gitlab-ci.yml` definition of environments](../yaml/README.md#environment)
- [A blog post on Deployments & Environments](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/08/26/ci-deployment-and-environments/)
- [Review Apps - Use dynamic environments to deploy your code for every branch](../review_apps/index.md)
- [Deploy Boards for your applications running on Kubernetes](../../user/project/deploy_boards.md) **(PREMIUM)**
<!-- ## Troubleshooting
Include any troubleshooting steps that you can foresee. If you know beforehand what issues
one might have when setting this up, or when something is changed, or on upgrading, it's
important to describe those, too. Think of things that may go wrong and include them here.
This is important to minimize requests for support, and to avoid doc comments with
questions that you know someone might ask.
Each scenario can be a third-level heading, e.g. `### Getting error message X`.
If you have none to add when creating a doc, leave this section in place
but commented out to help encourage others to add to it in the future. -->
......@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ type: concepts, howto
## Overview
[Environments](../environments.md) can be used for different reasons:
[Environments](../environments/index.md) can be used for different reasons:
- Some of them are just for testing.
- Others are for production.
......
......@@ -516,7 +516,7 @@ Errors can be easily debugged through GitLab's build logs, and within minutes of
you can see the changes live on your game.
Setting up Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment from the start with Dark Nova enables
rapid but stable development. We can easily test changes in a separate [environment](../../environments.md),
rapid but stable development. We can easily test changes in a separate [environment](../../environments/index.md),
or multiple environments if needed. Balancing and updating a multiplayer game can be ongoing
and tedious, but having faith in a stable deployment with GitLab CI/CD allows
a lot of breathing room in quickly getting changes to players.
......
......@@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ You might want to create another Envoy task to do that for you.
We also create the `.env` file in the same path to set up our production environment variables for Laravel.
These are persistent data and will be shared to every new release.
Now, we would need to deploy our app by running `envoy run deploy`, but it won't be necessary since GitLab can handle that for us with CI's [environments](../../environments.md), which will be described [later](#setting-up-gitlab-cicd) in this tutorial.
Now, we would need to deploy our app by running `envoy run deploy`, but it won't be necessary since GitLab can handle that for us with CI's [environments](../../environments/index.md), which will be described [later](#setting-up-gitlab-cicd) in this tutorial.
Now it's time to commit [Envoy.blade.php](https://gitlab.com/mehranrasulian/laravel-sample/blob/master/Envoy.blade.php) and push it to the `master` branch.
To keep things simple, we commit directly to `master`, without using [feature-branches](../../../topics/gitlab_flow.md#github-flow-as-a-simpler-alternative) since collaboration is beyond the scope of this tutorial.
......
......@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ displayed by GitLab:
![pipeline status](img/pipeline_status.png)
At the end, if anything goes wrong, you can easily
[roll back](../environments.md#retrying-and-rolling-back) all the changes:
[roll back](../environments/index.md#retrying-and-rolling-back) all the changes:
![rollback button](img/rollback.png)
......@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ according to each stage (Verify, Package, Release).
With GitLab CI/CD you can also:
- Easily set up your app's entire lifecycle with [Auto DevOps](../../topics/autodevops/index.md).
- Deploy your app to different [environments](../environments.md).
- Deploy your app to different [environments](../environments/index.md).
- Install your own [GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/).
- [Schedule pipelines](../pipelines/schedules.md).
- Check for app vulnerabilities with [Security Test reports](../../user/application_security/index.md). **(ULTIMATE)**
......
......@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ You can do this straight from the pipeline graph. Just click the play button
to execute that particular job.
For example, your pipeline might start automatically, but it requires manual action to
[deploy to production](../environments.md#configuring-manual-deployments). In the example below, the `production`
[deploy to production](../environments/index.md#configuring-manual-deployments). In the example below, the `production`
stage has a job with a manual action.
![Pipelines example](img/pipelines.png)
......@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ build ruby 2/3:
stage: build
script:
- echo "ruby2"
build ruby 3/3:
stage: build
script:
......@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ For example, if you start rolling out new code and:
- Users do not experience trouble, GitLab can automatically complete the deployment from 0% to 100%.
- Users experience trouble with the new code, you can stop the timed incremental rollout by canceling the pipeline
and [rolling](../environments.md#retrying-and-rolling-back) back to the last stable version.
and [rolling](../environments/index.md#retrying-and-rolling-back) back to the last stable version.
![Pipelines example](img/pipeline_incremental_rollout.png)
......
......@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ combination thereof (`junit: [rspec.xml, test-results/TEST-*.xml]`).
The `dotenv` report collects a set of environment variables as artifacts.
The collected variables are registered as runtime-created variables of the job,
which is useful to [set dynamic environment URLs after a job finishes](../environments.md#set-dynamic-environment-urls-after-a-job-finishes).
which is useful to [set dynamic environment URLs after a job finishes](../environments/index.md#set-dynamic-environment-urls-after-a-job-finishes).
It's not available for download through the web interface.
There are a couple of limitations on top of the [original dotenv rules](https://github.com/motdotla/dotenv#rules).
......
......@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ In the above example:
## How Review Apps work
A Review App is a mapping of a branch with an [environment](../environments.md).
A Review App is a mapping of a branch with an [environment](../environments/index.md).
Access to the Review App is made available as a link on the [merge request](../../user/project/merge_requests.md) relevant to the branch.
The following is an example of a merge request with an environment set dynamically.
......@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ After adding Review Apps to your workflow, you follow the branched Git flow. Tha
## Configuring Review Apps
Review Apps are built on [dynamic environments](../environments.md#configuring-dynamic-environments), which allow you to dynamically create a new environment for each branch.
Review Apps are built on [dynamic environments](../environments/index.md#configuring-dynamic-environments), which allow you to dynamically create a new environment for each branch.
The process of configuring Review Apps is as follows:
......@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ The process of configuring Review Apps is as follows:
1. Set up a job in `.gitlab-ci.yml` that uses the [predefined CI environment variable](../variables/README.md) `${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME}`
to create dynamic environments and restrict it to run only on branches.
Alternatively, you can get a YML template for this job by [enabling review apps](#enable-review-apps-button) for your project.
1. Optionally, set a job that [manually stops](../environments.md#stopping-an-environment) the Review Apps.
1. Optionally, set a job that [manually stops](../environments/index.md#stopping-an-environment) the Review Apps.
### Enable Review Apps button
......@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ you can copy and paste into `.gitlab-ci.yml` as a starting point. To do so:
## Review Apps auto-stop
See how to [configure Review Apps environments to expire and auto-stop](../environments.md#environments-auto-stop)
See how to [configure Review Apps environments to expire and auto-stop](../environments/index.md#environments-auto-stop)
after a given period of time.
## Review Apps examples
......@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ See also the video [Demo: Cloud Native Development with GitLab](https://www.yout
> Introduced in GitLab 8.17. In GitLab 11.5, the file links are available in the merge request widget.
Route Maps allows you to go directly from source files
to public pages on the [environment](../environments.md) defined for
to public pages on the [environment](../environments/index.md) defined for
Review Apps.
Once set up, the review app link in the merge request
......@@ -301,4 +301,4 @@ automatically in the respective merge request.
## Limitations
Review App limitations are the same as [environments limitations](../environments.md#limitations).
Review App limitations are the same as [environments limitations](../environments/index.md#limitations).
......@@ -431,9 +431,9 @@ Click [here](where_variables_can_be_used.md) for a section that describes where
### Limit the environment scopes of environment variables
You can limit the environment scope of a variable by
[defining which environments](../environments.md) it can be available for.
[defining which environments](../environments/index.md) it can be available for.
To learn more about scoping environments, see [Scoping environments with specs](../environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs).
To learn more about scoping environments, see [Scoping environments with specs](../environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs).
### Deployment environment variables
......@@ -442,7 +442,7 @@ To learn more about scoping environments, see [Scoping environments with specs](
[Integrations](../../user/project/integrations/overview.md) that are
responsible for deployment configuration may define their own variables that
are set in the build environment. These variables are only defined for
[deployment jobs](../environments.md). Please consult the documentation of
[deployment jobs](../environments/index.md). Please consult the documentation of
the integrations that you are using to learn which variables they define.
An example integration that defines deployment variables is the
......
......@@ -1871,7 +1871,7 @@ Manual actions are a special type of job that are not executed automatically,
they need to be explicitly started by a user. An example usage of manual actions
would be a deployment to a production environment. Manual actions can be started
from the pipeline, job, environment, and deployment views. Read more at the
[environments documentation](../environments.md#configuring-manual-deployments).
[environments documentation](../environments/index.md#configuring-manual-deployments).
Manual actions can be either optional or blocking. Blocking manual actions will
block the execution of the pipeline at the stage this action is defined in. It's
......@@ -1984,7 +1984,7 @@ GitLab Runner will pick your job soon and start the job.
> - Introduced in GitLab 8.9.
> - You can read more about environments and find more examples in the
> [documentation about environments](../environments.md).
> [documentation about environments](../environments/index.md).
`environment` is used to define that a job deploys to a specific environment.
If `environment` is specified and no environment under that name exists, a new
......@@ -2114,7 +2114,7 @@ GitLab's web interface in order to run.
Also in the example, `GIT_STRATEGY` is set to `none` so that GitLab Runner won’t
try to check out the code after the branch is deleted when the `stop_review_app`
job is [automatically triggered](../environments.md#automatically-stopping-an-environment).
job is [automatically triggered](../environments/index.md#automatically-stopping-an-environment).
NOTE: **Note:**
The above example overwrites global variables. If your stop environment job depends
......@@ -2150,7 +2150,7 @@ When `review_app` job is executed and a review app is created, a life period of
the environment is set to `1 day`.
For more information, see
[the environments auto-stop documentation](../environments.md#environments-auto-stop)
[the environments auto-stop documentation](../environments/index.md#environments-auto-stop)
#### `environment:kubernetes`
......@@ -2176,7 +2176,7 @@ environment, using the `production`
[Kubernetes namespace](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/namespaces/).
For more information, see
[Available settings for `kubernetes`](../environments.md#configuring-kubernetes-deployments).
[Available settings for `kubernetes`](../environments/index.md#configuring-kubernetes-deployments).
NOTE: **Note:**
Kubernetes configuration is not supported for Kubernetes clusters
......
......@@ -102,10 +102,10 @@ subgraph "CNG-mirror pipeline"
### Auto-stopping of Review Apps
Review Apps are automatically stopped 2 days after the last deployment thanks to
the [Environment auto-stop](../../ci/environments.md#environments-auto-stop) feature.
the [Environment auto-stop](../../ci/environments/index.md#environments-auto-stop) feature.
If you need your Review App to stay up for a longer time, you can
[pin its environment](../../ci/environments.md#auto-stop-example) or retry the
[pin its environment](../../ci/environments/index.md#auto-stop-example) or retry the
`review-deploy` job to update the "latest deployed at" time.
The `review-cleanup` job that automatically runs in scheduled
......
......@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ into your project and edit it as needed.
For clusters not managed by GitLab, you can customize the namespace in
`.gitlab-ci.yml` by specifying
[`environment:kubernetes:namespace`](../../ci/environments.md#configuring-kubernetes-deployments).
[`environment:kubernetes:namespace`](../../ci/environments/index.md#configuring-kubernetes-deployments).
For example, the following configuration overrides the namespace used for
`production` deployments:
......@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ You must define environment-scoped variables for `POSTGRES_ENABLED` and
`DATABASE_URL` in your project's CI/CD settings:
1. Disable the built-in PostgreSQL installation for the required environments using
scoped [environment variables](../../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs).
scoped [environment variables](../../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs).
For this use case, it's likely that only `production` will need to be added to this
list. The built-in PostgreSQL setup for Review Apps and staging is sufficient.
......@@ -538,7 +538,7 @@ required to go from `10%` to `100%`, you can jump to whatever job you want.
You can also scale down by running a lower percentage job, just before hitting
`100%`. Once you get to `100%`, you can't scale down, and you'd have to roll
back by redeploying the old version using the
[rollback button](../../ci/environments.md#retrying-and-rolling-back) in the
[rollback button](../../ci/environments/index.md#retrying-and-rolling-back) in the
environment page.
Below, you can see how the pipeline will look if the rollout or staging
......
......@@ -215,12 +215,12 @@ you to common environment tasks:
about the Kubernetes cluster and how the application
affects it in terms of memory usage, CPU usage, and latency
- **Deploy to** (**{play}** **{angle-down}**) - Displays a list of environments you can deploy to
- **Terminal** (**{terminal}**) - Opens a [web terminal](../../ci/environments.md#web-terminals)
- **Terminal** (**{terminal}**) - Opens a [web terminal](../../ci/environments/index.md#web-terminals)
session inside the container where the application is running
- **Re-deploy to environment** (**{repeat}**) - For more information, see
[Retrying and rolling back](../../ci/environments.md#retrying-and-rolling-back)
[Retrying and rolling back](../../ci/environments/index.md#retrying-and-rolling-back)
- **Stop environment** (**{stop}**) - For more information, see
[Stopping an environment](../../ci/environments.md#stopping-an-environment)
[Stopping an environment](../../ci/environments/index.md#stopping-an-environment)
GitLab displays the [Deploy Board](../../user/project/deploy_boards.md) below the
environment's information, with squares representing pods in your
......
......@@ -532,7 +532,7 @@ may require commands to be wrapped as follows:
Some of the reasons you may need to wrap commands:
- Attaching using `kubectl exec`.
- Using GitLab's [Web Terminal](../../ci/environments.md#web-terminals).
- Using GitLab's [Web Terminal](../../ci/environments/index.md#web-terminals).
For example, to start a Rails console from the application root directory, run:
......@@ -566,7 +566,7 @@ To use Auto Monitoring:
1. [Enable Auto DevOps](index.md#enablingdisabling-auto-devops), if you haven't done already.
1. Navigate to your project's **{rocket}** **CI/CD > Pipelines** and click **Run Pipeline**.
1. After the pipeline finishes successfully, open the
[monitoring dashboard for a deployed environment](../../ci/environments.md#monitoring-environments)
[monitoring dashboard for a deployed environment](../../ci/environments/index.md#monitoring-environments)
to view the metrics of your deployed application. To view the metrics of the
whole Kubernetes cluster, navigate to **{cloud-gear}** **Operations > Metrics**.
......
......@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ deleted, you can choose to retain the [persistent
volume](#retain-persistent-volumes).
TIP: **Tip:** You can also
[scope](../../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) the
[scope](../../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) the
`AUTO_DEVOPS_POSTGRES_CHANNEL`, `AUTO_DEVOPS_POSTGRES_DELETE_V1` and
`POSTGRES_VERSION` variables to specific environments, e.g. `staging`.
......@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ TIP: **Tip:** You can also
1. Set `POSTGRES_VERSION` to `11.7`. This is the minimum PostgreSQL
version supported.
1. Set `PRODUCTION_REPLICAS` to `0`. For other environments, use
`REPLICAS` with an [environment scope](../../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs).
`REPLICAS` with an [environment scope](../../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs).
1. If you have set the `DB_INITIALIZE` or `DB_MIGRATE` variables, either
remove the variables, or rename the variables temporarily to
`XDB_INITIALIZE` or the `XDB_MIGRATE` to effectively disable them.
......
......@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ The Web Application Firewall section provides metrics for the NGINX
Ingress controller and ModSecurity firewall. This section has the
following prerequisites:
- Project has to have at least one [environment](../../../ci/environments.md).
- Project has to have at least one [environment](../../../ci/environments/index.md).
- [Web Application Firewall](../../clusters/applications.md#web-application-firewall-modsecurity) has to be enabled.
- [Elastic Stack](../../clusters/applications.md#web-application-firewall-modsecurity) has to be installed.
......@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ The **Container Network Policy** section provides packet flow metrics for
your application's Kubernetes namespace. This section has the following
prerequisites:
- Your project contains at least one [environment](../../../ci/environments.md)
- Your project contains at least one [environment](../../../ci/environments/index.md)
- You've [installed Cilium](../../clusters/applications.md#install-cilium-using-gitlab-cicd)
- You've configured the [Prometheus service](../../project/integrations/prometheus.md#enabling-prometheus-integration)
......
......@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ GitLab provides **GitLab Managed Apps**, a one-click install for various applica
be added directly to your configured cluster.
These applications are needed for [Review Apps](../../ci/review_apps/index.md)
and [deployments](../../ci/environments.md) when using [Auto DevOps](../../topics/autodevops/index.md).
and [deployments](../../ci/environments/index.md) when using [Auto DevOps](../../topics/autodevops/index.md).
You can install them after you
[create a cluster](../project/clusters/add_remove_clusters.md).
......
......@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated w
> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/13392) for group-level clusters in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 12.3.
> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/14809) for instance-level clusters in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 12.4.
Cluster environments provide a consolidated view of which CI [environments](../../ci/environments.md) are
Cluster environments provide a consolidated view of which CI [environments](../../ci/environments/index.md) are
deployed to the Kubernetes cluster and it:
- Shows the project and the relevant environment related to the deployment.
......
......@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ The domain should have a wildcard DNS configured to the Ingress IP address.
When adding more than one Kubernetes cluster to your project, you need to differentiate
them with an environment scope. The environment scope associates clusters with
[environments](../../../ci/environments.md) similar to how the
[environments](../../../ci/environments/index.md) similar to how the
[environment-specific variables](../../../ci/variables/README.md#limit-the-environment-scopes-of-environment-variables)
work.
......@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ The result is:
## Cluster environments **(PREMIUM)**
For a consolidated view of which CI [environments](../../../ci/environments.md)
For a consolidated view of which CI [environments](../../../ci/environments/index.md)
are deployed to the Kubernetes cluster, see the documentation for
[cluster environments](../../clusters/environments.md).
......
......@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ projects.
## Cluster precedence
GitLab will try [to match](../../../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) clusters in
GitLab will try [to match](../../../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) clusters in
the following order:
- Project-level clusters.
......@@ -20,11 +20,11 @@ the following order:
- Instance-level clusters.
To be selected, the cluster must be enabled and
match the [environment selector](../../../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs).
match the [environment selector](../../../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs).
## Cluster environments **(PREMIUM)**
For a consolidated view of which CI [environments](../../../ci/environments.md)
For a consolidated view of which CI [environments](../../../ci/environments/index.md)
are deployed to the Kubernetes cluster, see the documentation for
[cluster environments](../../clusters/environments.md).
......
......@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ Some GitLab features may support versions outside the range provided here.
### Deploy Boards **(PREMIUM)**
GitLab's Deploy Boards offer a consolidated view of the current health and
status of each CI [environment](../../../ci/environments.md) running on Kubernetes,
status of each CI [environment](../../../ci/environments/index.md) running on Kubernetes,
displaying the status of the pods in the deployment. Developers and other
teammates can view the progress and status of a rollout, pod by pod, in the
workflow they already use without any need to access Kubernetes.
......@@ -102,8 +102,8 @@ Kubernetes clusters can be used without Auto DevOps.
> Introduced in GitLab 8.15.
When enabled, the Kubernetes integration adds [web terminal](../../../ci/environments.md#web-terminals)
support to your [environments](../../../ci/environments.md). This is based on the `exec` functionality found in
When enabled, the Kubernetes integration adds [web terminal](../../../ci/environments/index.md#web-terminals)
support to your [environments](../../../ci/environments/index.md). This is based on the `exec` functionality found in
Docker and Kubernetes, so you get a new shell session within your existing
containers. To use this integration, you should deploy to Kubernetes using
the deployment variables above, ensuring any deployments, replica sets, and
......@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ you can either:
### Setting the environment scope **(PREMIUM)**
When adding more than one Kubernetes cluster to your project, you need to differentiate
them with an environment scope. The environment scope associates clusters with [environments](../../../ci/environments.md) similar to how the
them with an environment scope. The environment scope associates clusters with [environments](../../../ci/environments/index.md) similar to how the
[environment-specific variables](../../../ci/variables/README.md#limit-the-environment-scopes-of-environment-variables) work.
The default environment scope is `*`, which means all jobs, regardless of their
......@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@ of the form `<project_name>-<project_id>-<environment>` (see [Deployment
variables](#deployment-variables)).
For **non**-GitLab-managed clusters, the namespace can be customized using
[`environment:kubernetes:namespace`](../../../ci/environments.md#configuring-kubernetes-deployments)
[`environment:kubernetes:namespace`](../../../ci/environments/index.md#configuring-kubernetes-deployments)
in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
NOTE: **Note:** When using a [GitLab-managed cluster](#gitlab-managed-clusters), the
......@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ Reasons for failure include:
- The token you gave GitLab does not have [`cluster-admin`](https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/rbac/#user-facing-roles)
privileges required by GitLab.
- Missing `KUBECONFIG` or `KUBE_TOKEN` variables. To be passed to your job, they must have a matching
[`environment:name`](../../../ci/environments.md#defining-environments). If your job has no
[`environment:name`](../../../ci/environments/index.md#defining-environments). If your job has no
`environment:name` set, it will not be passed the Kubernetes credentials.
NOTE: **NOTE:**
......
......@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/1589) in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 9.0.
GitLab's Deploy Boards offer a consolidated view of the current health and
status of each CI [environment](../../ci/environments.md) running on [Kubernetes](https://kubernetes.io), displaying the status
status of each CI [environment](../../ci/environments/index.md) running on [Kubernetes](https://kubernetes.io), displaying the status
of the pods in the deployment. Developers and other teammates can view the
progress and status of a rollout, pod by pod, in the workflow they already use
without any need to access Kubernetes.
......@@ -57,9 +57,9 @@ specific environment, there are a lot of use cases. To name a few:
## Enabling Deploy Boards
To display the Deploy Boards for a specific [environment](../../ci/environments.md) you should:
To display the Deploy Boards for a specific [environment](../../ci/environments/index.md) you should:
1. Have [defined an environment](../../ci/environments.md#defining-environments) with a deploy stage.
1. Have [defined an environment](../../ci/environments/index.md#defining-environments) with a deploy stage.
1. Have a Kubernetes cluster up and running.
......@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ metadata:
name: "APPLICATION_NAME"
annotations:
app.gitlab.com/app: ${CI_PROJECT_PATH_SLUG}
app.gitlab.com/env: ${CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG}
app.gitlab.com/env: ${CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG}
spec:
replicas: 1
selector:
......@@ -146,5 +146,5 @@ version of your application.
- [GitLab Autodeploy](../../topics/autodevops/stages.md#auto-deploy)
- [GitLab CI/CD environment variables](../../ci/variables/README.md)
- [Environments and deployments](../../ci/environments.md)
- [Environments and deployments](../../ci/environments/index.md)
- [Kubernetes deploy example](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-examples/kubernetes-deploy)
......@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ one of them will be used:
[Cluster precedence](../../instance/clusters/index.md#cluster-precedence).
- If you have managed Prometheus applications installed on multiple Kubernetes
clusters at the **same** level, the Prometheus application of a cluster with a
matching [environment scope](../../../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) is used.
matching [environment scope](../../../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) is used.
## Monitoring CI/CD Environments
......@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ environment which has had a successful deployment.
GitLab will automatically scan the Prometheus server for metrics from known servers like Kubernetes and NGINX, and attempt to identify individual environments. The supported metrics and scan process is detailed in our [Prometheus Metrics Library documentation](prometheus_library/index.md).
You can view the performance dashboard for an environment by [clicking on the monitoring button](../../../ci/environments.md#monitoring-environments).
You can view the performance dashboard for an environment by [clicking on the monitoring button](../../../ci/environments/index.md#monitoring-environments).
### Adding custom metrics
......@@ -764,7 +764,7 @@ receivers:
...
```
In order for GitLab to associate your alerts with an [environment](../../../ci/environments.md), you need to configure a `gitlab_environment_name` label on the alerts you set up in Prometheus. The value of this should match the name of your Environment in GitLab.
In order for GitLab to associate your alerts with an [environment](../../../ci/environments/index.md), you need to configure a `gitlab_environment_name` label on the alerts you set up in Prometheus. The value of this should match the name of your Environment in GitLab.
### Taking action on incidents **(ULTIMATE)**
......
......@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ you will be able to see:
- Both pre and post-merge pipelines and the environment information if any.
- Which deployments are in progress.
If there's an [environment](../../../ci/environments.md) and the application is
If there's an [environment](../../../ci/environments/index.md) and the application is
successfully deployed to it, the deployed environment and the link to the
Review App will be shown as well.
......
......@@ -73,22 +73,22 @@ For example, you may not want to enable a feature flag on production until your
first confirmed that the feature is working correctly on testing environments.
To handle these situations, you can enable a feature flag on a particular environment
with [Environment specs](../../../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs).
with [Environment specs](../../../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs).
You can define multiple specs per flag so that you can control your feature flag more granularly.
To define specs for each environment:
1. Navigate to your project's **Operations > Feature Flags**.
1. Click on the **New Feature Flag** button or edit an existing flag.
1. Set the status of the default [spec](../../../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) (`*`). Choose a rollout strategy. This status and rollout strategy combination will be used for _all_ environments.
1. If you want to enable/disable the feature on a specific environment, create a new [spec](../../../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) and type the environment name.
1. Set the status of the default [spec](../../../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) (`*`). Choose a rollout strategy. This status and rollout strategy combination will be used for _all_ environments.
1. If you want to enable/disable the feature on a specific environment, create a new [spec](../../../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs) and type the environment name.
1. Set the status and rollout strategy of the additional spec. This status and rollout strategy combination takes precedence over the default spec since we always use the most specific match available.
1. Click **Create feature flag** or **Update feature flag**.
![Feature flag specs list](img/specs_list_v12_6.png)
NOTE: **NOTE**
We'd highly recommend you to use the [Environment](../../../ci/environments.md)
We'd highly recommend you to use the [Environment](../../../ci/environments/index.md)
feature in order to quickly assess which flag is enabled per environment.
## Feature flag behavior change in 13.0
......@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ make a strategy apply to a specific environment spec:
1. Click the **Add Environment** button.
1. Create a new
[spec](../../../ci/environments.md#scoping-environments-with-specs).
[spec](../../../ci/environments/index.md#scoping-environments-with-specs).
To apply the strategy to multiple environment specs, repeat these steps.
......
......@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ GitLab provides a variety of tools to help operate and maintain
your applications:
- Collect [Prometheus metrics](../integrations/prometheus_library/index.md).
- Deploy to different [environments](../../../ci/environments.md).
- Deploy to different [environments](../../../ci/environments/index.md).
- Connect your project to a [Kubernetes cluster](../clusters/index.md).
- Manage your infrastructure with [Infrastructure as Code](../../infrastructure/index.md) approaches.
- Discover and view errors generated by your applications with [Error Tracking](error_tracking.md).
......
......@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ You can add a button to the Monitoring dashboard linking directly to your existi
![External Dashboard Settings](img/external_dashboard_settings.png)
1. There should now be a button on your
[Monitoring dashboard](../../../ci/environments.md#monitoring-environments) which
[Monitoring dashboard](../../../ci/environments/index.md#monitoring-environments) which
will open the URL you entered in the above step.
![External Dashboard Link](img/external_dashboard_link.png)
Markdown is supported
0%
or
You are about to add 0 people to the discussion. Proceed with caution.
Finish editing this message first!
Please register or to comment