5/7/23, 9:08 PM Setting up a Self-Hosted GitHub Action Runner for Python Applications on EC2 Instance

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Setting up a Self-Hosted GitHub Action Runner

for Python Applications on EC2 Instance
Suman Prasad
May 6, 2023 · 6 min read

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5/7/23, 9:08 PM Setting up a Self-Hosted GitHub Action Runner for Python Applications on EC2 Instance

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
📍 Introduction:
📍 GitHub Hosted Runner vs Self-Hosted Runner
📍 Benefits of Self-Hosted Runner for Python Applications
🔹GitHub Repository to follow along:
🔹 Setting up a Self-Hosted Runner using EC2 Instance
🔹 Detailed Configurations for Self-hosted Instance:
🔹 Example of self-hosted runner:
📍 Interview Question related to GitHub Actions:
🔹Why did you choose GitHub Actions over other CI/CD solutions li…
🔹 How do you manage your credentials in GitHub?
🔹 How do you create CI files for GitHub Actions? Explain the steps…
⚜ To create CI files for GitHub Actions, I follow these steps:
🔹 Compare GitHub Actions vs. Jenkins.
📍 Conclusion
📍 Resources:

📍 Introduction:

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GitHub Actions is a powerful and flexible platform for automating software

development workflows. With GitHub Actions, developers can easily build, test,
and deploy their code directly from their GitHub repositories. GitHub provides two
types of runners: GitHub-hosted runners and self-hosted runners. In this blog post,
we will focus on the benefits of using self-hosted runners for Python applications
and how to set them up using an EC2 instance.
📍 GitHub Hosted Runner vs Self-Hosted
Runner
GitHub-hosted runners are provided by GitHub and run in a virtual machine hosted
on GitHub infrastructure. They are free to use and support various operating
systems, including Linux, Windows, and macOS. However, they have certain
limitations, such as not allowing custom software installations, not having access
to on-premises resources, and being subject to timeouts and usage limits.
On the other hand, self-hosted runners are runners that you set up and manage in
your own infrastructure. With self-hosted runners, you have full control over the
environment and resources, and you can customize the runner to meet your
specific requirements. This makes self-hosted runners ideal for private projects,
enterprise organizations, and projects that require specific dependencies or
software versions.
📍 Benefits of Self-Hosted Runner for Python
Applications

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Here are some benefits of using self-hosted runners for Python applications:
1. Customization: You can customize the runner environment to match your
application's requirements. For example, you can install specific Python
versions, libraries, and tools.
2. Scalability: You can scale the runner resources, such as CPU, memory, and
storage, to handle large and complex Python applications.
3. Security: You have full control over the runner's security, such as network
access, firewall rules, and encryption.
4. On-premises resources: You can access and use on-premises resources, such
as databases, storage, and services, from your runner.
5. Cost-effective: You can save on costs by using your existing infrastructure and
resources for the runner.

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🔹GitHub Repository to follow along:

COPY

https://github.com/sumanprasad007/gitHub-actions-setup-for-python-app.git

🔹 Setting up a Self-Hosted Runner using EC2

Instance
To set up a self-hosted runner using an EC2 instance, follow these steps:
1. Create an Ubuntu instance with t2.micro size on AWS.
2. Configure inbound and outbound rules to allow SSH, HTTP, and HTTPS traffic.
3. Connect to the EC2 instance using SSH and run the following command to
download and run the self-hosted runner:
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COPY

mkdir actions-runner && cd actions-runner

curl -O -L https://github.com/actions/runner/releases/download/v2.283.2/action
tar xzf ./actions-runner-linux-x64-2.283.2.tar.gz
./config.sh --url https://github.com/<USERNAME>/<REPOSITORY> --token <TOKEN>
./run.sh

Replace <USERNAME> and <REPOSITORY> with your GitHub username and repository
name, respectively. Replace <TOKEN> with a personal access token that has the
repo scope.

1. In your repository, go to Settings > Actions > Runners and click on the "Add
new runner" button.
2. Enter a name for the runner and select the operating system, architecture, and
runtime environment that matches your EC2 instance.
3. Copy the registration token and paste it into the EC2 instance terminal when
prompted.
4. Run the ./ run.sh command again to start the runner service.
Now, your self-hosted runner is connected to your repository and ready to run
workflows.
In short, we discussed the benefits of using self-hosted runners for Python
applications and how to set them up using an EC2 instance. By using Configuring
the self-hosted runner is relatively easy and can be done by following the below
steps:

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🔹 Detailed Configurations for Self-hosted

Instance:
1. Create an Ubuntu Instance with t2-micro or any other suitable instance as per
the requirement.
2. Configure inbound and outbound rules for ports 22, 80, and 443.
3. Connect the instance with GitHub Actions using SSH.
4. In the repository, go to Settings > Actions > Runner > Add a new self-hosted
runner.
5. Enter the required details like runner image, architecture, and other
configuration details.
6. Run all the commands provided in the download section on your EC2 instance,
which will set up all the connections using the tokens and authentication.
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Once the self-hosted runner is set up, you can use it to run your workflows on your
EC2 instance. In the workflow file, you can specify the runs-on parameter as the
name of the self-hosted runner.
For example, if you have named your runner "my-runner", you can specify it in your
workflow file like this:

🔹 Example of self-hosted runner:

COPY

name: My First GitHub Actions

on: [push]

jobs:
build:
runs-on: self-hosted
# runs-on: ubuntu-latest

strategy:
matrix:
python-version: [3.8, 3.9]

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v3
- name: Set up Python
uses: actions/setup-python@v2
with:
python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}

- name: Install dependencies

run: |

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python -m pip install --upgrade pip

pip install pytest

- name: Run tests

run: |
cd src
python -m pytest addition.py

This will ensure that your workflow runs on the self-hosted runner instead of the
GitHub-hosted runner i.e. self-hosted-runner.yml.

📍 Interview Question related to GitHub

Actions:

🔹Why did you choose GitHub Actions over

other CI/CD solutions like Jenkins, AWS
CodePipeline, etc.?
There are several reasons why I chose GitHub Actions over other CI/CD solutions.
Firstly, our project is open source in nature and GitHub is a popular platform for
open source collaboration. Secondly, our organization is already using various
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features of GitHub like project management, security, and source code

management, making it easier to use GitHub Actions. Finally, GitHub Actions
provides the ability to set up our own runners, as well as the convenience of using
GitHub-hosted runners for easier setup.

🔹 How do you manage your credentials in

GitHub?
I use the secrets and variables option in GitHub to manage my credentials. This
ensures that sensitive information like API keys, passwords, and other secrets are
not exposed to the public.

🔹 How do you create CI files for GitHub Actions?

Explain the steps in detail.
⚜ To create CI files for GitHub Actions, I follow these steps:
1. Create a new file named "main.yml" in the ".github/workflows" directory of your
repository.
2. Specify the name of the workflow and the events that trigger the workflow.
3. Define the jobs and steps that should be run as part of the workflow.
4. Commit the changes to the repository and observe the workflow run in the
Actions tab of the repository.

🔹 Compare GitHub Actions vs. Jenkins.

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GitHub Actions and Jenkins are both popular CI/CD tools that can be used for
building, testing, and deploying software applications. However, GitHub Actions is
a newer tool and provides tighter integration with GitHub, while Jenkins is a more
mature tool with a larger ecosystem of plugins and integrations. GitHub Actions
also provides a more intuitive and user-friendly interface, while Jenkins requires
more configuration and setup. Additionally, GitHub Actions provides the ability to
set up self-hosted runners for better customization and control, while Jenkins
requires the setup of additional infrastructure.

📍 Conclusion
In conclusion, self-hosted runners provide a lot of flexibility and customization
options for building and testing your applications. Using an EC2 instance to set up
a self-hosted runner is a great way to get started with GitHub Actions. With this
guide and the code snippets provided, you should be able to easily set up and use
self-hosted runners for your Python applications.
📍 Resources:

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GITHUB ACTIONS SELF HOSTED RUNNERS | ADD THIS PROJECT TO YOUR RESU

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WRITTEN BY
Suman Prasad
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I'm Proficient in a variety of DevOps technologies, including AWS, Linux, Python,

Shell Scripting, Docker, Terraform, Jenkins, Git/GitHub, and Computer
Networking. I have a strong ability to troubleshoot and resolve issues, and are
consistently motivated to expand the knowledge and skills through exploration
of new technologies.

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