Shorten the waiting time of GitHub CI

[Nick-0314]

Feature request

Shorten the waiting time of GitHub CI

Use case

[Nick-0314]

@aktech
Hello, We have fully launched cirun.io and abandoned the original runner, and found some problems today.
We think the current one and a half minute response of github CI is a bit slow, is there a way to speed it up? For example, do some preset software in ami and so on? In addition, we have a problem that the runner requested by CI is taken away by other CI. Is there a good solution?

[aktech]

We think the current one and a half minute response of github CI is a bit slow, is there a way to speed it up? For example, do some preset software in ami and so on?

Hey @Mytting yes you can create custom AMI with some of the software already installed like say docker, etc. That would speed up your overall CI time. The provision time wouldn't be affected much as it's mainly just calling AWS's API spinning up a VM and installing Git Actions, installation doesn't take much time, like less than 15-20 seconds. Most of the time is spent getting a VM from AWS. I can try to take a look if there are any bottlenecks which can be improved.

In addition, we have a problem that the runner requested by CI is taken away by other CI. Is there a good solution?

What do you mean by other CI? Do you mean other jobs? Runners are are picked up by GitHub Action workflows by runner labels, which is controlled by:

runs-on: cirun-aws-amd64-32c

If you want them to be unique I can look on implementing spinning up runners by run_id, then you could do something like:

# Not implemented yet
runs-on: "cirun-aws-amd64-32c--${{ github.run_id }}"

will that help?

[Nick-0314]

cirun-aws-amd64-32c--${{ github.run_id }}"
Yes, I want this effect. Is there anything you need to do?

@aktech

[Nick-0314]

When will that be possible?

[aktech]

Yes, I want this effect. Is there anything you need to do?

Yes I need to implement it. You should have it within a few days (maximum: a week). I'll implement it at share the documentation link here.

[Nick-0314]

Yes, I want this effect. Is there anything you need to do?

Yes I need to implement it. You should have it within a few days (maximum: a week). I'll implement it at share the documentation link here.

ok, wait for the good news. Does github action support this syntax?

[Nick-0314]

Another restriction is that the runner label must begin with cirun, as if it is not mentioned in the documentation
@aktech

[Nick-0314]

Yes, I want this effect. Is there anything you need to do?

Yes I need to implement it. You should have it within a few days (maximum: a week). I'll implement it at share the documentation link here.

ok, wait for the good news. Does github action support this syntax?

Oh, I just tried it. github supports this syntax

[aktech]

Another restriction is that the runner label must begin with cirun, as if it is not mentioned in the documentation

Thanks for pointing that out, I'll update that in the documentation, apologies for the inconvenience.
Yes, that's important because its make my life easier to filter webhook events, where runner needs to be created, otherwise it would have been tricky.

ok, wait for the good news. Does github action support this syntax?
Oh, I just tried it. github supports this syntax

Yep, I tried it as well. You would hear from me soon. :)

[Nick-0314]

It seems that the spot instance defining multiple regions and multiple specifications in the.cirun file does not work, and the spot request often appears open, 'no Spot capacity available', at which point cirun considers the creation successful.
@aktech

[aktech]

Yes, that's an outstanding bug. It will be fixed in the next release.

[Nick-0314]

Does cirun support google cloud? aws spot instances are billed by the hour, one hour minimum, our CI usually runs for about 10 minutes, I understand that gcp is billed by the minute,
@aktech

[aktech]

Does cirun support google cloud?

Yes, it does.

aws spot instances are billed by the hour, one hour minimum,

Are you sure? to me it seems like you're charged for seconds used: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/billing-for-interrupted-spot-instances.html