☁️ Deploying GitLab with Fast and Reliable Manners in Minutes with Huawei Cloud Flexus Service

Deniz Yalçın
Huawei Developers
Published in
7 min readAug 19, 2024
Huawei Cloud Flexus

🔦Introduction

Hi everyone👋! In an era where cloud technology drives innovation and efficiency, organizations are increasingly looking for robust platforms that offer flexibility, scalability, and comprehensive management capabilities. Huawei Cloud Flexus emerges as a leading solution, providing a dynamic infrastructure that enables enterprises to effectively manage and optimize IT workloads in the Cloud. Whether dealing with hybrid or multi-cloud architectures, Flexus delivers the tools needed to streamline operations, reduce costs, and ensure high availability.

💻At the core of modern software development lies the necessity to integrate powerful development tools with advanced cloud platforms. Huawei Cloud Flexus not only offers the flexibility needed to manage complex cloud deployments but also seamlessly integrates with tools like GitLab to enhance DevOps processes. By leveraging Flexus, organizations can automate their CI/CD pipelines, manage microservices efficiently, and ensure that their applications are deployed with reliability and speed.

This article will delve into the capabilities of Huawei Cloud Flexus, demonstrating how it can be harnessed to optimize your cloud infrastructure. We will also explore its integration with GitLab, showcasing how Flexus can empower your development and deployment processes, making it an indispensable asset in today’s competitive technological landscape.🚀

Before we begin the demo, I want to overview Huawei Cloud Flexus shortly.

⚡️Huawei Cloud Flexus is a cutting-edge cloud management platform designed to offer unparalleled flexibility and control in managing cloud resources across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. It provides organizations with a unified interface to orchestrate, monitor, and optimize their cloud infrastructure, enabling seamless integration with various cloud services.

Flexus stands out with its ability to handle complex workloads, supporting the deployment of containerized applications, microservices, and other cloud-native technologies. The platform is built to cater to the dynamic needs of modern enterprises, offering scalable solutions that can adapt to varying workloads and business requirements.

The Huawei Cloud Flexus family offers flexible solutions tailored to various cloud needs, accelerating businesses’ digital transformation processes. FlexusX is designed to provide a flexible and scalable infrastructure, optimizing workloads in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. This solution is ideal for large-scale deployments and complex cloud strategies. FlexusL, on the other hand enabling fast data processing and analysis. FlexusRDS provides a managed database service, simplifying database management and allowing users to efficiently and securely manage their mission-critical databases. The Flexus family empowers businesses with flexibility and control in cloud management through its customized solutions for different needs.

One of the key strengths of Huawei Cloud Flexus is its automation capabilities, which streamline cloud operations and reduce the need for manual intervention. This not only enhances efficiency but also minimizes the risk of human error. Moreover, Flexus integrates seamlessly with popular DevOps tools, allowing development teams to automate their CI/CD pipelines and accelerate the delivery of high-quality software.

In summary, Huawei Cloud Flexus empowers organizations to achieve greater agility, efficiency, and control over their cloud environments, making it an essential component of any advanced cloud strategy.⚡️

💻Demo

First, we enter the FlexusL instance purchase section from the Huawei Cloud console and make our choice from the pre-prepared images. Thanks to pre-prepared templates, we can choose in advance which technology we will work with when using Huawei Cloud Flexus.

Since we will use GitLab in this demo, we choose it.👇

Instance Image Selection

Then, while doing a demo, we choose the appropriate machine that will meet our needs.👇 With a price difference of up to 1/3 compared to ECSs with the same features, Huawei Cloud Flexus can be described as a very suitable service for small and medium-sized businesses.

Instance Specifications

In order to complete this demo, it will be sufficient to define permissions for the ports below in the security group section.👇

Security Group for Flexus Instance

# Navigate to the directory where the GitLab image is installed
cd /var/lib/docker/

# Execute the GitLab container
docker exec -it gitlab /bin/bash

# Reset the GitLab password
gitlab-rake gitlab:password:reset

# Enter the username as root and specify your password

Defining New Password for Entering GitLab

After determining the password, we can access GitLab by going to http://(EIP address of out Flexus Instance). We log in here with the root username and the password we set ourselves.🔐

GitLab Login Screen

After logging in, the main menu will appear, from here we will click on Create Blank Project and create a project.👇

GitLab Main

While creating the project, we make the settings as above. 👇

Create Blank Project Screen

Afterward, we go to the Files section of the project we created, click the “+” button, and click new file.

Add New File

We simply name the newly created file index.html and exit.

New File Commit

We go to the branches tab in the left menu. There we create a branch with the features specified in the image below.👇

Adding New Branch

From another browser or incognito tab, navigate to http:// (EIP of Flexus Instance) again and sign up for GitLab this time.

New Account Registration Page

After we complete the sign-up, we go back root user’s screen. Click the left panel and go to admin settings. In the admin settings page, click Users and approve the registration.

Admin’s Users Screen

We go to the project screen and invite the newly created user to the project via invite.

Invite People to Project

We log in to the project by switching to the user we created. Then, in the Branches section, we click on the index.html we created with the root user.

Edit index.html at Branches Section

Click Web IED, select a file to edit. For example, edit the index.html file.

index.html File

When editing finish, click commit & push button.👇

Commit & Push

After we pushing our new file, we have to send create merge request to admin.

Create MR

The changes made are subject to our approval. We can approve and save the changes as seen below.👇

Approving index.html

Then we can check the root user’s screen for display and confirm merge request.

Merge Request Notification

Conclusion

Huawei Cloud Flexus, is a modern cloud management solution for organizations aiming to streamline and optimize their operations across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. By integrating Flexus with GitLab, we were able to demonstrate how easily and effectively development workflows can be managed, from setting up user accounts to automating processes such as user creation and deletion.

Utilizing a ready-made GitLab template from Huawei Cloud significantly accelerated the setup process, allowing us to focus on the core aspects of cloud management. The seamless integration between Huawei Cloud Flexus and GitLab not only simplifies operations but also enhances the agility and efficiency of development teams.

The ability to automate user management tasks within GitLab through Flexus showcases the platform’s capability to reduce manual workloads and potential errors, leading to a more streamlined and secure development process. Moreover, this integration highlights how Flexus can be a powerful ally in maintaining control over complex cloud environments, ensuring that resources are used efficiently and that operations remain scalable and reliable.

In conclusion, Huawei Cloud Flexus, when paired with tools like GitLab, offers a comprehensive solution for managing cloud-native applications and workflows. It empowers teams to operate with greater agility, ensuring that they can respond quickly to business needs and technological advancements, making it an invaluable asset in today’s fast-paced digital landscape.

Useful Links

Survey Link

Flexus Website Link

HWC Flexus

References

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