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Install the GitLab Agent Server for Kubernetes (KAS) (FREE SELF)

  • Introduced in GitLab 13.10, the GitLab Agent Server (KAS) became available on GitLab.com under wss://kas.gitlab.com.
  • Moved from GitLab Premium to GitLab Free in 14.5.

The GitLab Agent Server for Kubernetes is a GitLab backend service dedicated to managing the GitLab Agent for Kubernetes.

The KAS acronym refers to the former name, Kubernetes Agent Server.

The KAS is already installed and available in GitLab.com under wss://kas.gitlab.com. This document describes how to install a KAS for GitLab self-managed instances.

Installation options

As a GitLab administrator of self-managed instances, you can install KAS according to your GitLab installation method:

You can also opt to use an external KAS.

Install KAS with Omnibus

For Omnibus package installations:

  1. Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb to enable the Agent Server:

    gitlab_kas['enable'] = true

  2. Reconfigure GitLab.

To configure any additional options related to your KAS, refer to the Enable GitLab KAS section of the gitlab.rb.template.

Install KAS with the GitLab Helm Chart

For GitLab Helm Chart installations, you must set global.kas.enabled to true. For example, in a shell with helm and kubectl installed, run:

helm repo add gitlab https://charts.gitlab.io/
helm repo update
helm upgrade --install gitlab gitlab/gitlab \
  --timeout 600s \
  --set global.hosts.domain=<YOUR_DOMAIN> \
  --set global.hosts.externalIP=<YOUR_IP> \
  --set certmanager-issuer.email=<YOUR_EMAIL> \
  --set global.kas.enabled=true # <-- without this, KAS will not be installed

To configure KAS, use a gitlab.kas sub-section in your values.yaml file:

gitlab:
  kas:
    # put your KAS custom options here

For details, see how to use the GitLab-KAS chart.

Use an external KAS installation

Introduced in GitLab 13.10.

Besides installing KAS with GitLab, you can opt to configure GitLab to use an external KAS.

For GitLab instances installed through the GitLab Helm Chart, see how to configure your external KAS.

For GitLab instances installed through Omnibus packages:

  1. Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb adding the paths to your external KAS:

    gitlab_kas['enable'] = false
gitlab_kas['api_secret_key'] = 'Your shared secret between GitLab and KAS'

gitlab_rails['gitlab_kas_enabled'] = true
gitlab_rails['gitlab_kas_external_url'] = 'wss://kas.gitlab.example.com' # User-facing URL for the in-cluster agentk
gitlab_rails['gitlab_kas_internal_url'] = 'grpc://kas.internal.gitlab.example.com' # Internal URL for the GitLab backend

  2. Reconfigure GitLab.

Troubleshooting

If you have issues while using the GitLab Agent Server for Kubernetes, view the service logs by running the following command:

kubectl logs -f -l=app=kas -n <YOUR-GITLAB-NAMESPACE>

In Omnibus GitLab, find the logs in /var/log/gitlab/gitlab-kas/.

You can also troubleshoot issues with individual Agents.

KAS logs - GitOps: failed to get project information

If you get the following error message:

{"level":"warn","time":"2020-10-30T08:37:26.123Z","msg":"GitOps: failed to get project info","agent_id":4,"project_id":"root/kas-manifest001","error":"error kind: 0; status: 404"}

It means that the specified manifest project root/kas-manifest001 doesn't exist or the manifest project is private. To fix it, make sure the project path is correct and its visibility is set to public.

KAS logs - Configuration file not found

If you get the following error message:

time="2020-10-29T04:44:14Z" level=warning msg="Config: failed to fetch" agent_id=2 error="configuration file not found: \".gitlab/agents/test-agent/config.yaml\

It means that the path to the configuration project is incorrect, or the path to config.yaml inside the project is not valid.

To fix this, ensure that the paths to the configuration repository and to the config.yaml file are correct.

KAS logs - dial tcp <GITLAB_INTERNAL_IP>:443: connect: connection refused

If you are running a self-managed GitLab instance and:

  • The instance isn't running behind an SSL-terminating proxy.
  • The instance doesn't have HTTPS configured on the GitLab instance itself.
  • The instance's hostname resolves locally to its internal IP address.

You may see the following error when the KAS tries to connect to the GitLab API:

{"level":"error","time":"2021-08-16T14:56:47.289Z","msg":"GetAgentInfo()","correlation_id":"01FD7QE35RXXXX8R47WZFBAXTN","grpc_service":"gitlab.agent.reverse_tunnel.rpc.ReverseTunnel","grpc_method":"Connect","error":"Get \"https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/internal/kubernetes/agent_info\": dial tcp 172.17.0.4:443: connect: connection refused"}

To fix this for Omnibus package installations, set the following parameter in /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb (replacing gitlab.example.com with your GitLab instance's hostname):

gitlab_kas['gitlab_address'] = 'http://gitlab.example.com'