How to use GitLab with OCI ARM-based compute instances

ARM-based processors are increasingly popular for their energy efficiency and performance, as evidenced by Apple's recent adoption, and are now used across a variety of systems, including servers. This shift necessitates robust development toolchains for ARM architecture, where GitLab Runner excels by enabling CI/CD jobs on ARM servers. By integrating GitLab Runner with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure's ARM-based compute instances, development teams can optimize CI/CD infrastructure for both ARM and x86 architectures. Automated deployment via Oracle Cloud is recommended for setting up GitLab, though manual deployment on virtual machines requires attention to specific details, particularly on Oracle Linux Server release 8.x, which lacks support from PackageCloud. For both GitLab Runner and GitLab EE/Core installations, manual repository setup is necessary on ol/8 systems. A notable issue is the ARM64-specific Redis bug in GitLab versions 13.9 and later, which can be bypassed by installing earlier versions or configuring a separate Redis instance. Despite this, the GitLab Runner's support for diverse architectures, including ARM, facilitates varied workloads for development teams.

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