Use Harness Cloud build infrastructure

With Harness Cloud you can run builds in isolation on Harness-hosted VMs that are preconfigured with the tools, packages, and settings commonly used in CI pipelines. Harness hosts, maintains, and upgrades these machines so that you can focus on building software instead of maintaining build infrastructure.

This topic describes how to use Harness-hosted build infrastructure for your Harness CI pipelines, as well as information about machine specifications, special considerations, and additional configuration required for certain use cases.

For more information about the Harness Cloud architecture, go to Get started with Harness Cloud. For a comparison of build infrastructure options, go to Which build infrastructure is right for me?

Requirements

You must use Harness Secret Manager to store connector credentials and other secrets.
All connectors must connect through the Harness Platform, not the delegate.
AWS connectors can't use IRSA or AssumeRole.
GCP and Azure connectors can't inherit credentials from the delegate.

Platforms and image specifications

Harness Cloud offers the following operating systems and architectures:

Linux: amd64 and arm64
macOS: arm64 (M1)
Windows: amd64

tip

To enable Windows and macOS for Harness Cloud, contact Harness Support.

Refer to the following image specification README files for more information about image components and preinstalled software.

Specify versions

If there are multiple versions of a tool installed, you can specify the version to use in a step's Command.

For example, with the Harness Cloud macOS build infrastructure, you could use the following command in a Run step to select an Xcode version:

sudo xcode-select -switch /Applications/Xcode_14.1.0.app

Install additional tools

If your build requires a tool that isn't already available on the VM, you can use a step to install it directly or run it in a Docker image. There are a variety of steps you can use to do this, such as:

tip

Use the Bitrise plugin step to run Bitrise Integrations in your CI pipelines.

In the following YAML example, an Action step runs the actions/setup-java GitHub Action to load Java 17, and then the Run step confirms the Java version.

            steps:
              - step:
                  identifier: install_java
                  name: intall java version 17
                  type: Action
                  spec:
                    uses: actions/setup-[email protected]
                    with:
                      distribution: 'zulu' # See 'Supported distributions' for available options
                      java-version: '17'
              - step:
                  identifier: java_ver_check
                  name: java version check
                  type: Run
                  spec:
                    shell: Bash
                    command: |
                      JAVA_VER=$(java -version 2>&1 | head -1 | cut -d'"' -f2 | sed '/^1\./s///' | cut -d'.' -f1)
                      if [[ $JAVA_VER == 17 ]]; then
                        echo successfully installed $JAVA_VER
                      else
                        exit 1
                      fi

The following YAML example demonstrates how a Run step can use a Docker image (specified in conectorRef and image) to leverage tools available on that image that aren't available on the host image:

    - stage:
        name: Print welcome message
        identifier: welcome_message
        type: CI
        spec:
          cloneCodebase: true
          platform: // Platform properties describe the target machine required by this stage.
            os: Linux
            arch: Amd64
          runtime:
            type: Cloud // This build runs on Harness-provided infrastructure.
            spec: {}
          execution:
            steps:
              - step:
                  type: Run
                  name: Welcome
                  identifier: Welcome
                  spec:
                    connectorRef: my_dockerhub // Specify a Docker connector to pull an image from Docker.
                    image: alpine // If no image is specified, the step runs on the host machine.
                    shell: Sh
                    command: Echo "Welcome to Harness CI"

caution

Steps running in containers can't communicate with Background steps running on the Harness Cloud build infrastructure, because they do not have a common host.

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Visual editor
YAML editor

Go to the pipeline where you want to use Harness Cloud build infrastructure.
Select the Build stage, and then select the Infrastructure tab.
Select Harness Cloud and the desired Platform.
Save and run your pipeline.

To enable Harness Cloud build infrastructure in your pipeline YAML, specify the platform and runtime in the stage: spec:. For example:

          platform:
            os: Linux
            arch: Amd64
          runtime:
            type: Cloud
            spec: {}

In runtime, you must include type: Cloud.
In platform, specify the os and arch. For a list of supported operating systems and architectures, go to Platforms and image specifications.

Pipeline YAML example

The following YAML example illustrates a basic CI pipeline that uses Harness Cloud build infrastructure:

pipeline:
  name: Build sample-app
  identifier: Build_sample_app_1677210779657
  projectIdentifier: my-app-project
  orgIdentifier: default
  properties:
    ci:
      codebase:
        connectorRef: account.GitHub_example
        repoName: my-gh-account/example-repo
        build: <+input>
  stages:
    - stage:
        name: Build
        identifier: Build
        type: CI
        spec:
          cloneCodebase: true
          execution:
            steps:
              - step:
                  type: Run
                  name: Echo Welcome Message
                  identifier: Echo_Welcome_Message
                  spec:
                    shell: Sh
                    command: echo "Welcome to Harness CI"
          platform:
            os: Linux
            arch: Amd64
          runtime:
            type: Cloud
            spec: {}

tip

If the host image doesn't have the tools you need for your pipeline, you can install additional tools or run individual steps in their own Docker image. For more information about specifying and installing tools, go to Platforms and image specifications.

Build private repos with Harness Cloud

danger

Whitelisting is only required if your code repository, Docker registry, or Artifactory registry isn't accessible by direct connection over the internet, such as those that are behind firewalls.

You can use Harness Cloud build infrastructure with private repositories. However, if your codebase repository or Docker/Artifactory registry is not publicly accessible, you must whitelist the following IPs in your firewall:

Requirements​

Platforms and image specifications​

Use Harness Cloud​

Build private repos with Harness Cloud​

Requirements

Platforms and image specifications

Use Harness Cloud

Build private repos with Harness Cloud