GitLab 11.6 released with serverless functions and Kubernetes clusters for groups
- Transfer
We are pleased to present the release of GitLab 11.6, in which we expanded the capabilities of serverless architecture on GitLab and added Kubernetes cluster clusters to simplify working with native cloud infrastructure.
Deploy serverless development to any cloud via GitLab
Serverless computing is processed dynamically, and when executing code, the system accesses cloud resources, thereby optimizing the allocation and distribution of resources required to run it. The popularity of this approach among developers is growing, because it allows them to focus on what is really important - for example, on writing code - and does not require an understanding of the basic infrastructure on which your software will run.
Serverless computing on GitLab uses Knative, a Kubernetes platform designed to create, deploy, and manage serverless projects. This feature provides developers with an easy way to create their serverless development and manage them along with other code in an already familiar interface. For businesses, serverless architecture allows you to use a multi-cloud strategy and avoid binding to a particular cloud provider.
GitLab continues to streamline the development of native cloud applications.
With built-in container registry and integration with Kubernetes, GitLab allows you to get started with containers and cloud development easier than ever. Starting with release 11.6, users can create Kubernetes group clusters that can be used in all projects in a group or its subgroups. This further simplifies setting up native cloud projects and allows developers to focus on developing high-quality applications.
For the holidays we have released a lot of cool features
Our favorites: the proposed changes , the web terminal in the Web IDE and the schedule of vulnerabilities in the group security panel . Contributions from teams are now more convenient to accept, since the proposed merge request in the comments to the diffusion request (in the Russian GitLab localization) can be accepted with one click. Also in this release, the first feature of Web IDE running on the server, the web terminal, became available. The group ’s new security panel release has added a new vulnerability chart that shows the change in the number of vulnerabilities from day to day, allowing you to track change metrics.
Read on and you’ll find out all about holiday innovations in the GitLab 11.6 release!
This month's MVP is Suzanne Hillman
Suzanne helped GitLab review our recent product, Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT), by organizing and refining open tasks; She also helped to assess the current state of the product using static analysis tools and manual testing. VPAT ensures compliance with accessibility standards (for people with disabilities perception and interaction), and this product is a big step in improving GitLab accessibility for everyone so that everyone can use it and contribute to the development.
Thank you, Suzanne! We really appreciate your contribution, which will help more people use GitLab.
The main features of the release of GitLab 11.6
Serverless functions (alpha version)
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
Based on the integration with Knative ( original article , translation ), added in GitLab 11.5 release, we present a new feature - serverless Knative functions that users can create in their repository.
You will need to define your functions in the serverless.ymlrepository file and use the template .gitlab-ci.yml. Each function will be placed on your cluster, and Knative will take care of all of them and their expansion based on the required resources. This feature will enable application developers to quickly release new versions without worrying about setting up and maintaining the infrastructure.
Documentation for serverless applications and features and original ticket
Launch of CI / CD for Merge Requests
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
Starting a specific job in the case of a merge-request has become easier. Using the value in merge_requestsconjunction with keywords only/exceptwill allow you to customize the launch of work only during a merge-request, or in reverse cases. This gives more control over the behavior of the pipeline and also opens up access to new environment variables pointing to the target branch and merge-requester ID, which allows for other behavioral strategies to be implemented.
Documentation on the launch of work after merge-requests and the original ticket
Proposed changes
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
Working together on merge-requests has become easier - you no longer need to copy the code to make the proposed changes. Changes can now be proposed when commenting on a defaulted request and are accepted with one click by any user who has rights to write in this thread.
Now this feature works on GitLab.com, and can be connected to GitLab user instances using a plug-in featurediff_suggestions , and in the release of GitLab 11.7 this feature will be enabled by default.
Documentation of proposed changes and original ticket
Web terminal for Web IDE (Beta)
(ULTIMATE)
The Web IDE makes it easier and faster to make changes and process merge-request feedback, eliminating the need to save changes and locally change branches. But making big changes without a terminal for running tests, experimenting with the REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop - “cycle“ reading - calculating - output ”) and compiling code is not easy.
Now, through the Web IDE, you can start a web terminal, work in the editor and have a terminal on hand just like you would work locally - by tracking what comes through the API or by checking your syntax in the REPL. The web terminal is the first feature with server-side processing in the Web IDE; it is configured using a new file .gitlab/.gitlab-webide.yml.
Interactive web terminals are not yet available on GitLab.com and at the moment the changes are not synchronized between the editor and the web terminal. You can follow the development progress here , in the next release, we will add support for mirroring changes and a real-time preview .
Web terminal documentation and original ticket
Project templates for groups
(PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, SILVER, GOLD)
Project templates help users quickly start new projects. In release 11.2 ( original article , translation ) we presented project templates for user instances .
With GitLab 11.6, we are pleased to announce that this feature is now available for groups. Create a special subgroup through the settings of the new group, and the projects of this subgroup will be available as templates. This simplifies initial setup and ensures consistency among your projects, especially in large structures, such as microservice architecture.
Documentation on project templates and original ticket
Kubernetes Group Clusters (Beta)
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
Often, development teams working on related projects need to use the same Kubernetes cluster to deploy their applications. Starting with GitLab 11.6, users will be able to create Kubernetes clusters at the group level, which can be used in all projects that are contained in this group or its subgroups.
This will greatly simplify and speed up the process of setting up the infrastructure of your projects and will allow you to focus on the development of cool applications.
Cluster documentation for groups and original ticket
Certificate Manager for Kubernetes
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
Security is critical when deploying applications at the design stage. A certificate manager is a controller for managing Kubernetes-based certificates that automatically creates and updates SSL certificates using Let's Encrypt.
When using this SSL certificate for applications served via Auto DevOps, and for deployments via JupyterHub, HTTPS will be enabled.
Application Installation Documentation and Original Ticket
Vulnerability graph in group security panel
(ULTIMATE, GOLD)
A group security panel is the main tool by which security specialists can manage vulnerabilities in their projects. One of the most important requirements is to know how the number of vulnerabilities varies from day to day, and to understand whether the team can cope with solving problems quickly.
In the release of GitLab 11.6, we added a vulnerability graph to the security panel of the group, which will allow you to easily track changes in vulnerabilities over the past month. For each level of danger, you will be able to see the values of the vulnerability indicators and, moving along the schedule, consider in more detail a specific point in time.
Group security panel documentation and original ticket
Other improvements in GitLab 11.6
Authentication using smart card-based hardware tokens
(PREMIUM, ULTIMATE)
For organizations in which developers work in environments that use hardware tokens with X.509 standard certificates and smart card authentication capabilities (for example, YubiKeys or public access cards (CAC)), GitLab now supports local user creation and login.
Users can now use hardware tokens to access GitLab, which increases security and eliminates the need to manage logins / passwords that are not associated with any physical device.
Smart Card Authentication Documentation and Original Ticket
Information about group subscriptions on GitLab.com
(FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
For users with a paid subscription to GitLab.com, we have made your subscription status information more accessible.
In version 11.6, we improved the Billing section under the group settings page to include detailed information about your group subscription. Now you can easily see the places occupied now and the places that were occupied in the past, as well as the start and end time of your subscription.
Documentation and original ticket
Sending notifications to Discord
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
Starting with this release, you can integrate GitLab with Discord , which allows you to send notifications to the channel in Discord as a response to GitLab events such as push to the repository, downloading ticket updates, merge requests and others.
Thanks Vitaliy Klachkov for this feature!
Discord notification documentation and original ticket
Raising tickets to epics
(ULTIMATE, GOLD)
Software development is a creative process in which the entire team is involved, and all ideas must be taken into consideration. We have added a new feature, with the help of which ideas that appear in the form of tickets can now easily turn into epics.
Now you can easily raise the ticket to the epic using the new quick action . Just type /promotein the ticket comments and click Comment . The ticket will be closed, and its contents will be copied to the new epic, which will appear in the parent group of the project. In addition to titles, descriptions and discussions under the ticket tags, participants and even likes / dislikes will be copied.
Ticketing to Epic Documentation and Original Ticket
Improved appearance of the settings panel when filtering tickets and merge-requests
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
We updated the search results presentation design for tickets and Merge Requests customization panels to match the design in the rest of GitLab.
Search documentation in GitLab and original ticket
Saving the order of sorting tickets, merge requests and epics for each user
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
We added the ability for users to set their own sorting order for tickets, merge requests, epics, and even task schedules. Information about the attribute by which you are sorting and the sort order (ascending or descending) is stored in the system, so when you return to the list of objects that you previously viewed, it will be sorted in the same way as before.
Documentation for searching epic and original tick
View open and closed epic on a road map
(ULTIMATE, GOLD)
We recently added the ability to close epics to GitLab, which allows us to mark completed or irrelevant epics.
Starting with this release, we also add the ability to view open epics, closed epics, or both at once on road maps. This will be useful for those teams for whom it is important to focus only on the remaining and urgent tasks (open epics), or who want to view completed tasks (closed epics), or which need to be seen on both the completed and current tasks. With our new features such flexibility becomes available. In addition, now your settings are saved in the system for each user, so that when you return to the roadmap again, it will look exactly the same as the previous time.
Task schedule documentation and original ticket
Display of similar tasks
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
As projects grow, developers create new tickets for emerging tasks, and often these tickets begin to repeat.
In order to help people find answers faster and save project maintainer time, now when creating a new ticket, tickets similar to it are displayed. They are displayed when you enter the title in the ticket creation web form. This will help users immediately find similar tickets, switch to them and immediately join in relevant discussions, which gives even more opportunities for collaboration in GitLab.
Related Ticket Documentation and Original Ticket
Support for pushing mirroring over SSH with public key authentication
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
Mirroring repositories allows you to copy Git repositories from one place to another. This makes it easier to work with multiple instances of GitLab when creating a repository mirror on another server. However, some target servers give access to Git only via SSH with public key authentication.
GitLab now supports mirroring via SSH with public key authentication, in addition to password-based authentication and password pushing via HTTP.
Push Mirror Documentation and Original Ticket
Maintainer project can now remove pipelines through API
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
You can now remove the pipeline using the API. This is useful in cases when secret information was leaked in the pipeline, many unnecessary pipelines were created, or other problems arose when the pipelines needed to be removed.
Documentation on removing conveyors and original ticket
Trigger variables are now hidden by default in the user interface.
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
All trigger variables are now hidden by default in the user interface and are shown only when explicitly specified by the user. This will prevent inadvertent disclosure of values when sharing a screen or taking screenshots.
Documentation on the use of trigger variables and the original ticket
One email notification for review of merge requests
(PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, SILVER, GOLD)
Code review is a necessary practice for every successful project, but it is sometimes unnecessary to receive an email for each comment. Now only one notification is sent with a list of all comments, so as not to trash your inbox.
The Merge Requests Review ( original article , translation ) presented in GitLab 11.4 makes it easy to review the code, allowing you to write, review and send comments in one action.
This feature is now available on GitLab.com, and can also be enabled for user GitLab instances using a plug-in feature (feature flag, feature toggle) batch_review_notification. It will be enabled by default for user instances in GitLab 11.7.
Documentation on Merge Requests Review and Original Ticket
Improved project view page
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
In the release of GitLab 11.6, we continue to work with the user interface of our project page: we adjusted the project title display, improved the contrast and worked with empty spaces to focus on frequently used actions and improve the overall information structure.
Project documentation and original ticket
User profile popup
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
In this release, we have added extended tooltips when hovering the cursor over the username, while on the pages of the task and the merge-request. Previously, we only displayed the full name, and now the full username, ID, company, location information and user status, if available, will be visible.
In addition to adding an extended tooltip on other pages, we are working on subsequent improvements to tooltips for tasks and merge-requests that will be available soon.
Navigation chain includes 'New' and 'Edit' for milestones and tags
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
In this release, we are improving our navigation chain (breadcrumb navigation) GitLab for mails and labels. When creating or editing a mailbox or label, there is an additional element 'New' or 'Edit' at the end of the navigation chain, which is now consistent with tickets and merge requests.
Thanks to George Tsiolis for this feature!
HTTPS support for Auto DevOps
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
Auto DevOps in GitLab addresses many of the problems that arise when delivering quality software. GitLab 11.6 further expands its capabilities by adding support for HTTPS.
Using the certificate manager for Kubernetes, Auto DevOps will automatically serve applications via HTTPS, providing enhanced security for your applications.
Auto DevOps Documentation and Original Ticket
HTTPS support for JupyterHub
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
JupyterHub provides data management teams with a powerful way to share information. Often, sensitive data requires increased security.
Using the certificate manager for Kubernetes, JupyterHub will automatically serve Jupyter over HTTPS, providing enhanced security for your sensitive data.
Documentation for installing applications on clusters and original ticket
Displaying the HTTP response code from Kubernetes
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
To facilitate and speed up troubleshooting when installing applications managed by GitLab to the Kubernetes cluster, we now send an HTTP response code from Kubernetes.
Cluster Management Documentation and Original Ticket
Unlimited number of free guest users of Gold plans
(ULTIMATE, GOLD)
In version 11.0, we introduced an unlimited number of guest users for Ultimate plans.
We now extend this to Gold plans, so groups that use the highest GitLab.com plan, whether it’s a custom server or a cloud-based SaaS, can benefit from adding guests at no extra cost.
User Access Rights Documentation and Original Ticket
Prohibiting administrators from playing the role of users
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE)
In some organizations, allowing administrators to play the role of users poses a security risk because the actions of administrators are attributed to the user on whose behalf they act. To solve this problem, we add a custom option so that you can disable this feature.
Documentation on prohibiting administrators from playing the role of users and the original ticket
Markdown front matter filtering for TOML and JSON
(CORE, STARTER, PREMIUM, ULTIMATE, FREE, BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD)
Front matter is the metadata included at the beginning of the markdown document, often used by static site generators such as Jekyll and Hugo . When GitLab converts markdown files in repositories to HTML for display, front matter retains its format and is displayed as is, for clarity.
In addition to separators from YAML ( ---), GitLab now also supports separators from TOML ( +++), separators from JSON ( ;;;), and arbitrary separators, allowing you to support any data format.
Thanks to Travis Miller for this feature!
Front matter documentation and original ticket
Auto DevOps Support for Group Security Panel
(ULTIMATE, GOLD)
In the release of GitLab 11.5 (the original article , the translation ), we released a group Security Panel , which displays the results of SAST .
With release 11.6, we add the latest version of the SAST job definition to the Auto DevOps template , and now the results are fully compatible with the group security panel, so users can use both functions at the same time.
Note: To define a new SAST job, GitLab Runner 11.5 or higher is required , you can read more in this blog post .
Auto DevOps Documentation and Original Ticket
Detailed release notes and upgrade / installation instructions can be found in the original English post: GitLab 11.6 released with Serverless and Group-level Clusters .
Cattidourden , rishavant , ainoneko and maryartkey worked on translation from English .