Building and Deploying PGPool Images with GitHub Actions

Building and Deploying PGPool Images with GitHub Actions

Introduction

In the ever-evolving landscape of DevOps and CI/CD pipelines, containerization has become a pivotal component for deploying applications. One such application, PGPool, a connection pooler for PostgreSQL, is widely used to enhance the performance and scalability of database clusters. However, maintaining up-to-date and customized images for such applications can be challenging. This article will guide you through setting up a GitHub Action to build and deploy PGPool images to GitHub Container Registry.

Why GitHub Actions for Building Images?

GitHub Actions provide a powerful platform for automating workflows, including the building and deploying of Docker images. With GitHub Actions, you can:

• Automate the building process for different versions of an application.
• Ensure consistency across environments.
• Integrate seamlessly with GitHub repositories.
• Utilize matrix strategies for building multiple versions concurrently.

Setting Up GitHub Action for PGPool

To build and deploy PGPool images using GitHub Actions, we will use a YAML configuration file that defines the steps and environment needed for the process. Below is a detailed breakdown of the YAML configuration provided:

Workflow Trigger

The workflow is triggered on every push to the repository:

on:
  push:

Permissions

We specify the necessary permissions for the workflow to interact with the repository and package registry:

permissions:
  contents: write
  packages: write

Environment Variables

The Docker repository path is set as an environment variable:

env:
  DOCKER_REPO: ghcr.io/$/pgpool

Jobs

The job is defined with a name and runs on the latest Ubuntu runner with a timeout set to 20 minutes:

jobs:
  publish_docker:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    timeout-minutes: 20

Strategy

Using the matrix strategy, we can build images for multiple PGPool versions:

strategy:
  fail-fast: false
  matrix:
    version: ['4.4.8', '4.5.3']

Steps

The steps include checking out the repository, setting up QEMU, Buildx, logging into the GitHub Container Registry, and finally building and pushing the images:

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4
  - uses: docker/setup-qemu-action@v3
  - uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3

  - name: Login to Github Container Registry
    uses: docker/login-action@v3
    with:
      registry: ghcr.io
      username: $
      password: $

  - name: Build and push images
    uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
    with:
      context: ./pgpool.docker/
      file: ./pgpool.docker/Dockerfile.pgpool
      build-args: |
        PGPOOL_VER=$
      push: true
      platforms: linux/amd64,linux/arm64
      tags: |
        $:$

Key Components

• checkout: Checks out the repository to the runner.
• setup-qemu-action: Installs QEMU to enable building multi-platform images.
• setup-buildx-action: Sets up Docker Buildx for building and pushing images.
• login-action: Logs into the GitHub Container Registry using the GITHUB_TOKEN.
• build-push-action: Builds the Docker image for the specified platform and pushes it to the registry.

Conclusion

By leveraging GitHub Actions, you can streamline the process of building and deploying PGPool images. This not only ensures that you have the latest versions available but also automates the process, reducing the potential for human error and freeing up time for more critical tasks.

With the provided YAML configuration, you can easily adapt and extend the workflow to include additional versions or even other types of database tools. The flexibility of GitHub Actions makes it an excellent choice for automating your container image pipelines.