How to run builds on other servers

Question

Running Bamboo 4.3.3. I have looked for this in the UI and in Google to no avail. I am building a project in Python that has a bunch of dependencies. We are using virutalenv, whch allows us to define specific dependencies such as Python version, modules etc. independent of whatever python version modules etc. are installed on a specific machine. We can then do: $> workon {projectname} and then use whatever is defined in the virutal env. So, what I want to do is be able to run my tests in Bamboo using the virutal env. Is there a way to checkout the repo and run the tests on another server, other than the Bamboo server? Do I need a "remote agent"? If so, how do I add one? Do I need to be an admin?

Adam Myatt2 · Answer

Hi Aaron,

Based on your description, yes you would need a Remote Agent, if indeed you have Bamboo licensed for such. You do not necessarily need to be an admin to install and add one, but you need to be an admin to configure capabilities for it that are not auto-detected and to approve its registration if your Bamboo admin has remote agent authentication turned on. You can find details about installing Remote AGents here :  https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/BAMBOO/Bamboo+remote+agent+installation+guide

Long story short, you basically go to a remote machine, download the remote agent JAR, which is a headless daemon, run an install command and then start the agent. It "phones home" to the Bamboo server letting it know it is alive and available for builds. Bamboo can then distribute builds to all available remote agents.

If you indeed end up using multiple remote agents keep in mind the parallelization Bamboo uses between Stages and Jobs. Stages execute sequentially, but Jobs within a single Stage execute in parallel, if indeed there are multiple available remote agents that match those Jobs' requirements.