From 5c20525ed587814c28cd0ac36b856822316034e3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Adrian Parker Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2025 13:10:28 +1300 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Add page detailing Octopus Cloud dynamic workers --- .../docs/octopus-cloud/dynamic-worker.md | 78 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 78 insertions(+) create mode 100644 src/pages/docs/octopus-cloud/dynamic-worker.md diff --git a/src/pages/docs/octopus-cloud/dynamic-worker.md b/src/pages/docs/octopus-cloud/dynamic-worker.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..9e5ccd9e66 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/pages/docs/octopus-cloud/dynamic-worker.md @@ -0,0 +1,78 @@ +--- +layout: src/layouts/Default.astro +pubDate: 2025-03-02 +modDate: 2025-03-02 +title: Dynamic workers +navOrder: 45 +description: Describes what dynamic workers are, how they work, their limitations and other worker type options available for Octopus Cloud +--- + +[Workers](docs/infrastructure/workers) are machines that can execute tasks that don’t need to be run on the Octopus Server or individual deployment targets. + +There are 2 types of worker you can use in Octopus Cloud - external workers and dynamic workers. + +The most flexible type of worker are [external workers](docs/infrastructure/workers#external-workers), which are machines, provided by the customer, accessed from Octopus Cloud via Windows or Linux Tentacle, via SSH, or via [Kubernetes workers](/docs/infrastructure/workers/kubernetes-worker). + +External workers are recommended when the customer needs full control of + +- worker resourcing +- worker configuration +- worker life-cycle +- installed software +- the number of workers that are available + +Our larger customers often prefer external workers for these reasons. We recommend customers consider [Kubernetes workers](https://octopus.com/blog/kubernetes-worker) particularly where workloads require flexible scalability of compute resources. + +The other type of worker available on Octopus Cloud are dynamic workers. + +:::div{.hint} +Self-hosted Octopus Server customers have access to a third type of worker, known as built-in workers. Built-in workers are processes that run on the same machine as Octopus Server. Built-in workers are **not** available to Octopus Cloud customers for security and performance reasons. +::: + +## What you get with dynamic workers + +Dynamic workers are isolated virtual machines, hosted and created on-demand by Octopus to run your deployments and runbook steps. Dynamic workers are provided as part of your Octopus Cloud subscription. + +Customers may choose between Windows and Ubuntu virtual machine images for their dynamic workers. Octopus provides a [dynamic worker pool](/docs/infrastructure/workers/dynamic-worker-pools) of these virtual machines from which, as required, your Octopus Cloud will lease a freshly provisioned dynamic worker VM. Leases are held for a maximum of 72 hours. + +## Limitations of dynamic workers + +### Resourcing + +Your Octopus Cloud [task cap](/docs/octopus-cloud/task-cap) determines the resources available to your dynamic worker. As at January 2025, dynamic worker virtual machines are resourced as follows. These specifications may be adjusted over time. + +| Task cap | vCPUs (Qty.) | Memory (GB) | +| -----: | ------: | ------: | +| 5 | 2 | 4 | +| 10 | 4 | 8 | +| 20 | 4 | 8 | +| 40 | 8 | 16 | +| 80 | 16 | 32 | +| 160 | 32 | 64 | + +:::div{.hint} +We recommend customers who would benefit from scalable workers consider [Kubernetes workers](/docs/infrastructure/workers/kubernetes-worker) over dynamic workers. Kubernetes workers allow worker operations to be executed within a Kubernetes cluster in a scalable manner, allowing compute resources used during the execution of a Deployment process (or runbook) to be released when the Deployment completes. +::: + +### Life-cycle + +Dynamic workers are created on demand and leased to an Octopus Cloud instance for a limited time [before being destroyed](/docs/infrastructure/workers/dynamic-worker-pools#on-demand). Dynamic workers are destroyed when they have been idle for 60 minutes or when they reached 72 hours of existence. All data written to disk is lost upon worker destruction. + +### Installed software + +Dynamic workers come with a small number of [baseline tools](/docs/infrastructure/workers/dynamic-worker-pools#available-dynamic-worker-images) installed. The version of baseline tools may be updated between worker leases. + +We do not recommend installing additional software on dynamic workers. Instead, we suggest you leverage [execution containers for workers](/docs/projects/steps/execution-containers-for-workers). Octopus provides execution containers with a baseline of tools pre-installed. Customers with specific software needs may also use [custom Docker images](/docs/projects/steps/execution-containers-for-workers/#custom-docker-images) to use as execution containers. + +### IP addresses + +Dynamic workers are assigned IP addresses outside the static IP range of your Octopus Cloud Server. If a known/static IP is required for your worker, please consider provisioning your own external worker. + +## Let us know what you want for the future of dynamic workers + +We are interested in hearing from customers who would value a higher specification of dynamic worker. Perhaps more highly resourced dynamic workers would be helpful, or workers with additional security features. If this interests you, please vote on our [Higher resourced, more secure dynamic workers](https://roadmap.octopus.com/c/189-higher-resourced-more-secure-dynamic-workers-for-octopus-cloud?&utm_medium=social&utm_source=starter_share) roadmap item and share with us how dynamic workers can better assist your deployment success. + +## Learn more + +- [Dynamic worker pools](/docs/infrastructure/workers/dynamic-worker-pools) +- [Execution containers](/docs/projects/steps/execution-containers-for-workers) From e8b1bac0233c5de526eb399c62360d8605353e38 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Adrian Parker Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2025 13:11:05 +1300 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Updated pubDate and modDate --- src/pages/docs/octopus-cloud/dynamic-worker.md | 4 ++-- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/src/pages/docs/octopus-cloud/dynamic-worker.md b/src/pages/docs/octopus-cloud/dynamic-worker.md index 9e5ccd9e66..40e0ee14dd 100644 --- a/src/pages/docs/octopus-cloud/dynamic-worker.md +++ b/src/pages/docs/octopus-cloud/dynamic-worker.md @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ --- layout: src/layouts/Default.astro -pubDate: 2025-03-02 -modDate: 2025-03-02 +pubDate: 2025-03-07 +modDate: 2025-03-07 title: Dynamic workers navOrder: 45 description: Describes what dynamic workers are, how they work, their limitations and other worker type options available for Octopus Cloud