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Installation options

Understand Codefresh installation options

The Codefresh platform supports three different installation options, all compliant with SOC2 - Type2.

Hybrid Runner
The Runner installation is the hybrid installation mode for Codefresh pipelines. The Codefresh UI runs in the Codefresh cloud, and the builds run on customer premises. The Runner combines flexibility with security, and is optimal for Enterprise customers looking for a “behind-the-firewall” solution.
See Hybrid Runner.
On-premises
On-premises installation is for customers who want full control over their environments. Both the UI and the builds run on the Kubernetes cluster in an environment fully managed by you as our customer.

While Codefresh can still help with maintenance of the on-premises platform, we would recommend the Hybrid Runner as it combines flexibility without compromising on security.
See On-premises.
GitOps
GitOps installation is a full-featured solution for application deployments and releases powered by the Argo Project. Codefresh uses Argo CD, Argo Workflows, Argo Events, and Argo Rollouts, extended with unique functionality and features essential for enterprise deployments.

GitOps installations support Hosted and Hybrid options.
See GitOps.

Note on Cloud Builds for Codefresh pipelines

Cloud Builds for Codefresh pipelines are disabled for all accounts by default. Account admins can request Codefresh to enable Cloud Builds for an account. There is no manual action required except to click on the Enable Cloud Builds button as shown below. The timeframe for the response is up to 24 hours.

As an account admin, you can then grant access to users or have the users explicitly request access to a runtime environment to run pipelines.

If you create a free account, to run pipelines, you need to configure Build Runtime settings with a Hybrid Runner runtime environment.

Hybrid Runner

The Hybrid Runner installation is for organizations who want their source code to live within their premises, or have other security constraints. For implementation details, see [Runner installation behind firewalls. The UI runs on Codefresh infrastructure, while the builds happen in a Kubernetes cluster in the customer’s premises.

Hybrid Runner installation strikes the perfect balance between security, flexibility, and ease of use. Codefresh still does the heavy lifting for maintaining most of the platform parts. Sensitive data such as source code and internal services never leave customer premises.
Codefresh can easily connect to internal secure services that have no public presence. The UI is still compliant with Soc2.

The table lists the security implications of Hybrid Runner installation.

Company Asset	Flow/Storage of data	Comments
Source code	Stays behind the firewall
Binary artifacts	Stay behind the firewall
Build logs	Also sent to Codefresh Web application
Pipeline volumes	Stay behind the firewall
Pipeline variables	Defined in Codefresh Web application
Deployment docker images	Stay behind the firewall	Stored on your Docker registry
Development docker images	Stay behind the firewall	Stored on your Docker registry
Testing docker images	Stay behind the firewall	Stored on your Docker registry
Inline pipeline definition	Defined in Codefresh Web application
Pipelines as YAML file	Stay behind the firewall
Test results	Stay behind the firewall
HTML Test reports	Shown on Web application	Stored in your S3 or Google bucket or Azure storage
Production database data	Stays behind the firewall
Test database data	Stays behind the firewall
Other services (e.g. Queue, ESB)	Stay behind the firewall
Kubernetes deployment specs	Stay behind the firewall
Helm charts	Stay behind the firewall
Other deployment resources/script (e.g. terraform)	Stay behind the firewall
Shared configuration variables	Defined in Codefresh Web application
Deployment secrets (from git/Puppet/Vault etc)	Stay behind the firewall
Audit logs	Managed via Codefresh Web application
SSO/Idp Configuration	Managed via Codefresh Web application
User emails	Managed via Codefresh Web application
Access control rules	Managed via Codefresh Web application

On-premises

For customers who want full control, Codefresh also offers on-premises installation. Both the UI and builds run on a Kubernetes cluster fully managed by the customer.

See Codefresh On-Prem Installation & Configuration.

GitOps

Codefresh GitOps also supports SaaS and hybrid installation options:

Hosted GitOps

The SaaS version of GitOps, Hosted GitOps has Argo CD installed in the Codefresh cluster. Hosted GitOps Runtime is installed and provisioned in a Codefresh cluster, and managed by Codefresh.
Hosted environments are full-cloud environments, where all updates and improvements are managed by Codefresh, with zero-maintenance overhead for you as the customer.
Currently, you can add one Hosted GitOps Runtime per account. For the architecture, see Hosted GitOps Runtime architecture.

For more information on how to set up the hosted environment, including provisioning hosted runtimes, see Set up Hosted GitOps.

Hybrid GitOps

The hybrid version of GitOps, has Argo CD installed in the customer’s cluster.
Hybrid GitOps is installed in the customer’s cluster, and managed by the customer.
The Hybrid GitOps Runtime is optimal for organizations with security constraints, wanting to manage CI/CD operations within their premises. Hybrid GitOps strikes the perfect balance between security, flexibility, and ease of use. Codefresh maintains and manages most aspects of the platform, apart from installing and upgrading Hybrid GitOps Runtimes which are managed by the customer.

For more information on Hybrid GitOps, see Hybrid GitOps runtime requirements and Installling Hybrid GitOps Runtimes.

Hosted vs.Hybrid GitOps

The table below highlights the main differences between Hosted and Hybrid GitOps.

GitOps Functionality	Feature	Hosted	Hybrid
Runtime	Installation	Provisioned by Codefresh	Provisioned by customer
	Runtime cluster	Managed by Codefresh	Managed by customer
	Number per account	One runtime	Multiple runtimes
	External cluster	Managed by customer	Managed by customer
	Upgrade	Managed by Codefresh	Managed by customer
	Uninstall	Managed by customer	Managed by customer
Argo CD		Codefresh cluster	Customer cluster
CI Ops	Delivery Pipelines	Not supported	Supported
	Workflows	Not supported	Supported
	Workflow Templates	Not supported	Supported
CD Ops	Applications	Supported	Supported
	Image enrichment	Supported	Supported
	Rollouts	Supported	Supported
Integrations		Supported	Supported
Dashboards	GitOps Overview	Hosted runtime and deployments	Runtimes, deployments, Delivery Pipelines
	DORA metrics	Supported	Supported
	Applications	Supported	Supported