GitHub Actions Automation

Introduction

This workshop demonstrates how to use GitHub Actions with a self-hosted runner to automate the deployment and lifecycle management of AppDynamics Smart Agent across multiple EC2 instances. Whether you’re managing 10 hosts or 10,000, this guide shows you how to leverage GitHub Actions workflows for scalable, secure, and repeatable Smart Agent operations.

What You’ll Learn

In this workshop, you’ll learn how to:

• Deploy Smart Agent to multiple hosts using GitHub Actions workflows
• Configure GitHub secrets and variables for secure credentials management
• Set up a self-hosted runner in your AWS VPC
• Implement automatic batching to scale to thousands of hosts
• Manage the complete agent lifecycle - install, uninstall, stop, and cleanup
• Monitor workflow execution and troubleshoot issues

Key Features

• 🚀 Parallel Deployment - Deploy to multiple hosts simultaneously
• 🔄 Complete Lifecycle Management - 11 workflows covering all agent operations
• 🏗️ Infrastructure as Code - All workflows version-controlled in GitHub
• 🔐 Secure - SSH keys stored as GitHub secrets, private VPC networking
• 📈 Massively Scalable - Deploy to thousands of hosts with automatic batching
• 🎛️ Self-hosted Runner - Executes within your AWS VPC

Architecture Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                  GitHub Actions-based Deployment                 │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                  │
│  Developer ──▶ GitHub.com ──▶ Self-hosted Runner (AWS VPC)     │
│                                          │                       │
│                                          ├──▶ Host 1 (SSH)      │
│                                          ├──▶ Host 2 (SSH)      │
│                                          ├──▶ Host 3 (SSH)      │
│                                          └──▶ Host N (SSH)      │
│                                                                  │
│  All hosts send metrics ──▶ AppDynamics Controller             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Workshop Components

This workshop includes:

1. Architecture & Design - Understanding the GitHub Actions workflow architecture
2. GitHub Setup - Configuring secrets, variables, and self-hosted runners
3. Workflow Creation - Understanding and using the 11 available workflows
4. Deployment Execution - Running workflows and verifying installations

Available Workflows

This solution includes 11 workflows for complete Smart Agent lifecycle management:

All workflows support automatic batching for scalability!

Prerequisites

• GitHub account with repository access
• AWS VPC with Ubuntu EC2 instances
• Self-hosted GitHub Actions runner in the same VPC
• SSH key pair for authentication
• AppDynamics Smart Agent package

GitHub Repository

All workflow code and configuration files are available in the GitHub repository:

https://github.com/chambear2809/github-actions-lab

The repository includes:

• 11 complete workflow YAML files
• Detailed setup documentation
• Architecture diagrams
• Troubleshooting guides