Deploying existing Docker image with Auto DevOps on managed Kubernetes cluster

GitLab CI/CD
,
1

Hi,

we are running a self-managed GitLab (EE) 14.8 instance and use the Auto DevOps feature to deploy our applications on a connected Kubernetes cluster. The deployment of our own built applications works as expected and well.

We also want to deploy already existing images, e.g., from Docker Hub, on our Kubernetes cluster using the Auto DevOps/Auto Deploy features from GitLab. In particular, we want to utilize the preparation and creation of the environments of GitLab. I tried the deployment with the following configurations, but the pipeline does not start.

file: .gitlab-ci.yml

include:
  - template: Auto-DevOps.gitlab-ci.yml

production:
  stage: deploy
  script:
  environment:
    name: production/main
    url: https://swagger-ui.example.com

file: .gitlab/auto-deploy-values.yaml

image:
  repository: swaggerapi/swagger-ui
  tag: latest

I guess I have some misunderstanding of how to deploy an external/existing image.

Does anyone have experience how to deploy an existing image via Auto DevOps features that was not built within the GitLab project?

Thanks in advance
Stefan