Im from Iran and dont have any credit card to bypass "CI Validation" to create a website

Hi everyone
several weeks ago I decided to move to gitlab because I figured out gitlab is somehow better (its open-source, it implemented CI sooner that gh, MICROSOFT owns gh and so on)
but I face a problem, When I tried to build my jekyll website here, I realized that I have to use a credit card to validate my account… … I dont have any credit card, in other words, payment systems is completely different in Iran (we dont have any globally accepted credit card) so I cant pass this validation
After a few weeks, I decided to contact support to see if its possible to prove myself to validate my account but I didnt find anything in support.gitlab.com and then Im ended up here
NOTE that most of the times I use VPN when Im surfing the internet, so I can access the gitlab easily (if its not prohibited to use vpn to access gitlab :confused: )
what I have to do?
thanks in advance

Hi, if you cannot pass validation, then disable shared runners, and then run your own runner instead and connect it to your project. Shared runners can only be utilised once credit card verification has occured. Unfortunately it seems this isn’t available for you. Therefore, leaves you with only running your own runner.

If I had a powerful server and I was expert to run a private runner then I didnt post here to ask for an alternative way :frowning_face: :anguished:

Well, in your first post:

we don’t have any globally accepted credit card

probably because of US export restrictions and Iran being an embargoed country

https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/business-technology/trade-compliance/

which means even if you contacted Gitlab Support it won’t be resolved to utilise the shared runners anyway because of that situation, not just with the credit card, but because US export restrictions do not allow business with embargoed countries. Unfortunate situation :frowning:

This is why I gave you an alternative option to create your own runner and run this. Sure it means you would need to use the Gitlab documentation and learn how to set up your own runner. But learning and knowledge is a good thing, so why not do that and learn and set up your own runner?

Thank you so much @iwalker
yep, such a bad situation

Learning is great and is my way to get master :wink:
but
Problem is, I dont have a powerfull server to run it (I have two which the better one is located in iran which cant be use) the other one: 1 cpu, 128 MB ram, 5gb storage

is there any solution to run a cloud server (IaaS) for job and then deactivate that server? :thinking:
I mean, when I have a job, a request send by gitlab to a IaaS provider (which I have account) then provider deploy a server and gitlab runs on that OS and after job has been completed, destroy the server

Salom, @aUserFromIran

Maybe you should try non US based cloud companies.
try these:

These work in a AWS compatible fashion (with their own endpoints and formats for credentials, and some limitations), but if gitlab supports running on AWS, and there is a way to override the endpoints, you should be ok.
Besides, maybe there are other cloud providers in a close to you region (mainly far East - Chaina, Singapore, Vietnam, etc.)

And as a last resort, you can ask your university to setup gitlab for its own purposes (Git server, wiki, CI, etc.) if you put a request, maybe there is a bored system admin who needs your request to get approval :slight_smile:
Then you would not have to worry about maintenance.
(I know this is shooting for the stars, but why not?)

Good luck :pray: :+1: