We are hosting private repos on GitLab.com and running tests with GitLab CI. Some repos require external dependencies (e.g. Python packages bundled on Debian), which we can access on GitLab.com servers.
However, others repos require dependencies that are not hosted on GitLab.com (e.g. proprietary packages, Windows-only software). We can install these on our local intranet. Can we set up GitLab.com CI to run tests on a local test server?
(Or, do we have to deploy from GitLab.com to a local test server, run tests there without GitLab integration, and then deploy from local test to local production again without GitLab integration.)
You can install the gitlab CI runner locally: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner#installation. In your gitlab.com project, go to the Runners settings page. The section 'How to setup a new project specific runner' tells you how to set things up, specifically the URL to give the runner, and the registration token to use.