Author’s voice: The article emphasizes the importance of monitoring disk I/O bottlenecks in CI pipelines and provides tools like iostat and fio for this purpose. A test using the default GitHub ubuntu-22.04 runner is highlighted to gauge disk performance, shedding light on potential slowdowns. Monitoring disk performance during various operations, such as downloading and untarring dependencies, reveals insights into throughput limitations. Benchmarking tools like fio are recommended to verify disk performance across different runners. A new Depot Ultra Runner with ultra-fast disk I/O is introduced, promising improved performance for high-demand scenarios. The article concludes with an invitation to compare CI pipeline performance on Depot Runners through a 7-day free trial. Key information includes methods for identifying and addressing disk I/O bottlenecks, testing throughput and IOPS, and exploring new runner options for optimized performance.
https://depot.dev/blog/uncovering-disk-io-bottlenecks-github-actions-ci