29 KiB
Gitlab
- TL;DR
- Package
- Kubernetes
- Repository management
- CI/CD pipelines
- Manage kubernetes clusters
- Maintenance mode
- Runners
- Troubleshooting
- Further readings
TL;DR
Using -H 'PRIVATE-TOKEN: glpat-m-…' in API calls is the same as using -H 'Authorization: bearer glpat-m-…'.
# List the current application settings of the GitLab instance.
curl -H 'PRIVATE-TOKEN: glpat-m-…' 'https://gitlab.fqdn/api/v4/application/settings'
# Enable maintenance mode.
curl -X 'PUT' -H 'PRIVATE-TOKEN: glpat-m-…' 'https://gitlab.fqdn/api/v4/application/settings?maintenance_mode=true'
# Disable maintenance mode.
curl -X 'PUT' -H 'PRIVATE-TOKEN: glpat-m-…' 'https://gitlab.fqdn/api/v4/application/settings?maintenance_mode=false'
Package
Previously known as 'Omnibus'.
Installation
Refer Install self-managed GitLab.
sudo dnf install 'gitlab-ee'
sudo EXTERNAL_URL='http://gitlab.example.com' GITLAB_ROOT_PASSWORD='smthng_Strong_0r_it_llfail' apt install 'gitlab-ee'
sudo gitlab-rake 'gitlab:env:info'
Configuration
The application of configuration changes is handled by Chef Infra.
It runs checks, ensures directories, permissions, and services are in place and working, and restarts components if any
of their configuration files have changed.
# Change application settings.
# Useful to reach those ones not available in the configuration file.
sudo gitlab-rails runner '
::Gitlab::CurrentSettings.update!(gravatar_enabled: false);
::Gitlab::CurrentSettings.update!(remember_me_enabled: false);
::Gitlab::CurrentSettings.update!(email_confirmation_setting: "hard");
'
# Disable public registration.
sudo gitlab-rails runner '::Gitlab::CurrentSettings.update!(signup_enabled: false)'
# Validate.
# Just makes sure the file is readable from a ruby app.
# Gitlab's internal checks do not really do anything.
sudo vim '/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb'
sudo ruby -c '/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb'
sudo gitlab-ctl show-config
# Check if there are any configuration in the configuration file that is removed in specified versions.
# Useless by experience.
sudo gitlab-ctl check-config
sudo gitlab-ctl check-config -v '16.11.0'
# Make Gitlab aware of the changes.
sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
Backup settings for AWS buckets.
See Back up Gitlab using Amazon S3:
# If using an IAM Profile, don't configure 'aws_access_key_id' and
# 'aws_secret_access_key' but set "'use_iam_profile' => true" instead.
gitlab_rails['backup_upload_connection'] = {
'provider' => 'AWS',
'region' => 'eu-west-1',
'aws_access_key_id' => 'AKIAKIAKI',
'aws_secret_access_key' => 'secret123'
}
# It appears one can use prefixes by appending them to the bucket name.
# See https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/charts/gitlab/-/issues/3376.
gitlab_rails['backup_upload_remote_directory'] = 'bucket-name/prefix'
# Use multipart uploads when the archive's size exceeds 100MB.
gitlab_rails['backup_multipart_chunk_size'] = 104857600
# Only keep 7 days worth of backups.
gitlab_rails['backup_keep_time'] = 604800
The package's included nginx generates keys and a self-signed certificate for the external URL upon start if the
given URL's schema is HTTPS.
The Let's Encrypt account key is in OpenSSL format, while the certificate's key is in OpenSSH format. Both are not
password protected.
Maintenance
# Check the components' state.
sudo gitlab-ctl status
# Get the services' logs.
sudo gitlab-ctl tail
sudo gitlab-ctl tail 'nginx'
# Restart services.
sudo gitlab-ctl restart
sudo gitlab-ctl restart 'nginx'
# Run checks for the whole system.
sudo gitlab-rake 'gitlab:check'
# Create backups.
sudo gitlab-backup create
sudo gitlab-backup create BACKUP='prefix_override' STRATEGY='copy'
# Create empty backup archives for testing purposes.
# See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/backup_restore/backup_gitlab.html#excluding-specific-data-from-the-backup
sudo gitlab-backup create … \
SKIP='db,repositories,uploads,builds,artifacts,pages,lfs,terraform_state,registry,packages,ci_secure_files'
# Restore backups.
sudo aws s3 cp 's3://backups/gitlab/gitlab-secrets.json' '/etc/gitlab/gitlab-secrets.json' \
&& sudo aws s3 cp 's3://backups/gitlab/gitlab.rb' '/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb' \
&& sudo aws s3 cp \
's3://backups/gitlab/11493107454_2018_04_25_10.6.4-ce_gitlab_backup.tar' \
'/var/opt/gitlab/backups/' \
&& sudo gitlab-ctl stop 'puma' \
&& sudo gitlab-ctl stop 'sidekiq' \
&& sudo GITLAB_ASSUME_YES=1 gitlab-backup restore BACKUP='11493107454_2018_04_25_10.6.4-ce' \
&& sudo gitlab-ctl restart \
&& sudo gitlab-rake 'gitlab:check' SANITIZE=true \
&& sudo gitlab-rake 'gitlab:doctor:secrets' \
&& sudo gitlab-rake 'gitlab:artifacts:check' \
&& sudo gitlab-rake 'gitlab:lfs:check' \
&& sudo gitlab-rake 'gitlab:uploads:check'
# Upgrade the package.
sudo yum check-update
sudo gitlab-backup create
tmux new-session -As 'gitlab-upgrade' "sudo yum update 'gitlab-ee'"
# Reset the root user's password.
sudo gitlab-rake 'gitlab:password:reset[root]'
sudo gitlab-rails console \
# --> user = User.find_by_username 'root'
# --> user.password = 'QwerTy184'
# --> user.password_confirmation = 'QwerTy184'
# --> user.password_automatically_set = false
# --> user.save!
# --> quit
sudo gitlab-rails runner '
user = User.find_by_username "anUsernameHere";
new_password = "QwerTy184";
user.password = new_password;
user.password_confirmation = new_password;
user.password_automatically_set = false;
user.save!
'
# Disable users' two factor authentication.
sudo gitlab-rails runner 'User.where(username: "anUsernameHere").each(&:disable_two_factor!)'
Migration procedure:
- Put the old instance in maintenance mode
- Take a full backup of the old instance
- Copy the configuration and secrets from the old instance to the new one
- Change the DNS to the new instance
- Reconfigure the new instance
- Restore the full backup on the new instance
Removal
# Remove all users and groups created by the package.
sudo gitlab-ctl stop && sudo gitlab-ctl remove-accounts
# Remove all data.
sudo gitlab-ctl cleanse && sudo rm -r '/opt/gitlab'
# Uninstall the package.
sudo apt remove 'gitlab-ee'
sudo dnf remove 'gitlab-ee'
Kubernetes
Helm chart
Gitlab offers an official helm chart to to allow for deployments on kubernetes clusters.
Follow the deployment guide for details and updated information.
Deployment
-
Prepare the environment:
export \ ENVIRONMENT='minikube' \ NAMESPACE='gitlab' \ VALUES_DIR="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/kubernetes/helm/gitlab" -
Validate the values and install the chart.
The installation took > 20m on a MacBook Pro 16-inch 2019 with Intel i7 and 16GB RAM.
# validation helm upgrade --install \ --namespace "${NAMESPACE}" \ --values "${VALUES_DIR}/values.${ENVIRONMENT}.yaml" \ 'gitlab' \ 'gitlab/gitlab' \ --dry-run # installation helm upgrade --install \ --atomic \ --create-namespace \ --namespace "${NAMESPACE}" \ --timeout 0 \ --values "${VALUES_DIR}/values.${ENVIRONMENT}.yaml" \ 'gitlab' \ 'gitlab/gitlab' \ --debug -
Keep an eye on the installation:
kubectl get events \ --namespace "${NAMESPACE}" \ --sort-by '.metadata.creationTimestamp' \ --watch # requires `watch` from 'procps-ng' # `brew install watch` watch kubectl get all --namespace "${NAMESPACE}" # requires `k9s` # `brew install k9s` k9s --namespace "${NAMESPACE}" -
Get the login password for the
rootuser:kubectl get secret 'gitlab-gitlab-initial-root-password' \ --namespace "${NAMESPACE}" \ -o jsonpath='{.data.password}' \ | base64 --decode -
Open the login page:
export URL="https://$(kubectl get ingresses --namespace 'gitlab' | grep 'webservice' | awk '{print $2}')" xdg-open "${URL}" # on linux open "${URL}" # on mac os x -
Have fun!
To delete everything:
helm uninstall --namespace "${NAMESPACE}" 'gitlab'
kubectl delete --ignore-not-found namespace "${NAMESPACE}"
Maintenance
-
Add and update Gitlab's helm repository:
helm repo add 'gitlab' 'https://charts.gitlab.io/' helm repo update -
Look up the chart's version:
$ helm search repo 'gitlab/gitlab' NAME CHART VERSION APP VERSION DESCRIPTION gitlab/gitlab 4.9.3 13.9.3 Web-based Git-repository manager with wiki and ... -
Fetch the chart:
helm fetch 'gitlab/gitlab' --untar --untardir "$CHART_DIR" helm fetch 'gitlab/gitlab' --untar --untardir "$CHART_DIR" --version "$CHART_VERSION" -
Get the default values for the chart:
helm inspect values 'gitlab/gitlab' > "${VALUES_DIR}/values.yaml" helm inspect values --version "$CHART_VERSION" 'gitlab/gitlab' > "${VALUES_DIR}/values-${CHART_VERSION}.yaml"export VALUES_DIR="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/kubernetes/helm/gitlab" helm inspect values 'gitlab/gitlab' > "${VALUES_DIR}/values.yaml" -
Create a dedicated values file with the changes one needs (see the helm chart gotchas below):
global: edition: ce ingress: configureCertmanager: false time_zone: UTC certmanager: install: false gitlab-runner: install: false -
Upgrade the stored chart to a new version:
helm repo update rm -r "${CHART_DIR}/gitlab" helm fetch 'gitlab/gitlab' --untar --untardir "$CHART_DIR" --version "$CHART_VERSION"
Minikube
When testing with a minikube installation with 8GiB RAM, kubernetes complained being out of memory.
Be sure to give your cluster enough resources:
# on linux
minikube start --kubernetes-version "${K8S_VERSION}" --cpus '4' --memory '12GiB'
# on mac os x
minikube start --kubernetes-version "${K8S_VERSION}" --cpus '8' --memory '12GiB' # docker-desktop (no Ingresses)
minikube start --kubernetes-version "${K8S_VERSION}" --cpus '8' --memory '12GiB' --vm # hyperkit vm (to be able to use Ingresses)
or consider using the minimal Minikube example values file as reference, as stated in CPU and RAM Resource Requirements
-
Finish preparing the environment:
export K8S_VERSION='v1.16.15' -
Enable the
ingressandmetrics-serveraddons:minikube addons enable 'ingress' minikube addons enable 'metrics-server' -
When using the
LoadBalancerIngress type (the default), start a tunnel in a different shell to let the installation finish:minikube tunnel -c -
Install the chart as described above.
-
Add minikube's IP address to the
/etc/hostsfile:kubectl get ingresses --namespace 'gitlab' | grep 'webservice' | awk '{print $3 " " $2}' | sudo tee -a '/etc/hosts'
Gotchas
-
Use self-signed certs and avoid using certmanager setting up the following:
global: ingress: configureCertmanager: false certmanager: install: false -
Avoid using a load balancer (mainly for local testing) setting the ingress type to
NodePort:nginx-ingress: controller: service: type: NodePort -
As of 2021-01-15, a clean minikube cluster with only gitlab installed takes up about 1 vCPU and 6+ GiB RAM:
$ kubectl top nodes NAME CPU(cores) CPU% MEMORY(bytes) MEMORY% minikube 965m 12% 6375Mi 53%$ kubectl get pods --namespace 'gitlab' NAMESPACE NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE gitlab gitlab-gitaly-0 1/1 Running 0 71m gitlab gitlab-gitlab-exporter-547cf7fbff-xzqjp 1/1 Running 0 71m gitlab gitlab-gitlab-shell-5c5b8dd9cd-g4z7b 1/1 Running 0 71m gitlab gitlab-gitlab-shell-5c5b8dd9cd-ppbtk 1/1 Running 0 71m gitlab gitlab-migrations-2-j6lt6 0/1 Completed 0 8m27s gitlab gitlab-minio-6dd7d96ddb-xxq9w 1/1 Running 0 71m gitlab gitlab-minio-create-buckets-2-q5zfg 0/1 Completed 0 8m27s gitlab gitlab-nginx-ingress-controller-7fc8cbf49d-b9lqm 1/1 Running 0 71m gitlab gitlab-nginx-ingress-controller-7fc8cbf49d-ng589 1/1 Running 0 71m gitlab gitlab-nginx-ingress-default-backend-7ff88b95f-lv5vt 1/1 Running 0 71m gitlab gitlab-postgresql-0 2/2 Running 0 71m gitlab gitlab-prometheus-server-6cfb57f575-cs669 2/2 Running 0 71m gitlab gitlab-redis-master-0 2/2 Running 0 71m gitlab gitlab-registry-6c75496fc7-fgbvb 1/1 Running 0 8m16s gitlab gitlab-registry-6c75496fc7-fhsqs 1/1 Running 0 8m27s gitlab gitlab-sidekiq-all-in-1-v1-64b9c56675-lf29p 1/1 Running 0 8m27s gitlab gitlab-task-runner-7897bb897d-br5g5 1/1 Running 0 7m54s gitlab gitlab-webservice-default-7846fb55d6-4pspg 2/2 Running 0 7m37s gitlab gitlab-webservice-default-7846fb55d6-tmjqm 2/2 Running 0 8m27swith a spike of 5 vCPUs upon installation (specially for sidekiq). Keep this in mind when sizing the test cluster
-
Disable TLS setting up the following values:
global: hosts: https: false ingress: tls: enabled: false -
Use a suffix in the ingresses hosts setting up the
global.hosts.hostSuffixvalue:$ helm template \ --namespace "${NAMESPACE}" \ --values "${VALUES_DIR}/values.${ENVIRONMENT}.yaml" \ --set global.hosts.hostSuffix='test' \ 'gitlab' \ 'gitlab/gitlab' \ | yq -r 'select(.kind == "Ingress") | .spec.rules[].host' - gitlab-test.f.q.dn minio-test.f.q.dn registry-test.f.q.dn
Operator
See the operator guide and the operator code for details.
Repository management
Different owners for parts of the code base
Refer to code owners for more and updated information.
Leverage code owners.
By adding code owners to the repository, they become eligible approvers in the project for MRs that contain those files.
Enable the eligible approvers merge request approval rule in the project's Settings > Merge requests.
Require code owner approval for protected branches in the project's Settings > Repository > Protected branches.
Gotchas:
- Specifying owners for paths overwrites the previous owners list.
There seems to be no way to inherit and add (and not just overwrite) owners that would not require the list being repeated. - There is as of 2024-04-10 no way to assign ownership by using aliases for roles (like maintainers or developers); only
groups or users are allowed.
This feature is being added, but it has been open for over 3y now. See Ability to reference Maintainers or Developers from CODEOWNERS.
CI/CD pipelines
Refer to CI/CD pipelines and CI/CD pipeline templates.
Also check Use CI/CD configuration from other files and Use extends to reuse configuration sections.
Specify when to run jobs
Refer Specify when jobs run with rules.
Use the rules key and specify the conditions the job needs.
The
only/exceptkeywords have been deprecated by theruleskeyword, and cannot be used together.
This means one might be forced to useonly/exceptif one is including a pipeline that is already using them.
Conditions are validated in order until one applies. The rest are ignored.
If no condition applies, the job is skipped.
Only when some specific files change
docker-build:
only:
changes:
- cmd/*
- go.*
- Dockerfile
Multiple entries in the condition are validated in an OR fashion. In the example above, the condition will make the
job run only when a change occurs:
- to any file in the
cmddirectory - to any file in the repository's root directory which name starts with
go(likego.modorgo.sum) - to the
Dockerfilein the repository's root directory
Get the version of the helper image to use for a runner
The gitlab/gitlab-runner-helper images are tagged using the runner's os, architecture, and git revision.
One needs to know the version of Gitlab and of the runner one wants to use.
Usually, the runner's version is the one most similar to Gitlab's version (e.g. Gitlab: 13.6.2 → gitlab-runner: 13.6.0).
To get the tag to use for the helper, check the runner's version:
$ docker run --rm --name 'runner' 'gitlab/gitlab-runner:alpine-v13.6.0' --version
Version: 13.6.0
Git revision: 8fa89735
Git branch: 13-6-stable
GO version: go1.13.8
Built: 2020-11-21T06:16:31+0000
OS/Arch: linux/amd64
In this case, the os is Linux, the architecture is amd64 and the revision is 8fa89735. So, following their instructions, the tag will be x86_64-8fa89735:
$ docker pull 'gitlab/gitlab-runner-helper:x86_64-8fa89735'
x86_64-8fa89735: Pulling from gitlab/gitlab-runner-helper
a1514ca1e64d: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:4e239257280eb0fa750f1ef30975dacdef5f5346bfaa9e6d60e58d440d8cd0f1
Status: Downloaded newer image for gitlab/gitlab-runner-helper:x86_64-8fa89735
docker.io/gitlab/gitlab-runner-helper:x86_64-8fa89735
Manage kubernetes clusters
See adding and removing kubernetes clusters for more information.
For now the Gitlab instance can manage only kubernetes clusters external to the one it is running into.
Maintenance mode
Refer Gitlab maintenance mode.
Allows administrators to reduce write operations to a minimum while maintenance tasks are performed.
The main goal is to block all external actions that change the internal state, specially the PostgreSQL database, files,
repositories, and the container registry.
When enabled, new actions are forbidden to come in and internal state changes are minimal.
This allows maintenance tasks to execute easier as services can be stopped completely or further degraded for a shorter
period of time than might otherwise be needed.
Most external actions that do not change the internal state are allowed. HTTP POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE
requests are blocked.
See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/maintenance_mode/#rest-api for a detailed overview of how special cases
are handled.
Through Web UI:
- On the left sidebar, at the bottom, select Admin Area.
- On the left sidebar, select Settings > General.
- Expand Maintenance Mode and toggle Enable Maintenance Mode.
Optionally add a message for the banner. - Select Save changes.
Through API calls:
# Enable maintenance mode.
curl -X 'PUT' -H 'PRIVATE-TOKEN: glpat-m-…' 'https://gitlab.fqdn/api/v4/application/settings?maintenance_mode=true'
curl -X 'PUT' -H 'PRIVATE-TOKEN: glpat-m-…' \
'https://gitlab.fqdn/api/v4/application/settings?maintenance_mode_message=YaBlockedBro'
# Disable maintenance mode.
curl -X 'PUT' -H 'PRIVATE-TOKEN: glpat-m-…' 'https://gitlab.fqdn/api/v4/application/settings?maintenance_mode=false'
Through Rails console:
::Gitlab::CurrentSettings.update!(maintenance_mode: true)
::Gitlab::CurrentSettings.update!(maintenance_mode_message: "New message")
::Gitlab::CurrentSettings.update!(maintenance_mode: false)
Runners
See runners.
Troubleshooting
Use access tokens to clone projects
git clone "https://oauth2:${ACCESS_TOKEN}@somegitlab.com/vendor/package.git"
Pipeline fails with error You are not allowed to download code from this project
Error message example:
Getting source from Git repository 00:00
Fetching changes with git depth set to 20...
Reinitialized existing Git repository in /builds/myProj/myRepo/.git/
remote: You are not allowed to download code from this project.
fatal: unable to access 'https://gitlab.com/myProj/myRepo.git/': The requested URL returned error: 403
Root cause: the user starting the pipeline does not have enough privileges to the repository.
Solution: give that user developer access or have somebody else with enough privileges run it.
Gitlab keeps answering with code 502
Refer The docker images for gitlab-ce and gitlab-ee start workhorse with incorrect socket ownership.
Error message example:
==> /var/log/gitlab/nginx/gitlab_error.log <==
2024/05/09 20:57:57 [crit] 617#0: *26 connect() to unix:/var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-workhorse/sockets/socket failed (13: Permission denied) while connecting to upstream, client: 172.21.0.1, server: gitlab.lan, request: "GET / HTTP/2.0", upstream: "http://unix:/var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-workhorse/sockets/socket:/", host: "gitlab.lan:8443"
Context: Gitlab 16.11.2 CE running from Docker image.
Root cause: the socket's permissions are mapped incorrectly.
Solution: set the correct ownership with
docker exec 'gitlab' chown 'gitlab-www:git' '/var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-workhorse/sockets/socket'.
Further readings
- Self-hosting
- Gitlab's helm chart
- Gitlab's helm chart's global settings
- Command-line options
- Deployment guide
- Install runners on kubernetes
- TLS configuration
- Adding and removing Kubernetes clusters
- Gitlab's operator code and relative guide
- CI/CD pipelines
- Buildah
- Kaniko
- The GitLab Handbook
Sources
- Configuring private dns zones and upstream nameservers in kubernetes
- Using GitLab token to clone without authentication
- Back up GitLab Using Amazon S3
- Support object storage bucket prefixes
- Back up GitLab excluding specific data from the backup
- Autoscaling GitLab Runner on AWS EC2
- How to restart GitLab
- Customize pipeline configuration
- Code owners
- Ability to reference Maintainers or Developers from CODEOWNERS
- Merge request approval rules
- Caching in CI/CD
- Predefined CI/CD variables reference
- Tutorial: Use Buildah in a rootless container with GitLab Runner Operator on OpenShift
- Use kaniko to build Docker images
- Specify when jobs run with
rules - Install self-managed GitLab
- Package configuration file template
- Install GitLab with the Linux package
- Reset a user's password
- Environment variables
- Sign-up restrictions
- Restore GitLab
- How to disable the Two-factor authentication in GitLab?
- How to Upgrade Your Omnibus GitLab
- The docker images for gitlab-ce and gitlab-ee start workhorse with incorrect socket ownership
- GitLab HA Scaling Runner Vending Machine for AWS EC2 ASG
- GitLab maintenance mode