Production deployment for gitlab-org/gitlab

The following documentation provides a detailed step-by-step guide on how to deploy the gitlab-org/gitlab project in a production environment. This guide assumes familiarity with GitLab’s architecture and deployment strategies.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding with the deployment process, ensure that you have:

Docker installed and running on your server.
Access to a production environment where you can deploy the application.

1. Prepare the Docker Image

GitLab is packaged as a Docker image. The default Docker image specified in the docker-compose.yml is gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest.

app:
  image: gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest

Use this image to initiate your deployment.

2. Building the Docker Image

In some scenarios, you may need to customize the Docker image by building it from a Dockerfile. Below is a snippet from the Dockerfile used in the project.

FROM registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-build-images/${BUILD_OS}-${OS_VERSION}-ruby-${RUBY_VERSION}:git-${GIT_VERSION}-lfs-${LFS_VERSION}-chrome-${CHROME_VERSION}-docker-${DOCKER_VERSION}-gcloud-${GCLOUD_VERSION}-kubectl-${KUBECTL_VERSION}-helm-${HELM_VERSION} AS foss

ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive"

Variables such as BUILD_OS, OS_VERSION, and RUBY_VERSION allow you to specify the version of dependencies you want in your deployment.

Build Command

To build the Docker image, you can use the following command:

docker build -t gitlab-custom:latest .

3. Setting Up Configuration Files

Configuration files are fundamental for deployment. Necessary files are copied from the repository to the directory within the container.

Example of copying configuration files in Dockerfile:

COPY ./config/initializers/0_inject_enterprise_edition_module.rb /home/gitlab/config/initializers/
COPY ./config/feature_flags /home/gitlab/config/feature_flags
COPY ./lib/gitlab_edition.rb /home/gitlab/lib/

Ensure that the configuration files reflect your environment settings.

4. Running GitLab in Docker

Once the image is ready and configurations are set, the next step is to run the container.

Use the docker-compose command to launch GitLab:

docker-compose up -d

This command starts GitLab as a background daemon.

5. Setup Persistent Storage

To ensure data persists between container restarts, configure volumes in your docker-compose.yml. For example:

volumes:
  gitlab-data:

In your services section, bind this volume:

services:
  app:
    image: gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest
    volumes:
      - gitlab-data:/var/opt/gitlab

6. Post-deployment Configuration

After the deployment, certain configurations might need to be adjusted based on the deployment specifics:

Access GitLab through the URL specified in the environment configuration prompts.
Run any database migrations that are needed by executing:

docker exec -it gitlab_app_1 gitlab-rake db:migrate

7. Monitoring and Maintenance

Monitoring is critical in a production environment. Ensure that logging is correctly set up to track application performance. To check logs, run:

docker logs gitlab_app_1

Regular health checks and updates to the Docker image should also be part of the maintenance routine to ensure continued performance and security.

Conclusion

This guide highlights crucial steps for deploying the GitLab project in a production environment using Docker. Be sure to refer to the official GitLab documentation for any additional configurations or updates to deployment practices.

Source: docker-compose.yml, Dockerfile