git lfs init # initialize the Git LFS project project
git lfs track "*.iso" # select the file extensions that you want to treat as large files
```
Once a certain file extension is marked for tracking as a LFS object you can use Git as usual without having to redo the command to track a file with the same extension:
```bash
cp ~/tmp/debian.iso ./ # copy a large file into the current directory
git add . # add the large file to the project
git commit -am "Added Debian iso" # commit the file meta data
git push origin master # sync the git repo and large file to the GitLab server
```
Cloning the repository works the same as before. Git automatically detects the LFS-tracked files and clones them via HTTP. If you performed the git clone command with a SSH URL, you have to enter your GitLab credentials for HTTP authentication.
If you already cloned the repository and you want to get the latest LFS object that are on the remote repository, eg. from branch `master`:
```bash
git lfs fetch master
```
## Troubleshooting
### error: Repository or object not found
There are a couple of reasons why this error can occur:
* You don't have permissions to access certain LFS object
Check if you have permissions to push to the project or fetch from the project.
* Project is not allowed to access the LFS object
LFS object you are trying to push to the project or fetch from the project is not available to the project anymore.
Probably the object was removed from the server.
* Local git repository is using deprecated LFS API
### Invalid status for <url> : 501
Git LFS will log the failures into a log file.
To view this log file, while in project directory:
```bash
git lfs logs last
```
If the status `error 501` is shown, it is because:
* Git LFS support is not enabled on the GitLab server. Check with your GitLab administrator why Git LFS is not enabled on the server. See [LFS administration documentation](lfs_administration.md) for instructions on how to enable LFS support.
* Git LFS client version is not supported by GitLab server. Check your Git LFS version with `git lfs version`. Check the Git config of the project for traces of deprecated API with `git lfs -l`. If `batch = false` is set in the config, remove the line and try to update your Git LFS client. Only version 1.0.1 and newer are supported.
### getsockopt: connection refused
If you push a LFS object to a project and you receive an error similar to: `Post <URL>/info/lfs/objects/batch: dial tcp IP: getsockopt: connection refused`,
the LFS client is trying to reach GitLab through HTTPS. However, your GitLab instance is being served on HTTP.
This behaviour is caused by Git LFS using HTTPS connections by default when a `lfsurl` is not set in the Git config.
To prevent this from happening, set the lfs url in project Git config:
### Credentials are always required when pushing an object
Given that Git LFS uses HTTP Basic Authentication to authenticate the user pushing the LFS object on every push for every object, user HTTPS credentials are required.
By default, Git has support for remembering the credentials for each repository you use. This is described in [Git credentials man pages](https://git-scm.com/docs/gitcredentials).
For example, you can tell Git to remember the password for a period of time in which you expect to push the objects:
If you are using OS X you can use `osxkeychain` to store and encrypt your credentials. For Windows, you can use `wincred` or Microsoft's [Git Credential Manager for Windows](https://github.com/Microsoft/Git-Credential-Manager-for-Windows/releases).
More details about various methods of storing the user credentials can be found on [Git Credential Storage documentation](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Credential-Storage).