---
stage: Create
group: Gitaly
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers
type: reference
---

# Gitaly

[Gitaly](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly) is the service that provides high-level RPC access to
Git repositories. Without it, no GitLab components can read or write Git data.

In the Gitaly documentation:

- **Gitaly server** refers to any node that runs Gitaly itself.
- **Gitaly client** refers to any node that runs a process that makes requests of the
  Gitaly server. Processes include, but are not limited to:
  - [GitLab Rails application](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab).
  - [GitLab Shell](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-shell).
  - [GitLab Workhorse](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-workhorse).

GitLab end users do not have direct access to Gitaly.

CAUTION: **Caution:**
From GitLab 13.0, using NFS for Git repositories is deprecated. In GitLab 14.0,
support for NFS for Git repositories is scheduled to be removed. Upgrade to
[Gitaly Cluster](praefect.md) as soon as possible.

## Architecture

The following is a high-level architecture overview of how Gitaly is used.

![Gitaly architecture diagram](img/architecture_v12_4.png)

## Configure Gitaly

The Gitaly service itself is configured via a [TOML configuration file](reference.md).

To change Gitaly settings:

**For Omnibus GitLab**

1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` and add or change the
   [Gitaly settings](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/blob/1dd07197c7e5ae23626aad5a4a070a800b670380/files/gitlab-config-template/gitlab.rb.template#L1622-1676).
1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).

**For installations from source**

1. Edit `/home/git/gitaly/config.toml` and add or change the [Gitaly settings](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/blob/master/config.toml.example).
1. Save the file and [restart GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source).

## Run Gitaly on its own server

By default, Gitaly is run on the same server as Gitaly clients and is
[configured as above](#configure-gitaly). Single-server installations are best served by
this default configuration used by:

- [Omnibus GitLab](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/).
- The GitLab [source installation guide](../../install/installation.md).

However, Gitaly can be deployed to its own server, which can benefit GitLab installations that span
multiple machines.

NOTE: **Note:**
When configured to run on their own servers, Gitaly servers
[must be upgraded](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/update/#upgrading-gitaly-servers) before Gitaly
clients in your cluster.

The process for setting up Gitaly on its own server is:

1. [Install Gitaly](#install-gitaly).
1. [Configure authentication](#configure-authentication).
1. [Configure Gitaly servers](#configure-gitaly-servers).
1. [Configure Gitaly clients](#configure-gitaly-clients).

When running Gitaly on its own server, note the following regarding GitLab versions:

- From GitLab 11.4, Gitaly was able to serve all Git requests without requiring a shared NFS mount
  for Git repository data, except for the
  [Elasticsearch indexer](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-elasticsearch-indexer).
- From GitLab 11.8, the Elasticsearch indexer uses Gitaly for data access as well. NFS can still be
  leveraged for redundancy on block-level Git data, but only has to be mounted on the Gitaly
  servers.
- From GitLab 11.8 to 12.2, it is possible to use Elasticsearch in a Gitaly setup that doesn't use
  NFS. In order to use Elasticsearch in these versions, the
  [repository indexer](../../integration/elasticsearch.md#elasticsearch-repository-indexer)
  must be enabled in your GitLab configuration.
- [Since GitLab 12.3](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/6481), the new indexer is
  the default and no configuration is required.

### Network architecture

The following list depicts the network architecture of Gitaly:

- GitLab Rails shards repositories into [repository storages](../repository_storage_paths.md).
- `/config/gitlab.yml` contains a map from storage names to `(Gitaly address, Gitaly token)` pairs.
- The `storage name` -\> `(Gitaly address, Gitaly token)` map in `/config/gitlab.yml` is the single
  source of truth for the Gitaly network topology.
- A `(Gitaly address, Gitaly token)` corresponds to a Gitaly server.
- A Gitaly server hosts one or more storages.
- A Gitaly client can use one or more Gitaly servers.
- Gitaly addresses must be specified in such a way that they resolve correctly for **all** Gitaly
  clients.
- Gitaly clients are:
  - Puma or Unicorn.
  - Sidekiq.
  - GitLab Workhorse.
  - GitLab Shell.
  - Elasticsearch indexer.
  - Gitaly itself.
- A Gitaly server must be able to make RPC calls **to itself** via its own
  `(Gitaly address, Gitaly token)` pair as specified in `/config/gitlab.yml`.
- Authentication is done through a static token which is shared among the Gitaly and GitLab Rails
  nodes.

DANGER: **Danger:**
Gitaly servers must not be exposed to the public internet as Gitaly's network traffic is unencrypted
by default. The use of firewall is highly recommended to restrict access to the Gitaly server.
Another option is to [use TLS](#tls-support).

In the following sections, we describe how to configure two Gitaly servers with secret token
`abc123secret`:

- `gitaly1.internal`.
- `gitaly2.internal`.

We assume your GitLab installation has three repository storages:

- `default`.
- `storage1`.
- `storage2`.

You can use as few as one server with one repository storage if desired.

NOTE: **Note:**
The token referred to throughout the Gitaly documentation is just an arbitrary password selected by
the administrator. It is unrelated to tokens created for the GitLab API or other similar web API
tokens.

### Install Gitaly

Install Gitaly on each Gitaly server using either Omnibus GitLab or install it from source:

- For Omnibus GitLab, [download and install](https://about.gitlab.com/install/) the Omnibus GitLab
  package you want but **do not** provide the `EXTERNAL_URL=` value.
- To install from source, follow the steps at
  [Install Gitaly](../../install/installation.md#install-gitaly).

### Configure authentication

Gitaly and GitLab use two shared secrets for authentication:

- One to authenticate gRPC requests to Gitaly.
- A second for authentication callbacks from GitLab Shell to the GitLab internal API.

**For Omnibus GitLab**

To configure the Gitaly token:

1. On the Gitaly clients, edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`:

   ```ruby
   gitlab_rails['gitaly_token'] = 'abc123secret'
   ```

1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).
1. On the Gitaly server, edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`:

   ```ruby
   gitaly['auth_token'] = 'abc123secret'
   ```

1. [Reconfigure GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).

There are two ways to configure the GitLab Shell token.

Method 1:

1. Copy `/etc/gitlab/gitlab-secrets.json` from the Gitaly client to same path on the Gitaly servers
   (and any other Gitaly clients).
1. [Reconfigure GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure) on Gitaly servers.

Method 2:

1. On the Gitaly clients, edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`:

   ```ruby
   gitlab_shell['secret_token'] = 'shellsecret'
   ```

1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).
1. On the Gitaly servers, edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`:

   ```ruby
   gitlab_shell['secret_token'] = 'shellsecret'
   ```

1. [Reconfigure GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).

**For installations from source**

1. Copy `/home/git/gitlab/.gitlab_shell_secret` from the Gitaly client to the same path on the
   Gitaly servers (and any other Gitaly clients).
1. On the Gitaly clients, edit `/home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml`:

   ```yaml
   gitlab:
     gitaly:
       token: 'abc123secret'
   ```

1. Save the file and [restart GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source).
1. On the Gitaly servers, edit `/home/git/gitaly/config.toml`:

   ```toml
   [auth]
   token = 'abc123secret'
   ```

1. Save the file and [restart GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source).

### Configure Gitaly servers

On the Gitaly servers, you must configure storage paths and enable the network listener.

If you want to reduce the risk of downtime when you enable authentication, you can temporarily
disable enforcement. For more information, see the documentation on configuring
[Gitaly authentication](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/blob/master/doc/configuration/README.md#authentication).

**For Omnibus GitLab**

1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`:

   <!--
   updates to following example must also be made at
   https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/charts/gitlab/blob/master/doc/advanced/external-gitaly/external-omnibus-gitaly.md#configure-omnibus-gitlab
   -->

   ```ruby
   # /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

   # Avoid running unnecessary services on the Gitaly server
   postgresql['enable'] = false
   redis['enable'] = false
   nginx['enable'] = false
   puma['enable'] = false
   sidekiq['enable'] = false
   gitlab_workhorse['enable'] = false
   grafana['enable'] = false
   gitlab_exporter['enable'] = false

   # If you run a separate monitoring node you can disable these services
   alertmanager['enable'] = false
   prometheus['enable'] = false

   # If you don't run a separate monitoring node you can
   # enable Prometheus access & disable these extra services.
   # This makes Prometheus listen on all interfaces. You must use firewalls to restrict access to this address/port.
   # prometheus['listen_address'] = '0.0.0.0:9090'
   # prometheus['monitor_kubernetes'] = false

   # If you don't want to run monitoring services uncomment the following (not recommended)
   # node_exporter['enable'] = false

   # Prevent database connections during 'gitlab-ctl reconfigure'
   gitlab_rails['rake_cache_clear'] = false
   gitlab_rails['auto_migrate'] = false

   # Configure the gitlab-shell API callback URL. Without this, `git push` will
   # fail. This can be your 'front door' GitLab URL or an internal load
   # balancer.
   # Don't forget to copy `/etc/gitlab/gitlab-secrets.json` from Gitaly client to Gitaly server.
   gitlab_rails['internal_api_url'] = 'https://gitlab.example.com'

   # Make Gitaly accept connections on all network interfaces. You must use
   # firewalls to restrict access to this address/port.
   # Comment out following line if you only want to support TLS connections
   gitaly['listen_addr'] = "0.0.0.0:8075"
   ```

1. Append the following to `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` for each respective Gitaly server:

   <!--
   updates to following example must also be made at
   https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/charts/gitlab/blob/master/doc/advanced/external-gitaly/external-omnibus-gitaly.md#configure-omnibus-gitlab
   -->

   On `gitaly1.internal`:

   ```ruby
   git_data_dirs({
     'default' => {
       'path' => '/var/opt/gitlab/git-data'
     },
     'storage1' => {
       'path' => '/mnt/gitlab/git-data'
     },
   })
   ```

   On `gitaly2.internal`:

   ```ruby
   git_data_dirs({
     'storage2' => {
       'path' => '/srv/gitlab/git-data'
     },
   })
   ```

1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).
1. Run `sudo /opt/gitlab/embedded/service/gitlab-shell/bin/check -config /opt/gitlab/embedded/service/gitlab-shell/config.yml`
   to confirm that Gitaly can perform callbacks to the GitLab internal API.

**For installations from source**

1. Edit `/home/git/gitaly/config.toml`:

   ```toml
   listen_addr = '0.0.0.0:8075'

   internal_socket_dir = '/var/opt/gitlab/gitaly'

   [logging]
   format = 'json'
   level = 'info'
   dir = '/var/log/gitaly'
   ```

1. Append the following to `/home/git/gitaly/config.toml` for each respective Gitaly server:

   On `gitaly1.internal`:

   ```toml
   [[storage]]
   name = 'default'
   path = '/var/opt/gitlab/git-data/repositories'

   [[storage]]
   name = 'storage1'
   path = '/mnt/gitlab/git-data/repositories'
   ```

   On `gitaly2.internal`:

   ```toml
   [[storage]]
   name = 'storage2'
   path = '/srv/gitlab/git-data/repositories'
   ```

1. Edit `/home/git/gitlab-shell/config.yml`:

   ```yaml
   gitlab_url: https://gitlab.example.com
   ```

1. Save the files and [restart GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source).
1. Run `sudo -u git /home/git/gitlab-shell/bin/check -config /home/git/gitlab-shell/config.yml`
   to confirm that Gitaly can perform callbacks to the GitLab internal API.

### Configure Gitaly clients

As the final step, you must update Gitaly clients to switch from using local Gitaly service to use
the Gitaly servers you just configured.

This can be risky because anything that prevents your Gitaly clients from reaching the Gitaly
servers will cause all Gitaly requests to fail. For example, any sort of network, firewall, or name
resolution problems.

Additionally, you must [disable Rugged](../high_availability/nfs.md#improving-nfs-performance-with-gitlab)
if previously enabled manually.

Gitaly makes the following assumptions:

- Your `gitaly1.internal` Gitaly server can be reached at `gitaly1.internal:8075` from your Gitaly
  clients, and that Gitaly server can read and write to `/mnt/gitlab/default` and
  `/mnt/gitlab/storage1`.
- Your `gitaly2.internal` Gitaly server can be reached at `gitaly2.internal:8075` from your Gitaly
  clients, and that Gitaly server can read and write to `/mnt/gitlab/storage2`.
- Your `gitaly1.internal` and `gitaly2.internal` Gitaly servers can reach each other.

Note you can't a use mixed setup, with at least one of your Gitaly servers configured as a local
server with the `path` setting provided. This is because other Gitaly instances can't communicate
with it. The following setup is _incorrect_, because:

- You must replace `path` with `gitaly_address` containing a proper value.
- The address must be reachable from the other two addresses provided.

```ruby
git_data_dirs({
  'default' => { 'gitaly_address' => 'tcp://gitaly1.internal:8075' },
  'storage1' => { 'path' => '/var/opt/gitlab/git-data' },
  'storage2' => { 'gitaly_address' => 'tcp://gitaly2.internal:8075' },
})
```

**For Omnibus GitLab**

1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`:

   ```ruby
   git_data_dirs({
     'default' => { 'gitaly_address' => 'tcp://gitaly1.internal:8075' },
     'storage1' => { 'gitaly_address' => 'tcp://gitaly1.internal:8075' },
     'storage2' => { 'gitaly_address' => 'tcp://gitaly2.internal:8075' },
   })
   ```

1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).
1. Run `sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:gitaly:check` to confirm the Gitaly client can connect to Gitaly
   servers.
1. Tail the logs to see the requests:

   ```shell
   sudo gitlab-ctl tail gitaly
   ```

**For installations from source**

1. Edit `/home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml`:

   ```yaml
   gitlab:
     repositories:
       storages:
         default:
           gitaly_address: tcp://gitaly1.internal:8075
           path: /some/dummy/path
         storage1:
           gitaly_address: tcp://gitaly1.internal:8075
           path: /some/dummy/path
         storage2:
           gitaly_address: tcp://gitaly2.internal:8075
           path: /some/dummy/path
   ```

   NOTE: **Note:**
   `/some/dummy/path` should be set to a local folder that exists, however no data will be stored in
   this folder. This will no longer be necessary after
   [this issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/-/issues/1282) is resolved.

1. Save the file and [restart GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source).
1. Run `sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:gitaly:check RAILS_ENV=production` to confirm the
   Gitaly client can connect to Gitaly servers.
1. Tail the logs to see the requests:

   ```shell
   tail -f /home/git/gitlab/log/gitaly.log
   ```

When you tail the Gitaly logs on your Gitaly server, you should see requests coming in. One sure way
to trigger a Gitaly request is to clone a repository from GitLab over HTTP or HTTPS.

DANGER: **Danger:**
If you have [server hooks](../server_hooks.md) configured, either per repository or globally, you
must move these to the Gitaly servers. If you have multiple Gitaly servers, copy your server hooks
to all Gitaly servers.

### Disabling the Gitaly service in a cluster environment

If you are running Gitaly [as a remote
service](#run-gitaly-on-its-own-server) you may want to disable
the local Gitaly service that runs on your GitLab server by default.
Disabling Gitaly only makes sense when you run GitLab in a custom
cluster configuration, where different services run on different
machines. Disabling Gitaly on all machines in the cluster is not a
valid configuration.

To disable Gitaly on a GitLab server:

**For Omnibus GitLab**

1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`:

   ```ruby
   gitaly['enable'] = false
   ```

1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).

**For installations from source**

1. Edit `/etc/default/gitlab`:

   ```shell
   gitaly_enabled=false
   ```

1. Save the file and [restart GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source).

## TLS support

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/22602) in GitLab 11.8.

Gitaly supports TLS encryption. To be able to communicate
with a Gitaly instance that listens for secure connections you will need to use `tls://` URL
scheme in the `gitaly_address` of the corresponding storage entry in the GitLab configuration.

You will need to bring your own certificates as this isn't provided automatically.
The certificate corresponding to each Gitaly server will need to be installed
on that Gitaly server.

Additionally the certificate, or its certificate authority, must be installed on all Gitaly servers
(including the Gitaly server using the certificate) and on all Gitaly clients
that communicate with it following the procedure described in
[GitLab custom certificate configuration](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/ssl.html#install-custom-public-certificates) (and repeated below).

NOTE: **Note**
The certificate must specify the address you use to access the
Gitaly server. If you are addressing the Gitaly server by a hostname, you can
either use the Common Name field for this, or add it as a Subject Alternative
Name. If you are addressing the Gitaly server by its IP address, you must add it
as a Subject Alternative Name to the certificate.
[gRPC does not support using an IP address as Common Name in a certificate](https://github.com/grpc/grpc/issues/2691).

NOTE: **Note:**
It is possible to configure Gitaly servers with both an
unencrypted listening address `listen_addr` and an encrypted listening
address `tls_listen_addr` at the same time. This allows you to do a
gradual transition from unencrypted to encrypted traffic, if necessary.

To configure Gitaly with TLS:

**For Omnibus GitLab**

1. Create certificates for Gitaly servers.
1. On the Gitaly clients, copy the certificates, or their certificate authority, into the `/etc/gitlab/trusted-certs`:

   ```shell
   sudo cp cert.pem /etc/gitlab/trusted-certs/
   ```

1. On the Gitaly clients, edit `git_data_dirs` in `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` as follows:

   ```ruby
   git_data_dirs({
     'default' => { 'gitaly_address' => 'tls://gitaly1.internal:9999' },
     'storage1' => { 'gitaly_address' => 'tls://gitaly1.internal:9999' },
     'storage2' => { 'gitaly_address' => 'tls://gitaly2.internal:9999' },
   })
   ```

1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).
1. On the Gitaly servers, create the `/etc/gitlab/ssl` directory and copy your key and certificate there:

   ```shell
   sudo mkdir -p /etc/gitlab/ssl
   sudo chmod 755 /etc/gitlab/ssl
   sudo cp key.pem cert.pem /etc/gitlab/ssl/
   sudo chmod 644 key.pem cert.pem
   ```

1. Copy all Gitaly server certificates, or their certificate authority, to `/etc/gitlab/trusted-certs` so Gitaly server will trust the certificate when
calling into itself or other Gitaly servers:

   ```shell
   sudo cp cert1.pem cert2.pem /etc/gitlab/trusted-certs/
   ```

1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` and add:

   <!--
   updates to following example must also be made at
   https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/charts/gitlab/blob/master/doc/advanced/external-gitaly/external-omnibus-gitaly.md#configure-omnibus-gitlab
   -->

   ```ruby
   gitaly['tls_listen_addr'] = "0.0.0.0:9999"
   gitaly['certificate_path'] = "/etc/gitlab/ssl/cert.pem"
   gitaly['key_path'] = "/etc/gitlab/ssl/key.pem"
   ```

1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).
1. (Optional) After [verifying that all Gitaly traffic is being served over TLS](#observe-type-of-gitaly-connections),
   you can improve security by disabling non-TLS connections by commenting out
   or deleting `gitaly['listen_addr']` in `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`, saving the file,
   and [reconfiguring GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).

**For installations from source**

1. Create certificates for Gitaly servers.
1. On the Gitaly clients, copy the certificates into the system trusted certificates:

   ```shell
   sudo cp cert.pem /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/gitaly.crt
   sudo update-ca-certificates
   ```

1. On the Gitaly clients, edit `storages` in `/home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml` as follows:

   ```yaml
   gitlab:
     repositories:
       storages:
         default:
           gitaly_address: tls://gitaly1.internal:9999
           path: /some/dummy/path
         storage1:
           gitaly_address: tls://gitaly1.internal:9999
           path: /some/dummy/path
         storage2:
           gitaly_address: tls://gitaly2.internal:9999
           path: /some/dummy/path
   ```

   NOTE: **Note:**
   `/some/dummy/path` should be set to a local folder that exists, however no
   data will be stored in this folder. This will no longer be necessary after
   [this issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/-/issues/1282) is resolved.

1. Save the file and [restart GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source).
1. On the Gitaly servers, create or edit `/etc/default/gitlab` and add:

   ```shell
   export SSL_CERT_DIR=/etc/gitlab/ssl
   ```

1. On the Gitaly servers, create the `/etc/gitlab/ssl` directory and copy your key and certificate there:

   ```shell
   sudo mkdir -p /etc/gitlab/ssl
   sudo chmod 755 /etc/gitlab/ssl
   sudo cp key.pem cert.pem /etc/gitlab/ssl/
   sudo chmod 644 key.pem cert.pem
   ```

1. Copy all Gitaly server certificates, or their certificate authority, to the system trusted certificates so Gitaly server will trust the certificate when calling into itself or other Gitaly servers.

   ```shell
   sudo cp cert.pem /usr/local/share/ca-certificates/gitaly.crt
   sudo update-ca-certificates
   ```

1. Edit `/home/git/gitaly/config.toml` and add:

   ```toml
   tls_listen_addr = '0.0.0.0:9999'

   [tls]
   certificate_path = '/etc/gitlab/ssl/cert.pem'
   key_path = '/etc/gitlab/ssl/key.pem'
   ```

1. Save the file and [restart GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source).
1. (Optional) After [verifying that all Gitaly traffic is being served over TLS](#observe-type-of-gitaly-connections),
   you can improve security by disabling non-TLS connections by commenting out
   or deleting `listen_addr` in `/home/git/gitaly/config.toml`, saving the file,
   and [restarting GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source).

### Observe type of Gitaly connections

To observe what type of connections are actually being used in a
production environment you can use the following Prometheus query:

```prometheus
sum(rate(gitaly_connections_total[5m])) by (type)
```

## `gitaly-ruby`

Gitaly was developed to replace the Ruby application code in GitLab.
In order to save time and/or avoid the risk of rewriting existing
application logic, in some cases we chose to copy some application code
from GitLab into Gitaly almost as-is. To be able to run that code,
`gitaly-ruby` was created, which is a "sidecar" process for the main Gitaly Go
process. Some examples of things that are implemented in `gitaly-ruby` are
RPCs that deal with wikis, and RPCs that create commits on behalf of
a user, such as merge commits.

### Number of `gitaly-ruby` workers

`gitaly-ruby` has much less capacity than Gitaly itself. If your Gitaly
server has to handle a lot of requests, the default setting of having
just one active `gitaly-ruby` sidecar might not be enough. If you see
`ResourceExhausted` errors from Gitaly, it's very likely that you have not
enough `gitaly-ruby` capacity.

You can increase the number of `gitaly-ruby` processes on your Gitaly
server with the following settings.

**For Omnibus GitLab**

1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`:

   ```ruby
   # Default is 2 workers. The minimum is 2; 1 worker is always reserved as
   # a passive stand-by.
   gitaly['ruby_num_workers'] = 4
   ```

1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).

**For installations from source**

1. Edit `/home/git/gitaly/config.toml`:

   ```toml
   [gitaly-ruby]
   num_workers = 4
   ```

1. Save the file and [restart GitLab](../restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source).

## Limiting RPC concurrency

It can happen that CI clone traffic puts a large strain on your Gitaly
service. The bulk of the work gets done in the SSHUploadPack (for Git
SSH) and PostUploadPack (for Git HTTP) RPC's. To prevent such workloads
from overcrowding your Gitaly server you can set concurrency limits in
Gitaly's configuration file.

```ruby
# in /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

gitaly['concurrency'] = [
  {
    'rpc' => "/gitaly.SmartHTTPService/PostUploadPack",
    'max_per_repo' => 20
  },
  {
    'rpc' => "/gitaly.SSHService/SSHUploadPack",
    'max_per_repo' => 20
  }
]
```

This will limit the number of in-flight RPC calls for the given RPC's.
The limit is applied per repository. In the example above, each on the
Gitaly server can have at most 20 simultaneous `PostUploadPack` calls in
flight, and the same for `SSHUploadPack`. If another request comes in for
a repository that has used up its 20 slots, that request will get
queued.

You can observe the behavior of this queue via the Gitaly logs and via
Prometheus. In the Gitaly logs, you can look for the string (or
structured log field) `acquire_ms`. Messages that have this field are
reporting about the concurrency limiter. In Prometheus, look for the
`gitaly_rate_limiting_in_progress`, `gitaly_rate_limiting_queued` and
`gitaly_rate_limiting_seconds` metrics.

The name of the Prometheus metric is not quite right because this is a
concurrency limiter, not a rate limiter. If a Gitaly client makes 1000 requests
in a row in a very short timespan, the concurrency will not exceed 1,
and this mechanism (the concurrency limiter) will do nothing.

## Rotating a Gitaly authentication token

Rotating credentials in a production environment often either requires
downtime, or causes outages, or both. If you are careful, though, you
*can* rotate Gitaly credentials without a service interruption.

This procedure also works if you are running GitLab on a single server.
In that case, "Gitaly server" and "Gitaly client" refers to the same
machine.

### 1. Monitor current authentication behavior

Use Prometheus to see what the current authentication behavior of your
GitLab installation is.

```prometheus
sum(rate(gitaly_authentications_total[5m])) by (enforced, status)
```

In a system where authentication is configured correctly, and where you
have live traffic, you will see something like this:

```prometheus
{enforced="true",status="ok"}  4424.985419441742
```

There may also be other numbers with rate 0. We only care about the
non-zero numbers.

The only non-zero number should have `enforced="true",status="ok"`. If
you have other non-zero numbers, something is wrong in your
configuration.

The `status="ok"` number reflects your current request rate. In the example
above, Gitaly is handling about 4000 requests per second.

Now you have established that you can monitor the Gitaly authentication
behavior of your GitLab installation.

### 2. Reconfigure all Gitaly servers to be in "auth transitioning" mode

The second step is to temporarily disable authentication on the Gitaly servers.

```ruby
# in /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
gitaly['auth_transitioning'] = true
```

After you have applied this, your Prometheus query should return
something like this:

```prometheus
{enforced="false",status="would be ok"}  4424.985419441742
```

Because `enforced="false"`, it will be safe to start rolling out the new
token.

### 3. Update Gitaly token on all clients and servers

```ruby
# in /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

gitaly['auth_token'] = 'my new secret token'
```

Remember to apply this on both your Gitaly clients *and* servers. If you
check your Prometheus query while this change is being rolled out, you
will see non-zero values for the `enforced="false",status="denied"` counter.

### 4. Use Prometheus to ensure there are no authentication failures

After you applied the Gitaly token change everywhere, and all services
involved have been restarted, you should will temporarily see a mix of
`status="would be ok"` and `status="denied"`.

After the new token has been picked up by all Gitaly clients and
servers, the **only non-zero rate** should be
`enforced="false",status="would be ok"`.

### 5. Disable "auth transitioning" Mode

Now we turn off the 'auth transitioning' mode. These final steps are
important: without them, you have **no authentication**.

Update the configuration on your Gitaly servers:

```ruby
# in /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
gitaly['auth_transitioning'] = false
```

### 6. Verify that authentication is enforced again

Refresh your Prometheus query. You should now see the same kind of
result as you did in the beginning:

```prometheus
{enforced="true",status="ok"}  4424.985419441742
```

Note that `enforced="true"`, meaning that authentication is being enforced.

## Direct Git access in GitLab Rails

Also known as "the Rugged patches".

### History

Before Gitaly existed, the things that are now Gitaly clients used to
access Git repositories directly. Either on a local disk in the case of
e.g. a single-machine Omnibus GitLab installation, or via NFS in the
case of a horizontally scaled GitLab installation.

Besides running plain `git` commands, in GitLab Rails we also used to
use a Ruby gem (library) called
[Rugged](https://github.com/libgit2/rugged). Rugged is a wrapper around
[libgit2](https://libgit2.org/), a stand-alone implementation of Git in
the form of a C library.

Over time it has become clear to use that Rugged, and particularly
Rugged in combination with the [Unicorn](https://yhbt.net/unicorn/)
web server, is extremely efficient. Because libgit2 is a *library* and
not an external process, there was very little overhead between GitLab
application code that tried to look up data in Git repositories, and the
Git implementation itself.

Because Rugged+Unicorn was so efficient, GitLab's application code ended
up with lots of duplicate Git object lookups (like looking up the
`master` commit a dozen times in one request). We could write
inefficient code without being punished for it.

When we migrated these Git lookups to Gitaly calls, we were suddenly
getting a much higher fixed cost per Git lookup. Even when Gitaly is
able to re-use an already-running `git` process to look up e.g. a commit
you still have the cost of a network roundtrip to Gitaly, and within
Gitaly a write/read roundtrip on the Unix pipes that connect Gitaly to
the `git` process.

Using GitLab.com performance as our yardstick, we pushed down the number
of Gitaly calls per request until the loss of Rugged's efficiency was no
longer felt. It also helped that we run Gitaly itself directly on the
Git file severs, rather than via NFS mounts: this gave us a speed boost
that counteracted the negative effect of not using Rugged anymore.

Unfortunately, some *other* deployments of GitLab could not ditch NFS
like we did on GitLab.com and they got the worst of both worlds: the
slowness of NFS and the increased inherent overhead of Gitaly.

As a performance band-aid for these stuck-on-NFS deployments, we
re-introduced some of the old Rugged code that got deleted from
GitLab Rails during the Gitaly migration project. These pieces of
re-introduced code are informally referred to as "the Rugged patches".

### Activation of direct Git access in GitLab Rails

The Ruby methods that perform direct Git access are hidden behind [feature
flags](../../development/gitaly.md#legacy-rugged-code). These feature
flags are off by default. It is not good if you need to know about
feature flags to get the best performance so in a second iteration, we
added an automatic mechanism that will enable direct Git access.

When GitLab Rails calls a function that has a Rugged patch it performs
two checks. The result of both of these checks is cached.

1. Is the feature flag for this patch set in the database? If so, do
    what the feature flag says.
1. If the feature flag is not set (i.e. neither true nor false), try to
    see if we can access filesystem underneath the Gitaly server
    directly. If so, use the Rugged patch.

To see if GitLab Rails can access the repository filesystem directly, we use
the following heuristic:

- Gitaly ensures that the filesystem has a metadata file in its root
  with a UUID in it.
- Gitaly reports this UUID to GitLab Rails via the `ServerInfo` RPC.
- GitLab Rails tries to read the metadata file directly. If it exists,
  and if the UUID's match, assume we have direct access.

Because of the way the UUID check works, and because Omnibus GitLab will
fill in the correct repository paths in the GitLab Rails config file
`config/gitlab.yml`, **direct Git access in GitLab Rails is on by default in
Omnibus**.

### Plans to remove direct Git access in GitLab Rails

For the sake of removing complexity it is desirable that we get rid of
direct Git access in GitLab Rails. For as long as some GitLab installations are stuck
with Git repositories on slow NFS, however, we cannot just remove them.

There are two prongs to our efforts to remove direct Git access in GitLab Rails:

1. Reduce the number of (inefficient) Gitaly queries made by
   GitLab Rails.
1. Persuade everybody who runs a Highly Available / horizontally scaled
   GitLab installation to move off of NFS.

The second prong is the only real solution. For this we need [Gitaly
HA](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&state=opened&label_name[]=Gitaly%20HA),
which is still under development as of December 2019.

## Troubleshooting Gitaly

### Checking versions when using standalone Gitaly servers

When using standalone Gitaly servers, you must make sure they are the same version
as GitLab to ensure full compatibility. Check **Admin Area > Gitaly Servers** on
your GitLab instance and confirm all Gitaly Servers are `Up to date`.

![Gitaly standalone software versions diagram](img/gitlab_gitaly_version_mismatch_v12_4.png)

### `gitaly-debug`

The `gitaly-debug` command provides "production debugging" tools for Gitaly and Git
performance. It is intended to help production engineers and support
engineers investigate Gitaly performance problems.

If you're using GitLab 11.6 or newer, this tool should be installed on
your GitLab / Gitaly server already at `/opt/gitlab/embedded/bin/gitaly-debug`.
If you're investigating an older GitLab version you can compile this
tool offline and copy the executable to your server:

```shell
git clone https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly.git
cd cmd/gitaly-debug
GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -o gitaly-debug
```

To see the help page of `gitaly-debug` for a list of supported sub-commands, run:

```shell
gitaly-debug -h
```

### Commits, pushes, and clones return a 401

```plaintext
remote: GitLab: 401 Unauthorized
```

You will need to sync your `gitlab-secrets.json` file with your Gitaly clients (GitLab
app nodes).

### Client side gRPC logs

Gitaly uses the [gRPC](https://grpc.io/) RPC framework. The Ruby gRPC
client has its own log file which may contain useful information when
you are seeing Gitaly errors. You can control the log level of the
gRPC client with the `GRPC_LOG_LEVEL` environment variable. The
default level is `WARN`.

You can run a gRPC trace with:

```shell
sudo GRPC_TRACE=all GRPC_VERBOSITY=DEBUG gitlab-rake gitlab:gitaly:check
```

### Observing `gitaly-ruby` traffic

[`gitaly-ruby`](#gitaly-ruby) is an internal implementation detail of Gitaly,
so, there's not that much visibility into what goes on inside
`gitaly-ruby` processes.

If you have Prometheus set up to scrape your Gitaly process, you can see
request rates and error codes for individual RPCs in `gitaly-ruby` by
querying `grpc_client_handled_total`. Strictly speaking, this metric does
not differentiate between `gitaly-ruby` and other RPCs, but in practice
(as of GitLab 11.9), all gRPC calls made by Gitaly itself are internal
calls from the main Gitaly process to one of its `gitaly-ruby` sidecars.

Assuming your `grpc_client_handled_total` counter only observes Gitaly,
the following query shows you RPCs are (most likely) internally
implemented as calls to `gitaly-ruby`:

```prometheus
sum(rate(grpc_client_handled_total[5m])) by (grpc_method) > 0
```

### Repository changes fail with a `401 Unauthorized` error

If you're running Gitaly on its own server and notice that users can
successfully clone and fetch repositories (via both SSH and HTTPS), but can't
push to them or make changes to the repository in the web UI without getting a
`401 Unauthorized` message, then it's possible Gitaly is failing to authenticate
with the Gitaly client due to having the [wrong secrets file](#configure-gitaly-servers).

Confirm the following are all true:

- When any user performs a `git push` to any repository on this Gitaly server, it
  fails with the following error (note the `401 Unauthorized`):

  ```shell
  remote: GitLab: 401 Unauthorized
  To <REMOTE_URL>
  ! [remote rejected] branch-name -> branch-name (pre-receive hook declined)
  error: failed to push some refs to '<REMOTE_URL>'
  ```

- When any user adds or modifies a file from the repository using the GitLab
  UI, it immediately fails with a red `401 Unauthorized` banner.
- Creating a new project and [initializing it with a README](../../gitlab-basics/create-project.md#blank-projects)
  successfully creates the project but doesn't create the README.
- When [tailing the logs](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/logs.html#tail-logs-in-a-console-on-the-server)
  on a Gitaly client and reproducing the error, you get `401` errors
  when reaching the `/api/v4/internal/allowed` endpoint:

  ```shell
  # api_json.log
  {
    "time": "2019-07-18T00:30:14.967Z",
    "severity": "INFO",
    "duration": 0.57,
    "db": 0,
    "view": 0.57,
    "status": 401,
    "method": "POST",
    "path": "\/api\/v4\/internal\/allowed",
    "params": [
      {
        "key": "action",
        "value": "git-receive-pack"
      },
      {
        "key": "changes",
        "value": "REDACTED"
      },
      {
        "key": "gl_repository",
        "value": "REDACTED"
      },
      {
        "key": "project",
        "value": "\/path\/to\/project.git"
      },
      {
        "key": "protocol",
        "value": "web"
      },
      {
        "key": "env",
        "value": "{\"GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES\":[],\"GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES_RELATIVE\":[],\"GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY\":null,\"GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY_RELATIVE\":null}"
      },
      {
        "key": "user_id",
        "value": "2"
      },
      {
        "key": "secret_token",
        "value": "[FILTERED]"
      }
    ],
    "host": "gitlab.example.com",
    "ip": "REDACTED",
    "ua": "Ruby",
    "route": "\/api\/:version\/internal\/allowed",
    "queue_duration": 4.24,
    "gitaly_calls": 0,
    "gitaly_duration": 0,
    "correlation_id": "XPUZqTukaP3"
  }

  # nginx_access.log
  [IP] - - [18/Jul/2019:00:30:14 +0000] "POST /api/v4/internal/allowed HTTP/1.1" 401 30 "" "Ruby"
  ```

To fix this problem, confirm that your [`gitlab-secrets.json` file](#configure-gitaly-servers)
on the Gitaly server matches the one on Gitaly client. If it doesn't match,
update the secrets file on the Gitaly server to match the Gitaly client, then
[reconfigure](../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure).

### Command line tools cannot connect to Gitaly

If you are having trouble connecting to a Gitaly server with command line (CLI) tools,
and certain actions result in a `14: Connect Failed` error message,
it means that gRPC cannot reach your Gitaly server.

Verify that you can reach Gitaly via TCP:

```shell
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:tcp_check[GITALY_SERVER_IP,GITALY_LISTEN_PORT]
```

If the TCP connection fails, check your network settings and your firewall rules.
If the TCP connection succeeds, your networking and firewall rules are correct.

If you use proxy servers in your command line environment, such as Bash, these
can interfere with your gRPC traffic.

If you use Bash or a compatible command line environment, run the following commands
to determine whether you have proxy servers configured:

```shell
echo $http_proxy
echo $https_proxy
```

If either of these variables have a value, your Gitaly CLI connections may be
getting routed through a proxy which cannot connect to Gitaly.

To remove the proxy setting, run the following commands (depending on which variables had values):

```shell
unset http_proxy
unset https_proxy
```

### Gitaly not listening on new address after reconfiguring

When updating the `gitaly['listen_addr']` or `gitaly['prometheus_listen_addr']`
values, Gitaly may continue to listen on the old address after a `sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure`.

When this occurs, performing a `sudo gitlab-ctl restart` will resolve the issue. This will no longer be necessary after [this issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/-/issues/2521) is resolved.

### Permission denied errors appearing in Gitaly logs when accessing repositories from a standalone Gitaly server

If this error occurs even though file permissions are correct, it's likely that
the Gitaly server is experiencing
[clock drift](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_drift).

Please ensure that the Gitaly clients and servers are synchronized and use an NTP time
server to keep them synchronized if possible.

### Praefect

Praefect is a router and transaction manager for Gitaly, and a required
component for running a Gitaly Cluster. For more information see [Gitaly Cluster](praefect.md).