109 lines
4.8 KiB
Markdown
109 lines
4.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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stage: Create
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group: Source Code
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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/#assignments"
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type: reference, api
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---
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# Internal allowed API
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The `internal/allowed` endpoint assesses whether a user has permission to perform
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certain operations on the Git repository. It performs multiple checks, such as:
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- Ensuring the branch or tag name is acceptable.
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- Whether or not the user has the authority to perform that action.
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## Endpoint definition
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The internal API endpoints are defined under
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[`lib/api/internal`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/tree/master/lib/api/internal),
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and the `/allowed` path is in
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[`lib/api/internal/base.rb`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/lib/api/internal/base.rb).
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## Use the endpoint
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`internal/allowed` is called when you:
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- Push to the repository.
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- Perform actions on the repository through the GitLab user interface, such as
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applying suggestions or using the GitLab IDE.
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Gitaly typically calls this endpoint. It is only called internally (by other parts
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of the application) rather than by external users of the API.
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## Push checks
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A key part of the `internal/allowed` flow is the call to
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`EE::Gitlab::Checks::PushRuleCheck`, which can perform the following checks:
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- `EE::Gitlab::Checks::PushRules::CommitCheck`
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- `EE::Gitlab::Checks::PushRules::TagCheck`
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- `EE::Gitlab::Checks::PushRules::BranchCheck`
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- `EE::Gitlab::Checks::PushRules::FileSizeCheck`
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## Recursion
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Some of the Gitaly RPCs called by `internal/allowed` then, themselves, make calls
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back to `internal/allowed`. These calls are now correlated with the original request.
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Gitaly relies on the Rails application for authorization, and maintains no permissions model itself.
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These calls show up in the logs differently to the initial requests. {example}
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Because this endpoint can be called recursively, slow performance on this endpoint can result in an exponential performance impact. This documentation is in fact adapted from [the investigation into its performance](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/222247).
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## Known performance issues
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### Refs
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The number of [`refs`](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Internals-Git-References)
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on the Git repository have a notable effect on the performance of `git` commands
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called upon it. Gitaly RPCs are similarly affected. Certain `git` commands scan
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through all refs, causing a notable impact on the speed of those commands.
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On the `internal/allowed` endpoint, the recursive nature of RPC calls mean the
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ref counts have an exponential effect on performance.
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#### Environment refs
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[Stale environment refs](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/296625)
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are a common example of excessive refs causing performance issues. Stale environment
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refs can number into the tens of thousands on busy repositories, as they aren't
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cleared up automatically.
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#### Dangling refs
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Dangling refs are created to prevent accidental deletion of objects from object pools.
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Large numbers of these refs can exist, which may have potential performance implications.
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For existing discussion around this issue, read
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[`gitaly#1900`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/-/issues/1900). This issue
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appears to have less effect than stale environment refs.
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### Pool repositories
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When a fork is created on GitLab, a central pool repository is created and the forks
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are linked to it. This pool repository prevents duplication of data by storing
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data common to other forks. However, the pool repository is not cleaned up in the
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same manner as the standard repositories, and is more prone to the refs issue.
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## Feature flags
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### Parallel push checks
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FLAG:
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On self-managed GitLab, by default this feature is not available. To make it available,
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ask an administrator to [enable the feature flag](../../administration/feature_flags.md) named `parallel_push_checks`.
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On GitLab.com, by default this feature is not available. To make it available
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per project, ask GitLab.com administrator to
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[enable the feature flag](../../administration/feature_flags.md) named `parallel_push_checks`.
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You should not use this feature for production environments.
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This experimental feature flag enables the endpoint to run multiple RPCs simultaneously,
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reducing the overall time taken by roughly half. This time savings is achieved through
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threading, and has potential side effects at large scale. On GitLab.com, this feature flag
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is enabled only for `gitlab-org/gitlab` and `gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com` projects.
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Without it, those projects routinely time out requests to the endpoint. When this
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feature was deployed to all of GitLab.com, some pushes failed, presumably due to
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exhausting resources like database connection pools.
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We recommend you enable this feature flag only if you are experiencing timeouts, and
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only enable it for that specific project.
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