300 lines
16 KiB
Markdown
300 lines
16 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
stage: Enablement
|
|
group: Geo
|
|
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: howto
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# Geo **(PREMIUM ONLY)**
|
|
|
|
> - Introduced in GitLab Enterprise Edition 8.9.
|
|
> - Using Geo in combination with
|
|
> [multi-node architectures](../reference_architectures/index.md)
|
|
> is considered **Generally Available** (GA) in
|
|
> [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 10.4.
|
|
|
|
Geo is the solution for widely distributed development teams and for providing a warm-standby as part of a disaster recovery strategy.
|
|
|
|
## Overview
|
|
|
|
CAUTION: **Caution:**
|
|
Geo undergoes significant changes from release to release. Upgrades **are** supported and [documented](#updating-geo), but you should ensure that you're using the right version of the documentation for your installation.
|
|
|
|
Fetching large repositories can take a long time for teams located far from a single GitLab instance.
|
|
|
|
Geo provides local, read-only instances of your GitLab instances. This can reduce the time it takes
|
|
to clone and fetch large repositories, speeding up development.
|
|
|
|
For a video introduction to Geo, see [Introduction to GitLab Geo - GitLab Features](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HDLxSjEh6w).
|
|
|
|
To make sure you're using the right version of the documentation, navigate to [the source version of this page on GitLab.com](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/blob/master/doc/administration/geo/index.md) and choose the appropriate release from the **Switch branch/tag** dropdown. For example, [`v11.2.3-ee`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/blob/v11.2.3-ee/doc/administration/geo/index.md).
|
|
|
|
## Use cases
|
|
|
|
Implementing Geo provides the following benefits:
|
|
|
|
- Reduce from minutes to seconds the time taken for your distributed developers to clone and fetch large repositories and projects.
|
|
- Enable all of your developers to contribute ideas and work in parallel, no matter where they are.
|
|
- Balance the read-only load between your **primary** and **secondary** nodes.
|
|
|
|
In addition, it:
|
|
|
|
- Can be used for cloning and fetching projects, in addition to reading any data available in the GitLab web interface (see [limitations](#limitations)).
|
|
- Overcomes slow connections between distant offices, saving time by improving speed for distributed teams.
|
|
- Helps reducing the loading time for automated tasks, custom integrations, and internal workflows.
|
|
- Can quickly fail over to a **secondary** node in a [disaster recovery](disaster_recovery/index.md) scenario.
|
|
- Allows [planned failover](disaster_recovery/planned_failover.md) to a **secondary** node.
|
|
|
|
Geo provides:
|
|
|
|
- Read-only **secondary** nodes: Maintain one **primary** GitLab node while still enabling read-only **secondary** nodes for each of your distributed teams.
|
|
- Authentication system hooks: **Secondary** nodes receives all authentication data (like user accounts and logins) from the **primary** instance.
|
|
- An intuitive UI: **Secondary** nodes utilize the same web interface your team has grown accustomed to. In addition, there are visual notifications that block write operations and make it clear that a user is on a **secondary** node.
|
|
|
|
## How it works
|
|
|
|
Your Geo instance can be used for cloning and fetching projects, in addition to reading any data. This will make working with large repositories over large distances much faster.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
When Geo is enabled, the:
|
|
|
|
- Original instance is known as the **primary** node.
|
|
- Replicated read-only nodes are known as **secondary** nodes.
|
|
|
|
Keep in mind that:
|
|
|
|
- **Secondary** nodes talk to the **primary** node to:
|
|
- Get user data for logins (API).
|
|
- Replicate repositories, LFS Objects, and Attachments (HTTPS + JWT).
|
|
- In GitLab Premium 10.0 and later, the **primary** node no longer talks to **secondary** nodes to notify for changes (API).
|
|
- Pushing directly to a **secondary** node (for both HTTP and SSH, including Git LFS) was [introduced](https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2018/09/22/gitlab-11-3-released/) in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/#self-managed) 11.3.
|
|
- There are [limitations](#limitations) when using Geo.
|
|
|
|
### Architecture
|
|
|
|
The following diagram illustrates the underlying architecture of Geo.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In this diagram:
|
|
|
|
- There is the **primary** node and the details of one **secondary** node.
|
|
- Writes to the database can only be performed on the **primary** node. A **secondary** node receives database
|
|
updates via PostgreSQL streaming replication.
|
|
- If present, the [LDAP server](#ldap) should be configured to replicate for [Disaster Recovery](disaster_recovery/index.md) scenarios.
|
|
- A **secondary** node performs different type of synchronizations against the **primary** node, using a special
|
|
authorization protected by JWT:
|
|
- Repositories are cloned/updated via Git over HTTPS.
|
|
- Attachments, LFS objects, and other files are downloaded via HTTPS using a private API endpoint.
|
|
|
|
From the perspective of a user performing Git operations:
|
|
|
|
- The **primary** node behaves as a full read-write GitLab instance.
|
|
- **Secondary** nodes are read-only but proxy Git push operations to the **primary** node. This makes **secondary** nodes appear to support push operations themselves.
|
|
|
|
To simplify the diagram, some necessary components are omitted. Note that:
|
|
|
|
- Git over SSH requires [`gitlab-shell`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-shell) and OpenSSH.
|
|
- Git over HTTPS required [`gitlab-workhorse`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-workhorse).
|
|
|
|
Note that a **secondary** node needs two different PostgreSQL databases:
|
|
|
|
- A read-only database instance that streams data from the main GitLab database.
|
|
- [Another database instance](#geo-tracking-database) used internally by the **secondary** node to record what data has been replicated.
|
|
|
|
In **secondary** nodes, there is an additional daemon: [Geo Log Cursor](#geo-log-cursor).
|
|
|
|
## Requirements for running Geo
|
|
|
|
The following are required to run Geo:
|
|
|
|
- An operating system that supports OpenSSH 6.9+ (needed for
|
|
[fast lookup of authorized SSH keys in the database](../operations/fast_ssh_key_lookup.md))
|
|
The following operating systems are known to ship with a current version of OpenSSH:
|
|
- [CentOS](https://www.centos.org) 7.4+
|
|
- [Ubuntu](https://ubuntu.com) 16.04+
|
|
- PostgreSQL 11+ with [Streaming Replication](https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Streaming_Replication)
|
|
- Git 2.9+
|
|
- All nodes must run the same GitLab version.
|
|
|
|
Additionally, check GitLab's [minimum requirements](../../install/requirements.md),
|
|
and we recommend you use:
|
|
|
|
- At least GitLab Enterprise Edition 10.0 for basic Geo features.
|
|
- The latest version for a better experience.
|
|
|
|
### Firewall rules
|
|
|
|
The following table lists basic ports that must be open between the **primary** and **secondary** nodes for Geo.
|
|
|
|
| **Primary** node | **Secondary** node | Protocol |
|
|
|:-----------------|:-------------------|:-------------|
|
|
| 80 | 80 | HTTP |
|
|
| 443 | 443 | TCP or HTTPS |
|
|
| 22 | 22 | TCP |
|
|
| 5432 | | PostgreSQL |
|
|
|
|
See the full list of ports used by GitLab in [Package defaults](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/package-information/defaults.html)
|
|
|
|
NOTE: **Note:**
|
|
[Web terminal](../../ci/environments/index.md#web-terminals) support requires your load balancer to correctly handle WebSocket connections.
|
|
When using HTTP or HTTPS proxying, your load balancer must be configured to pass through the `Connection` and `Upgrade` hop-by-hop headers. See the [web terminal](../integration/terminal.md) integration guide for more details.
|
|
|
|
NOTE: **Note:**
|
|
When using HTTPS protocol for port 443, you will need to add an SSL certificate to the load balancers.
|
|
If you wish to terminate SSL at the GitLab application server instead, use TCP protocol.
|
|
|
|
### LDAP
|
|
|
|
We recommend that if you use LDAP on your **primary** node, you also set up secondary LDAP servers on each **secondary** node. Otherwise, users will not be able to perform Git operations over HTTP(s) on the **secondary** node using HTTP Basic Authentication. However, Git via SSH and personal access tokens will still work.
|
|
|
|
NOTE: **Note:**
|
|
It is possible for all **secondary** nodes to share an LDAP server, but additional latency can be an issue. Also, consider what LDAP server will be available in a [disaster recovery](disaster_recovery/index.md) scenario if a **secondary** node is promoted to be a **primary** node.
|
|
|
|
Check for instructions on how to set up replication in your LDAP service. Instructions will be different depending on the software or service used. For example, OpenLDAP provides [these instructions](https://www.openldap.org/doc/admin24/replication.html).
|
|
|
|
### Geo Tracking Database
|
|
|
|
The tracking database instance is used as metadata to control what needs to be updated on the disk of the local instance. For example:
|
|
|
|
- Download new assets.
|
|
- Fetch new LFS Objects.
|
|
- Fetch changes from a repository that has recently been updated.
|
|
|
|
Because the replicated database instance is read-only, we need this additional database instance for each **secondary** node.
|
|
|
|
### Geo Log Cursor
|
|
|
|
This daemon:
|
|
|
|
- Reads a log of events replicated by the **primary** node to the **secondary** database instance.
|
|
- Updates the Geo Tracking Database instance with changes that need to be executed.
|
|
|
|
When something is marked to be updated in the tracking database instance, asynchronous jobs running on the **secondary** node will execute the required operations and update the state.
|
|
|
|
This new architecture allows GitLab to be resilient to connectivity issues between the nodes. It doesn't matter how long the **secondary** node is disconnected from the **primary** node as it will be able to replay all the events in the correct order and become synchronized with the **primary** node again.
|
|
|
|
## Setup instructions
|
|
|
|
For setup instructions, see [Setting up Geo](setup/index.md).
|
|
|
|
## Post-installation documentation
|
|
|
|
After installing GitLab on the **secondary** nodes and performing the initial configuration, see the following documentation for post-installation information.
|
|
|
|
### Configuring Geo
|
|
|
|
For information on configuring Geo, see [Geo configuration](replication/configuration.md).
|
|
|
|
### Updating Geo
|
|
|
|
For information on how to update your Geo nodes to the latest GitLab version, see [Updating the Geo nodes](replication/updating_the_geo_nodes.md).
|
|
|
|
### Pausing and resuming replication
|
|
|
|
> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/35913) in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 13.2.
|
|
|
|
CAUTION: **Caution:**
|
|
Pausing and resuming of replication is currently only supported for Geo installations using an
|
|
Omnibus GitLab-managed database. External databases are currently not supported.
|
|
|
|
In some circumstances, like during [upgrades](replication/updating_the_geo_nodes.md) or a [planned failover](disaster_recovery/planned_failover.md), it is desirable to pause replication between the primary and secondary.
|
|
|
|
Pausing and resuming replication is done via a command line tool from the secondary node.
|
|
|
|
**To Pause: (from secondary)**
|
|
|
|
```shell
|
|
gitlab-ctl geo-replication-pause
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
**To Resume: (from secondary)**
|
|
|
|
```shell
|
|
gitlab-ctl geo-replication-resume
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
### Configuring Geo for multiple nodes
|
|
|
|
For information on configuring Geo for multiple nodes, see [Geo for multiple servers](replication/multiple_servers.md).
|
|
|
|
### Configuring Geo with Object Storage
|
|
|
|
For information on configuring Geo with object storage, see [Geo with Object storage](replication/object_storage.md).
|
|
|
|
### Disaster Recovery
|
|
|
|
For information on using Geo in disaster recovery situations to mitigate data-loss and restore services, see [Disaster Recovery](disaster_recovery/index.md).
|
|
|
|
### Replicating the Container Registry
|
|
|
|
For more information on how to replicate the Container Registry, see [Docker Registry for a **secondary** node](replication/docker_registry.md).
|
|
|
|
### Security Review
|
|
|
|
For more information on Geo security, see [Geo security review](replication/security_review.md).
|
|
|
|
### Tuning Geo
|
|
|
|
For more information on tuning Geo, see [Tuning Geo](replication/tuning.md).
|
|
|
|
### Set up a location-aware Git URL
|
|
|
|
For an example of how to set up a location-aware Git remote URL with AWS Route53, see [Location-aware Git remote URL with AWS Route53](replication/location_aware_git_url.md).
|
|
|
|
## Remove Geo node
|
|
|
|
For more information on removing a Geo node, see [Removing **secondary** Geo nodes](replication/remove_geo_node.md).
|
|
|
|
## Disable Geo
|
|
|
|
To find out how to disable Geo, see [Disabling Geo](replication/disable_geo.md).
|
|
|
|
## Limitations
|
|
|
|
CAUTION: **Caution:**
|
|
This list of limitations only reflects the latest version of GitLab. If you are using an older version, extra limitations may be in place.
|
|
|
|
- Pushing directly to a **secondary** node redirects (for HTTP) or proxies (for SSH) the request to the **primary** node instead of [handling it directly](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/1381), except when using Git over HTTP with credentials embedded within the URI. For example, `https://user:password@secondary.tld`.
|
|
- Cloning, pulling, or pushing repositories that exist on the **primary** node but not on the **secondary** nodes where [selective synchronization](replication/configuration.md#selective-synchronization) does not include the project is not supported over SSH [but support is planned](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/2562). HTTP(S) is supported.
|
|
- The **primary** node has to be online for OAuth login to happen. Existing sessions and Git are not affected. Support for the **secondary** node to use an OAuth provider independent from the primary is [being planned](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/208465).
|
|
- The installation takes multiple manual steps that together can take about an hour depending on circumstances. We are working on improving this experience. See [Omnibus GitLab issue #2978](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/-/issues/2978) for details.
|
|
- Real-time updates of issues/merge requests (for example, via long polling) doesn't work on the **secondary** node.
|
|
- [Selective synchronization](replication/configuration.md#selective-synchronization) applies only to files and repositories. Other datasets are replicated to the **secondary** node in full, making it inappropriate for use as an access control mechanism.
|
|
- Object pools for forked project deduplication work only on the **primary** node, and are duplicated on the **secondary** node.
|
|
- [External merge request diffs](../merge_request_diffs.md) will not be replicated if they are on-disk, and viewing merge requests will fail. However, external MR diffs in object storage **are** supported. The default configuration (in-database) does work.
|
|
- GitLab Runners cannot register with a **secondary** node. Support for this is [planned for the future](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/3294).
|
|
- Geo **secondary** nodes can not be configured to [use high-availability configurations of PostgreSQL](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/2536).
|
|
|
|
### Limitations on replication/verification
|
|
|
|
You can keep track of the progress to implement the missing items in
|
|
these epics/issues:
|
|
|
|
- [Unreplicated Data Types](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/893)
|
|
- [Verify all replicated data](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/1430)
|
|
|
|
There is a complete list of all GitLab [data types](replication/datatypes.md) and [existing support for replication and verification](replication/datatypes.md#limitations-on-replicationverification).
|
|
|
|
## Frequently Asked Questions
|
|
|
|
For answers to common questions, see the [Geo FAQ](replication/faq.md).
|
|
|
|
## Log files
|
|
|
|
In GitLab 9.5 and later, Geo stores structured log messages in a `geo.log` file. For Omnibus installations, this file is at `/var/log/gitlab/gitlab-rails/geo.log`.
|
|
|
|
This file contains information about when Geo attempts to sync repositories and files. Each line in the file contains a separate JSON entry that can be ingested into. For example, Elasticsearch or Splunk.
|
|
|
|
For example:
|
|
|
|
```json
|
|
{"severity":"INFO","time":"2017-08-06T05:40:16.104Z","message":"Repository update","project_id":1,"source":"repository","resync_repository":true,"resync_wiki":true,"class":"Gitlab::Geo::LogCursor::Daemon","cursor_delay_s":0.038}
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
This message shows that Geo detected that a repository update was needed for project `1`.
|
|
|
|
## Troubleshooting
|
|
|
|
For troubleshooting steps, see [Geo Troubleshooting](replication/troubleshooting.md).
|