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GitLab Docker images (FREE SELF)
The GitLab Docker images are monolithic images of GitLab running all the necessary services in a single container. If you instead want to install GitLab on Kubernetes, see GitLab Helm Charts.
Find the GitLab official Docker image at:
The Docker images don't include a mail transport agent (MTA). The recommended solution is to add an MTA (such as Postfix or Sendmail) running in a separate container. As another option, you can install an MTA directly in the GitLab container, but this adds maintenance overhead as you'll likely need to reinstall the MTA after every upgrade or restart.
In the following examples, if you want to use the latest RC image, use
gitlab/gitlab-ee:rc
instead.
WARNING: Docker for Windows is not officially supported. There are known issues with volume permissions, and potentially other unknown issues. If you are trying to run on Docker for Windows, see the getting help page for links to community resources (such as IRC or forums) to seek help from other users.
Prerequisites
Docker is required. See the official installation documentation.
Set up the volumes location
Before setting everything else, configure a new environment variable $GITLAB_HOME
pointing to the directory where the configuration, logs, and data files will reside.
Ensure that the directory exists and appropriate permission have been granted.
For Linux users, set the path to /srv/gitlab
:
export GITLAB_HOME=/srv/gitlab
For macOS users, use the user's $HOME/gitlab
directory:
export GITLAB_HOME=$HOME/gitlab
The GitLab container uses host mounted volumes to store persistent data:
Local location | Container location | Usage |
---|---|---|
$GITLAB_HOME/data |
/var/opt/gitlab |
For storing application data. |
$GITLAB_HOME/logs |
/var/log/gitlab |
For storing logs. |
$GITLAB_HOME/config |
/etc/gitlab |
For storing the GitLab configuration files. |
Installation
The GitLab Docker images can be run in multiple ways:
Install GitLab using Docker Engine
You can fine tune these directories to meet your requirements.
Once you've set up the GITLAB_HOME
variable, you can run the image:
sudo docker run --detach \
--hostname gitlab.example.com \
--publish 443:443 --publish 80:80 --publish 22:22 \
--name gitlab \
--restart always \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
--shm-size 256m \
gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest
This will download and start a GitLab container and publish ports needed to
access SSH, HTTP and HTTPS. All GitLab data will be stored as subdirectories of
$GITLAB_HOME
. The container will automatically restart
after a system reboot.
If you are on SELinux, then run this instead:
sudo docker run --detach \
--hostname gitlab.example.com \
--publish 443:443 --publish 80:80 --publish 22:22 \
--name gitlab \
--restart always \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab:Z \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab:Z \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab:Z \
--shm-size 256m \
gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest
This will ensure that the Docker process has enough permissions to create the configuration files in the mounted volumes.
If you're using the Kerberos integration (PREMIUM ONLY),
you must also publish your Kerberos port (for example, --publish 8443:8443
).
Failing to do so prevents Git operations with Kerberos.
The initialization process may take a long time. You can track this process with:
sudo docker logs -f gitlab
After starting a container you can visit gitlab.example.com
(or
http://192.168.59.103
if you used boot2docker on macOS). It might take a while
before the Docker container starts to respond to queries.
Visit the GitLab URL, and log in with username root
and the password from the following command:
sudo docker exec -it gitlab grep 'Password:' /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password
NOTE: The password file will be automatically deleted in the first reconfigure run after 24 hours.
Install GitLab using Docker Compose
With Docker Compose you can easily configure, install, and upgrade your Docker-based GitLab installation:
-
Create a
docker-compose.yml
file (or download an example):version: '3.6' services: web: image: 'gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest' restart: always hostname: 'gitlab.example.com' environment: GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: | external_url 'https://gitlab.example.com' # Add any other gitlab.rb configuration here, each on its own line ports: - '80:80' - '443:443' - '22:22' volumes: - '$GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab' - '$GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab' - '$GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab' shm_size: '256m'
-
Make sure you are in the same directory as
docker-compose.yml
and start GitLab:docker-compose up -d
NOTE:
Read the "Pre-configure Docker container" section
to see how the GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG
variable works.
Below is another docker-compose.yml
example with GitLab running on a custom
HTTP and SSH port. Notice how the GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG
variables match the
ports
section:
version: '3.6'
services:
web:
image: 'gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest'
restart: always
hostname: 'gitlab.example.com'
environment:
GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: |
external_url 'http://gitlab.example.com:8929'
gitlab_rails['gitlab_shell_ssh_port'] = 2224
ports:
- '8929:8929'
- '2224:22'
volumes:
- '$GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab'
- '$GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab'
- '$GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab'
shm_size: '256m'
This is the same as using --publish 8929:8929 --publish 2224:22
.
Install GitLab using Docker swarm mode
With Docker swarm mode, you can easily configure and deploy your Docker-based GitLab installation in a swarm cluster.
In swarm mode you can leverage Docker secrets and Docker configurations to efficiently and securely deploy your GitLab instance. Secrets can be used to securely pass your initial root password without exposing it as an environment variable. Configurations can help you to keep your GitLab image as generic as possible.
Here's an example that deploys GitLab with four runners as a stack, using secrets and configurations:
-
Create a
docker-compose.yml
file:version: "3.6" services: gitlab: image: gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest ports: - "22:22" - "80:80" - "443:443" volumes: - $GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab - $GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab - $GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab shm_size: '256m' environment: GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: "from_file('/omnibus_config.rb')" configs: - source: gitlab target: /omnibus_config.rb secrets: - gitlab_root_password gitlab-runner: image: gitlab/gitlab-runner:alpine deploy: mode: replicated replicas: 4 configs: gitlab: file: ./gitlab.rb secrets: gitlab_root_password: file: ./root_password.txt
For simplicity reasons, the
network
configuration was omitted. More information can be found in the official Compose file reference. -
Create a
gitlab.rb
file:external_url 'https://my.domain.com/' gitlab_rails['initial_root_password'] = File.read('/run/secrets/gitlab_root_password').gsub("\n", "")
-
Create a
root_password.txt
file:MySuperSecretAndSecurePass0rd!
-
Make sure you are in the same directory as
docker-compose.yml
and run:docker stack deploy --compose-file docker-compose.yml mystack
Configuration
This container uses the official Omnibus GitLab package, so all configuration
is done in the unique configuration file /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
.
To access the GitLab configuration file, you can start a shell session in the context of a running container. This will allow you to browse all directories and use your favorite text editor:
sudo docker exec -it gitlab /bin/bash
You can also just edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
:
sudo docker exec -it gitlab editor /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
Once you open /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
make sure to set the external_url
to
point to a valid URL.
To receive e-mails from GitLab you have to configure the SMTP settings because the GitLab Docker image doesn't have an SMTP server installed. You may also be interested in enabling HTTPS.
After you make all the changes you want, you will need to restart the container in order to reconfigure GitLab:
sudo docker restart gitlab
GitLab will reconfigure itself whenever the container starts. For more options about configuring GitLab, check the configuration documentation.
Pre-configure Docker container
You can pre-configure the GitLab Docker image by adding the environment variable
GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG
to Docker run command. This variable can contain any
gitlab.rb
setting and is evaluated before the loading of the container's
gitlab.rb
file. This behavior allows you to configure the external GitLab URL,
and make database configuration or any other option from the
Omnibus GitLab template.
The settings contained in GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG
aren't written to the
gitlab.rb
configuration file, and are evaluated on load.
Here's an example that sets the external URL and enables LFS while starting the container:
sudo docker run --detach \
--hostname gitlab.example.com \
--env GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG="external_url 'http://my.domain.com/'; gitlab_rails['lfs_enabled'] = true;" \
--publish 443:443 --publish 80:80 --publish 22:22 \
--name gitlab \
--restart always \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
--shm-size 256m \
gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest
Note that every time you execute a docker run
command, you need to provide
the GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG
option. The content of GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG
is
not preserved between subsequent runs.
Use tagged versions of GitLab
Tagged versions of the GitLab Docker images are also provided. To see all available tags see:
To use a specific tagged version, replace gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest
with
the GitLab version you want to run, for example gitlab/gitlab-ee:12.1.3-ce.0
.
Run GitLab on a public IP address
You can make Docker to use your IP address and forward all traffic to the
GitLab container by modifying the --publish
flag.
To expose GitLab on IP 198.51.100.1
:
sudo docker run --detach \
--hostname gitlab.example.com \
--publish 198.51.100.1:443:443 \
--publish 198.51.100.1:80:80 \
--publish 198.51.100.1:22:22 \
--name gitlab \
--restart always \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
--shm-size 256m \
gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest
You can then access your GitLab instance at http://198.51.100.1/
and https://198.51.100.1/
.
Expose GitLab on different ports
GitLab will occupy some ports inside the container.
If you want to use a different host port than 80
(HTTP) or 443
(HTTPS),
you need to add a separate --publish
directive to the docker run
command.
For example, to expose the web interface on the host's port 8929
, and the SSH service on
port 2289
:
-
Use the following
docker run
command:sudo docker run --detach \ --hostname gitlab.example.com \ --publish 8929:8929 --publish 2289:22 \ --name gitlab \ --restart always \ --volume $GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab \ --volume $GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab \ --volume $GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab \ --shm-size 256m \ gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest
NOTE: The format for publishing ports is
hostPort:containerPort
. Read more in Docker's documentation about exposing incoming ports. -
Enter the running container:
sudo docker exec -it gitlab /bin/bash
-
Open
/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
with your editor and setexternal_url
:# For HTTP external_url "http://gitlab.example.com:8929" or # For HTTPS (notice the https) external_url "https://gitlab.example.com:8929"
The port specified in this URL must match the port published to the host by Docker. Additionally, if the NGINX listen port is not explicitly set in
nginx['listen_port']
, it will be pulled from theexternal_url
. For more information see the NGINX documentation. -
Set
gitlab_shell_ssh_port
:gitlab_rails['gitlab_shell_ssh_port'] = 2289
-
Finally, reconfigure GitLab:
gitlab-ctl reconfigure
Following the above example, you will be able to reach GitLab from your
web browser under <hostIP>:8929
and push using SSH under the port 2289
.
A docker-compose.yml
example that uses different ports can be found in the
Docker compose section.
Upgrade
In most cases, upgrading GitLab is as easy as downloading the newest Docker image tag.
Upgrade GitLab using Docker Engine
To upgrade GitLab that was installed using Docker Engine:
-
Take a backup.
-
Stop the running container:
sudo docker stop gitlab
-
Remove the existing container:
sudo docker rm gitlab
-
Pull the new image. For example, the latest GitLab image:
sudo docker pull gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest
-
Create the container once again with the previously specified options:
sudo docker run --detach \ --hostname gitlab.example.com \ --publish 443:443 --publish 80:80 --publish 22:22 \ --name gitlab \ --restart always \ --volume $GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab \ --volume $GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab \ --volume $GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab \ --shm-size 256m \ gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest
On the first run, GitLab will reconfigure and upgrade itself.
Refer to the GitLab Upgrade recommendations when upgrading between major versions.
Upgrade GitLab using Docker compose
To upgrade GitLab that was installed using Docker Compose:
-
Take a backup.
-
Download the newest release and upgrade your GitLab instance:
docker-compose pull docker-compose up -d
If you have used tags instead, you'll need to first edit
docker-compose.yml
.
Convert Community Edition to Enterprise Edition
You can convert an existing Docker-based GitLab Community Edition (CE) container to a GitLab Enterprise Edition (EE) container using the same approach as upgrading the version.
We recommend you convert from the same version of CE to EE (for example, CE 14.1 to EE 14.1). This is not explicitly necessary, and any standard upgrade (for example, CE 14.0 to EE 14.1) should work. The following steps assume that you are upgrading the same version.
- Take a backup.
- Stop the current CE container, and remove or rename it.
- To create a new container with GitLab EE,
replace
ce
withee
in yourdocker run
command ordocker-compose.yml
file. However, reuse the CE container name, port and file mappings, and version.
Back up GitLab
You can create a GitLab backup with:
docker exec -t <container name> gitlab-backup create
Read more on how to back up and restore GitLab.
NOTE:
If configuration is provided entirely via the GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG
environment variable
(per the "Pre-configure Docker Container" steps),
meaning no configuration is set directly in the gitlab.rb
file, then there is no need
to back up the gitlab.rb
file.
Installing GitLab Community Edition
To install the Community Edition, replace ee
with ce
in the commands on this
page.
Troubleshooting
The following information will help if you encounter problems using Omnibus GitLab and Docker.
Diagnose potential problems
Read container logs:
sudo docker logs gitlab
Enter running container:
sudo docker exec -it gitlab /bin/bash
From within the container you can administer the GitLab container as you would normally administer an Omnibus installation
500 Internal Error
When updating the Docker image you may encounter an issue where all paths
display a 500
page. If this occurs, restart the container to try to rectify the
issue:
sudo docker restart gitlab
Permission problems
When updating from older GitLab Docker images you might encounter permission problems. This happens when users in previous images were not preserved correctly. There's script that fixes permissions for all files.
To fix your container, execute update-permissions
and restart the
container afterwards:
sudo docker exec gitlab update-permissions
sudo docker restart gitlab
Windows/Mac: Error executing action run on resource ruby_block[directory resource: /data/GitLab]
This error occurs when using Docker Toolbox with VirtualBox on Windows or Mac,
and making use of Docker volumes. The /c/Users
volume is mounted as a
VirtualBox Shared Folder, and does not support the all POSIX file system features.
The directory ownership and permissions cannot be changed without remounting, and
GitLab fails.
Our recommendation is to switch to using the native Docker install for your platform, instead of using Docker Toolbox.
If you cannot use the native Docker install (Windows 10 Home Edition, or Windows 7/8), then an alternative solution is to setup NFS mounts instead of VirtualBox shares for Docker Toolbox's boot2docker.
Linux ACL issues
If you are using file ACLs on the Docker host, the docker
group requires full access to the volumes in order for GitLab to work:
getfacl $GITLAB_HOME
# file: $GITLAB_HOME
# owner: XXXX
# group: XXXX
user::rwx
group::rwx
group:docker:rwx
mask::rwx
default:user::rwx
default:group::rwx
default:group:docker:rwx
default:mask::rwx
default:other::r-x
If these are not correct, set them with:
sudo setfacl -mR default:group:docker:rwx $GITLAB_HOME
The default group is docker
. If you changed the group, be sure to update your
commands.
/dev/shm
mount not having enough space in Docker container
GitLab comes with a Prometheus metrics endpoint at /-/metrics
to expose a
variety of statistics on the health and performance of GitLab. The files
required for this gets written to a temporary file system (like /run
or
/dev/shm
).
By default, Docker allocates 64MB to the shared memory directory (mounted at
/dev/shm
). This is insufficient to hold all the Prometheus metrics related
files generated, and will generate error logs like the following:
writing value to /dev/shm/gitlab/sidekiq/gauge_all_sidekiq_0-1.db failed with unmapped file
writing value to /dev/shm/gitlab/sidekiq/gauge_all_sidekiq_0-1.db failed with unmapped file
writing value to /dev/shm/gitlab/sidekiq/gauge_all_sidekiq_0-1.db failed with unmapped file
writing value to /dev/shm/gitlab/sidekiq/histogram_sidekiq_0-0.db failed with unmapped file
writing value to /dev/shm/gitlab/sidekiq/histogram_sidekiq_0-0.db failed with unmapped file
writing value to /dev/shm/gitlab/sidekiq/histogram_sidekiq_0-0.db failed with unmapped file
writing value to /dev/shm/gitlab/sidekiq/histogram_sidekiq_0-0.db failed with unmapped file
Other than disabling the Prometheus Metrics from the Admin Area, the recommended
solution to fix this problem is to increase the size of shared memory to at least 256MB.
If using docker run
, this can be done by passing the flag --shm-size 256m
.
If using a docker-compose.yml
file, the shm_size
key can be used for this
purpose.
Docker containers exhausts space due to the json-file
Docker's default logging driver is json-file
, which performs no log rotation by default. As a result of this lack of rotation, log files stored by the json-file
driver can consume a significant amount of disk space for containers that generate a lot of output. This can lead to disk space exhaustion. To address this, use journald
as the logging driver when available, or another supported driver with native rotation support.
Buffer overflow error when starting Docker
If you receive this buffer overflow error, you should purge old log files in
/var/log/gitlab
:
buffer overflow detected : terminated
xargs: tail: terminated by signal 6
Removing old log files helps fix the error, and ensures a clean startup of the instance.