• Set up the volumes location
• Installation
  • Install GitLab using Docker Engine
  • Install GitLab using Docker Compose
  • Install GitLab using Docker swarm mode
• Configuration
  • Pre-configure Docker container
  • Use tagged versions of GitLab
  • Run GitLab on a public IP address
  • Expose GitLab on different ports
• Update
  • Update GitLab using Docker Engine
  • Update GitLab using Docker compose
• Back up GitLab
• Troubleshooting
  • Diagnose potential problems
  • 500 Internal Error
  • Permission problems
  • Windows/Mac: Error executing action run on resource ruby_block[directory resource: /data/GitLab]
  • Linux ACL issues

GitLab Docker images

The GitLab Docker images are monolithic images of GitLab running all the necessary services in a single container.

Both GitLab CE and EE are in Docker Hub:

• GitLab CE Docker image
• GitLab EE Docker image

In the following examples we are using the image of GitLab CE. To use GitLab EE instead of GitLab CE, replace the image name to gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest.

If you want to use the latest RC image, use gitlab/gitlab-ce:rc or gitlab/gitlab-ee:rc for GitLab CE and GitLab EE respectively.

Docker installation is required, see the official installation docs.

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:

Installation

The GitLab Docker images can be run in multiple ways:

• Using Docker Engine
• Using Docker Compose
• Using Docker swarm mode

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 \
  gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest

This will download and start a GitLab CE 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 \
  gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest

This will ensure that the Docker process has enough permissions to create the config files in the mounted volumes.

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. The very first time you visit GitLab, you will be asked to set up the admin password. After you change it, you can login with username root and the password you set up.

Install GitLab using Docker Compose

With Docker Compose you can easily configure, install, and upgrade your Docker-based GitLab installation:

1. Install Docker Compose.

2. Create a docker-compose.yml file (or download an example):

   web:
     image: 'gitlab/gitlab-ce: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'
   

3. Make sure you are in the same directory as docker-compose.yml and start GitLab:

   docker-compose up -d
   

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:

web:
  image: 'gitlab/gitlab-ce: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'

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 configs 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. Configs 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 configs:

1. Set up a Docker swarm.

2. Create a docker-compose.yml file:

   version: "3.6"
   services:
     gitlab:
       image: gitlab/gitlab-ce: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
       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.

3. Create a gitlab.rb file:

   external_url 'https://my.domain.com/'
   gitlab_rails['initial_root_password'] = File.read('/run/secrets/gitlab_root_password')
   

4. Create a root_password.txt file:

   MySuperSecretAndSecurePass0rd!
   

5. 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 GitLab’s 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

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 will be evaluated before loading the container’s gitlab.rb file. That way you can easily configure GitLab’s external URL, make any database configuration or any other option from the Omnibus GitLab template.

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 \
  gitlab/gitlab-ce: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:

• GitLab CE tags
• GitLab EE tags

To use a specific tagged version, replace gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest with the GitLab version you want to run, for example gitlab/gitlab-ce: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 CE 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 \
  gitlab/gitlab-ce: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:

1. 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 \
     gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest
   

   Note: The format for publishing ports is hostPort:containerPort. Read more in Docker’s documentation about exposing incoming ports.

2. Enter the running container:

   sudo docker exec -it gitlab /bin/bash
   

3. Open /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb with your editor and set external_url:

   # For HTTP
   external_url "http://gitlab.example.com:8929"
   
   or
   
   # For HTTPS (notice the https)
   external_url "https://gitlab.example.com:8929"
   

   Note: 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 the external_url. For more information see the NGINX documentation.

4. Set gitlab_shell_ssh_port:

   gitlab_rails['gitlab_shell_ssh_port'] = 2289
   

5. 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.

Update

In most cases, updating GitLab is as easy as downloading the newest Docker image tag.

Update GitLab using Docker Engine

To update GitLab that was installed using Docker Engine:

1. Take a backup.

2. Stop the running container:

   sudo docker stop gitlab
   

3. Remove the existing container:

   sudo docker rm gitlab
   

4. Pull the new image. For example, the latest GitLab CE image:

   sudo docker pull gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest
   

5. 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 \
   gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest
   

On the first run, GitLab will reconfigure and update itself.

Update GitLab using Docker compose

To update GitLab that was installed using Docker Compose:

1. Take a backup.

2. Download the newest release and update your GitLab instance:

   docker-compose pull
   docker-compose up -d
   

   Note: If you have used tags instead, you’ll need to first edit docker-compose.yml.

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.

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 filesystem 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