In this video I explain how to install and configure GitLab in Debian 11 however below you can read the tutorial for other Linux distributions.

GitLab is an open source end-to-end software development platform with built-in version control, issue tracking, code review, CI/CD, and more. Self-host GitLab on your own servers, in a container, or on a cloud provider. Source: GitLab CE

GitLab FOSS is a read-only mirror of GitLab, with all proprietary code removed. This project was previously used to host GitLab Community Edition, but all development has now moved to GitLab CE Source: GitLab CE / Gitlab FOSS

Tutorial

Basic requirements for a a virtual machine

8 GB RAM 4 vCPUs 40 GB disk space Disk space:

  • system disk (sda) …. 40GB – If needed, create a separate /opt partition (~20GB) as GitLab is installed in /opt/gitlab

  • data disk (sdb) ….. 60GB – mount on /data – define the GitLab data directory /data/gitlab

If needed increase partitions size.

Add a secondary disk and create partition.
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sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

Then type enter the letters in sequence and set the parameters

n
hit Enter
p
hit Enter
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hit Enter twice
t
hit Enter
8E
hit Enter
w
hit Enter
Install parted
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sudo zypper install parted
Perform the below command
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sudo parted /dev/sdb
Add a physical volume in logical volume manager
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sudo pvcreate /dev/sdb1
Create a volume group and add /dev/sdb1 to it
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sudo vgcreate gitlab-data /dev/sdb1
Create a logical volume
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sudo lvcreate -n gitlab-data -l 100%FREE gitlab-data
Create ext4 file system
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mkfs.ext4 /dev/gitlab-data/gitlab-data
Display device
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sudo ls -al /dev/mapper
Create data dir in root directory
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cd /
sudo mkdir data
Add to /etc/fstab entry for the data. Save and exit.
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vim /etc/fstab
# add the below
/dev/mapper/gitlab--data-gitlab--data /data ext4 defaults 0 2
Mount the entry from /etc/fstab
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mount -a
Check with the below command the status of the mounted resource
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sudo df -kTh
Update the system
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sudo zypper ref
Install required packages
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sudo zypper install curl vim openssh perl postfix mailutils git
Install GitLab CE
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sudo zypper install curl perl
# Check if opening the firewall is needed with: sudo systemctl status firewalld
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
sudo systemctl reload firewalld

#Add the GitLab package repository and install the package
curl -sS https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/gitlab/gitlab-ee/script.rpm.sh | sudo bash

# Install GitLab CE
sudo zypper install gitlab-ee

Configuration

  1. Configure Postfix
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sudo vim /etc/postfix/main.cf

Set as below

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compatibility_level = 2
mail_owner = postfix
setgid_group = postdrop
inet_interfaces = localhost
inet_protocols = all
mydomain = gitlab.local
mydestination = $myhostname, localhost.$mydomain, localhost
relayhost = mail.gitlab.local
unknown_local_recipient_reject_code = 550
alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases
alias_database = hash:/etc/aliases

Restart Postfix

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sudo systemctl restart postfix
  1. Create ssl directory and generate certificates
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cd /etc/gitlab
sudo mkdir ssl
sudo openssl genrsa -out gitlab.key 2048
sudo openssl req -key gitlab.key -new -out gitlab.csr
sudo openssl x509 -signkey gitlab.key -in gitlab.csr -req -days 365 -out gitlab.crt
  1. Edit the main config file: /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
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sudo vim /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

external_url ‘https://10.10.0.119’

Default data storing directory

git_data_dirs({ “default” => { “path” => “/data/git” } })

GitLab User Settings

user[‘git_user_email’] = “gitlab@gitlab.local”

Email settings

gitlab_rails[‘gitlab_email_from’] = ‘gitlab@gitlab.local’ gitlab_rails[‘gitlab_email_display_name’] = ‘GitLab’ gitlab_rails[‘gitlab_email_reply_to’] = ’noreply@gitlab.local’

GitLab NGINX

nginx[’enable’] = true nginx[‘redirect_http_to_https’] = true nginx[‘redirect_http_to_https_port’] = 80 nginx[‘ssl_certificate’] = “/etc/gitlab/ssl/gitlab.crt” nginx[‘ssl_certificate_key’] = “/etc/gitlab/ssl/gitlab.key”

  1. Reconfigure the GitLab
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sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
  1. Enable and start GitLab
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sudo systemctl enable gitlab-runsvdir.service
sudo systemctl start gitlab-runsvdir.service
  1. Access GitLab CE Web Interface

https://10.10.0.119 Sign in with account: root the password is found in /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password

  1. Reset the password for user “root”
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# sudo gitlab-rake "gitlab:password:reset"
> Enter username: root
> Enter password:
  1. Delete the initial root password
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sudo rm -f /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password