GitLab Docker images

The GitLab docker image is available on Docker Hub.

After starting a container

After starting a container you can go to http://localhost:8080/ or http://192.168.59.103:8080/ if you use boot2docker.

It might take a while before the docker container is responding to queries.

You can check the status with something like sudo docker logs -f gitlab.

You can login to the web interface with username root and password 5iveL!fe.

Next time, you can just use docker start and stop to run the container.

Run the image

Run the image:

sudo docker run --detach \
	--publish 8443:443 --publish 8080:80 --publish 2222:22 \
	--name gitlab \
	--restart always \
	--volume /srv/gitlab/config:/etc/gitlab \
	--volume /srv/gitlab/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
	--volume /srv/gitlab/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
	gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest

This will download and start GitLab CE container and publish ports needed to access SSH, HTTP and HTTPS. All GitLab data will be stored as subdirectories of /srv/gitlab/. The container will automatically restart after system reboot.

After this you can login to the web interface as explained above in 'After starting a container'.

Where is the data stored?

The GitLab container uses host mounted volumes to store persistent data:

• /srv/gitlab/data mounted as /var/opt/gitlab in the container is used for storing application data
• /srv/gitlab/logs mounted as /var/log/gitlab in the container is used for storing logs
• /srv/gitlab/config mounted as /etc/gitlab in the container is used for storing configuration

You can fine tune these directories to meet your requirements.

Configure GitLab

This container uses the official Omnibus GitLab distribution, so all configuration is done in the unique configuration file /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb.

To access GitLab configuration, you can start an bash in a new the context of running container, you will be able to browse all directories and use your favorite text editor:

sudo docker exec -it gitlab /bin/bash

You can also edit just /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:

sudo docker exec -it gitlab vi /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

You should set the external_url to point to a valid URL.

You may also be interesting in Enabling HTTPS.

To receive e-mails from GitLab you have to configure the SMTP settings, because Docker image doesn't have a SMTP server.

Note that GitLab will reconfigure itself at each container start. You will need to restart the container to reconfigure your GitLab:

sudo docker restart gitlab

For more options for configuring the container please check Omnibus GitLab documentation.

Diagnose potential problems

Read container logs:

sudo docker logs gitlab

Enter running container:

sudo docker exec -it gitlab /bin/bash

From within container you can administrer GitLab container as you would normally administer Omnibus installation: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/blob/master/README.md.

Upgrade GitLab to newer version

To upgrade GitLab to new version you have to do:

1. pull new image,

sudo docker stop gitlab

1. stop running container,

sudo docker rm gitlab

1. remove existing container,

sudo docker pull gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest

1. create the container once again with previously specified options.

sudo docker run --detach \
	--publish 8443:443 --publish 8080:80 --publish 2222:22 \
	--name gitlab \
	--restart always \
	--volume /srv/gitlab/config:/etc/gitlab \
	--volume /srv/gitlab/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
	--volume /srv/gitlab/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
	gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest

On the first run GitLab will reconfigure and update itself.

Run GitLab CE on public IP address

You can make Docker to use your IP address and forward all traffic to the GitLab CE container. You can do that by modifying the --publish (Binding container ports to the host):

--publish=[] : Publish a container᾿s port or a range of ports to the host format: ip:hostPort:containerPort | ip::containerPort | hostPort:containerPort | containerPort

To expose GitLab CE on IP 1.1.1.1:

sudo docker run --detach \
	--publish 1.1.1.1:443:443 --publish 1.1.1.1:80:80 --publish 1.1.1.1:22:22 \
	--name gitlab \
	--restart always \
	--volume /srv/gitlab/config:/etc/gitlab \
	--volume /srv/gitlab/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
	--volume /srv/gitlab/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
	gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest

You can then access GitLab instance at http://1.1.1.1/ and https://1.1.1.1/.

Build the image

This guide will also let you know how to build docker image yourself. Please run the command from the GitLab repo root directory. People using boot2docker should run all the commands without sudo.

sudo docker build --tag gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest docker/

Publish the image to Dockerhub

• Ensure the containers are running
• Login to Dockerhub with sudo docker login

sudo docker login
sudo docker push gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest

Troubleshooting

Please see the troubleshooting file in this directory.

Note: We use fig.yml to have compatibility with fig and because docker-compose also supports it.