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## Configure the object storage
GitLab supports using an object storage service for holding numerous types of data.
It's recommended over [NFS](#configure-nfs-optional) and in general it's better
in larger setups as object storage is typically much more performant, reliable,
and scalable.
Object storage options that GitLab has tested, or is aware of customers using include:
- SaaS/Cloud solutions such as [Amazon S3](https://aws.amazon.com/s3/), [Google cloud storage](https://cloud.google.com/storage).
- On-premises hardware and appliances from various storage vendors.
- MinIO. There is [a guide to deploying this](https://docs.gitlab.com/charts/advanced/external-object-storage/minio.html) within our Helm Chart documentation.
For configuring GitLab to use Object Storage refer to the following guides
based on what features you intend to use:
1. Configure [object storage for backups](../../raketasks/backup_restore.md#uploading-backups-to-a-remote-cloud-storage).
1. Configure [object storage for job artifacts](../job_artifacts.md#using-object-storage)
including [incremental logging](../job_logs.md#new-incremental-logging-architecture).
1. Configure [object storage for LFS objects](../lfs/index.md#storing-lfs-objects-in-remote-object-storage).
1. Configure [object storage for uploads](../uploads.md#using-object-storage-core-only).
1. Configure [object storage for merge request diffs](../merge_request_diffs.md#using-object-storage).
1. Configure [object storage for Container Registry](../packages/container_registry.md#container-registry-storage-driver)(optional feature).
1. Configure [object storage for Mattermost](https://docs.mattermost.com/administration/config-settings.html#file-storage)(optional feature).
1. Configure [object storage for packages](../packages/index.md#using-object-storage)(optional feature). **(PREMIUM ONLY)**
1. Configure [object storage for Dependency Proxy](../packages/dependency_proxy.md#using-object-storage)(optional feature). **(PREMIUM ONLY)**
1. Configure [object storage for Pseudonymizer](../pseudonymizer.md#configuration)(optional feature). **(ULTIMATE ONLY)**
1. Configure [object storage for autoscale Runner caching](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/configuration/autoscale.html#distributed-runners-caching)(optional - for improved performance).
1. Configure [object storage for Terraform state files](../terraform_state.md#using-object-storage-core-only).
Using separate buckets for each data type is the recommended approach for GitLab.
A limitation of our configuration is that each use of object storage is separately configured.
[We have an issue for improving this](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/23345)
and easily using one bucket with separate folders is one improvement that this might bring.
There is at least one specific issue with using the same bucket:
when GitLab is deployed with the Helm chart restore from backup
[will not properly function](https://docs.gitlab.com/charts/advanced/external-object-storage/#lfs-artifacts-uploads-packages-external-diffs-pseudonymizer)
unless separate buckets are used.
One risk of using a single bucket would be if your organization decided to
migrate GitLab to the Helm deployment in the future. GitLab would run, but the situation with
backups might not be realized until the organization had a critical requirement for the backups to
In case you are experiencing any issues connecting through PgBouncer, the first place to check is always the logs:
```shell
sudo gitlab-ctl tail pgbouncer
```
Additionally, you can check the output from `show databases` in the [administrative console](#pgbouncer-administrative-console). In the output, you would expect to see values in the `host` field for the `gitlabhq_production` database. Additionally, `current_connections` should be greater than 1.
### PgBouncer administrative console
As part of Omnibus GitLab, the `gitlab-ctl pgb-console` command is provided to automatically connect to the PgBouncer administrative console. See the [PgBouncer documentation](https://www.pgbouncer.org/usage.html#admin-console) for detailed instructions on how to interact with the console.
To start a session:
```shell
sudo gitlab-ctl pgb-console
```
The password you will be prompted for is the `pgbouncer_user_password`
To get some basic information about the instance, run
```shell
pgbouncer=# show databases; show clients; show servers;
name | host | port | database | force_user | pool_size | reserve_pool | pool_mode | max_connections | current_connections
See the suggested fix [in Geo documentation](../geo/replication/troubleshooting.md#message-log--invalid-cidr-mask-in-address).
### Message: `LOG: invalid IP mask "md5": Name or service not known`
See the suggested fix [in Geo documentation](../geo/replication/troubleshooting.md#message-log--invalid-ip-mask-md5-name-or-service-not-known).
## Troubleshooting PostgreSQL
In case you are experiencing any issues connecting through PgBouncer, the first place to check is always the logs:
```shell
sudo gitlab-ctl tail postgresql
```
### Consul and PostgreSQL changes not taking effect
Due to the potential impacts, `gitlab-ctl reconfigure` only reloads Consul and PostgreSQL, it will not restart the services. However, not all changes can be activated by reloading.
To restart either service, run `gitlab-ctl restart SERVICE`
For PostgreSQL, it is usually safe to restart the master node by default. Automatic failover defaults to a 1 minute timeout. Provided the database returns before then, nothing else needs to be done. To be safe, you can stop `repmgrd` on the standby nodes first with `gitlab-ctl stop repmgrd`, then start afterwards with `gitlab-ctl start repmgrd`.
On the Consul server nodes, it is important to restart the Consul service in a controlled fashion. Read our [Consul documentation](../high_availability/consul.md#restarting-the-server-cluster) for instructions on how to restart the service.