Guides - Deploying Gitlab through the Linode Marketplace

GitLab is a complete solution for all aspects of your software development. At its core, GitLab serves as your centralized remote Git repository. GitLab also features built-in tools that represent every task in your development workflow, from planning to testing to releasing.

Self-hosting your software development with GitLab offers total control of your codebase. At the same time, its familiar interface will ease collaboration for you and your team. GitLab is the most popular self-hosted Git repository software, so you’ll benefit from a robust set of integrated tools and an active community.

Deploying a Marketplace App

The Linode Marketplace allows you to easily deploy software on a Compute Instance using the Cloud Manager. See Get Started with Marketplace Apps for complete steps.

1. Log in to the Cloud Manager and select the Marketplace link from the left navigation menu. This displays the Linode Create page with the Marketplace tab pre-selected.

2. Under the Select App section, select the app you would like to deploy.

3. Complete the form by following the steps and advice within the Creating a Compute Instance guide. Depending on the Marketplace App you selected, there may be additional configuration options available. See the Configuration Options section below for compatible distributions, recommended plans, and any additional configuration options available for this Marketplace App.

4. Click the Create Linode button. Once the Compute Instance has been provisioned and has fully powered on, wait for the software installation to complete. If the instance is powered off or restarted before this time, the software installation will likely fail.

To verify that the app has been fully installed, see Get Started with Marketplace Apps > Verify Installation. Once installed, follow the instructions within the Getting Started After Deployment section to access the application and start using it.

Note

Estimated deployment time: Gitlab should be fully installed within 10-15 minutes after the Compute Instance has finished provisioning.

Configuration Options

• Supported distributions: Debian 11, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
• Recommended minimum plan: 8GB Dedicated CPU Compute Instance

GitLab Options

• Email address (required): Enter the email address to use for generating the SSL certificates.

Limited User (Optional)

You can optionally fill out the following fields to automatically create a limited user for your new Compute Instance. This is recommended for most deployments as an additional security measure. This account will be assigned to the sudo group, which provides elevated permission when running commands with the sudo prefix.

• Limited sudo user: Enter your preferred username for the limited user.
• Password for the limited user: Enter a strong password for the new user.
• SSH public key for the limited user: If you wish to login as the limited user through public key authentication (without entering a password), enter your public key here. See Creating an SSH Key Pair and Configuring Public Key Authentication on a Server for instructions on generating a key pair.
• Disable root access over SSH: To block the root user from logging in over SSH, select Yes (recommended). You can still switch to the root user once logged in and you can also log in as root through Lish.

Custom Domain (Optional)

If you wish to access your application using a custom domain, fill out the following fields.

• Linode API Token: If you wish to use the Linode’s DNS Manager to manage DNS records for your custom domain, create a Linode API Personal Access Token on your account with Read/Write access to Domains. If this is provided along with the subdomain and domain fields (outlined below), the installation attempts to create DNS records via the Linode API. See Get an API Access Token. If you do not provide this field, you need to manually configure your DNS records through your DNS provider and point them to the IP address of the new instance.
• Subdomain: The subdomain you wish to use, such as www for www.example.com.
• Domain: The domain name you wish to use, such as example.com.

Getting Started after Deployment

Access the GitLab Site

Once your new Compute Instance has been fully deployed, follow the instructions below to access your new Gitlab app.

1. Find the Gitlab root password: Before logging in to your Gitlab site, you need to obtain the Gitlab root password that was generated during provisioning.

   1. Log in to your new Compute Instance through Lish or SSH using either the root user or limited user and the associated password you entered when creating the instance.

   2. Enter the following command in the lish console or terminal session:

      cat /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password
      

      The Gitlab root password is displayed within the output of that command.

2. Log in to your Gitlab site: Open a web browser and enter either your Compute Instance’s default rDNS domain or your domain name (if you entered one during deployment). See the Managing IP Addresses guide for information on viewing and setting the rDNS value.

   When presented with a login screen, enter the following credentials:

   • Username: root
   • Password: Use the password you obtained in the previous step.

3. Reset the root password: Once you’re logged in, it’s recommended that you reset the root password. To do so, navigate to the following URL, replacing [domain] with the rDNS domain of your Compute instance or your custom domain:

   https://[domain]/-/profile/password/edit
   

You can now begin creating GitLab repositories, users, and more. See GitLab’s official documentation for more information.

Software Included

The GitLab Marketplace App installs the following required software on your Linode:

Note

Currently, Linode does not manage software and systems updates for Marketplace Apps. It is up to the user to perform routine maintenance on software deployed in this fashion.

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

• GitLab Adminstrator Documentation