Sponsored Content

DEV Community

Cover image for Deploying GitLab CE DevOps Management Suite on Ubuntu 24.04
Vultr profile image Sanskriti Harmukh
Sanskriti Harmukh for Vultr

Posted on with Aashish Chaurasiya Originally published at docs.vultr.com

Deploying GitLab CE DevOps Management Suite on Ubuntu 24.04

#devops #docker #git #cicd

GitLab CE (Community Edition) is a complete, open-source DevOps platform that combines source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security testing, and project planning in a single application. This guide deploys GitLab CE using Docker Compose with Traefik handling automatic HTTPS, then retrieves the initial root password. By the end, you'll have a self-hosted GitLab instance running securely at your domain.

Set Up the Directory Structure

1. Create the project directory structure:

$ mkdir -p ~/gitlab/{config,logs,data,letsencrypt}
$ cd ~/gitlab
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

2. Create the environment file:

$ nano .env
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode 
GITLAB_DOMAIN=gitlab.example.com
LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=admin@example.com
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Deploy with Docker Compose

1. Add your user to the Docker group:

$ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
$ newgrp docker
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

2. Create the Docker Compose manifest:

$ nano docker-compose.yml
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode 
services:
  traefik:
    image: traefik:latest
    container_name: traefik
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      DOCKER_API_VERSION: "1.44"
    command:
      - "--providers.docker=true"
      - "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
      - "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
      - "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.to=websecure"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.httpchallenge=true"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.httpchallenge.entrypoint=web"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.email=${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL}"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
      - ./letsencrypt:/letsencrypt

  gitlab:
    image: gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest
    container_name: gitlab
    restart: always
    hostname: ${GITLAB_DOMAIN}
    shm_size: '256m'
    environment:
      GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: |
        external_url 'https://${GITLAB_DOMAIN}'
        nginx['listen_port'] = 80
        nginx['listen_https'] = false
        nginx['proxy_set_headers'] = {
          "X-Forwarded-Proto" => "https",
          "X-Forwarded-Ssl" => "on"
        }
        gitlab_rails['gitlab_shell_ssh_port'] = 2222
    ports:
      - "2222:22"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/gitlab
      - ./logs:/var/log/gitlab
      - ./data:/var/opt/gitlab
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.gitlab.rule=Host(`${GITLAB_DOMAIN}`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.gitlab.entrypoints=websecure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.gitlab.tls=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.gitlab.tls.certresolver=le"
      - "traefik.http.services.gitlab.loadbalancer.server.port=80"
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

3. Start the services:

$ docker compose up -d
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

4. Verify the services are running:

$ docker compose ps
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

GitLab takes a few minutes to initialize on the first start.

Access GitLab

1. Retrieve the initial root password:

$ sudo docker exec -it gitlab grep 'Password:' /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

This file auto-deletes after 24 hours, so capture the password right away.

2. Sign in:

  • URL: https://gitlab.example.com
  • Username: root
  • Password: the value from the command above

Change the root password immediately after first login.

Next Steps

GitLab CE is running and served securely over HTTPS. From here you can:

  • Create groups and projects, and invite team members
  • Configure GitLab Runners to execute CI/CD pipelines
  • Set up SMTP for email notifications and SAML/OIDC for SSO

For the full guide with additional tips, visit the original article on Vultr Docs.

Top comments (0)