russell@unturf.com
137d65cc65
- Fix case duplicates (guide→Guide, project→Project, etc.) - Consolidate single-post tags into broader categories - Add technology tags (Python, AWS, Salt, Docker, Kubernetes) to 93 posts - Add lib/tag_stats.py tool for checking tag usage - Update CLAUDE.md with tag guidelines
130 lines
3.4 KiB
ReStructuredText
130 lines
3.4 KiB
ReStructuredText
Vertically Scaling GitLab Server For As Cheap As Possible
|
|
################################################################
|
|
|
|
:author: Russell Ballestrini
|
|
:slug: vertically-scaling-gitlab-server-for-as-cheap-as-possible
|
|
:date: 2022-01-05 19:13
|
|
:tags: Code, DevOps, Salt, Docker
|
|
:status: published
|
|
|
|
Today's essay acts as a power-up love story for the underdog.
|
|
|
|
A living document & quickstart for:
|
|
|
|
* bootstrappers
|
|
* small business under 99 employees
|
|
* solo ops or devs
|
|
* entrepreneurs
|
|
* hackers
|
|
* tinkerers
|
|
|
|
You also deserve a quick start to a GitLab Server power house!
|
|
|
|
Regardless of my intended audience, this strategy should scale to
|
|
500-1,000 concurrent engineers on the smallest of the instance classes
|
|
which satisfy the current GitLab Server "minimum requirements".
|
|
|
|
* https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/install/requirements.html
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why GitLab Server?
|
|
====================
|
|
|
|
* GitLab is open source (not black box)
|
|
* GitLab CI is a game changer
|
|
* GitLab CI is extendable to any workflow
|
|
* GitLab Server wants 4G of memory
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expected Results
|
|
=====================
|
|
|
|
This guide prescribes the following setup:
|
|
|
|
* A Physical or Virtual Machine with at least 4G of RAM
|
|
* Docker installed
|
|
* Docker container started via docker-compose to manage
|
|
a monolithic Omnibus installation of GitLab Server
|
|
* A Cronjob to backup GitLab Server to ``/tmp``
|
|
* A Cronjob to collect Gitlab Server backup tarball & ``/etc/gitlab/gitlab-secrets.json``
|
|
* A strong recommendation to test the complete backup and recovery process
|
|
at least once to prepare for when times get rough.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
GitLab Server Omnibus In Docker
|
|
===================================
|
|
|
|
The installation & configuration is documented using SaltStack to make it easy
|
|
to spin up GitLab Servers.
|
|
|
|
To install SaltStack on the new host dedicated for GitLab Server, Run the following:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: bash
|
|
|
|
wget -O - https://bootstrap.saltstack.com | sudo sh -s -- stable;
|
|
echo "master: salt.example.com" >> /etc/salt/minion.d/custom.conf;
|
|
sudo service salt-minion restart
|
|
|
|
On the instance designated as salt-master, accept the new salt-minion key:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: bash
|
|
|
|
sudo salt-key -a git2.unturf.com
|
|
The following keys are going to be accepted:
|
|
Unaccepted Keys:
|
|
Git2.unturf.com
|
|
Proceed? [n/Y] y
|
|
|
|
and make sure communication is established:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: bash
|
|
|
|
sudo salt "git2*" test.ping
|
|
git2.unturf.com:
|
|
True
|
|
|
|
and run a highstate to configure that new host instance:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: bash
|
|
|
|
sudo salt "git2*" state.highstate
|
|
|
|
Once the command returns, assuming we had no errors or failures we
|
|
have docker installed and an Omnibus Gitlab Server booted inside a container.
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: bash
|
|
|
|
Summary for git2.unturf.com
|
|
--------------
|
|
Succeeded: 104 (changed=69)
|
|
Failed: 0
|
|
--------------
|
|
Total states run: 104
|
|
Total run time: 194.431 s
|
|
|
|
The GitLab Server's internal services take over 3 minutes to come online.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Disaster Recovery
|
|
=====================
|
|
|
|
Prepare for real disaster by practicing the entire backup and restore process.
|
|
|
|
As extra homework, it is high advisable to spin up a 2nd host for GitLab Server
|
|
in order to test the backup and restore process from start to finish:
|
|
|
|
https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/raketasks/backup_restore.html#restore-gitlab
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
GitLab CI is a game changer.
|
|
Gitlab is like Circle CI 2.0 only not black box.
|
|
|
|
GitLab CI is extendable to any workflow
|
|
but you should keep it simple, learn to use the tool as intended,
|
|
and rethink legacy workflows rather than port.
|
|
|
|
.. contents::
|