GitLab Cloud Docker

Self-hosted GitLab Enterprise Edition (EE) using Docker Compose. Works on AWS EC2, DigitalOcean, and other cloud providers. Optimized for 4GB RAM instances.

🚀 Features

• GitLab Enterprise Edition Nightly - Latest features and bleeding edge updates
• Docker-based deployment - Simple setup
• Memory optimized - Runs well on 4GB RAM
• Environment-based configuration - Easy IP and password management
• Token creation script - Bypass web UI bugs
• Cloud deployment - Works on AWS EC2, DigitalOcean, etc.
• Custom ports - Uses port 8929/2222 to avoid conflicts

📋 Prerequisites

• Docker 20.10+
• Docker Compose 1.29+ (or docker-compose standalone)
• 4GB RAM (2GB works but slow as hell)
• 20GB disk space minimum
• Ubuntu 22.04 or similar Linux distribution

🛠️ Quick Start

1. Clone or Download

git clone https://github.com/zinx110/gitlab-cloud-docker.git
cd gitlab-cloud-docker

2. Configure Environment Variables

Edit the .env file:

nano .env

Set your values:

# Initial root password for first-time setup
INITIAL_PASSWORD=YourSecurePassword123!

# Your server's public IP address (leave empty for localhost)
EXTERNAL_IP=54.123.45.67

3. Start GitLab

docker-compose up -d

4. Access GitLab

Wait 3-5 minutes for GitLab to initialize, then access:

• URL: http://YOUR-IP:8929
• Username: root
• Password: (from your .env file)

📁 Project Structure

.
├── docker-compose.yml       # Main Docker Compose configuration
├── .env                     # Environment variables (passwords, IPs)
├── create-token.sh          # Helper script for creating API tokens
├── README.md                # This file
├── config/                  # GitLab configuration (auto-generated)
├── logs/                    # GitLab logs (auto-generated)
└── data/                    # GitLab data (auto-generated)

⚙️ Configuration

Ports

• 8929 - GitLab Web UI (HTTP)
• 2222 - GitLab SSH (Git operations)

Memory Optimization

The configuration is optimized for 4GB RAM:

• 4 Puma workers
• 20 Sidekiq concurrency
• Prometheus monitoring enabled
• 512MB PostgreSQL buffers

Docker Compose Configuration

Key settings in docker-compose.yml:

puma['worker_processes'] = 4
sidekiq['max_concurrency'] = 20
postgresql['shared_buffers'] = "512MB"
prometheus_monitoring['enable'] = true

🔧 Usage

Start GitLab

docker-compose up -d

Stop GitLab

docker-compose down

View Logs

docker logs -f gitlab

Check Status

docker ps

Restart GitLab

docker restart gitlab

Create Personal Access Token

If the web UI has issues creating tokens:

./create-token.sh "my-token-name" 365

Arguments:

• my-token-name - Token name (optional)
• 365 - Days until expiry (optional, default: 365)

🌐 Cloud Deployment

AWS EC2 Setup

1. Launch Instance:

   • Type: t3a.medium (4GB RAM, 2 vCPU)
   • Use Spot instance for 70% discount (~$4 for 2 weeks)
   • OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
   • Storage: 20GB minimum
   • Security Groups: 22, 8929, 2222

2. Get Elastic IP (Optional but Recommended):

   • AWS Console → EC2 → Elastic IPs → Allocate
   • Associate with your instance
   • This gives you a permanent IP that doesn't change on restart

3. Install Docker:

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install -y docker.io docker-compose
   sudo systemctl start docker
   sudo usermod -aG docker ubuntu
   exit  # Log out and back in

4. Upload files and configure .env with your Elastic IP

5. Start GitLab:

   docker-compose up -d
   # Wait 3-5 minutes for startup
   docker logs -f gitlab

DigitalOcean / Other Providers

Same steps as AWS - just adjust security group/firewall rules for your provider.

🔐 Security Considerations

• ⚠️ Change default password after first login
• 🔒 Add HTTPS if you care (need SSL certificate)
• 🛡️ Restrict SSH access to your IP only in security group
• 🔑 Never commit .env to git
• 💾 Backup data/ directory if you have important stuff

🐛 Troubleshooting

GitLab Won't Start

# Check logs
docker logs gitlab

# Check available memory
free -h

# Ensure swap is enabled
swapon --show

Getting 502 Bad Gateway

This means nginx is working but Puma (Rails backend) isn't responding.

# Check if all services are running
docker exec gitlab gitlab-ctl status

# Reconfigure GitLab with correct external_url
docker exec gitlab gitlab-ctl reconfigure

# Restart Puma
docker exec gitlab gitlab-ctl restart puma

# If still broken, nuclear option:
docker-compose down -v
sudo rm -rf config/ logs/ data/
docker-compose up -d

Can't Access from Browser (But localhost Works)

• Check AWS Security Group has port 8929 open to 0.0.0.0/0
• Verify EXTERNAL_IP in .env matches your server's public IP
• Make sure you're using http:// not https://
• Test: curl -I http://YOUR-IP:8929 from the server

Slow Performance or Out of Memory

Solution: Use a bigger instance. 2GB is too small.

# Check memory usage
free -h
docker stats gitlab --no-stream

# If using 2GB, upgrade to 4GB instance (t3a.medium)

Token Creation Fails in Web UI

Use the provided script:

./create-token.sh "my-token"

This is a known issue in nightly builds and bypasses the web UI.

Permission Denied Errors

# Fix Docker permissions
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
exit
# Log back in

📊 System Requirements

Use Case	RAM	CPU	Storage	AWS Instance
Testing (2-4 users)	4GB	2 vCPU	20GB	t3a.medium
Small team (5-10)	8GB	2 vCPU	50GB	t3a.large
Medium team (10-50)	16GB	4 vCPU	100GB	t3a.xlarge

Note: 2GB technically works but is slow as hell. Just use 4GB.

🔄 Upgrade GitLab

# Pull latest image
docker-compose pull

# Restart with new image
docker-compose up -d

Note: Always backup before upgrading!

💾 Backup & Restore

Backup

# Stop GitLab
docker-compose down

# Backup data directory
tar -czf gitlab-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz data/ config/

# Restart GitLab
docker-compose up -d

Restore

# Stop GitLab
docker-compose down

# Extract backup
tar -xzf gitlab-backup-YYYYMMDD.tar.gz

# Restart GitLab
docker-compose up -d

🔗 Useful Commands

# Enter GitLab container
docker exec -it gitlab bash

# Run GitLab Rails console
docker exec -it gitlab gitlab-rails console

# Check GitLab version
docker exec gitlab cat /opt/gitlab/version-manifest.txt

# Reconfigure GitLab
docker exec gitlab gitlab-ctl reconfigure

# Check all GitLab services
docker exec gitlab gitlab-ctl status

📚 Resources

• GitLab Documentation
• GitLab Docker Installation
• GitLab API Documentation
• Docker Compose Documentation

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

📝 License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

⚠️ Notes

• This uses GitLab EE nightly builds - expect bugs and breaking changes
• All EE features work without a license (you'll just see an "unlicensed" banner)
• Good for testing, learning, small teams, and personal projects

💬 Support

• Issues: Open an issue in this repository
• GitLab Forum: https://forum.gitlab.com/
• Stack Overflow: Tag questions with gitlab

📈 Version

• GitLab: EE Nightly (18.5.0+)
• Docker Compose: 1.29+
• Tested on: Ubuntu 22.04, Amazon Linux 2023

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GitLab Cloud Docker - Simple self-hosted GitLab setup for cloud deployments