What is GitLab Self-Hosting?

GitLab is a complete DevOps platform that you can host on your own infrastructure instead of using GitLab's cloud service (GitLab.com). Self-hosting gives you full control over your data, customization options, and can be more cost-effective for larger teams.

Why Self-Host GitLab?

Benefits

• Complete data ownership and privacy
• No user limits
• Full customizations of features and integrations
• Better control over security and compliance
• Can be more economical for large teams
• Works in air-gapped or offline environments

Trade-offs

• You're responsible of maintenance, updates and backups
• Requires infrastructure and technical knowledge
• You handle security patches and monitoring

Prerequisites

Hardware/Infrastructure

• A server or virtual machine
  • Minimum 4 CPU cores
  • 8GB RAM for small teams
• At least 50GB of storage
• A stable internet connection

Technical Skills

• Basic Linux command line knowledge
• Understanding of SSH
• Familiarity with package managers
• Basic networking concepts

Software

• A supported Linux distribution (Recommended Ubuntu)
• Docker (if using Docker installation method)
• Git installed locally

Step-by-Step Installation Methods

Here's practical path forward

1. Set Up Environment
   1. Choose a hosting option
      1. you can start with local virtual machine using VirtualBox or VMware
      2. you can use a cloud provider like DigitalOcean, AWS or Google Cloud
   2. Install a fresh Ubuntu stable version (24.04 LTS)
2. Install GitLab
   1. Updating system
   2. Installing dependencies
   3. Adding the Git Repository
   4. Installing GitLab CE (free)
3. Initial Configuration
   1. Setting up the external URL
   2. Configure email settings for notifications
   3. Set up the root password
   4. Configure SSL/TLS certificates (important for security)
4. First Steps
   1. Once running, create first project
   2. Add users or groups
   3. Set up SSH keys for Git operations
   4. Configure CI/CD runners if needed

Key Concept to Understand

• GitLab CE vs EE: Community Edition is free and open source with core features. Enterprise Edition adds premium features but requires a license.
• GitLab Runner: A separate application that executes CI/CD jobs. You'll likely want to install this separately.
• Backup Strategy: Critical for self-hosting. GitLab includes backup tools, but you need to configure and test them.

Should You Start with Self-Hosting?

• You want to learn DevOps infrastructure management
• You have specific privacy or compliance requirements
• You're comfortable with Linux system administration
• You have a team that will use it extensively