Install GitLab CE on CentOS 8

In this lab, you will learn how to install GitLab CE (Community Edition) on CentOS 8 operating system.

What is GitLab? :

GitLab is web-based software for managing complete DevOps life cycle. GitLab provides a Git repository manager providing wiki, issue-tracking and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline features.

GitLab is developed by GitLab Inc and available in following two editions.

GitLab CE - Community Edition : It is open core edition of GitLab available under MIT License.

GitLab EE - Enterprise Edition: It is commercial edition of GitLab. GitLab EE is loaded with many advanced features as compare to GitLab EE, but you need to acquire a proprietary license to unlock these features. Although, you can use GitLab EE without a license but it will allow you only those features that are available in GitLab CE.

GitLab was initially written in Ruby, but later on some parts were rewritten in Go language. The current technology stack include Go, Ruby on Rails and Vue.js.

Environment Specification:

We are using a minimal installed CentOS 8 virtual machine with following specification.

CPU - 3.4 Ghz (2 cores)
Memory - 2 GB
Storage - 40 GB
Operating System - CentOS 8.2
Hostname – gitlab-ce-01.centlinux.com
IP Address - 192.168.116.206 /24

Update CentOS 8 Software Packages:

Connect with gitlab-ce-01.centlinux.com as root user by using PuTTY.

Update installed software packages by using dnf command.

[root@gitlab-ce-01 ~]# dnf update -y
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:15 ago on Sun 05 Jul 2020 10:54:35 PM PKT.
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
 Package          Arch      Version                             Repo       Size
================================================================================
Upgrading:
 gnutls           x86_64    3.6.8-11.el8_2                      BaseOS    915 k
 libnghttp2       x86_64    1.33.0-3.el8_2.1                    BaseOS     77 k
 microcode_ctl    x86_64    4:20191115-4.20200609.1.el8_2       BaseOS    2.7 M

Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Upgrade  3 Packages

Total download size: 3.7 M
Downloading Packages:
(1/3): libnghttp2-1.33.0-3.el8_2.1.x86_64.rpm   169 kB/s |  77 kB     00:00
(2/3): gnutls-3.6.8-11.el8_2.x86_64.rpm         584 kB/s | 915 kB     00:01
(3/3): microcode_ctl-20191115-4.20200609.1.el8_ 780 kB/s | 2.7 MB     00:03
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                           524 kB/s | 3.7 MB     00:07
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
  Preparing        :                                                        1/1
  Running scriptlet: microcode_ctl-4:20191115-4.20200609.1.el8_2.x86_64     1/1
  Upgrading        : microcode_ctl-4:20191115-4.20200609.1.el8_2.x86_64     1/6
  Running scriptlet: microcode_ctl-4:20191115-4.20200609.1.el8_2.x86_64     1/6
  Upgrading        : libnghttp2-1.33.0-3.el8_2.1.x86_64                     2/6
  Upgrading        : gnutls-3.6.8-11.el8_2.x86_64                           3/6
  Running scriptlet: microcode_ctl-4:20191115-4.20200602.2.el8_2.x86_64     4/6
  Cleanup          : microcode_ctl-4:20191115-4.20200602.2.el8_2.x86_64     4/6
  Running scriptlet: microcode_ctl-4:20191115-4.20200602.2.el8_2.x86_64     4/6
  Cleanup          : libnghttp2-1.33.0-1.el8_0.1.x86_64                     5/6
  Cleanup          : gnutls-3.6.8-10.el8_2.x86_64                           6/6
  Running scriptlet: microcode_ctl-4:20191115-4.20200609.1.el8_2.x86_64     6/6
  Running scriptlet: gnutls-3.6.8-10.el8_2.x86_64                           6/6
  Verifying        : gnutls-3.6.8-11.el8_2.x86_64                           1/6
  Verifying        : gnutls-3.6.8-10.el8_2.x86_64                           2/6
  Verifying        : libnghttp2-1.33.0-3.el8_2.1.x86_64                     3/6
  Verifying        : libnghttp2-1.33.0-1.el8_0.1.x86_64                     4/6
  Verifying        : microcode_ctl-4:20191115-4.20200609.1.el8_2.x86_64     5/6
  Verifying        : microcode_ctl-4:20191115-4.20200602.2.el8_2.x86_64     6/6

Upgraded:
  gnutls-3.6.8-11.el8_2.x86_64
  libnghttp2-1.33.0-3.el8_2.1.x86_64
  microcode_ctl-4:20191115-4.20200609.1.el8_2.x86_64

Complete!

Verify the Linux kernel version.

[root@gitlab-ce-01 ~]# uname -a
Linux gitlab-ce-01.centlinux.com 4.18.0-193.6.3.el8_2.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Jun 10 11:09:32 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Verify the CentOS operating system version.

[root@gitlab-ce-01 ~]# cat /etc/redhat-release
CentOS Linux release 8.2.2004 (Core)

Install GitLab CE Prerequisites on CentOS 8:

GitLab CE requires some other software packages. Therefore, we are installing them by using the dnf command.

[root@gitlab-ce-01 ~]# dnf install -y curl policycoreutils openssh-server
Last metadata expiration check: 0:05:36 ago on Sun 05 Jul 2020 10:54:35 PM PKT.
Package curl-7.61.1-12.el8.x86_64 is already installed.
Package policycoreutils-2.9-9.el8.x86_64 is already installed.
Package openssh-server-8.0p1-4.el8_1.x86_64 is already installed.
Dependencies resolved.
Nothing to do.
Complete!

All three packages are already installed on our CentOS 8 server.

GitLab CE requires a local SMTP server to send emails notifications. Therefore, we are installing Postfix on our GitLab CE server.

[root@gitlab-ce-01 ~]# dnf install -y postfix
Last metadata expiration check: 0:07:27 ago on Sun 05 Jul 2020 10:54:35 PM PKT.
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
 Package          Architecture    Version                 Repository       Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 postfix          x86_64          2:3.3.1-12.el8          BaseOS          1.4 M

Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install  1 Package

Total download size: 1.4 M
Installed size: 4.1 M
Downloading Packages:
postfix-3.3.1-12.el8.x86_64.rpm                 1.0 MB/s | 1.4 MB     00:01
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                           670 kB/s | 1.4 MB     00:02
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
  Preparing        :                                                        1/1
  Running scriptlet: postfix-2:3.3.1-12.el8.x86_64                          1/1
  Installing       : postfix-2:3.3.1-12.el8.x86_64                          1/1
  Running scriptlet: postfix-2:3.3.1-12.el8.x86_64                          1/1
  Verifying        : postfix-2:3.3.1-12.el8.x86_64                          1/1

Installed:
  postfix-2:3.3.1-12.el8.x86_64

Complete!

Start and enable Postfix service.

[root@gitlab-ce-01 ~]# systemctl enable --now postfix.service
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/postfix.service â /usr/lib/systemd/system/postfix.service.

Configure CentOS 8 Firewall:

GitLab web application runs by default on port 80 and 443. Therefore, we are allowing the http and https services in Linux firewall.

[root@gitlab-ce-01 ~]# firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service={http,https}
success
[root@gitlab-ce-01 ~]# firewall-cmd --reload
success

Install GitLab Yum Repository on CentOS 8:

GitLab documentation provides a script to to install GitLab yum repository. We are executing that same command here.

[root@gitlab-ce-01 ~]# curl https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/gitlab/gitlab-ce/script.rpm.sh | sudo bash
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  6856  100  6856    0     0   4683      0  0:00:01  0:00:01 --:--:--  4683
Detected operating system as centos/8.
Checking for curl...
Detected curl...
Downloading repository file: https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/gitlab/gitlab-ce/config_file.repo?os=centos&dist=8&source=script
done.
Installing yum-utils...
gitlab_gitlab-ce-source                         161  B/s | 862  B     00:05
gitlab_gitlab-ce-source                         2.2 kB/s | 3.1 kB     00:01
Importing GPG key 0x51312F3F:
 Userid     : "GitLab B.V. (package repository signing key) <packages@gitlab.com>"
 Fingerprint: F640 3F65 44A3 8863 DAA0 B6E0 3F01 618A 5131 2F3F
 From       : https://packages.gitlab.com/gitlab/gitlab-ce/gpgkey
gitlab_gitlab-ce-source                         2.2 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:01
Importing GPG key 0xF27EAB47:
 Userid     : "GitLab, Inc. <support@gitlab.com>"
 Fingerprint: DBEF 8977 4DDB 9EB3 7D9F C3A0 3CFC F9BA F27E AB47
 From       : https://packages.gitlab.com/gitlab/gitlab-ce/gpgkey/gitlab-gitlab-ce-3D645A26AB9FBD22.pub.gpg
gitlab_gitlab-ce-source                          32  B/s | 296  B     00:09
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:01 ago on Sun 05 Jul 2020 11:04:33 PM PKT.
Package yum-utils-4.0.12-3.el8.noarch is already installed.
Dependencies resolved.
Nothing to do.
Complete!
Generating yum cache for gitlab_gitlab-ce...
Importing GPG key 0x51312F3F:
 Userid     : "GitLab B.V. (package repository signing key) <packages@gitlab.com>"
 Fingerprint: F640 3F65 44A3 8863 DAA0 B6E0 3F01 618A 5131 2F3F
 From       : https://packages.gitlab.com/gitlab/gitlab-ce/gpgkey
Importing GPG key 0xF27EAB47:
 Userid     : "GitLab, Inc. <support@gitlab.com>"
 Fingerprint: DBEF 8977 4DDB 9EB3 7D9F C3A0 3CFC F9BA F27E AB47
 From       : https://packages.gitlab.com/gitlab/gitlab-ce/gpgkey/gitlab-gitlab-ce-3D645A26AB9FBD22.pub.gpg
Generating yum cache for gitlab_gitlab-ce-source...

The repository is setup! You can now install packages.

Install GitLab CE on CentOS 8:

Since, we have successfully installed GitLab yum repository on our CentOS 8 machine. Now, we can easily install GitLab CE by using dnf command.

[root@gitlab-ce-01 ~]# dnf install -y gitlab-ce
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:41 ago on Sun 05 Jul 2020 11:04:55 PM PKT.
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
 Package                      Arch   Version             Repository        Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 gitlab-ce                    x86_64 13.1.2-ce.0.el8     gitlab_gitlab-ce 716 M
Installing dependencies:
 checkpolicy                  x86_64 2.9-1.el8           BaseOS           348 k
 policycoreutils-python-utils noarch 2.9-9.el8           BaseOS           251 k
 python3-audit                x86_64 3.0-0.17.20191104git1c2f876.el8
                                                         BaseOS            86 k
 python3-libsemanage          x86_64 2.9-2.el8           BaseOS           127 k
 python3-policycoreutils      noarch 2.9-9.el8           BaseOS           2.2 M
 python3-setools              x86_64 4.2.2-2.el8         BaseOS           601 k

Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install  7 Packages

Total download size: 720 M
Installed size: 1.6 G
Downloading Packages:
(1/7): python3-audit-3.0-0.17.20191104git1c2f87 104 kB/s |  86 kB     00:00
(2/7): policycoreutils-python-utils-2.9-9.el8.n 283 kB/s | 251 kB     00:00
(3/7): python3-libsemanage-2.9-2.el8.x86_64.rpm 286 kB/s | 127 kB     00:00
(4/7): checkpolicy-2.9-1.el8.x86_64.rpm         238 kB/s | 348 kB     00:01
(5/7): python3-setools-4.2.2-2.el8.x86_64.rpm   323 kB/s | 601 kB     00:01
(6/7): python3-policycoreutils-2.9-9.el8.noarch 649 kB/s | 2.2 MB     00:03
(7/7): gitlab-ce-13.1.2-ce.0.el8.x86_64.rpm     878 kB/s | 716 MB     13:55
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                           879 kB/s | 720 MB     13:57
warning: /var/cache/dnf/gitlab_gitlab-ce-7b189aab552daa48/packages/gitlab-ce-13.1.2-ce.0.el8.x86_64.rpm: Header V4 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID f27eab47: NOKEY
gitlab_gitlab-ce                                2.1 kB/s | 3.1 kB     00:01
Importing GPG key 0x51312F3F:
 Userid     : "GitLab B.V. (package repository signing key) <packages@gitlab.com>"
 Fingerprint: F640 3F65 44A3 8863 DAA0 B6E0 3F01 618A 5131 2F3F
 From       : https://packages.gitlab.com/gitlab/gitlab-ce/gpgkey
Key imported successfully
gitlab_gitlab-ce                                3.0 kB/s | 3.9 kB     00:01
Importing GPG key 0xF27EAB47:
 Userid     : "GitLab, Inc. <support@gitlab.com>"
 Fingerprint: DBEF 8977 4DDB 9EB3 7D9F C3A0 3CFC F9BA F27E AB47
 From       : https://packages.gitlab.com/gitlab/gitlab-ce/gpgkey/gitlab-gitlab-ce-3D645A26AB9FBD22.pub.gpg
Key imported successfully
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
  Preparing        :                                                        1/1
  Installing       : python3-setools-4.2.2-2.el8.x86_64                     1/7
  Installing       : python3-libsemanage-2.9-2.el8.x86_64                   2/7
  Installing       : python3-audit-3.0-0.17.20191104git1c2f876.el8.x86_64   3/7
  Installing       : checkpolicy-2.9-1.el8.x86_64                           4/7
  Installing       : python3-policycoreutils-2.9-9.el8.noarch               5/7
  Installing       : policycoreutils-python-utils-2.9-9.el8.noarch          6/7
  Running scriptlet: gitlab-ce-13.1.2-ce.0.el8.x86_64                       7/7
  Installing       : gitlab-ce-13.1.2-ce.0.el8.x86_64                       7/7
  Running scriptlet: gitlab-ce-13.1.2-ce.0.el8.x86_64                       7/7
It looks like GitLab has not been configured yet; skipping the upgrade script.

       *.                  *.
      ***                 ***
     *****               *****
    .******             *******
    ********            ********
   ,,,,,,,,,***********,,,,,,,,,
  ,,,,,,,,,,,*********,,,,,,,,,,,
  .,,,,,,,,,,,*******,,,,,,,,,,,,
      ,,,,,,,,,*****,,,,,,,,,.
         ,,,,,,,****,,,,,,
            .,,,***,,,,
                ,*,.



     _______ __  __          __
    / ____(_) /_/ /   ____ _/ /_
   / / __/ / __/ /   / __ `/ __ \
  / /_/ / / /_/ /___/ /_/ / /_/ /
  \____/_/\__/_____/\__,_/_.___/


Thank you for installing GitLab!
GitLab was unable to detect a valid hostname for your instance.
Please configure a URL for your GitLab instance by setting `external_url`
configuration in /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb file.
Then, you can start your GitLab instance by running the following command:
  sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

For a comprehensive list of configuration options please see the Omnibus GitLab readme
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/blob/master/README.md


  Verifying        : checkpolicy-2.9-1.el8.x86_64                           1/7
  Verifying        : policycoreutils-python-utils-2.9-9.el8.noarch          2/7
  Verifying        : python3-audit-3.0-0.17.20191104git1c2f876.el8.x86_64   3/7
  Verifying        : python3-libsemanage-2.9-2.el8.x86_64                   4/7
  Verifying        : python3-policycoreutils-2.9-9.el8.noarch               5/7
  Verifying        : python3-setools-4.2.2-2.el8.x86_64                     6/7
  Verifying        : gitlab-ce-13.1.2-ce.0.el8.x86_64                       7/7

Installed:
  checkpolicy-2.9-1.el8.x86_64
  gitlab-ce-13.1.2-ce.0.el8.x86_64
  policycoreutils-python-utils-2.9-9.el8.noarch
  python3-audit-3.0-0.17.20191104git1c2f876.el8.x86_64
  python3-libsemanage-2.9-2.el8.x86_64
  python3-policycoreutils-2.9-9.el8.noarch
  python3-setools-4.2.2-2.el8.x86_64

Complete!

GitLab CE installation has been successful.

Configure GitLab CE on CentOS 8:

Configuration files for GitLab are located in /etc/gitlab directory.

Open gitlab.rb configuration file in a text editor.

[root@gitlab-ce-01 ~]# vi /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

Locate and set external_url directive as follows.

external_url 'http://gitlab-ce-01.centlinux.com'

Invoke the GitLab configuration process by using the following command. You should keep patience, because it will take a while to complete. On machine that was used in this tutorial, it took about 44 minutes to complete.

[root@gitlab-ce-01 ~]# gitlab-ctl reconfigure
Starting Chef Client, version 14.14.29
resolving cookbooks for run list: ["gitlab"]
Synchronizing Cookbooks:
  - gitlab (0.0.1)
  - redis (0.1.0)
  - mattermost (0.1.0)
  - gitaly (0.1.0)
  - praefect (0.1.0)
  - letsencrypt (0.1.0)
  - package (0.1.0)
  - postgresql (0.1.0)
  - consul (0.1.0)
  - registry (0.1.0)
  - monitoring (0.1.0)
  - runit (5.1.3)
  - nginx (0.1.0)
  - crond (0.1.0)
  - acme (4.1.1)
Installing Cookbook Gems:
Compiling Cookbooks...
...
...
...
Recipe: gitlab::gitlab-workhorse
  * runit_service[gitlab-workhorse] action restart (up to date)
Recipe: monitoring::node-exporter
  * runit_service[node-exporter] action restart (up to date)
Recipe: monitoring::gitlab-exporter
  * runit_service[gitlab-exporter] action restart (up to date)
Recipe: monitoring::redis-exporter
  * runit_service[redis-exporter] action restart (up to date)
Recipe: monitoring::prometheus
  * runit_service[prometheus] action restart (up to date)
  * execute[reload prometheus] action run
    - execute /opt/gitlab/bin/gitlab-ctl hup prometheus
Recipe: monitoring::alertmanager
  * runit_service[alertmanager] action restart (up to date)
Recipe: monitoring::postgres-exporter
  * runit_service[postgres-exporter] action restart (up to date)
Recipe: monitoring::grafana
  * runit_service[grafana] action restart (up to date)

Running handlers:
Running handlers complete
Chef Client finished, 562/1517 resources updated in 44 minutes 21 seconds
gitlab Reconfigured!

Access GitLab CE Web Interface:

GitLab CE is web-based, therefore, we only requires a supported web browser to access the application.

Browse URL http://gitlab-ce-01.centlinux.com in a browser.

Since, we are accessing GitLab web interface for the first time therefore, we have been asked by the GitLab application to set a strong administrator password.

Default GitLab administrative user is root.

Set a strong password for GitLab root user.

Now, sign-in to GitLab application as root user.

We have reached the main screen of the GitLab application.

Click on "Configure GitLab".

We have been redirected to the Dashboard of the GitLab web interface. You can confirm the versions of GitLab components that have been installed on our CentOS 8 server.

Conclusion:

We have successfully installed GitLab CE on CentOS 8 server. If you want to start your career in DevOps and more specifically with GitLab, we strongly recommend that you should buy Mastering GitLab 12: Implement DevOps culture and repository management solutions by Joost Evertse. Or enrolled in GitLab CI: Pipelines, CI/CD and DevOps for Beginners training by Udemy at a very reasonable price.

8 comments:

David19 October 2020 at 23:45
Hello, I have followed the instruction exactly as stated, but the interface is not working.

I am using Centos8 with VirtualBox 6.1., and have gone into vi /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb as suggested and

changed to " external_url 'http://gitlab-ce-01.centlinux.com'". However, i am getting this error

message: "Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site". I am new to Linux and would appreciate any

help in resolving this issue. Thanks very much, David
David22 October 2020 at 09:17
Thanks very much for getting back to me, Ahmer! Gitlab-ce-01.centlinux.com is not pingable, and I am new to Linux/centos8 (learning on my own) and would appreciate any help you could offer, or specific instructions on how to add it to the Local DNS Resolver, PLEASE. I saw some info on Google but not sure if it's the right info to resolve this issue. Thanks, David
David24 October 2020 at 01:04
Hi Ahmer, I am not sure if you got the message i sent yesterday, but the ip address above is giving me the same error message.
David24 October 2020 at 01:27
Thanks,D
David24 October 2020 at 01:33
I am removing the ## from the external_url (##!external_url to '192.168.116.206') to make it active, right?

Thanks, D

Latest

Thursday, 9 July 2020

Install GitLab CE on CentOS 8

Table of Contents:

What is GitLab? :

Environment Specification:

Update CentOS 8 Software Packages:

Install GitLab CE Prerequisites on CentOS 8:

Configure CentOS 8 Firewall:

Install GitLab Yum Repository on CentOS 8:

Install GitLab CE on CentOS 8:

Configure GitLab CE on CentOS 8:

Access GitLab CE Web Interface:

Conclusion:

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