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GitLab Pages administration

Notes:

This document describes how to set up thelatestGitLab Pages feature. Make sure to read thechangelogif you are upgrading to a new GitLab version as it may include new features and changes needed to be made in your configuration.

Overview

GitLab Pages makes use of theGitLab Pages daemon, a simple HTTP server written in Go that can listen on an external IP address and provide support for custom domains and custom certificates. It supports dynamic certificates through SNI and exposes pages using HTTP2 by default. You are encouraged to read itsREADMEto fully understand how it works.

In the case ofcustom domains(but notwildcard domains), the Pages daemon needs to listen on ports80and/or443. For that reason, there is some flexibility in the way which you can set it up:

  1. Run the Pages daemon in the same server as GitLab, listening on a secondary IP.
  2. Run the Pages daemon in a separate server. In that case, thePages pathmust also be present in the server that the Pages daemon is installed, so you will have to share it via network.
  3. Run the Pages daemon in the same server as GitLab, listening on the same IP but on different ports. In that case, you will have to proxy the traffic with a loadbalancer. If you choose that route note that you should use TCP load balancing for HTTPS. If you use TLS-termination (HTTPS-load balancing) the pages will not be able to be served with user provided certificates. For HTTP it's OK to use HTTP or TCP load balancing.

In this document, we will proceed assuming the first option. If you are not supporting custom domains a secondary IP is not needed.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding with the Pages configuration, you will need to:

  1. Have a separate domain under which the GitLab Pages will be served. In this document we assume that to beexample.io.
  2. Configure awildcard DNS record.
  3. (Optional) Have awildcard certificatefor that domain if you decide to serve Pages under HTTPS.
  4. (Optional but recommended) EnableShared runnersso that your users don't have to bring their own.
  5. (Only for custom domains) Have asecondary IP.

NOTE:Note:If your GitLab instance and the Pages daemon are deployed in a private network or behind a firewall, your GitLab Pages websites will only be accessible to devices/users that have access to the private network.

Add the domain to the Public Suffix List

ThePublic Suffix Listis used by browsers to decide how to treat subdomains. If your GitLab instance allows members of the public to create GitLab Pages sites, it also allows those users to create subdomains on the pages domain (example.io). Adding the domain to the Public Suffix List prevents browsers from acceptingsupercookies, among other things.

Followthese instructionsto submit your GitLab Pages subdomain. For instance, if your domain isexample.io, you should request that*.example.iois added to the Public Suffix List. GitLab.com added* .gitlab.ioin 2016.

DNS configuration

GitLab Pages expect to run on their own virtual host. In your DNS server/provider you need to add awildcard DNS A recordpointing to the host that GitLab runs. For example, an entry would look like this:

*.example.io. 1800 IN A 1.1.1.1*.example.io. 1800 IN AAAA 2001::1

whereexample.iois the domain under which GitLab Pages will be served and1.1.1.1is the IPv4 address of your GitLab instance and2001::1is the IPv6 address. If you don't have IPv6, you can omit the AAAA record.

Note:You should not use the GitLab domain to serve user pages. For more information see thesecurity section.

Configuration

Depending on your needs, you can set up GitLab Pages in 4 different ways. The following options are listed from the easiest setup to the most advanced one. The absolute minimum requirement is to set up the wildcard DNS since that is needed in all configurations.

Wildcard domains

要求:

URL scheme:http://page.example.io

This is the minimum setup that you can use Pages with. It is the base for all other setups as described below. Nginx will proxy all requests to the daemon. The Pages daemon doesn't listen to the outside world.

  1. Set the external URL for GitLab Pages in/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:

    pages_external_url“http://example.io”

  2. Reconfigure GitLab

  3. Restart gitlab-pages by running the following command:

    sudogitlab-ctl restart gitlab-pages

Watch thevideo tutorialfor this configuration.

Wildcard domains with TLS support

要求:

URL scheme:https://page.example.io

Nginx will proxy all requests to the daemon. Pages daemon doesn't listen to the outside world.

  1. Place the certificate and key inside/etc/gitlab/ssl

  2. In/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rbspecify the following configuration:

    pages_external_url'https://example.io'pages_nginx['redirect_http_to_https']=truepages_nginx['ssl_certificate']="/etc/gitlab/ssl/pages-nginx.crt"pages_nginx['ssl_certificate_key']="/etc/gitlab/ssl/pages-nginx.key"

    wherepages-nginx.crtandpages-nginx.keyare the SSL cert and key, respectively.

  3. Reconfigure GitLab

  4. Restart gitlab-pages by running the following command:

    sudogitlab-ctl restart gitlab-pages

Advanced configuration

In addition to the wildcard domains, you can also have the option to configure GitLab Pages to work with custom domains. Again, there are two options here: support custom domains with and without TLS certificates. The easiest setup is that without TLS certificates. In either case, you'll need a secondary IP. If you have IPv6 as well as IPv4 addresses, you can use them both.

Custom domains

要求:

URL scheme:http://page.example.ioandhttp://domain.com

In that case, the Pages daemon is running, Nginx still proxies requests to the daemon but the daemon is also able to receive requests from the outside world. Custom domains are supported, but no TLS.

  1. Edit/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:

    pages_external_url"http://example.io"nginx['listen_addresses']=['1.1.1.1']pages_nginx['enable']=falsegitlab_pages['external_http']=['1.1.1.2:80','[2001::2]:80']

    where1.1.1.1is the primary IP address that GitLab is listening to and1.1.1.2and2001::2are the secondary IPs the GitLab Pages daemon listens on. If you don't have IPv6, you can omit the IPv6 address.

  2. Reconfigure GitLab

  3. Restart gitlab-pages by running the following command:

    sudogitlab-ctl restart gitlab-pages

Custom domains with TLS support

要求:

URL scheme:https://page.example.ioandhttps://domain.com

In that case, the Pages daemon is running, Nginx still proxies requests to the daemon but the daemon is also able to receive requests from the outside world. Custom domains and TLS are supported.

  1. Edit/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:

    pages_external_url"https://example.io"nginx['listen_addresses']=['1.1.1.1']pages_nginx['enable']=falsegitlab_pages['cert']="/etc/gitlab/ssl/example.io.crt"gitlab_pages['cert_key']="/etc/gitlab/ssl/example.io.key"gitlab_pages['external_http']=['1.1.1.2:80','[2001::2]:80']gitlab_pages['external_https']=['1.1.1.2:443','[2001::2]:443']

    where1.1.1.1is the primary IP address that GitLab is listening to and1.1.1.2and2001::2是二级IPs daemo GitLab页面在哪里n listens on. If you don't have IPv6, you can omit the IPv6 address.

  2. Reconfigure GitLab

  3. Restart gitlab-pages by running the following command:

    sudogitlab-ctl restart gitlab-pages

Custom domain verification

To prevent malicious users from hijacking domains that don't belong to them, GitLab supportscustom domain verification. When adding a custom domain, users will be required to prove they own it by adding a GitLab-controlled verification code to the DNS records for that domain.

If your userbase is private or otherwise trusted, you can disable the verification requirement. Navigate toAdmin area ➔ Settingsand uncheckRequire users to prove ownership of custom domainsin the Pages section. This setting is enabled by default.

Change storage path

Follow the steps below to change the default path where GitLab Pages' contents are stored.

  1. Pages are stored by default in/var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/shared/pages. If you wish to store them in another location you must set it up in/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:

    gitlab_rails['pages_path']="/mnt/storage/pages"

  2. Reconfigure GitLab

  3. Restart gitlab-pages by running the following command:

    sudogitlab-ctl restart gitlab-pages

Set maximum pages size

The maximum size of the unpacked archive per project can be configured in the Admin area under the Application settings in theMaximum size of pages (MB). The default is 100MB.

Backup

Pages are part of theregular backupso there is nothing to configure.

Security

You should strongly consider running GitLab pages under a different hostname than GitLab to prevent XSS attacks.

Changelog

GitLab Pages were first introduced in GitLab EE 8.3. Since then, many features where added, like custom CNAME and TLS support, and many more are likely to come. Below is a brief changelog. If no changes were introduced or a version is missing from the changelog, assume that the documentation is the same as the latest previous version.

GitLab 8.17 (documentation)

  • GitLab Pages were ported to Community Edition in GitLab 8.17.
  • Documentation was refactored to be more modular and easy to follow.

GitLab 8.5 (documentation)

  • In GitLab 8.5 we introduced thegitlab-pagesdaemon which is now the recommended way to set up GitLab Pages.
  • TheNGINX configshave changed to reflect this change. So make sure to update them.
  • Custom CNAME and TLS certificates support.
  • Documentation was moved to one place.

GitLab 8.3 (documentation)

  • GitLab Pages feature was introduced.
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