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+---
+stage: Configure
+group: Configure
+info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
+---
+
+# Prepare Auto DevOps for deployment **(FREE)**
+
+If you enable Auto DevOps without setting the base domain and deployment
+strategy, GitLab can't deploy your application directly. Therefore, we
+recommend that you prepare them before enabling Auto DevOps.
+
+## Deployment strategy
+
+> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/issues/38542) in GitLab 11.0.
+
+When using Auto DevOps to deploy your applications, choose the
+[continuous deployment strategy](../../ci/introduction/index.md)
+that works best for your needs:
+
+| Deployment strategy | Setup | Methodology |
+|--|--|--|
+| **Continuous deployment to production** | Enables [Auto Deploy](stages.md#auto-deploy) with the default branch continuously deployed to production. | Continuous deployment to production.|
+| **Continuous deployment to production using timed incremental rollout** | Sets the [`INCREMENTAL_ROLLOUT_MODE`](customize.md#timed-incremental-rollout-to-production) variable to `timed`. | Continuously deploy to production with a 5 minutes delay between rollouts. |
+| **Automatic deployment to staging, manual deployment to production** | Sets [`STAGING_ENABLED`](customize.md#deploy-policy-for-staging-and-production-environments) to `1` and [`INCREMENTAL_ROLLOUT_MODE`](customize.md#incremental-rollout-to-production) to `manual`. | The default branch is continuously deployed to staging and continuously delivered to production. |
+
+You can choose the deployment method when enabling Auto DevOps or later:
+
+1. In GitLab, go to your project's **Settings > CI/CD > Auto DevOps**.
+1. Choose the deployment strategy.
+1. Select **Save changes**.
+
+NOTE:
+Use the [blue-green deployment](../../ci/environments/incremental_rollouts.md#blue-green-deployment) technique
+to minimize downtime and risk.
+
+## Auto DevOps base domain
+
+The Auto DevOps base domain is required to use
+[Auto Review Apps](stages.md#auto-review-apps), [Auto Deploy](stages.md#auto-deploy), and
+[Auto Monitoring](stages.md#auto-monitoring).
+
+To define the base domain, either:
+
+- In the project, group, or instance level: go to your cluster settings and add it there.
+- In the project or group level: add it as an environment variable: `KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN`.
+- In the instance level: go to **Menu >** **{admin}** **Admin > Settings > CI/CD> Continuous Integration and Delivery** and add it there.
+
+The base domain variable `KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN` follows the same order of precedence
+as other environment [variables](../../ci/variables/index.md#cicd-variable-precedence).
+
+If you don't specify the base domain in your projects and groups, Auto DevOps uses the instance-wide **Auto DevOps domain**.
+
+Auto DevOps requires a wildcard DNS A record matching the base domain(s). For
+a base domain of `example.com`, you'd need a DNS entry like:
+
+```plaintext
+*.example.com   3600     A     1.2.3.4
+```
+
+In this case, the deployed applications are served from `example.com`, and `1.2.3.4`
+is the IP address of your load balancer, generally NGINX ([see requirements](requirements.md)).
+Setting up the DNS record is beyond the scope of this document; check with your
+DNS provider for information.
+
+Alternatively, you can use free public services like [nip.io](https://nip.io)
+which provide automatic wildcard DNS without any configuration. For [nip.io](https://nip.io),
+set the Auto DevOps base domain to `1.2.3.4.nip.io`.
+
+After completing setup, all requests hit the load balancer, which routes requests
+to the Kubernetes pods running your application.