---
stage: Systems
group: Geo
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---

# Disaster Recovery (Geo) **(PREMIUM SELF)**

Geo replicates your database, your Git repositories, and few other assets,
but there are some [limitations](../index.md#limitations).

WARNING:
Multi-secondary configurations require the complete re-synchronization and re-configuration of all non-promoted secondaries and
causes downtime.

## Promoting a **secondary** Geo site in single-secondary configurations

We don't currently provide an automated way to promote a Geo replica and do a
failover, but you can do it manually if you have `root` access to the machine.

This process promotes a **secondary** Geo site to a **primary** site. To regain
geographic redundancy as quickly as possible, you should add a new **secondary** site
immediately after following these instructions.

### Step 1. Allow replication to finish if possible

If the **secondary** site is still replicating data from the **primary** site, follow
[the planned failover docs](planned_failover.md) as closely as possible in
order to avoid unnecessary data loss.

### Step 2. Permanently disable the **primary** site

WARNING:
If the **primary** site goes offline, there may be data saved on the **primary** site
that have not been replicated to the **secondary** site. This data should be treated
as lost if you proceed.

If an outage on the **primary** site happens, you should do everything possible to
avoid a split-brain situation where writes can occur in two different GitLab
instances, complicating recovery efforts. So to prepare for the failover, we
must disable the **primary** site.

- If you have SSH access:

  1. SSH into the **primary** site to stop and disable GitLab:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl stop
     ```

  1. Prevent GitLab from starting up again if the server unexpectedly reboots:

     ```shell
     sudo systemctl disable gitlab-runsvdir
     ```

- If you do not have SSH access to the **primary** site, take the machine offline and
  prevent it from rebooting by any means at your disposal.
  You might need to:

  - Reconfigure the load balancers.
  - Change DNS records (for example, point the primary DNS record to the
    **secondary** site to stop usage of the **primary** site).
  - Stop the virtual servers.
  - Block traffic through a firewall.
  - Revoke object storage permissions from the **primary** site.
  - Physically disconnect a machine.

  If you plan to [update the primary domain DNS record](#step-4-optional-updating-the-primary-domain-dns-record),
  you may wish to maintain a low TTL to ensure fast propagation of DNS changes.

### Step 3. Promoting a **secondary** site

WARNING:
In GitLab 13.2 and 13.3, promoting a secondary site to a primary while the
secondary is paused fails. Do not pause replication before promoting a
secondary. If the secondary site is paused, be sure to resume before promoting.
This issue has been fixed in GitLab 13.4 and later.

Note the following when promoting a secondary:

- If the secondary site [has been paused](../../geo/index.md#pausing-and-resuming-replication), the promotion
  performs a point-in-time recovery to the last known state.
  Data that was created on the primary while the secondary was paused is lost.
- A new **secondary** should not be added at this time. If you want to add a new
  **secondary**, do this after you have completed the entire process of promoting
  the **secondary** to the **primary**.
- If you encounter an `ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid: Validation failed: Name has already been taken`
  error message during this process, for more information, see this
  [troubleshooting advice](../replication/troubleshooting.md#fixing-errors-during-a-failover-or-when-promoting-a-secondary-to-a-primary-site).

#### Promoting a **secondary** site running on a single node running GitLab 14.5 and later

1. SSH in to your **secondary** site and execute:

   - To promote the secondary site to primary:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote
     ```

   - To promote the secondary site to primary **without any further confirmation**:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote --force
     ```

1. Verify you can connect to the newly-promoted **primary** site using the URL used
   previously for the **secondary** site.
1. If successful, the **secondary** site is now promoted to the **primary** site.

#### Promoting a **secondary** site running on a single node running GitLab 14.4 and earlier

WARNING:
The `gitlab-ctl promote-to-primary-node` and `gitlab-ctl promoted-db` commands are
deprecated in GitLab 14.5 and later, and [removed in GitLab 15.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/345207).
Use `gitlab-ctl geo promote` instead.

1. SSH in to your **secondary** site and login as root:

   ```shell
   sudo -i
   ```

1. If you're using GitLab 13.5 and later, skip this step. If not, edit
   `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` and remove any of the following lines that
   might be present:

   ```ruby
   geo_secondary_role['enable'] = true
   roles ['geo_secondary_role']
   ```

1. Promote the **secondary** site to the **primary** site:

   - To promote the secondary site to primary along with [preflight checks](planned_failover.md#preflight-checks):

     ```shell
     gitlab-ctl promote-to-primary-node
     ```

   - If you have already run the preflight checks separately or don't want to run them,
     you can skip them with:

     ```shell
     gitlab-ctl promote-to-primary-node --skip-preflight-checks
     ```

     NOTE:
     In GitLab 13.7 and earlier, if you have a data type with zero items to sync
     and don't skip the preflight checks, promoting the secondary reports
     `ERROR - Replication is not up-to-date` even if replication is actually
     up-to-date. If replication and verification output
     shows that it is complete, you can skip the preflight checks to make the
     command complete promotion. This bug was fixed in GitLab 13.8 and later.

   - To promote the secondary site to primary **without any further confirmation**,
     even when preflight checks fail:

     ```shell
     gitlab-ctl promote-to-primary-node --force
     ```

1. Verify you can connect to the newly-promoted **primary** site using the URL used
   previously for the **secondary** site.
1. If successful, the **secondary** site is now promoted to the **primary** site.

#### Promoting a **secondary** site with multiple nodes running GitLab 14.5 and later

1. SSH to every Sidekiq, PostgreSQL, and Gitaly node in the **secondary** site and run one of the following commands:

   - To promote the node on the secondary site to primary:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote
     ```

   - To promote the secondary site to primary **without any further confirmation**:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote --force
     ```

1. SSH into each Rails node on your **secondary** site and run one of the following commands:

   - To promote the secondary site to primary:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote
     ```

   - To promote the secondary site to primary **without any further confirmation**:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote --force
     ```

1. Verify you can connect to the newly-promoted **primary** site using the URL used
   previously for the **secondary** site.
1. If successful, the **secondary** site is now promoted to the **primary** site.

#### Promoting a **secondary** site with multiple nodes running GitLab 14.4 and earlier

WARNING:
The `gitlab-ctl promote-to-primary-node` and `gitlab-ctl promoted-db` commands are
deprecated in GitLab 14.5 and later, and [removed in GitLab 15.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/345207).
Use `gitlab-ctl geo promote` instead.

The `gitlab-ctl promote-to-primary-node` command cannot be used yet in
conjunction with multiple nodes, as it can only perform changes on
a **secondary** with only a single node. Instead, you must
do this manually.

1. SSH in to the database node in the **secondary** site and trigger PostgreSQL to
   promote to read-write:

   ```shell
   sudo gitlab-ctl promote-db
   ```

1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` on every node in the **secondary** site to
   reflect its new status as **primary** by removing any of the following
   lines that might be present:

   ```ruby
   geo_secondary_role['enable'] = true
   roles ['geo_secondary_role']
   ```

   After making these changes, [reconfigure GitLab](../../restart_gitlab.md#reconfigure-a-linux-package-installation)
   on each machine so the changes take effect.

1. Promote the **secondary** to **primary**. SSH into a single application
   server and execute:

   ```shell
   sudo gitlab-rake geo:set_secondary_as_primary
   ```

1. Verify you can connect to the newly-promoted **primary** using the URL used
   previously for the **secondary**.
1. If successful, the **secondary** site is now promoted to the **primary** site.

#### Promoting a **secondary** site with a Patroni standby cluster running GitLab 14.5 and later

1. SSH to every Sidekiq, PostgreSQL, and Gitaly node in the **secondary** site and run one of the following commands:

   - To promote the secondary site to primary:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote
     ```

   - To promote the secondary site to primary **without any further confirmation**:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote --force
     ```

1. SSH into each Rails node on your **secondary** site and run one of the following commands:

   - To promote the secondary site to primary:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote
     ```

   - To promote the secondary site to primary **without any further confirmation**:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote --force
     ```

1. Verify you can connect to the newly-promoted **primary** site using the URL used
   previously for the **secondary** site.
1. If successful, the **secondary** site is now promoted to the **primary** site.

#### Promoting a **secondary** site with a Patroni standby cluster running GitLab 14.4 and earlier

WARNING:
The `gitlab-ctl promote-to-primary-node` and `gitlab-ctl promoted-db` commands are
deprecated in GitLab 14.5 and later, and [removed in GitLab 15.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/345207).
Use `gitlab-ctl geo promote` instead.

The `gitlab-ctl promote-to-primary-node` command cannot be used yet in
conjunction with a Patroni standby cluster, as it can only perform changes on
a **secondary** with only a single node. Instead, you must do this manually.

1. SSH in to the Standby Leader database node in the **secondary** site and trigger PostgreSQL to
   promote to read-write:

   ```shell
   sudo gitlab-ctl promote-db
   ```

1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` on every application and Sidekiq nodes in the secondary to reflect its new status as primary by removing any of the following lines that might be present:

   ```ruby
   geo_secondary_role['enable'] = true
   roles ['geo_secondary_role']
   ```

1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` on every Patroni node in the secondary to disable the standby cluster:

   ```ruby
   patroni['standby_cluster']['enable'] = false
   ```

1. Reconfigure GitLab on each machine for the changes to take effect:

   ```shell
   sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
   ```

1. Promote the **secondary** to **primary**. SSH into a single application server and execute:

   ```shell
   sudo gitlab-rake geo:set_secondary_as_primary
   ```

1. Verify you can connect to the newly-promoted **primary** using the URL used
   previously for the **secondary**.
1. If successful, the **secondary** site is now promoted to the **primary** site.

#### Promoting a **secondary** site with an external PostgreSQL database running GitLab 14.5 and later

The `gitlab-ctl geo promote` command can be used in conjunction with an external PostgreSQL database.
In this case, you must first manually promote the replica database associated
with the **secondary** site:

1. Promote the replica database associated with the **secondary** site. This
   sets the database to read-write. The instructions vary depending on where your database is hosted:
   - [Amazon RDS](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_ReadRepl.html#USER_ReadRepl.Promote)
   - [Azure PostgreSQL](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/postgresql/single-server/how-to-read-replicas-portal#stop-replication)
   - [Google Cloud SQL](https://cloud.google.com/sql/docs/mysql/replication/manage-replicas#promote-replica)
   - For other external PostgreSQL databases, save the following script in your
     secondary site, for example `/tmp/geo_promote.sh`, and modify the connection
     parameters to match your environment. Then, execute it to promote the replica:

     ```shell
     #!/bin/bash

     PG_SUPERUSER=postgres

     # The path to your pg_ctl binary. You may need to adjust this path to match
     # your PostgreSQL installation
     PG_CTL_BINARY=/usr/lib/postgresql/10/bin/pg_ctl

     # The path to your PostgreSQL data directory. You may need to adjust this
     # path to match your PostgreSQL installation. You can also run
     # `SHOW data_directory;` from PostgreSQL to find your data directory
     PG_DATA_DIRECTORY=/etc/postgresql/10/main

     # Promote the PostgreSQL database and allow read/write operations
     sudo -u $PG_SUPERUSER $PG_CTL_BINARY -D $PG_DATA_DIRECTORY promote
     ```

1. SSH to every Sidekiq, PostgreSQL, and Gitaly node in the **secondary** site and run one of the following commands:

   - To promote the secondary site to primary:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote
     ```

   - To promote the secondary site to primary **without any further confirmation**:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote --force
     ```

1. SSH into each Rails node on your **secondary** site and run one of the following commands:

   - To promote the secondary site to primary:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote
     ```

   - To promote the secondary site to primary **without any further confirmation**:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote --force
     ```

1. Verify you can connect to the newly-promoted **primary** site using the URL used
   previously for the **secondary** site.
1. If successful, the **secondary** site is now promoted to the **primary** site.

#### Promoting a **secondary** site with an external PostgreSQL database running GitLab 14.4 and earlier

WARNING:
The `gitlab-ctl promote-to-primary-node` and `gitlab-ctl promoted-db` commands are
deprecated in GitLab 14.5 and later, and [removed in GitLab 15.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/345207).
Use `gitlab-ctl geo promote` instead.

The `gitlab-ctl promote-to-primary-node` command cannot be used in conjunction with
an external PostgreSQL database, as it can only perform changes on a **secondary**
node with GitLab and the database on the same machine. As a result, a manual process is
required:

1. Promote the replica database associated with the **secondary** site. This
   sets the database to read-write. The instructions vary depending on where your database is hosted:
   - [Amazon RDS](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/USER_ReadRepl.html#USER_ReadRepl.Promote)
   - [Azure PostgreSQL](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/postgresql/single-server/how-to-read-replicas-portal#stop-replication)
   - [Google Cloud SQL](https://cloud.google.com/sql/docs/mysql/replication/manage-replicas#promote-replica)
   - For other external PostgreSQL databases, save the following script in your
     secondary site, for example `/tmp/geo_promote.sh`, and modify the connection
     parameters to match your environment. Then, execute it to promote the replica:

     ```shell
     #!/bin/bash

     PG_SUPERUSER=postgres

     # The path to your pg_ctl binary. You may need to adjust this path to match
     # your PostgreSQL installation
     PG_CTL_BINARY=/usr/lib/postgresql/10/bin/pg_ctl

     # The path to your PostgreSQL data directory. You may need to adjust this
     # path to match your PostgreSQL installation. You can also run
     # `SHOW data_directory;` from PostgreSQL to find your data directory
     PG_DATA_DIRECTORY=/etc/postgresql/10/main

     # Promote the PostgreSQL database and allow read/write operations
     sudo -u $PG_SUPERUSER $PG_CTL_BINARY -D $PG_DATA_DIRECTORY promote
     ```

1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` on every node in the **secondary** site to
   reflect its new status as **primary** by removing any of the following
   lines that might be present:

   ```ruby
   geo_secondary_role['enable'] = true
   roles ['geo_secondary_role']
   ```

   After making these changes [Reconfigure GitLab](../../restart_gitlab.md#reconfigure-a-linux-package-installation)
   on each node so the changes take effect.

1. Promote the **secondary** to **primary**. SSH into a single secondary application
   node and execute:

   ```shell
   sudo gitlab-rake geo:set_secondary_as_primary
   ```

1. Verify you can connect to the newly-promoted **primary** using the URL used
   previously for the **secondary**.
1. If successful, the **secondary** site is now promoted to the **primary** site.

### Step 4. (Optional) Updating the primary domain DNS record

Update DNS records for the primary domain to point to the **secondary** site.
This removes the need to update all references to the primary domain, for example
changing Git remotes and API URLs.

1. SSH into the **secondary** site and login as root:

   ```shell
   sudo -i
   ```

1. Update the primary domain's DNS record. After updating the primary domain's
   DNS records to point to the **secondary** site, edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` on the
   **secondary** site to reflect the new URL:

   ```ruby
   # Change the existing external_url configuration
   external_url 'https://<new_external_url>'
   ```

   NOTE:
   Changing `external_url` does not prevent access via the old secondary URL, as
   long as the secondary DNS records are still intact.

1. Update the **secondary**'s SSL certificate:

   - If you use the [Let's Encrypt integration](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/ssl/index.html#enable-the-lets-encrypt-integration),
     the certificate updates automatically.
   - If you had [manually set up](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/ssl/index.html#configure-https-manually),
     the **secondary**'s certificate, copy the certificate from the **primary** to the **secondary**.
     If you don't have access to the **primary**, issue a new certificate and make sure it contains
     both the **primary** and **secondary** URLs in the subject alternative names. You can check with:

     ```shell
     /opt/gitlab/embedded/bin/openssl x509 -noout -dates -subject -issuer \
         -nameopt multiline -ext subjectAltName -in /etc/gitlab/ssl/new-gitlab.new-example.com.crt
     ```

1. Reconfigure the **secondary** site for the change to take effect:

   ```shell
   gitlab-ctl reconfigure
   ```

1. Execute the command below to update the newly promoted **primary** site URL:

   ```shell
   gitlab-rake geo:update_primary_node_url
   ```

   This command uses the changed `external_url` configuration defined
   in `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`.

1. For GitLab 12.0 through 12.7, you may need to update the **primary**
   site's name in the database. This bug has been fixed in GitLab 12.8.

   To determine if you need to do this, search for the
   `gitlab_rails["geo_node_name"]` setting in your `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`
   file. If it is commented out with `#` or not found at all, then you
   need to update the **primary** site's name in the database. You can search for it
   like so:

   ```shell
   grep "geo_node_name" /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
   ```

   To update the **primary** site's name in the database:

   ```shell
   gitlab-rails runner 'Gitlab::Geo.primary_node.update!(name: GeoNode.current_node_name)'
   ```

1. Verify you can connect to the newly promoted **primary** using its URL.
   If you updated the DNS records for the primary domain, these changes may
   not have yet propagated depending on the previous DNS records TTL.

### Step 5. (Optional) Add **secondary** Geo site to a promoted **primary** site

Promoting a **secondary** site to **primary** site using the process above does not enable
Geo on the new **primary** site.

To bring a new **secondary** site online, follow the [Geo setup instructions](../index.md#setup-instructions).

### Step 6. Removing the former secondary's tracking database

Every **secondary** has a special tracking database that is used to save the status of the synchronization of all the items from the **primary**.
Because the **secondary** is already promoted, that data in the tracking database is no longer required.

You can remove the data with the following command:

```shell
sudo rm -rf /var/opt/gitlab/geo-postgresql
```

If you have any `geo_secondary[]` configuration options enabled in your `gitlab.rb`
file, comment them out or remove them, and then [reconfigure GitLab](../../restart_gitlab.md#reconfigure-a-linux-package-installation)
for the changes to take effect.

## Promoting secondary Geo replica in multi-secondary configurations

If you have more than one **secondary** site and you need to promote one of them, we suggest you follow
[Promoting a **secondary** Geo site in single-secondary configurations](#promoting-a-secondary-geo-site-in-single-secondary-configurations)
and after that you also need two extra steps.

### Step 1. Prepare the new **primary** site to serve one or more **secondary** sites

1. SSH into the new **primary** site and login as root:

   ```shell
   sudo -i
   ```

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

   ```ruby
   ## Enable a Geo Primary role (if you haven't yet)
   roles ['geo_primary_role']

   ##
   # Allow PostgreSQL client authentication from the primary and secondary IPs. These IPs may be
   # public or VPC addresses in CIDR format, for example ['198.51.100.1/32', '198.51.100.2/32']
   ##
   postgresql['md5_auth_cidr_addresses'] = ['<primary_site_ip>/32', '<secondary_site_ip>/32']

   # Every secondary site needs to have its own slot so specify the number of secondary sites you're going to have
   # postgresql['max_replication_slots'] = 1 # Set this to be the number of Geo secondary nodes if you have more than one

   ##
   ## Disable automatic database migrations temporarily
   ## (until PostgreSQL is restarted and listening on the private address).
   ##
   gitlab_rails['auto_migrate'] = false
   ```

   (For more details about these settings you can read [Configure the primary server](../setup/database.md#step-1-configure-the-primary-site))

1. Save the file and reconfigure GitLab for the database listen changes and
   the replication slot changes to be applied:

   ```shell
   gitlab-ctl reconfigure
   ```

   Restart PostgreSQL for its changes to take effect:

   ```shell
   gitlab-ctl restart postgresql
   ```

1. Re-enable migrations now that PostgreSQL is restarted and listening on the
   private address.

   Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` and **change** the configuration to `true`:

   ```ruby
   gitlab_rails['auto_migrate'] = true
   ```

   Save the file and reconfigure GitLab:

   ```shell
   gitlab-ctl reconfigure
   ```

### Step 2. Initiate the replication process

Now we need to make each **secondary** site listen to changes on the new **primary** site. To do that you need
to [initiate the replication process](../setup/database.md#step-3-initiate-the-replication-process) again but this time
for another **primary** site. All the old replication settings are overwritten.

## Promoting a secondary Geo cluster in the GitLab Helm chart

When updating a cloud-native Geo deployment, the process for updating any node that is external to the secondary Kubernetes cluster does not differ from the non cloud-native approach. As such, you can always defer to [Promoting a secondary Geo site in single-secondary configurations](#promoting-a-secondary-geo-site-in-single-secondary-configurations) for more information.

The following sections assume you are using the `gitlab` namespace. If you used a different namespace when setting up your cluster, you should also replace `--namespace gitlab` with your namespace.

WARNING:
In GitLab 13.2 and 13.3, promoting a secondary site to a primary while the
secondary is paused fails. Do not pause replication before promoting a
secondary. If the site is paused, be sure to resume before promoting. This
issue has been fixed in GitLab 13.4 and later.

### Step 1. Permanently disable the **primary** cluster

WARNING:
If the **primary** site goes offline, there may be data saved on the **primary** site
that has not been replicated to the **secondary** site. This data should be treated
as lost if you proceed.

If an outage on the **primary** site happens, you should do everything possible to
avoid a split-brain situation where writes can occur in two different GitLab
instances, complicating recovery efforts. So to prepare for the failover, you
must disable the **primary** site:

- If you have access to the **primary** Kubernetes cluster, connect to it and disable the GitLab `webservice` and `Sidekiq` pods:

  ```shell
  kubectl --namespace gitlab scale deploy gitlab-geo-webservice-default --replicas=0
  kubectl --namespace gitlab scale deploy gitlab-geo-sidekiq-all-in-1-v1 --replicas=0
  ```

- If you do not have access to the **primary** Kubernetes cluster, take the cluster offline and
  prevent it from coming back online by any means at your disposal.
  You might need to:

  - Reconfigure the load balancers.
  - Change DNS records (for example, point the primary DNS record to the
    **secondary** site to stop usage of the **primary** site).
  - Stop the virtual servers.
  - Block traffic through a firewall.
  - Revoke object storage permissions from the **primary** site.
  - Physically disconnect a machine.

### Step 2. Promote all **secondary** site nodes external to the cluster

WARNING:
If the secondary site [has been paused](../../geo/index.md#pausing-and-resuming-replication), this performs
a point-in-time recovery to the last known state.
Data that was created on the primary while the secondary was paused is lost.

If you are running GitLab 14.5 and later:

1. For each node (such as PostgreSQL or Gitaly) outside of the **secondary** Kubernetes cluster using the Linux
   package, SSH into the node and run one of the following commands:

   - To promote the **secondary** site node external to the Kubernetes cluster to primary:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote
     ```

   - To promote the **secondary** site node external to the Kubernetes cluster to primary **without any further confirmation**:

     ```shell
     sudo gitlab-ctl geo promote --force
     ```

1. Find the `toolbox` pod:

   ```shell
   kubectl --namespace gitlab get pods -lapp=toolbox
   ```

1. Promote the secondary:

   ```shell
   kubectl --namespace gitlab exec -ti gitlab-geo-toolbox-XXX -- gitlab-rake geo:set_secondary_as_primary
   ```

   Environment variables can be provided to modify the behavior of the task. The
   available variables are:

   | Name | Default value | Description |
   | ---- | ------------- | ------- |
   | `ENABLE_SILENT_MODE` | `false`  | If `true`, enables [Silent Mode](../../silent_mode/index.md) before promotion (GitLab 16.4 and later) |

If you are running GitLab 14.4 and earlier:

1. SSH in to the database node in the **secondary** site and trigger PostgreSQL to
   promote to read-write:

   ```shell
   sudo gitlab-ctl promote-db
   ```

1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` on the database node in the **secondary** site to
   reflect its new status as **primary** by removing any lines that enabled the
   `geo_secondary_role`:

   NOTE:
   Depending on your architecture, these steps need to run on any GitLab node that is external to the **secondary** Kubernetes cluster.

   ```ruby
   ## In pre-11.5 documentation, the role was enabled as follows. Remove this line.
   geo_secondary_role['enable'] = true

   ## In 11.5+ documentation, the role was enabled as follows. Remove this line.
   roles ['geo_secondary_role']
   ```

   After making these changes, [reconfigure GitLab](../../restart_gitlab.md#reconfigure-a-linux-package-installation) on the database node.

1. Find the task runner pod:

   ```shell
   kubectl --namespace gitlab get pods -lapp=task-runner
   ```

1. Promote the secondary:

   ```shell
   kubectl --namespace gitlab exec -ti gitlab-geo-task-runner-XXX -- gitlab-rake geo:set_secondary_as_primary
   ```

### Step 3. Promote the **secondary** cluster

1. Update the existing cluster configuration.

   You can retrieve the existing configuration with Helm:

   ```shell
   helm --namespace gitlab get values gitlab-geo > gitlab.yaml
   ```

   The existing configuration contains a section for Geo that should resemble:

   ```yaml
   geo:
      enabled: true
      role: secondary
      nodeName: secondary.example.com
      psql:
         host: geo-2.db.example.com
         port: 5431
         password:
            secret: geo
            key: geo-postgresql-password
   ```

   To promote the **secondary** cluster to a **primary** cluster, update `role: secondary` to `role: primary`.

   If the cluster remains as a primary site, you can remove the entire `psql` section; it refers to the tracking database and is ignored while the cluster is acting as a primary site.

   Update the cluster with the new configuration:

   ```shell
   helm upgrade --install --version <current Chart version> gitlab-geo gitlab/gitlab --namespace gitlab -f gitlab.yaml
   ```

1. Verify you can connect to the newly promoted primary using the URL used previously for the secondary.

1. Success! The secondary has now been promoted to primary.

## Troubleshooting

This section was moved to [another location](../replication/troubleshooting.md#fixing-errors-during-a-failover-or-when-promoting-a-secondary-to-a-primary-site).