1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
|
# Backup restore
![backup banner](backup_hrz.png)
## Create a backup of the GitLab system
A backup creates an archive file that contains the database, all repositories and all attachments.
This archive will be saved in backup_path (see `config/gitlab.yml`).
The filename will be `[TIMESTAMP]_gitlab_backup.tar`. This timestamp can be used to restore an specific backup.
You can only restore a backup to exactly the same version of GitLab that you created it
on, for example 7.2.1. The best way to migrate your repositories from one server to
another is through backup restore.
You need to keep a separate copy of `/etc/gitlab/gitlab-secrets.json`
(for omnibus packages) or `/home/git/gitlab/.secret` (for installations
from source). This file contains the database encryption key used
for two-factor authentication. If you restore a GitLab backup without
restoring the database encryption key, users who have two-factor
authentication enabled will lose access to your GitLab server.
If you are interested in GitLab CI backup please follow to the [CI backup documentation](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci/blob/master/doc/raketasks/backup_restore.md)*
```
# use this command if you've installed GitLab with the Omnibus package
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:backup:create
# if you've installed GitLab from source
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:backup:create RAILS_ENV=production
```
Also you can choose what should be backed up by adding environment variable SKIP. Available options: db,
uploads (attachments), repositories, builds(CI build output logs), artifacts (CI build artifacts), lfs (LFS objects).
Use a comma to specify several options at the same time.
```
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:backup:create SKIP=db,uploads
```
Example output:
```
Dumping database tables:
- Dumping table events... [DONE]
- Dumping table issues... [DONE]
- Dumping table keys... [DONE]
- Dumping table merge_requests... [DONE]
- Dumping table milestones... [DONE]
- Dumping table namespaces... [DONE]
- Dumping table notes... [DONE]
- Dumping table projects... [DONE]
- Dumping table protected_branches... [DONE]
- Dumping table schema_migrations... [DONE]
- Dumping table services... [DONE]
- Dumping table snippets... [DONE]
- Dumping table taggings... [DONE]
- Dumping table tags... [DONE]
- Dumping table users... [DONE]
- Dumping table users_projects... [DONE]
- Dumping table web_hooks... [DONE]
- Dumping table wikis... [DONE]
Dumping repositories:
- Dumping repository abcd... [DONE]
Creating backup archive: $TIMESTAMP_gitlab_backup.tar [DONE]
Deleting tmp directories...[DONE]
Deleting old backups... [SKIPPING]
```
## Upload backups to remote (cloud) storage
Starting with GitLab 7.4 you can let the backup script upload the '.tar' file it creates.
It uses the [Fog library](http://fog.io/) to perform the upload.
In the example below we use Amazon S3 for storage.
But Fog also lets you use [other storage providers](http://fog.io/storage/).
For omnibus packages:
```ruby
gitlab_rails['backup_upload_connection'] = {
'provider' => 'AWS',
'region' => 'eu-west-1',
'aws_access_key_id' => 'AKIAKIAKI',
'aws_secret_access_key' => 'secret123'
}
gitlab_rails['backup_upload_remote_directory'] = 'my.s3.bucket'
```
For installations from source:
```yaml
backup:
# snip
upload:
# Fog storage connection settings, see http://fog.io/storage/ .
connection:
provider: AWS
region: eu-west-1
aws_access_key_id: AKIAKIAKI
aws_secret_access_key: 'secret123'
# The remote 'directory' to store your backups. For S3, this would be the bucket name.
remote_directory: 'my.s3.bucket'
# Turns on AWS Server-Side Encryption with Amazon S3-Managed Keys for backups, this is optional
# encryption: 'AES256'
```
If you are uploading your backups to S3 you will probably want to create a new
IAM user with restricted access rights. To give the upload user access only for
uploading backups create the following IAM profile, replacing `my.s3.bucket`
with the name of your bucket:
```json
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "Stmt1412062044000",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"s3:AbortMultipartUpload",
"s3:GetBucketAcl",
"s3:GetBucketLocation",
"s3:GetObject",
"s3:GetObjectAcl",
"s3:ListBucketMultipartUploads",
"s3:PutObject",
"s3:PutObjectAcl"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:s3:::my.s3.bucket/*"
]
},
{
"Sid": "Stmt1412062097000",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"s3:GetBucketLocation",
"s3:ListAllMyBuckets"
],
"Resource": [
"*"
]
},
{
"Sid": "Stmt1412062128000",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"s3:ListBucket"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:s3:::my.s3.bucket"
]
}
]
}
```
## Backup archive permissions
The backup archives created by GitLab (123456_gitlab_backup.tar) will have owner/group git:git and 0600 permissions by default.
This is meant to avoid other system users reading GitLab's data.
If you need the backup archives to have different permissions you can use the 'archive_permissions' setting.
```
# In /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb, for omnibus packages
gitlab_rails['backup_archive_permissions'] = 0644 # Makes the backup archives world-readable
```
```
# In gitlab.yml, for installations from source:
backup:
archive_permissions: 0644 # Makes the backup archives world-readable
```
## Storing configuration files
Please be informed that a backup does not store your configuration
files. One reason for this is that your database contains encrypted
information for two-factor authentication. Storing encrypted
information along with its key in the same place defeats the purpose
of using encryption in the first place!
If you use an Omnibus package please see the [instructions in the readme to backup your configuration](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/blob/master/README.md#backup-and-restore-omnibus-gitlab-configuration).
If you have a cookbook installation there should be a copy of your configuration in Chef.
If you have an installation from source, please consider backing up your `.secret` file, `gitlab.yml` file, any SSL keys and certificates, and your [SSH host keys](https://superuser.com/questions/532040/copy-ssh-keys-from-one-server-to-another-server/532079#532079).
At the very **minimum** you should backup `/etc/gitlab/gitlab-secrets.json`
(Omnibus) or `/home/git/gitlab/.secret` (source) to preserve your
database encryption key.
## Restore a previously created backup
You can only restore a backup to exactly the same version of GitLab that you created it on, for example 7.2.1.
### Prerequisites
You need to have a working GitLab installation before you can perform
a restore. This is mainly because the system user performing the
restore actions ('git') is usually not allowed to create or delete
the SQL database it needs to import data into ('gitlabhq_production').
All existing data will be either erased (SQL) or moved to a separate
directory (repositories, uploads).
If some or all of your GitLab users are using two-factor authentication
(2FA) then you must also make sure to restore
`/etc/gitlab/gitlab-secrets.json` (Omnibus) or `/home/git/gitlab/.secret`
(installations from source). Note that you need to run `gitlab-ctl
reconfigure` after changing `gitlab-secrets.json`.
### Installation from source
```
bundle exec rake gitlab:backup:restore RAILS_ENV=production
```
Options:
```
BACKUP=timestamp_of_backup (required if more than one backup exists)
force=yes (do not ask if the authorized_keys file should get regenerated)
```
Example output:
```
Unpacking backup... [DONE]
Restoring database tables:
-- create_table("events", {:force=>true})
-> 0.2231s
[...]
- Loading fixture events...[DONE]
- Loading fixture issues...[DONE]
- Loading fixture keys...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture merge_requests...[DONE]
- Loading fixture milestones...[DONE]
- Loading fixture namespaces...[DONE]
- Loading fixture notes...[DONE]
- Loading fixture projects...[DONE]
- Loading fixture protected_branches...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture schema_migrations...[DONE]
- Loading fixture services...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture snippets...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture taggings...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture tags...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture users...[DONE]
- Loading fixture users_projects...[DONE]
- Loading fixture web_hooks...[SKIPPING]
- Loading fixture wikis...[SKIPPING]
Restoring repositories:
- Restoring repository abcd... [DONE]
Deleting tmp directories...[DONE]
```
### Omnibus installations
We will assume that you have installed GitLab from an omnibus package and run
`sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure` at least once.
First make sure your backup tar file is in `/var/opt/gitlab/backups` (or wherever `gitlab_rails['backup_path']` points to).
```shell
sudo cp 1393513186_gitlab_backup.tar /var/opt/gitlab/backups/
```
Next, restore the backup by running the restore command. You need to specify the
timestamp of the backup you are restoring.
```shell
# Stop processes that are connected to the database
sudo gitlab-ctl stop unicorn
sudo gitlab-ctl stop sidekiq
# This command will overwrite the contents of your GitLab database!
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:backup:restore BACKUP=1393513186
# Start GitLab
sudo gitlab-ctl start
# Create satellites
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:satellites:create
# Check GitLab
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:check SANITIZE=true
```
If there is a GitLab version mismatch between your backup tar file and the installed
version of GitLab, the restore command will abort with an error. Install a package for
the [required version](https://www.gitlab.com/downloads/archives/) and try again.
## Configure cron to make daily backups
### For installation from source:
```
cd /home/git/gitlab
sudo -u git -H editor config/gitlab.yml # Enable keep_time in the backup section to automatically delete old backups
sudo -u git crontab -e # Edit the crontab for the git user
```
Add the following lines at the bottom:
```
# Create a full backup of the GitLab repositories and SQL database every day at 4am
0 4 * * * cd /home/git/gitlab && PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin bundle exec rake gitlab:backup:create RAILS_ENV=production CRON=1
```
The `CRON=1` environment setting tells the backup script to suppress all progress output if there are no errors.
This is recommended to reduce cron spam.
### For omnibus installations
To schedule a cron job that backs up your repositories and GitLab metadata, use the root user:
```
sudo su -
crontab -e
```
There, add the following line to schedule the backup for everyday at 2 AM:
```
0 2 * * * /opt/gitlab/bin/gitlab-rake gitlab:backup:create CRON=1
```
You may also want to set a limited lifetime for backups to prevent regular
backups using all your disk space. To do this add the following lines to
`/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` and reconfigure:
```
# limit backup lifetime to 7 days - 604800 seconds
gitlab_rails['backup_keep_time'] = 604800
```
NOTE: This cron job does not [backup your omnibus-gitlab configuration](#backup-and-restore-omnibus-gitlab-configuration) or [SSH host keys](https://superuser.com/questions/532040/copy-ssh-keys-from-one-server-to-another-server/532079#532079).
## Alternative backup strategies
If your GitLab server contains a lot of Git repository data you may find the GitLab backup script to be too slow.
In this case you can consider using filesystem snapshots as part of your backup strategy.
Example: Amazon EBS
> A GitLab server using omnibus-gitlab hosted on Amazon AWS.
> An EBS drive containing an ext4 filesystem is mounted at `/var/opt/gitlab`.
> In this case you could make an application backup by taking an EBS snapshot.
> The backup includes all repositories, uploads and Postgres data.
Example: LVM snapshots + rsync
> A GitLab server using omnibus-gitlab, with an LVM logical volume mounted at `/var/opt/gitlab`.
> Replicating the `/var/opt/gitlab` directory using rsync would not be reliable because too many files would change while rsync is running.
> Instead of rsync-ing `/var/opt/gitlab`, we create a temporary LVM snapshot, which we mount as a read-only filesystem at `/mnt/gitlab_backup`.
> Now we can have a longer running rsync job which will create a consistent replica on the remote server.
> The replica includes all repositories, uploads and Postgres data.
If you are running GitLab on a virtualized server you can possibly also create VM snapshots of the entire GitLab server.
It is not uncommon however for a VM snapshot to require you to power down the server, so this approach is probably of limited practical use.
## Troubleshooting
### Restoring database backup using omnibus packages outputs warnings
If you are using backup restore procedures you might encounter the following warnings:
```
psql:/var/opt/gitlab/backups/db/database.sql:22: ERROR: must be owner of extension plpgsql
psql:/var/opt/gitlab/backups/db/database.sql:2931: WARNING: no privileges could be revoked for "public" (two occurrences)
psql:/var/opt/gitlab/backups/db/database.sql:2933: WARNING: no privileges were granted for "public" (two occurrences)
```
Be advised that, backup is successfully restored in spite of these warnings.
The rake task runs this as the `gitlab` user which does not have the superuser access to the database. When restore is initiated it will also run as `gitlab` user but it will also try to alter the objects it does not have access to.
Those objects have no influence on the database backup/restore but they give this annoying warning.
For more information see similar questions on postgresql issue tracker[here](http://www.postgresql.org/message-id/201110220712.30886.adrian.klaver@gmail.com) and [here](http://www.postgresql.org/message-id/2039.1177339749@sss.pgh.pa.us) as well as [stack overflow](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4368789/error-must-be-owner-of-language-plpgsql).
## Note
This documentation is for GitLab CE.
We backup GitLab.com and make sure your data is secure, but you can't use these methods to export / backup your data yourself from GitLab.com.
Issues are stored in the database. They can't be stored in Git itself.
To migrate your repositories from one server to another with an up-to-date version of
GitLab, you can use the [import rake task](import.md) to do a mass import of the
repository. Note that if you do an import rake task, rather than a backup restore, you
will have all your repositories, but not any other data.
|