# GitLab Pages Administration > **Note:** > This feature was first [introduced][ee-80] in GitLab EE 8.3. > Custom CNAMEs with TLS support were [introduced][ee-173] in GitLab EE 8.5. --- This document describes how to set up the _latest_ GitLab Pages feature. Make sure to read the [changelog](#changelog) if you are upgrading to a new GitLab version as it may include new features and changes needed to be made in your configuration. If you are looking for ways to upload your static content in GitLab Pages, you probably want to read the [user documentation](README.md). [ee-80]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/merge_requests/80 [ee-173]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/merge_requests/173 --- **Table of Contents** *generated with [DocToc](https://github.com/thlorenz/doctoc)* - [The GitLab Pages daemon](#the-gitlab-pages-daemon) - [The GitLab Pages daemon and the case of custom domains](#the-gitlab-pages-daemon-and-the-case-of-custom-domains) - [Install the Pages daemon](#install-the-pages-daemon) - [Configuration](#configuration) - [Configuration scenarios](#configuration-scenarios) - [DNS configuration](#dns-configuration) - [Setting up GitLab Pages](#setting-up-gitlab-pages) - [Custom domains with HTTPS support](#custom-domains-with-https-support) - [Custom domains without HTTPS support](#custom-domains-without-https-support) - [Wildcard HTTP domain without custom domains](#wildcard-http-domain-without-custom-domains) - [Wildcard HTTPS domain without custom domains](#wildcard-https-domain-without-custom-domains) - [NGINX configuration](#nginx-configuration) - [NGINX configuration files](#nginx-configuration-files) - [NGINX configuration for custom domains](#nginx-configuration-for-custom-domains) - [NGINX caveats](#nginx-caveats) - [Set maximum pages size](#set-maximum-pages-size) - [Change storage path](#change-storage-path) - [Backup](#backup) - [Security](#security) - [Changelog](#changelog) ## The GitLab Pages daemon Starting from GitLab EE 8.5, Pages make use of a separate tool ([gitlab-pages]), a simple HTTP server written in Go that can listen on an external IP address and provide support for custom domains and custom certificates. The GitLab Pages Daemon supports dynamic certificates through SNI and exposes pages using HTTP2 by default. Here is a brief list with what it is supported when using the pages daemon: - Multiple domains per-project - One TLS certificate per-domain - Validation of certificate - Validation of certificate chain - Validation of private key against certificate You are encouraged to read its [README][pages-readme] to fully understand how it works. ### The GitLab Pages daemon and the case of custom domains In the case of custom domains, the Pages daemon needs to listen on ports `80` and/or `443`. For that reason, there is some flexibility in the way which you can set it up, so you basically have three choices: 1. Run the pages daemon in the same server as GitLab, listening on a secondary IP 1. Run the pages daemon in a separate server. In that case, the [Pages path](#change-storage-path) must also be present in the server that the pages daemon is installed, so you will have to share it via network. 1. 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. First let's install the pages daemon. ### Install the Pages daemon **Install the Pages daemon on a source installation** ``` cd /home/git sudo -u git -H git clone https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages.git cd gitlab-pages sudo -u git -H git checkout 0.2.0 sudo -u git -H make ``` **Install the Pages daemon on Omnibus** The `gitlab-pages` daemon is included in the Omnibus package. [pages-readme]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/blob/master/README.md ## Configuration There are multiple ways to set up GitLab Pages according to what URL scheme you are willing to support. Below you will find all possible scenarios to choose from. ### Configuration scenarios Before proceeding with setting up GitLab Pages, you have to decide which route you want to take. Note that in either scenario, you need: 1. To use the [GitLab Pages daemon](#the-gitlab-pages-daemon) 1. A separate domain 1. A separate Nginx configuration file which needs to be explicitly added in the server under which GitLab EE runs (Omnibus does that automatically) 1. (Optional) A wildcard certificate for that domain if you decide to serve pages under HTTPS 1. (Optional but recommended) [Shared runners](../ci/runners/README.md) so that your users don't have to bring their own The possible scenarios are depicted in the table below. | URL scheme | Option | Wildcard certificate | Custom domain with HTTP support | Custom domain with HTTPS support | Secondary IP | | --- |:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:| | `http://page.example.io` | 1 | no | no | no | no | | `https://page.example.io` | 1 | yes | no | no | no | | `http://page.example.io` and `http://page.com` | 2 | no | yes | no | yes | | `https://page.example.io` and `https://page.com` | 2 | yes | redirects to HTTPS | yes | yes | As you see from the table above, each URL scheme comes with an option: 1. Pages enabled, daemon is enabled and NGINX will proxy all requests to the daemon. Pages daemon doesn't listen to the outside world. 1. Pages enabled, daemon is enabled AND pages has external IP support enabled. 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. ### DNS configuration GitLab Pages expect to run on their own virtual host. In your DNS server/provider you need to add a [wildcard DNS A record][wiki-wildcard-dns] pointing to the host that GitLab runs. For example, an entry would look like this: ``` *.example.io. 1800 IN A 1.2.3.4 ``` where `example.io` is the domain under which GitLab Pages will be served and `1.2.3.4` is the IP address of your GitLab instance. You should not use the GitLab domain to serve user pages. For more information see the [security section](#security). [wiki-wildcard-dns]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcard_DNS_record ## Setting up GitLab Pages Below are the four scenarios that are described in [#configuration-scenarios](#configuration-scenarios). ### Custom domains with HTTPS support **Source installations:** 1. [Install the pages daemon](#install-the-pages-daemon) 1. Edit `gitlab.yml` to look like the example below. You need to change the `host` to the FQDN under which GitLab Pages will be served. Set `external_http` and `external_https` to the secondary IP on which the pages daemon will listen for connections: ```yaml ## GitLab Pages pages: enabled: true # The location where pages are stored (default: shared/pages). # path: shared/pages host: example.io port: 443 https: true external_http: 1.1.1.1:80 external_https: 1.1.1.1:443 ``` 1. Edit `/etc/default/gitlab` and set `gitlab_pages_enabled` to `true` in order to enable the pages daemon. In `gitlab_pages_options` the `-pages-domain`, `-listen-http` and `-listen-https` must match the `host`, `external_http` and `external_https` settings that you set above respectively. The `-root-cert` and `-root-key` settings are the wildcard TLS certificates of the `example.io` domain: ``` gitlab_pages_enabled=true gitlab_pages_options="-pages-domain example.io -pages-root $app_root/shared/pages -listen-proxy 127.0.0.1:8090 -listen-http 1.1.1.1:80 -listen-https 1.1.1.1:443 -root-cert /path/to/example.io.crt -root-key /path/to/example.io.key ``` 1. Make sure to [configure NGINX](#nginx-configuration) properly. 1. [Restart GitLab][restart] --- **Omnibus installations:** 1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`: ```ruby nginx['listen_addresses'] = ['1.1.1.1'] pages_nginx['enable'] = false gitlab_pages['external_http'] = '1.1.1.2:80' gitlab_pages['external_https'] = '1.1.1.2:443' ``` where `1.1.1.1` is the primary IP address that GitLab is listening to and `1.1.1.2` the secondary IP where the GitLab Pages daemon listens to. Read more at the [NGINX configuration for custom domains](#nginx-configuration-for-custom-domains) section. 1. [Reconfigure GitLab][reconfigure] ### Custom domains without HTTPS support **Source installations:** 1. [Install the pages daemon](#install-the-pages-daemon) 1. Edit `gitlab.yml` to look like the example below. You need to change the `host` to the FQDN under which GitLab Pages will be served. Set `external_http` to the secondary IP on which the pages daemon will listen for connections: ```yaml pages: enabled: true # The location where pages are stored (default: shared/pages). # path: shared/pages host: example.io port: 80 https: false external_http: 1.1.1.1:80 ``` 1. Edit `/etc/default/gitlab` and set `gitlab_pages_enabled` to `true` in order to enable the pages daemon. In `gitlab_pages_options` the `-pages-domain` and `-listen-http` must match the `host` and `external_http` settings that you set above respectively: ``` gitlab_pages_enabled=true gitlab_pages_options="-pages-domain example.io -pages-root $app_root/shared/pages -listen-proxy 127.0.0.1:8090 -listen-http 1.1.1.1:80" ``` 1. Make sure to [configure NGINX](#nginx-configuration) properly. 1. [Restart GitLab][restart] --- **Omnibus installations:** 1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`: ```ruby nginx['listen_addresses'] = ['1.1.1.1'] pages_nginx['enable'] = false gitlab_pages['external_http'] = '1.1.1.2:80' ``` where `1.1.1.1` is the primary IP address that GitLab is listening to and `1.1.1.2` the secondary IP where the GitLab Pages daemon listens to. Read more at the [NGINX configuration for custom domains](#nginx-configuration-for-custom-domains) section. 1. [Reconfigure GitLab][reconfigure] ### Wildcard HTTP domain without custom domains **Source installations:** 1. [Install the pages daemon](#install-the-pages-daemon) 1. Go to the GitLab installation directory: ```bash cd /home/git/gitlab ``` 1. Edit `gitlab.yml` and under the `pages` setting, set `enabled` to `true` and the `host` to the FQDN under which GitLab Pages will be served: ```yaml ## GitLab Pages pages: enabled: true # The location where pages are stored (default: shared/pages). # path: shared/pages host: example.io port: 80 https: false ``` 1. Make sure to [configure NGINX](#nginx-configuration) properly. 1. [Restart GitLab][restart] --- **Omnibus installations:** 1. Set the external URL for GitLab Pages in `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`: ```ruby pages_external_url 'http://example.io' ``` 1. [Reconfigure GitLab][reconfigure] ### Wildcard HTTPS domain without custom domains **Source installations:** 1. [Install the pages daemon](#install-the-pages-daemon) 1. In `gitlab.yml`, set the port to `443` and https to `true`: ```bash ## GitLab Pages pages: enabled: true # The location where pages are stored (default: shared/pages). # path: shared/pages host: example.io port: 443 https: true ``` 1. Make sure to [configure NGINX](#nginx-configuration) properly. --- **Omnibus installations:** 1. Place the certificate and key inside `/etc/gitlab/ssl` 1. In `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` specify the following configuration: ```ruby pages_external_url 'https://example.io' pages_nginx['redirect_http_to_https'] = true pages_nginx['ssl_certificate'] = "/etc/gitlab/ssl/pages-nginx.crt" pages_nginx['ssl_certificate_key'] = "/etc/gitlab/ssl/pages-nginx.key" ``` where `pages-nginx.crt` and `pages-nginx.key` are the SSL cert and key, respectively. 1. [Reconfigure GitLab][reconfigure] ## NGINX configuration Depending on your setup, you will need to make some changes to NGINX. Specifically you must change the domain name and the IP address where NGINX listens to. Read the following sections for more details. ### NGINX configuration files Copy the `gitlab-pages-ssl` Nginx configuration file: ```bash sudo cp lib/support/nginx/gitlab-pages-ssl /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitlab-pages-ssl.conf sudo ln -sf /etc/nginx/sites-{available,enabled}/gitlab-pages-ssl.conf ``` Replace `gitlab-pages-ssl` with `gitlab-pages` if you are not using SSL. ### NGINX configuration for custom domains > If you are not using custom domains ignore this section. [In the case of custom domains](#the-gitlab-pages-daemon-and-the-case-of-custom-domains), if you have the secondary IP address configured on the same server as GitLab, you need to change **all** NGINX configs to listen on the first IP address. **Source installations:** 1. Edit all GitLab related configs in `/etc/nginx/site-available/` and replace `0.0.0.0` with `1.1.1.1`, where `1.1.1.1` the primary IP where GitLab listens to. 1. Restart NGINX **Omnibus installations:** 1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gilab.rb`: ``` nginx['listen_addresses'] = ['1.1.1.1'] ``` 1. [Reconfigure GitLab][reconfigure] ### NGINX caveats Be extra careful when setting up the domain name in the NGINX config. You must not remove the backslashes. If your GitLab pages domain is `example.io`, replace: ```bash server_name ~^.*\.YOUR_GITLAB_PAGES\.DOMAIN$; ``` with: ``` server_name ~^.*\.example\.io$; ``` If you are using a subdomain, make sure to escape all dots (`.`) except from the first one with a backslash (\). For example `pages.example.io` would be: ``` server_name ~^.*\.pages\.example\.io$; ``` ## 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 the **Maximum size of pages (MB)**. The default is 100MB. ## Change storage path **Source installations:** 1. Pages are stored by default in `/home/git/gitlab/shared/pages`. If you wish to store them in another location you must set it up in `gitlab.yml` under the `pages` section: ```yaml pages: enabled: true # The location where pages are stored (default: shared/pages). path: /mnt/storage/pages ``` 1. [Restart GitLab][restart] **Omnibus installations:** 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`: ```ruby gitlab_rails['pages_path'] = "/mnt/storage/pages" ``` 1. [Reconfigure GitLab][reconfigure] ## Backup Pages are part of the regular backup so 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 8.5 ([documentation][8-5-docs])** - In GitLab 8.5 we introduced the [gitlab-pages][] daemon which is now the recommended way to set up GitLab Pages. - The [NGINX configs][] have changed to reflect this change. So make sure to update them. - Custom CNAME and TLS certificates support [8-5-docs]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/blob/8-5-stable-ee/doc/pages/administration.md [gitlab-pages]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/tree/v0.2.0 [NGINX configs]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/tree/8-5-stable-ee/lib/support/nginx --- **GitLab 8.4** No new changes. --- **GitLab 8.3 ([documentation][8-3-docs])** - GitLab Pages feature was introduced. [8-3-docs]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/blob/8-3-stable-ee/doc/pages/administration.md --- [reconfigure]: ../../administration/restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure [restart]: ../../administration/restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source