Deploying GitLab CE DevOps Management Suite on Ubuntu 24.04

GitLab CE (Community Edition) is a complete, open-source DevOps platform that combines source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security testing, and project planning in a single application. This guide deploys GitLab CE using Docker Compose with Traefik handling automatic HTTPS, then retrieves the initial root password, following DevOps management suite deployment practices documented in Vultr Docs.

Set Up the Directory Structure

1. Create the project directory structure:

mkdir -p ~/gitlab/{config,logs,data,letsencrypt}
cd ~/gitlab

2. Create the environment file:

nano .env

GITLAB_DOMAIN=gitlab.example.com
LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=admin@example.com

Deploy with Docker Compose

1. Add your user to the Docker group:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

2. Create the Docker Compose manifest:

nano docker-compose.yml

services:
  traefik:
    image: traefik:latest
    container_name: traefik
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      DOCKER_API_VERSION: "1.44"
    command:
      - "--providers.docker=true"
      - "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
      - "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
      - "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.to=websecure"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.httpchallenge=true"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.httpchallenge.entrypoint=web"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.email=${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL}"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
      - ./letsencrypt:/letsencrypt

  gitlab:
    image: gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest
    container_name: gitlab
    restart: always
    hostname: ${GITLAB_DOMAIN}
    shm_size: '256m'
    environment:
      GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: |
        external_url 'https://${GITLAB_DOMAIN}'
        nginx['listen_port'] = 80
        nginx['listen_https'] = false
        nginx['proxy_set_headers'] = {
          "X-Forwarded-Proto" => "https",
          "X-Forwarded-Ssl" => "on"
        }
        gitlab_rails['gitlab_shell_ssh_port'] = 2222
    ports:
      - "2222:22"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/gitlab
      - ./logs:/var/log/gitlab
      - ./data:/var/opt/gitlab
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.gitlab.rule=Host(`${GITLAB_DOMAIN}`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.gitlab.entrypoints=websecure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.gitlab.tls=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.gitlab.tls.certresolver=le"
      - "traefik.http.services.gitlab.loadbalancer.server.port=80"

3. Start the services:

docker compose up -d

4. Verify the services are running:

docker compose ps

GitLab takes a few minutes to initialize on the first start.

Access GitLab

1. Retrieve the initial root password:

sudo docker exec -it gitlab grep 'Password:' /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password

This file auto-deletes after 24 hours, so capture the password right away.

2. Sign in:

• URL: https://gitlab.example.com

• Username: root

• Password: the value from the command above

Change the root password immediately after first login.

Next Steps

GitLab CE is running and served securely over HTTPS. From here you can:

• Create groups and projects, and invite team members

• Configure GitLab Runners to execute CI/CD pipelines

• Set up SMTP for email notifications and SAML/OIDC for SSO

For the full guide with additional tips, visit the original article on Vultr Docs.