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---
stage: Systems
group: Distribution
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---
# Configure GitLab running in a Docker container
DETAILS:
**Tier:** Free, Premium, Ultimate
**Offering:** Self-managed
This container uses the official Linux package, so you can use
the unique configuration file `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` to configure the instance.
## Edit the configuration file
To access the GitLab configuration file, you can start a shell session in the
context of a running container.
1. Start the session:
```shell
sudo docker exec -it gitlab /bin/bash
```
Alternatively, you can open `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` in an editor directly:
```shell
sudo docker exec -it gitlab editor /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
```
1. In your preferred text editor, open `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` and update the following fields:
1. Set the `external_url` field to
a valid URL for your GitLab instance.
1. To receive emails from GitLab, configure the
[SMTP settings](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/smtp.html). The GitLab Docker image
doesn't have an SMTP server pre-installed.
1. If desired [enable HTTPS](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/ssl/index.html).
1. Save the file and restart the container to reconfigure GitLab:
```shell
sudo docker restart gitlab
```
GitLab reconfigures itself each time the container starts.
For more configuration options in GitLab, see the
[configuration documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/configuration.html).
## Pre-configure Docker container
You can pre-configure the GitLab Docker image by adding the environment variable
`GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG` to the Docker run command. This variable can contain any
`gitlab.rb` setting and is evaluated before the loading of the container's
`gitlab.rb` file. This behavior allows you to configure the external GitLab URL,
and make database configuration or any other option from the
[Linux package template](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/blob/master/files/gitlab-config-template/gitlab.rb.template).
The settings contained in `GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG` aren't written to the
`gitlab.rb` configuration file, and are evaluated on load. To provide multiple
settings, separate them with a colon (`;`).
The following example sets the external URL, enables LFS, and starts
the container with a [minimal shm size required for Prometheus](../docker/troubleshooting.md#devshm-mount-not-having-enough-space-in-docker-container):
```shell
sudo docker run --detach \
--hostname gitlab.example.com \
--env GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG="external_url 'http://gitlab.example.com'; gitlab_rails['lfs_enabled'] = true;" \
--publish 443:443 --publish 80:80 --publish 22:22 \
--name gitlab \
--restart always \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
--shm-size 256m \
gitlab/gitlab-ee:<version>-ee.0
```
Every time you execute a `docker run` command, you need to provide
the `GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG` option. The content of `GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG` is
_not_ preserved between subsequent runs.
### Run GitLab on a public IP address
You can make Docker to use your IP address and forward all traffic to the
GitLab container by modifying the `--publish` flag.
To expose GitLab on IP `198.51.100.1`:
```shell
sudo docker run --detach \
--hostname gitlab.example.com \
--env GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG="external_url 'http://gitlab.example.com'" \
--publish 198.51.100.1:443:443 \
--publish 198.51.100.1:80:80 \
--publish 198.51.100.1:22:22 \
--name gitlab \
--restart always \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
--shm-size 256m \
gitlab/gitlab-ee:<version>-ee.0
```
You can then access your GitLab instance at `http://198.51.100.1/` and `https://198.51.100.1/`.
## Expose GitLab on different ports
GitLab occupies [specific ports](../../administration/package_information/defaults.md)
inside the container.
If you want to use different host ports from the default ports `80` (HTTP), `443` (HTTPS), or `22` (SSH),
you need to add a separate `--publish` directive to the `docker run` command.
For example, to expose the web interface on the host's port `8929`, and the SSH service on
port `2424`:
1. Use the following `docker run` command:
```shell
sudo docker run --detach \
--hostname gitlab.example.com \
--env GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG="external_url 'http://gitlab.example.com:8929'; gitlab_rails['gitlab_shell_ssh_port'] = 2424" \
--publish 8929:8929 --publish 2424:22 \
--name gitlab \
--restart always \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
--volume $GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
--shm-size 256m \
gitlab/gitlab-ee:<version>-ee.0
```
NOTE:
The format to publish ports is `hostPort:containerPort`. Read more in the
Docker documentation about
[exposing incoming ports](https://docs.docker.com/network/#published-ports).
1. Enter the running container:
```shell
sudo docker exec -it gitlab /bin/bash
```
1. Open `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` with your editor and set `external_url`:
```ruby
# For HTTP
external_url "http://gitlab.example.com:8929"
or
# For HTTPS (notice the https)
external_url "https://gitlab.example.com:8929"
```
The port specified in this URL must match the port published to the host by Docker.
Additionally, if the NGINX listen port is not explicitly set in
`nginx['listen_port']`, the `external_url` is used instead.
For more information, see the [NGINX documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/nginx.html).
1. Set the SSH port:
```ruby
gitlab_rails['gitlab_shell_ssh_port'] = 2424
```
1. Finally, reconfigure GitLab:
```shell
gitlab-ctl reconfigure
```
Following the above example, your web browser can reach your GitLab instance
at `<hostIP>:8929` and push over SSH on port `2424`.
You can see a `docker-compose.yml` example that uses different ports in the
[Docker compose](installation.md#install-gitlab-by-using-docker-compose) section.
## Configure multiple database connections
Starting in [GitLab 16.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/-/merge_requests/6850),
GitLab defaults to using two database connections that point to the same PostgreSQL database.
If, for any reason, you wish to switch back to single database connection:
1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` inside the container:
```shell
sudo docker exec -it gitlab editor /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
```
1. Add the following line:
```ruby
gitlab_rails['databases']['ci']['enable'] = false
```
1. Restart the container:
```shell
sudo docker restart gitlab
```
## Next steps
After you configure your installation, consider taking the
[recommended next steps](../next_steps.md), including authentication options
and sign-up restrictions.
|
