How to Self‑Host GitLab on Ubuntu with Docker: Step‑by‑Step Guide

Install Dependencies

First install required packages on the Ubuntu instance:

sudo apt install ca-certificates curl openssh-server apt-transport-https gnupg lsb-release -y

Then add Docker’s official GPG key and repository, update apt, and install Docker CE, CLI, containerd, and docker‑compose:

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg

echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose -y

Add your user to the docker group and re‑login:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Change Default SSH Port

Modify the SSH daemon configuration to avoid conflict with GitLab’s default port: sudo vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config Replace the line #prot 22 with: prot 2222 Allow the new port through the firewall and test the connection:

sudo ufw allow 2022

ssh USER@SERVER -p 2022

Create a Docker Volume

Create directories for GitLab data and the Docker‑compose files:

sudo mkdir -p /srv/gitlab

mkdir ~/docker-gitlab

cd ~/docker-gitlab

Prepare Environment File

Create an .env file with the GitLab home path:

vi .env

GITLAB_HOME=/srv/gitlab

Create Docker‑Compose File

Create compose.yml and paste the following configuration (adjust bold placeholders as needed):

version:'3.6'
services:
  web:
    image:'gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest'
    container_name:'gitlab-server'
    restart:always
    hostname:'gitlab.example.com'
    environment:
      GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG:|
        external_url 'https://DOMAIN_OR_IP'
        gitlab_rails['smtp_enable']=true
        gitlab_rails['smtp_address']="SMTP_SERVER"
        gitlab_rails['smtp_user_name']="SMTP_SERVER_USERNAME"
        gitlab_rails['smtp_password']="SMTP_SERVER_PASSWORD"
        gitlab_rails['smtp_domain']="DOMAIN"
        gitlab_rails['smtp_enable_starttls_auto']=true
        gitlab_rails['smtp_port']=587
        gitlab_rails['smtp_authentication']="login"
        gitlab_rails['gitlab_email_from']='FROM_EMAIL'
        gitlab_rails['gitlab_email_reply_to']='REPLY_EMAIL'
        # Add any other gitlab.rb configuration here, each on its own line
    ports:
      - '80:80'
      - '443:443'
      - '22:22'
      - '587:587'
    volumes:
      - '$GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab'
      - '$GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab'
      - '$GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab'
    shm_size:'256m'

Deploy the Container

Start the services in detached mode: docker-compose up -d After a few minutes, retrieve the automatically generated root password:

sudo cat /srv/gitlab/config/initial_root_password

Access GitLab

Open a web browser and navigate to http://SERVER (replace SERVER with your IP or domain). Log in as user root using the password obtained above.

Alternative Deployment Methods

If the compose method fails, you can set the volume location manually: export GITLAB_HOME=/srv/gitlab Then run GitLab directly with Docker:

docker run --detach \
  --hostname gitlab.example.com \
  --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:latest

Or use the community edition image:

docker run -d -p 22:22 -p 80:80 -p 443:443 \
  --name gitlab --hostname gitlab.example.com \
  --restart unless-stopped --shm-size 256m \
  -v gitlab_config:/etc/gitlab -v gitlab_logs:/var/log/gitlab \
  -v gitlab_data:/var/opt/gitlab \
  gitlab/gitlab-ce:14.7.0-ce.0

These steps give you a fully functional, internally hosted GitLab repository.