Gitaly

Gitaly is the service that provides high-level RPC access to Git repositories. Without it, no other components can read or write Git data. GitLab components that access Git repositories (gitlab-rails, gitlab-shell, gitlab-workhorse, etc.) act as clients to Gitaly. End users do not have direct access to Gitaly.

In the rest of this page, Gitaly server is referred to the standalone node that only runs Gitaly, and Gitaly client to the GitLab Rails node that runs all other processes except Gitaly.

Configuring Gitaly

The Gitaly service itself is configured via a TOML configuration file. This file is documented in the Gitaly repository.

In case you want to change some of its settings:

For Omnibus GitLab

Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb and add or change the Gitaly settings.
Save the file and reconfigure GitLab.

For installations from source

Edit /home/git/gitaly/config.toml and add or change the Gitaly settings.
Save the file and restart GitLab.

Running Gitaly on its own server

This is an optional way to deploy Gitaly which can benefit GitLab installations that are larger than a single machine. Most installations will be better served with the default configuration used by Omnibus and the GitLab source installation guide.

Starting with GitLab 11.4, Gitaly is able to serve all Git requests without requiring a shared NFS mount for Git repository data. Between 11.4 and 11.8 the exception was the Elasticsearch indexer. But since 11.8 the indexer uses Gitaly for data access as well. NFS can still be leveraged for redudancy on block level of the Git data. But only has to be mounted on the Gitaly server.

Starting with GitLab 11.8, it is possible to use ElasticSearch in conjunction with a Gitaly setup that isn't utilising NFS. In order to use ElasticSearch in this scenario, the new repository indexer needs to be enabled in your GitLab configuration.

NOTE: Note: While Gitaly can be used as a replacement for NFS, it's not recommended to use EFS as it may impact GitLab's performance. Review the relevant documentation for more details.

Network architecture

The following list depicts what the network architecture of Gitaly is:

GitLab Rails shards repositories into repository storages.
/config/gitlab.yml contains a map from storage names to (Gitaly address, Gitaly token) pairs.
the storage name -> (Gitaly address, Gitaly token) map in /config/gitlab.yml is the single source of truth for the Gitaly network topology.
A (Gitaly address, Gitaly token) corresponds to a Gitaly server.
A Gitaly server hosts one or more storages.
Gitaly addresses must be specified in such a way that they resolve correctly for ALL Gitaly clients.
Gitaly clients are: Unicorn, Sidekiq, gitlab-workhorse, gitlab-shell, Elasticsearch Indexer, and Gitaly itself.
A Gitaly server must be able to make RPC calls to itself via its own (Gitaly address, Gitaly token) pair as specified in /config/gitlab.yml.
Gitaly servers must not be exposed to the public internet as Gitaly's network traffic is unencrypted by default. The use of firewall is highly recommended to restrict access to the Gitaly server. Another option is to use TLS.
Authentication is done through a static token which is shared among the Gitaly and GitLab Rails nodes.

Below we describe how to configure a Gitaly server at address gitaly.internal:8075 with secret token abc123secret. We assume your GitLab installation has two repository storages, default and storage1.

1. Installation

First install Gitaly using either Omnibus GitLab or install it from source:

For Omnibus GitLab: Download/install the Omnibus GitLab package you want using steps 1 and 2 from the GitLab downloads page but do not provide the EXTERNAL_URL= value.
From source: Install Gitaly.

2. Client side token configuration

Configure a token on the instance that runs the GitLab Rails application.

For Omnibus GitLab

On the client node(s), edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:
```
gitlab_rails['gitaly_token'] = 'abc123secret'
```
Save the file and reconfigure GitLab.

For installations from source

On the client node(s), edit /home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml:
```
gitlab:
  gitaly:
    token: 'abc123secret'
```
Save the file and restart GitLab.

3. Gitaly server configuration

Next, on the Gitaly server, you need to configure storage paths, enable the network listener and configure the token.

NOTE: Note: if you want to reduce the risk of downtime when you enable authentication you can temporarily disable enforcement, see the documentation on configuring Gitaly authentication .

Gitaly must trigger some callbacks to GitLab via GitLab Shell. As a result, the GitLab Shell secret must be the same between the other GitLab servers and the Gitaly server. The easiest way to accomplish this is to copy /etc/gitlab/gitlab-secrets.json from an existing GitLab server to the Gitaly server. Without this shared secret, Git operations in GitLab will result in an API error.

NOTE: Note: In most or all cases, the storage paths below end in /repositories which is not that case with path in git_data_dirs of Omnibus GitLab installations. Check the directory layout on your Gitaly server to be sure.

For Omnibus GitLab

Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:

# /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

# Avoid running unnecessary services on the Gitaly server
postgresql['enable'] = false
redis['enable'] = false
nginx['enable'] = false
prometheus['enable'] = false
unicorn['enable'] = false
sidekiq['enable'] = false
gitlab_workhorse['enable'] = false

# Prevent database connections during 'gitlab-ctl reconfigure'
gitlab_rails['rake_cache_clear'] = false
gitlab_rails['auto_migrate'] = false

# Configure the gitlab-shell API callback URL. Without this, `git push` will
# fail. This can be your 'front door' GitLab URL or an internal load
# balancer.
# Don't forget to copy `/etc/gitlab/gitlab-secrets.json` from web server to Gitaly server.
gitlab_rails['internal_api_url'] = 'https://gitlab.example.com'

# Make Gitaly accept connections on all network interfaces. You must use
# firewalls to restrict access to this address/port.
gitaly['listen_addr'] = "0.0.0.0:8075"
gitaly['auth_token'] = 'abc123secret'

gitaly['storage'] = [
  { 'name' => 'default' },
  { 'name' => 'storage1' },
]

# To use TLS for Gitaly you need to add
gitaly['tls_listen_addr'] = "0.0.0.0:9999"
gitaly['certificate_path'] = "path/to/cert.pem"
gitaly['key_path'] = "path/to/key.pem"

NOTE: Note: In some cases, you'll have to set path for gitaly['storage'] in the format 'path' => '/mnt/gitlab/<storage name>/repositories'.

Save the file and reconfigure GitLab.

For installations from source

On the client node(s), edit /home/git/gitaly/config.toml:

listen_addr = '0.0.0.0:8075'
tls_listen_addr = '0.0.0.0:9999'

[tls]
certificate_path = /path/to/cert.pem
key_path = /path/to/key.pem

[auth]
token = 'abc123secret'

[[storage]]
name = 'default'

[[storage]]
name = 'storage1'

NOTE: Note: In some cases, you'll have to set path for each [[storage]] in the format path = '/mnt/gitlab/<storage name>/repositories'.

Save the file and restart GitLab.

4. Converting clients to use the Gitaly server

As the final step, you need to update the client machines to switch from using their local Gitaly service to the new Gitaly server you just configured. This is a risky step because if there is any sort of network, firewall, or name resolution problem preventing your GitLab server from reaching the Gitaly server, then all Gitaly requests will fail.

Additionally, you need to disable Rugged if previously manually enabled.

We assume that your Gitaly server can be reached at gitaly.internal:8075 from your GitLab server, and that Gitaly can read and write to /mnt/gitlab/default and /mnt/gitlab/storage1 respectively.

For Omnibus GitLab

Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:

git_data_dirs({
  'default' => { 'gitaly_address' => 'tcp://gitaly.internal:8075' },
  'storage1' => { 'gitaly_address' => 'tcp://gitaly.internal:8075' },
})

gitlab_rails['gitaly_token'] = 'abc123secret'

NOTE: Note: In some cases, you'll have to set path for each git_data_dirs in the format 'path' => '/mnt/gitlab/<storage name>'.

Save the file and reconfigure GitLab.
Tail the logs to see the requests:
```
sudo gitlab-ctl tail gitaly
```

For installations from source

Edit /home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml:

gitlab:
  repositories:
    storages:
      default:
        gitaly_address: tcp://gitaly.internal:8075
      storage1:
        gitaly_address: tcp://gitaly.internal:8075

  gitaly:
    token: 'abc123secret'

NOTE: Note: In some cases, you'll have to set path for each of the storages in the format path: /mnt/gitlab/<storage name>/repositories.

Save the file and restart GitLab.
Tail the logs to see the requests:
```
tail -f /home/git/gitlab/log/gitaly.log
```

When you tail the Gitaly logs on your Gitaly server you should see requests coming in. One sure way to trigger a Gitaly request is to clone a repository from your GitLab server over HTTP.

Disabling the Gitaly service in a cluster environment

If you are running Gitaly as a remote service you may want to disable the local Gitaly service that runs on your GitLab server by default. Disabling Gitaly only makes sense when you run GitLab in a custom cluster configuration, where different services run on different machines. Disabling Gitaly on all machines in the cluster is not a valid configuration.

To disable Gitaly on a client node:

For Omnibus GitLab

Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:
```
gitaly['enable'] = false
```
Save the file and reconfigure GitLab.

For installations from source

Edit /etc/default/gitlab:
```
gitaly_enabled=false
```
Save the file and restart GitLab.

TLS support

Introduced in GitLab 11.8.

Gitaly supports TLS encryption. To be able to communicate with a Gitaly instance that listens for secure connections you will need to use tls:// url scheme in the gitaly_address of the corresponding storage entry in the GitLab configuration.

You will need to bring your own certificates as this isn't provided automatically. The certificate to be used needs to be installed on all Gitaly nodes and on all client nodes that communicate with it following the procedure described in GitLab custom certificate configuration.

NOTE: Note: It is possible to configure Gitaly servers with both an unencrypted listening address listen_addr and an encrypted listening address tls_listen_addr at the same time. This allows you to do a gradual transition from unencrypted to encrypted traffic, if necessary.

To configure Gitaly with TLS:

For Omnibus GitLab

On the client nodes, edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:

git_data_dirs({
  'default' => { 'gitaly_address' => 'tls://gitaly.internal:9999' },
  'storage1' => { 'gitaly_address' => 'tls://gitaly.internal:9999' },
})

gitlab_rails['gitaly_token'] = 'abc123secret'

Save the file and reconfigure GitLab.

On the Gitaly server nodes, edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:

gitaly['tls_listen_addr'] = "0.0.0.0:9999"
gitaly['certificate_path'] = "path/to/cert.pem"
gitaly['key_path'] = "path/to/key.pem"

Save the file and reconfigure GitLab.

For installations from source

On the client nodes, edit /home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml:

gitlab:
  repositories:
    storages:
      default:
        gitaly_address: tls://gitaly.internal:9999
      storage1:
        gitaly_address: tls://gitaly.internal:9999

  gitaly:
    token: 'abc123secret'

NOTE: Note: In some cases, you'll have to set path for each of the storages in the format path: /mnt/gitlab/<storage name>/repositories.

Save the file and restart GitLab.

On the Gitaly server nodes, edit /home/git/gitaly/config.toml:

tls_listen_addr = '0.0.0.0:9999'

[tls]
certificate_path = '/path/to/cert.pem'
key_path = '/path/to/key.pem'

Save the file and restart GitLab.

To observe what type of connections are actually being used in a production environment you can use the following Prometheus query:

sum(rate(gitaly_connections_total[5m])) by (type)

`gitaly-ruby`

Gitaly was developed to replace the Ruby application code in GitLab. In order to save time and/or avoid the risk of rewriting existing application logic, in some cases we chose to copy some application code from GitLab into Gitaly almost as-is. To be able to run that code, gitaly-ruby was created, which is a "sidecar" process for the main Gitaly Go process. Some examples of things that are implemented in gitaly-ruby are RPCs that deal with wikis, and RPCs that create commits on behalf of a user, such as merge commits.

Number of `gitaly-ruby` workers

gitaly-ruby has much less capacity than Gitaly itself. If your Gitaly server has to handle a lot of requests, the default setting of having just one active gitaly-ruby sidecar might not be enough. If you see ResourceExhausted errors from Gitaly, it's very likely that you have not enough gitaly-ruby capacity.

You can increase the number of gitaly-ruby processes on your Gitaly server with the following settings.

For Omnibus GitLab

Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:

# Default is 2 workers. The minimum is 2; 1 worker is always reserved as
# a passive stand-by.
gitaly['ruby_num_workers'] = 4

Save the file and reconfigure GitLab.

For installations from source

Edit /home/git/gitaly/config.toml:
```
[gitaly-ruby]
num_workers = 4
```
Save the file and restart GitLab.

Eliminating NFS altogether

If you are planning to use Gitaly without NFS for your storage needs and want to eliminate NFS from your environment altogether, there are a few things that you need to do:

Make sure the git user home directory is on local disk.
Configure database lookup of SSH keys to eliminate the need for a shared authorized_keys file.
Configure object storage for job artifacts including live tracing.
Configure object storage for LFS objects.
Configure object storage for uploads.

NOTE: Note: One current feature of GitLab that still requires a shared directory (NFS) is GitLab Pages. There is work in progress to eliminate the need for NFS to support GitLab Pages.

Troubleshooting Gitaly

Commits, pushes, and clones return a 401

remote: GitLab: 401 Unauthorized

You will need to sync your gitlab-secrets.json file with your GitLab app nodes.

`gitaly-debug`

Since GitLab 11.6, Gitaly comes with a command-line tool called gitaly-debug that can be run on a Gitaly server to aid in troubleshooting. In GitLab 11.6 its only sub-command is simulate-http-clone which allows you to measure the maximum possible Git clone speed for a specific repository on the server.

For an up to date list of sub-commands see the gitaly-debug README.

Client side GRPC logs

Gitaly uses the gRPC RPC framework. The Ruby gRPC client has its own log file which may contain useful information when you are seeing Gitaly errors. You can control the log level of the gRPC client with the GRPC_LOG_LEVEL environment variable. The default level is WARN.

Observing `gitaly-ruby` traffic

gitaly-ruby is an internal implementation detail of Gitaly, so, there's not that much visibility into what goes on inside gitaly-ruby processes.

If you have Prometheus set up to scrape your Gitaly process, you can see request rates and error codes for individual RPCs in gitaly-ruby by querying grpc_client_handled_total. Strictly speaking, this metric does not differentiate between gitaly-ruby and other RPCs, but in practice (as of GitLab 11.9), all gRPC calls made by Gitaly itself are internal calls from the main Gitaly process to one of its gitaly-ruby sidecars.

Assuming your grpc_client_handled_total counter only observes Gitaly, the following query shows you RPCs are (most likely) internally implemented as calls to gitaly-ruby:

sum(rate(grpc_client_handled_total[5m])) by (grpc_method) > 0

Repository changes fail with a `401 Unauthorized` error

If you're running Gitaly on its own server and notice that users can successfully clone and fetch repositories (via both SSH and HTTPS), but can't push to them or make changes to the repository in the web UI without getting a 401 Unauthorized message, then it's possible Gitaly is failing to authenticate with the other nodes due to having the wrong secrets file.

Confirm the following are all true:

When any user performs a git push to any repository on this Gitaly node, it fails with the following error (note the 401 Unauthorized):

remote: GitLab: 401 Unauthorized
To <REMOTE_URL>
! [remote rejected] branch-name -> branch-name (pre-receive hook declined)
error: failed to push some refs to '<REMOTE_URL>'

When any user adds or modifies a file from the repository using the GitLab UI, it immediatley fails with a red 401 Unauthorized banner.
Creating a new project and initializing it with a README successfully creates the project but doesn't create the README.

When tailing the logs on an app node and reproducing the error, you get 401 errors when reaching the /api/v4/internal/allowed endpoint:

# api_json.log
{
  "time": "2019-07-18T00:30:14.967Z",
  "severity": "INFO",
  "duration": 0.57,
  "db": 0,
  "view": 0.57,
  "status": 401,
  "method": "POST",
  "path": "\/api\/v4\/internal\/allowed",
  "params": [
    {
      "key": "action",
      "value": "git-receive-pack"
    },
    {
      "key": "changes",
      "value": "REDACTED"
    },
    {
      "key": "gl_repository",
      "value": "REDACTED"
    },
    {
      "key": "project",
      "value": "\/path\/to\/project.git"
    },
    {
      "key": "protocol",
      "value": "web"
    },
    {
      "key": "env",
      "value": "{\"GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES\":[],\"GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES_RELATIVE\":[],\"GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY\":null,\"GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY_RELATIVE\":null}"
    },
    {
      "key": "user_id",
      "value": "2"
    },
    {
      "key": "secret_token",
      "value": "[FILTERED]"
    }
  ],
  "host": "gitlab.example.com",
  "ip": "REDACTED",
  "ua": "Ruby",
  "route": "\/api\/:version\/internal\/allowed",
  "queue_duration": 4.24,
  "gitaly_calls": 0,
  "gitaly_duration": 0,
  "correlation_id": "XPUZqTukaP3"
}

# nginx_access.log
[IP] - - [18/Jul/2019:00:30:14 +0000] "POST /api/v4/internal/allowed HTTP/1.1" 401 30 "" "Ruby"

To fix this problem, confirm that your gitlab-secrets.json file on the Gitaly node matches the one on all other nodes. If it doesn't match, update the secrets file on the Gitaly node to match the others, then reconfigure the node.

Gitaly

Configuring Gitaly

Running Gitaly on its own server

Network architecture

1. Installation

2. Client side token configuration

3. Gitaly server configuration

4. Converting clients to use the Gitaly server

Disabling the Gitaly service in a cluster environment

TLS support

gitaly-ruby

Number of gitaly-ruby workers

Eliminating NFS altogether

Troubleshooting Gitaly

Commits, pushes, and clones return a 401

gitaly-debug

Client side GRPC logs

Observing gitaly-ruby traffic

Repository changes fail with a 401 Unauthorized error

`gitaly-ruby`

Number of `gitaly-ruby` workers

`gitaly-debug`

Observing `gitaly-ruby` traffic

Repository changes fail with a `401 Unauthorized` error