# GitLab Pages administration > **Notes:** - [Introduced][ee-80] in GitLab EE 8.3. - Custom CNAMEs with TLS support were [introduced][ee-173] in GitLab EE 8.5. - GitLab Pages [were ported][ce-14605] to Community Edition in GitLab 8.17. - This guide is for Omnibus GitLab installations. If you have installed GitLab from source, follow the [Pages source installation document](source.md). - To learn how to use GitLab Pages, read the [user documentation][pages-userguide]. --- 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. ## Overview GitLab Pages makes use of the [GitLab Pages daemon], a simple HTTP server written in Go that can listen on an external IP address and provide support for custom domains and custom certificates. It supports dynamic certificates through SNI and exposes pages using HTTP2 by default. You are encouraged to read its [README][pages-readme] to fully understand how it works. --- In the case of [custom domains](#custom-domains) (but not [wildcard domains](#wildcard-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: 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. If you are not supporting custom domains a secondary IP is not needed. ## Prerequisites Before proceeding with the Pages configuration, you will need to: 1. Have a separate domain under which the GitLab Pages will be served. In this document we assume that to be `example.io`. 1. Configure a **wildcard DNS record**. 1. (Optional) Have a **wildcard certificate** for that domain if you decide to serve Pages under HTTPS. 1. (Optional but recommended) Enable [Shared runners](../../ci/runners/README.md) so that your users don't have to bring their own. 1. (Only for custom domains) Have a **secondary IP**. ### 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 1.1.1.1 ``` where `example.io` is the domain under which GitLab Pages will be served and `1.1.1.1` is the IP address of your GitLab instance. > **Note:** 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 ## Configuration Depending on your needs, you can set up GitLab Pages in 4 different ways. The following options are listed from the easiest setup to the most advanced one. The absolute minimum requirement is to set up the wildcard DNS since that is needed in all configurations. ### Wildcard domains >**Requirements:** - [Wildcard DNS setup](#dns-configuration) > >--- > URL scheme: `http://page.example.io` This is the minimum setup that you can use Pages with. It is the base for all other setups as described below. Nginx will proxy all requests to the daemon. The Pages daemon doesn't listen to the outside world. 1. Set the external URL for GitLab Pages in `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`: ```ruby pages_external_url 'http://example.io' ``` 1. [Reconfigure GitLab][reconfigure] Watch the [video tutorial][video-admin] for this configuration. ### Wildcard domains with TLS support >**Requirements:** - [Wildcard DNS setup](#dns-configuration) - Wildcard TLS certificate > >--- > URL scheme: `https://page.example.io` Nginx will proxy all requests to the daemon. Pages daemon doesn't listen to the outside world. 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] ## Advanced configuration In addition to the wildcard domains, you can also have the option to configure GitLab Pages to work with custom domains. Again, there are two options here: support custom domains with and without TLS certificates. The easiest setup is that without TLS certificates. ### Custom domains >**Requirements:** - [Wildcard DNS setup](#dns-configuration) - Secondary IP > --- > URL scheme: `http://page.example.io` and `http://domain.com` 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 are supported, but no TLS. 1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`: ```ruby pages_external_url "http://example.io" 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. 1. [Reconfigure GitLab][reconfigure] ### Custom domains with TLS support >**Requirements:** - [Wildcard DNS setup](#dns-configuration) - Wildcard TLS certificate - Secondary IP > --- > URL scheme: `https://page.example.io` and `https://domain.com` 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. 1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb`: ```ruby pages_external_url "https://example.io" nginx['listen_addresses'] = ['1.1.1.1'] pages_nginx['enable'] = false gitlab_pages['cert'] = "/etc/gitlab/ssl/example.io.crt" gitlab_pages['cert_key'] = "/etc/gitlab/ssl/example.io.key" 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. 1. [Reconfigure GitLab][reconfigure] ## Change storage path Follow the steps below to change the default path where GitLab Pages' contents are stored. 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] ## 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. ## Backup Pages are part of the [regular backup][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 8.17 ([documentation][8-17-docs])** - GitLab Pages were ported to Community Edition in GitLab 8.17. - Documentation was refactored to be more modular and easy to follow. **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. - Documentation was moved to one place. **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 [8-5-docs]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/blob/8-5-stable-ee/doc/pages/administration.md [8-17-docs]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/blob/8-17-stable-ce/doc/administration/pages/index.md [backup]: ../../raketasks/backup_restore.md [ce-14605]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/14605 [ee-80]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/merge_requests/80 [ee-173]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/merge_requests/173 [gitlab pages daemon]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages [NGINX configs]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/tree/8-5-stable-ee/lib/support/nginx [pages-readme]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/blob/master/README.md [pages-userguide]: ../../user/project/pages/index.md [reconfigure]: ../restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure [restart]: ../restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source [gitlab-pages]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages/tree/v0.2.4 [video-admin]: https://youtu.be/dD8c7WNcc6s