Uploads administration

Notes: Uploads represent all user data that may be sent to GitLab as a single file. As an example, avatars and notes' attachments are uploads. Uploads are integral to GitLab functionality, and therefore cannot be disabled.

Using local storage

Notes: This is the default configuration

To change the location where the uploads are stored locally, follow the steps below.

In Omnibus installations:

Notes: For historical reasons, uploads are stored into a base directory, which by default is uploads/-/system. It is strongly discouraged to change this configuration option on an existing GitLab installation.

The uploads are stored by default in /var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/public/uploads/-/system.

To change the storage path for example to /mnt/storage/uploads, edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb and add the following line:
```
gitlab_rails['uploads_storage_path'] = "/mnt/storage/"
gitlab_rails['uploads_base_dir'] = "uploads"
```
Save the file and reconfigure GitLab for the changes to take effect.

In installations from source:

The uploads are stored by default in /home/git/gitlab/public/uploads/-/system.

To change the storage path for example to /mnt/storage/uploads, edit /home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml and add or amend the following lines:
```
uploads:
  storage_path: /mnt/storage
  base_dir: uploads
```
Save the file and restart GitLab for the changes to take effect.

Using object storage

Notes:

Introduced in GitLab Enterprise Edition Premium 10.5.

If you don't want to use the local disk where GitLab is installed to store the uploads, you can use an object storage provider like AWS S3 instead. This configuration relies on valid AWS credentials to be configured already.

In Omnibus installations:

The uploads are stored by default in /var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/public/uploads/-/system.

Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb and add the following lines by replacing with the values you want:

gitlab_rails['uploads_object_store_enabled'] = true
gitlab_rails['uploads_object_store_remote_directory'] = "uploads"
gitlab_rails['uploads_object_store_connection'] = {
  'provider' => 'AWS',
  'region' => 'eu-central-1',
  'aws_access_key_id' => 'AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID',
  'aws_secret_access_key' => 'AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'
}

Note: If you are using AWS IAM profiles, be sure to omit the AWS access key and secret acces key/value pairs.

```ruby
gitlab_rails['uploads_object_store_connection'] = {
  'provider' => 'AWS',
  'region' => 'eu-central-1',
  'use_iam_profile' => true
}
```

Save the file and reconfigure GitLab for the changes to take effect.
Migrate any existing local uploads to the object storage:

Notes: These task complies with the BATCH environment variable to process uploads in batch (200 by default). All of the processing will be done in a background worker and requires no downtime.

  ```bash
  # gitlab-rake gitlab:uploads:migrate[uploader_class, model_class, mount_point]

  # Avatars
  gitlab-rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[AvatarUploader, Project, :avatar]"
  gitlab-rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[AvatarUploader, Group, :avatar]"
  gitlab-rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[AvatarUploader, User, :avatar]"

  # Attachments
  gitlab-rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[AttachmentUploader, Note, :attachment]"
  gitlab-rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[AttachmentUploader, Appearance, :logo]"
  gitlab-rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[AttachmentUploader, Appearance, :header_logo]"

  # Markdown
  gitlab-rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[FileUploader, Project]"
  gitlab-rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[PersonalFileUploader, Snippet]"
  gitlab-rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[NamespaceFileUploader, Snippet]"
  gitlab-rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[FileUploader, MergeRequest]"
  ```

  Currently this has to be executed manually and it will allow you to
  migrate the existing uploads to the object storage, but all new
  uploads will still be stored on the local disk. In the future
  you will be given an option to define a default storage for all
  new files.

In installations from source:

The uploads are stored by default in /home/git/gitlab/public/uploads/-/system.

Edit /home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml and add or amend the following lines:

uploads:
  object_store:
    enabled: true
    remote_directory: "uploads" # The bucket name
    connection:
      provider: AWS # Only AWS supported at the moment
      aws_access_key_id: AWS_ACESS_KEY_ID
      aws_secret_access_key: AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
      region: eu-central-1

Save the file and restart GitLab for the changes to take effect.
Migrate any existing local uploads to the object storage:

Notes:

These task comply with the BATCH environment variable to process uploads in batch (200 by default). All of the processing will be done in a background worker and requires no downtime.

To migrate in production use RAILS_ENV=production environment variable.

  # sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:uploads:migrate

  # Avatars
  sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[AvatarUploader, Project, :avatar]"
  sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[AvatarUploader, Group, :avatar]"
  sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[AvatarUploader, User, :avatar]"

  # Attachments
  sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[AttachmentUploader, Note, :attachment]"
  sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[AttachmentUploader, Appearance, :logo]"
  sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[AttachmentUploader, Appearance, :header_logo]"

  # Markdown
  sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[FileUploader, Project]"
  sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[PersonalFileUploader, Snippet]"
  sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[NamespaceFileUploader, Snippet]"
  sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:uploads:migrate[FileUploader, MergeRequest]"

Currently this has to be executed manually and it will allow you to migrate the existing uploads to the object storage, but all new uploads will still be stored on the local disk. In the future you will be given an option to define a default storage for all new files.