Uploads administration (CORE ONLY)

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.

Upload parameters

Changed in GitLab 13.5.

It's deployed behind a feature flag, enabled by default.

It's enabled on GitLab.com.

It's recommended for production use.

For GitLab self-managed instances, GitLab administrators can opt to disable it. (CORE ONLY)

In 13.5 and later, upload parameters are passed between Workhorse and GitLab Rails differently than they were before.

This change is deployed behind a feature flag that is enabled by default.

If you experience any issues with upload, GitLab administrators with access to the GitLab Rails console can opt to disable it.

To enable it:

Feature.enable(:upload_middleware_jwt_params_handler)

To disable it:

Feature.disable(:upload_middleware_jwt_params_handler)

Using local storage

This is the default configuration. To change the location where the uploads are stored locally, use the steps in this section based on your installation method:

In Omnibus GitLab installations:

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

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

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 (CORE ONLY)

Notes:

Introduced in GitLab Premium 10.5.

Introduced in GitLab Core 10.7.

Since version 11.1, we support direct_upload to S3.

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.

We recommend using the consolidated object storage settings. The following instructions apply to the original configuration format.

Object Storage Settings

For source installations the following settings are nested under uploads: and then object_store:. On Omnibus GitLab installs they are prefixed by uploads_object_store_.

Setting	Description	Default
`enabled`	Enable/disable object storage	`false`
`remote_directory`	The bucket name where Uploads will be stored
`direct_upload`	Set to `true` to remove Puma from the Upload path. Workhorse handles the actual Artifact Upload to Object Storage while Puma does minimal processing to keep track of the upload. There is no need for local shared storage. The option may be removed if support for a single storage type for all files is introduced. Read more on direct upload.	`false`
`background_upload`	Set to `false` to disable automatic upload. Option may be removed once upload is direct to S3 (if `direct_upload` is set to `true` it will override `background_upload`)	`true`
`proxy_download`	Set to `true` to enable proxying all files served. Option allows to reduce egress traffic as this allows clients to download directly from remote storage instead of proxying all data	`false`
`connection`	Various connection options described below

Connection settings

See the available connection settings for different providers.

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'
}

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

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 using gitlab:uploads:migrate:all Rake task.

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 using gitlab:uploads:migrate:all Rake task.

OpenStack example

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_remote_directory'] = "OPENSTACK_OBJECT_CONTAINER_NAME"
gitlab_rails['uploads_object_store_connection'] = {
 'provider' => 'OpenStack',
 'openstack_username' => 'OPENSTACK_USERNAME',
 'openstack_api_key' => 'OPENSTACK_PASSWORD',
 'openstack_temp_url_key' => 'OPENSTACK_TEMP_URL_KEY',
 'openstack_auth_url' => 'https://auth.cloud.ovh.net/v2.0/',
 'openstack_region' => 'DE1',
 'openstack_tenant' => 'TENANT_ID',
}

Save the file and reconfigure GitLab for the changes to take effect.
Migrate any existing local uploads to the object storage using gitlab:uploads:migrate:all Rake task.

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
    direct_upload: false
    background_upload: true
    proxy_download: false
    remote_directory: OPENSTACK_OBJECT_CONTAINER_NAME
    connection:
      provider: OpenStack
      openstack_username: OPENSTACK_USERNAME
      openstack_api_key: OPENSTACK_PASSWORD
      openstack_temp_url_key: OPENSTACK_TEMP_URL_KEY
      openstack_auth_url: 'https://auth.cloud.ovh.net/v2.0/'
      openstack_region: DE1
      openstack_tenant: 'TENANT_ID'

Save the file and reconfigure GitLab for the changes to take effect.
Migrate any existing local uploads to the object storage using gitlab:uploads:migrate:all Rake task.