GitLab Platform

Introduction to GitLab

GitLab is a complete DevOps platform that enables professionals to perform all the tasks in a project—from project planning and source code management to monitoring and security.

Key Features:

  • Source Code Management
  • CI/CD Pipelines
  • Container Registry
  • Issue Tracking
  • Wiki & Documentation
  • Security Scanning
  • Monitoring & Metrics
  • Value Stream Analytics

Project Setup

# Clone repository
git clone git@gitlab.com:namespace/project.git

# Configure GitLab CLI
glab auth login

# Create new project
glab repo create project-name

# Configure GitLab CI
touch .gitlab-ci.yml

# Push changes
git add .gitlab-ci.yml
git commit -m "Add GitLab CI configuration"
git push origin main

CI/CD Pipeline

Pipeline Configuration

# .gitlab-ci.yml
image: node:latest

stages:
  - test
  - build
  - deploy

variables:
  NODE_ENV: production

cache:
  paths:
    - node_modules/

test:
  stage: test
  script:
    - npm install
    - npm test
  coverage: '/Coverage: \d+.\d+%/'

build:
  stage: build
  script:
    - npm install
    - npm run build
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - dist/

deploy:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - echo "Deploying application..."
    - apt-get update -qy
    - apt-get install -y ruby-dev
    - gem install dpl
    - dpl --provider=heroku --app=$HEROKU_APP --api-key=$HEROKU_API_KEY
  only:
    - main
  environment:
    name: production
    url: https://$HEROKU_APP.herokuapp.com

Pipeline Rules

workflow:
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
      when: always
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"
      when: always
    - if: $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_ID
      when: always
    - when: never

.only-main:
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"
      when: always

.only-tags:
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
      when: always

.only-mr:
  rules:
    - if: $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_ID
      when: always

Repository Management

Merge Request Settings

# .gitlab/merge_request_templates/Default.md
## What does this MR do?
- [ ] Feature implementation
- [ ] Bug fix
- [ ] Documentation update

## Related issues
Closes #123

## Definition of Done
- [ ] Tests added/updated
- [ ] Documentation updated
- [ ] Merge conflicts resolved
- [ ] Code review completed
- [ ] CI pipeline passes

## Screenshots
If applicable, add screenshots

## Dependencies
List any dependencies that need to be addressed

Protected Branches

Branch Protection Rules:

  • Require approval from code owners
  • Prevent force push
  • Require status checks to pass
  • Include administrators
  • Require signed commits
  • Require linear history
  • Allow merge only if pipeline succeeds
  • Delete source branch on merge

Issues & Epics

Issue Template

# .gitlab/issue_templates/Feature.md
### Problem to Solve
Describe the problem that needs to be solved

### Proposed Solution
Describe your proposed solution

### User Story
As a [user type]
I want to [perform action]
So that [achieve goal]

### Acceptance Criteria
- [ ] Criterion 1
- [ ] Criterion 2
- [ ] Criterion 3

### Technical Requirements
- Implementation details
- API specifications
- Database changes

### Security Considerations
- Authentication requirements
- Authorization rules
- Data protection needs

### Testing Strategy
- Unit tests
- Integration tests
- E2E tests

Epic Management:

  • Group related issues
  • Track progress
  • Set milestones
  • Assign labels
  • Add time estimates
  • Monitor burndown charts
  • Link dependencies
  • Generate roadmaps

Security & Compliance

Security Scanning

include:
  - template: Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml
  - template: Security/Dependency-Scanning.gitlab-ci.yml
  - template: Security/Container-Scanning.gitlab-ci.yml
  - template: Security/Secret-Detection.gitlab-ci.yml

sast:
  variables:
    SAST_EXCLUDED_PATHS: "spec, test, tests, tmp"

dependency_scanning:
  variables:
    DS_EXCLUDED_PATHS: "spec, test, tests, tmp"

container_scanning:
  variables:
    CS_IMAGE: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHA

secret_detection:
  variables:
    SECRET_DETECTION_HISTORIC_SCAN: "true"

Security Features:

  • SAST (Static Application Security Testing)
  • DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing)
  • Container scanning
  • Dependency scanning
  • Secret detection
  • License compliance
  • Security dashboards
  • Vulnerability reports

Deployment & Monitoring

Environment Configuration

.environment-config:
  environment:
    name: production
    url: https://example.com
    deployment_tier: production
    action: start
  resource_group: production

deploy:
  extends: .environment-config
  script:
    - kubectl apply -f k8s/
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "main"
  needs:
    - build
    - test

monitoring:
  script:
    - curl ${CI_ENVIRONMENT_URL}/_health
  needs:
    - deploy

Monitoring Features:

  • Metrics dashboard
  • Error tracking
  • Logging
  • Performance monitoring
  • Tracing
  • Alerts
  • Incident management
  • Service level indicators