Guidance on usage: GitLab DevSecOps Platform Server on Debian 11

Configuration and Connection to GitLab DevSecOps Platform Server on Debian 11

Creating DNS name through Azure Portal

  1. It is recommended to choose the size of the virtual machine greater or equal to 4 GB of RAM
  1. For the connection to the server, you should know the IP address of the VM. You can find it in the personal account of Azure. (You need to select the virtual machine from the list. By clicking the item “Overview”, your IP is displayed in the line “Public IP Address”).
  1. To work, you must open port 80 (TCP) in the network properties in the Azure firewall.
  1. Also, you can create a DNS name that will be used for further connection or
    you can specify your DNS name (for which an SSL certificate has been already purchased) and skip this step. 
  1. To create a DNS name through Azure Portal, go to the VM settings in the “Overview” section.
  1. Go to “DNS name” settings
  1. Fill in the “DNS name label” field and click <Save> at the top.

Configuring VM

  1. To configure Gitlab you should connect to a VM.
    1. With OpenSSH

In the Windows 10 operating system (starting with version 1809 ), an OpenSSH client is available, with which you can connect to Linux servers via SSH. If Windows 10 is suitable and the OpenSSH client is installed, you can start connecting via SSH. To do this, launch a standard Windows command prompt and enter the command “ssh user@*vm_ip*” (1), where “user” is the username that was specified while creating the virtual machine and “*vm_ip*” is the VM IP address.

Then type “Yes” (2) and enter a password (3) that was specified while creating the virtual machine.

  1. With the PuTTy application 

To do this you need the PuTTy application to connect via ssh. You can download it at the following link – Download

Run Putty, enter the VM address in the “Host” field (1), and click “Open” (2) to connect.

In the opened console you will need to enter a username (1) and password (2) that were specified while the VM was being created (you’ll not see the password in the console while entering it). 

  1. Enter the following command.

$ sudo nano /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

  1. Find the line external_url (if you don’t see it, make the window bigger)
  1. Instead of the specified address, specify your DNS name or previously created through the Azure Portal (after “http://”). To go to the desired line, use the arrows on the keyboard. To paste the copied text, use the right mouse button.
  1. Press Ctrl + X on the keyboard to exit the file. You will be prompted to save the changes to the file – press Y on the keyboard to confirm, and then Enter to overwrite the same file.
  1. Now you should restart the portal. To do this, enter the following command:

$ sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

Configuring VM

  1. To connect to the server go to the following address http://*your_DNS name* or http://*your_VM_IP*. If an error occurs during the transition, try again in a couple of minutes.
  1. The authorization page opens. By default login root and password rootpassword
  1. You can change the password in the profile settings

Now you can use your own Gitlab server.