How to migrate GitLab to a new server?

Question

I am trying to migrate an GitLab setup from 7.8.2 to 7.12.2. I am not really sure how to go about this. I have installed a new box, on Ubuntu 14.04.2. Now I would really like to just export the old user/group database and import it on the new server, then copy all the repositories from the old server to the new one. And tell the users to start using the new one.

I do not know which database my new gitlab installation uses, neither the old one.

I have been up and down the gitlab documentation, but cannot find sufficient information on how to migrate from one server to another.

I followed the instructions on https://about.gitlab.com/downloads/ for ubuntu, and all seems to work fine. I am looking for a way to export the users/groups from the old gitlab box and import it on the new gitlab box. and then just copy all the repositories from the old box to the new one.

Any assistance? I know next to nothing about gitlab :(

Answer 1

I would take the following steps

1. Find out if gitlab is installed by hand or with gitlab-omnibus. This you need to know for the exact backup and update steps.
2. Do a backup of the old version just to be safe
3. Update the current 7.8.2 instance to 7.12.2 instance by following the update guideline
4. Back up the newly updated gitlab system
5. Restore the backup on the new system

Backup & restore documentation can be found here