Using gitlab's nginx to serve another app

Question

Hello I have installed Gitlab using this
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/blob/master/README.md#installation

Now I want to use nginx to serve another content other than gitlab application how can I do this

• Where are the config files that I need to modify
• How can I point a directory like /var/www so that nginx knows that is the root for another app.

Update(forgot to mention I'm running this under Red Hat 6.5, Debian/Ubuntu solution welcome)

Answer 1

Here I am using

- gitlab.example.com to serve gitlab.example.com over https.
- example.com over http to serve another content other than gitlab application.

Gitlab installed from deb package is using chef to provision ngnix, so you have to modify chef recipies and add new vhost template into chef cookbooks directory

You can find all chef cookbooks here: /opt/gitlab/embedded/cookbooks/gitlab/

open /opt/gitlab/embedded/cookbooks/gitlab/recipes/nginx.rb

change:

nginx_vars = node['gitlab']['nginx'].to_hash.merge({
  :gitlab_http_config => File.join(nginx_etc_dir, "gitlab-http.conf"),
})

to:

nginx_vars = node['gitlab']['nginx'].to_hash.merge({
  :gitlab_http_config => File.join(nginx_etc_dir, "gitlab-http.conf"),
  :examplecom_http_config => File.join(nginx_etc_dir, "examplecom-http.conf"),
})

add this to the same file:

template nginx_vars[:examplecom_http_config] do
  source "nginx-examplecom-http.conf.erb"
  owner "root"
  group "root"
  mode "0644"
  variables(nginx_vars.merge(
    {
      :fqdn => "example.com",
      :port => 80,
    }
  ))
  notifies :restart, 'service[nginx]' if OmnibusHelper.should_notify?("nginx")
end

then in template directory(/opt/gitlab/embedded/cookbooks/gitlab/templates/default), create nginx vhost template file( nginx-examplecom-http.conf.erb) and add this there:

server {
  listen <%= @listen_address %>:<%= @port %>;
  server_name <%= @fqdn %>;
  root /var/www/example.com;

  access_log  <%= @log_directory %>/examplecom_access.log;
  error_log   <%= @log_directory %>/examplecom_error.log;

  location /var/www/example.com {
    # serve static files from defined root folder;.
    # @gitlab is a named location for the upstream fallback, see below
    try_files $uri $uri/index.html $uri.html;
  }

  error_page 502 /502.html;
}

you have to set nginx['redirect_http_to_https'] = false in(/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb):

external_url "https://gitlab.example.com"
gitlab_rails['gitlab_email_from'] = "[email protected]"
gitlab_rails['gitlab_support_email'] = "[email protected]"



nginx['redirect_http_to_https'] = false
nginx['ssl_certificate'] = "/etc/gitlab/ssl/ssl-unified.crt"
nginx['ssl_certificate_key'] = "/etc/gitlab/ssl/ssl.key"


gitlab_rails['gitlab_default_projects_limit'] = 10

add include <%= @examplecom_http_config %>; into /opt/gitlab/embedded/cookbooks/gitlab/templates/default/nginx.conf.erb :

http {
  sendfile <%= @sendfile %>;
  tcp_nopush <%= @tcp_nopush %>;
  tcp_nodelay <%= @tcp_nodelay %>;

  keepalive_timeout <%= @keepalive_timeout %>;

  gzip <%= @gzip %>;
  gzip_http_version <%= @gzip_http_version %>;
  gzip_comp_level <%= @gzip_comp_level %>;
  gzip_proxied <%= @gzip_proxied %>;
  gzip_types <%= @gzip_types.join(' ') %>;

  include /opt/gitlab/embedded/conf/mime.types;

  include <%= @gitlab_http_config %>;
  include <%= @examplecom_http_config %>;
}

after all those changes run:

gitlab-ctl reconfigure
gitlab-ctl restart

Answer 2

vndr's above solution would work but on the https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/omnibus-gitlab/blob/master/doc/settings/nginx.md, it said:

Inserting custom settings into the NGINX config

If you need to add custom settings into the NGINX config, for example to include existing server blocks, you can use the following setting.

Example: include a directory to scan for additional config files nginx['custom_nginx_config'] = "include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;"

So let's check your /opt/gitlab/embedded/cookbooks/gitlab/templates/default/nginx.conf.erb to see if it contains: <%= @custom_nginx_config %> (it looks like the current gitlab-7.5.3_omnibus.5.2.1.ci-1.el6.x86_64.rpm doesn't include it)

If not, then just add it above the line include <%= @gitlab_http_config %>; like:

<%= @custom_nginx_config %>
include <%= @gitlab_http_config %>;

Then open the /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb to add: nginx['custom_nginx_config'] = "include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;"

We can make it simply by just add: include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf; instead <%= @custom_nginx_config %>

Then create normal nginx .conf files in /etc/nginx/conf.d/ and gitlab-ctl reconfigure

Answer 3

As I did not wanted to change the config for gitlab Nginx server nor installing/configuring another Nginx and to make sure gitlab would survive an major update, I came to below solution for the Gitlab Omnibus package.

also as per

Gitlab:Ningx =>Inserting custom settings into the NGINX config

edit the /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb of your gitlab:

nano /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

and sroll to nginx['custom_nginx_config'] and modify as below make sure to uncomment

# Example: include a directory to scan for additional config files
nginx['custom_nginx_config'] = "include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;"

create the new config dir:

mkdir -p /etc/nginx/conf.d/
nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/new_app.conf

and add content to your new config: /etc/nginx/conf.d/new_app.conf

server {
  listen *:80;
  server_name new_app.mycompany.com;
  server_tokens off;
  access_log  /var/log/new_app_access.log;
  error_log   /var/log/new_app_error.log;

  root /var/www/html/new_app/;
  index index.html index.htm;

 }

and reconfigure gitlab to get the new settings inserted

gitlab-ctl reconfigure

to restart nginx after changing your config's or adding more config's in /etc/nginx/conf.d:

gitlab-ctl restart nginx

to check nginx error log:

tail -f /var/log/gitlab/nginx/error.log

and see https://stackoverflow.com/a/39695791/6821811 for redirecting to another application server.

Answer 4

Even through you really can do it, a better practise would be to use upper level separate nginx server to serve both gitlab's nginx and your other custom content. Gitlab's nginx may change it's configuration at any time and it can break your custom content. Also, separate nginx is completely yours for configuring.

Just install those two instances to different ports and proxy gitlab's nginx with upper one. Of cause, it will be an overhead, but completely insignificant one.