Setting up Geo

These instructions assume you have a working instance of GitLab. They guide you through:

1. Making your existing instance the primary node.
2. Adding secondary nodes.

WARNING: The steps below should be followed in the order they appear. Make sure the GitLab version is the same on all nodes.

Using Omnibus GitLab

If you installed GitLab using the Omnibus packages (highly recommended):

1. Install GitLab Enterprise Edition on the server that will serve as the secondary node. Do not create an account or log in to the new secondary node.
2. Upload the GitLab License on the primary node to unlock Geo. The license must be for GitLab Premium or higher.
3. Set up the database replication (primary (read-write) <-> secondary (read-only) topology).
4. Configure fast lookup of authorized SSH keys in the database. This step is required and needs to be done on both the primary and secondary nodes.
5. Configure GitLab to set the primary and secondary nodes.
6. Optional: Configure a secondary LDAP server for the secondary node. See notes on LDAP.
7. Follow the "Using a Geo Server" guide.

Post-installation documentation

After installing GitLab on the secondary nodes and performing the initial configuration, see the following documentation for post-installation information.