Configure an external Sidekiq instance

You can configure an external Sidekiq instance by using the Sidekiq that’s bundled in the GitLab package. Sidekiq requires connection to the Redis, PostgreSQL, and Gitaly instances.

Configure TCP access for PostgreSQL, Gitaly, and Redis

By default, GitLab uses UNIX sockets and is not set up to communicate via TCP. To change this:

  1. Edit the /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb file on your GitLab instance, and add the following: 

    
## PostgreSQL

# Replace POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD_HASH with a generated md5 value
postgresql['sql_user_password'] = 'POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD_HASH'
postgresql['listen_address'] = '0.0.0.0'
postgresql['port'] = 5432

# Add the Sidekiq nodes to PostgreSQL's trusted addresses.
# In the following example, 10.10.1.30/32 is the private IP
# of the Sidekiq server.
postgresql['md5_auth_cidr_addresses'] = %w(127.0.0.1/32 10.10.1.30/32)
postgresql['trust_auth_cidr_addresses'] = %w(127.0.0.1/32 10.10.1.30/32)

## Gitaly

# Make Gitaly accept connections on all network interfaces
gitaly['listen_addr'] = "0.0.0.0:8075"
## Set up the Gitaly token as a form of authentication since you are accessing Gitaly over the network
## https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/gitaly/configure_gitaly.html#about-the-gitaly-token
gitaly['auth_token'] = 'abc123secret'
praefect['auth_token'] = 'abc123secret'
gitlab_rails['gitaly_token'] = 'abc123secret'

## Redis configuration

redis['bind'] = '0.0.0.0'
redis['port'] = 6379
# Password to Authenticate Redis
redis['password'] = 'redis-password-goes-here'
gitlab_rails['redis_password'] = 'redis-password-goes-here'

gitlab_rails['auto_migrate'] = false

  2. Run reconfigure: 

    sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

  3. Restart the PostgreSQL server: 

    sudo gitlab-ctl restart postgresql

  4. After the restart, set auto_migrate to true or comment to use the default settings: 

    gitlab_rails['auto_migrate'] = true

  5. Run reconfigure again: 

    sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

Set up Sidekiq instance

  1. SSH into the Sidekiq server.

  2. Confirm that you can access the PostgreSQL, Gitaly, and Redis ports: 

    telnet <GitLab host> 5432 # PostgreSQL
telnet <GitLab host> 8075 # Gitaly
telnet <GitLab host> 6379 # Redis

  3. Download and install the Omnibus GitLab package using steps 1 and 2. Do not complete any other steps.

  4. Copy the /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb file from the GitLab instance and add the following settings. Make sure to replace them with your values: 

   ########################################
   #####        Services Disabled       ###
   ########################################
   #
   # When running GitLab on just one server, you have a single `gitlab.rb`
   # to enable all services you want to run.
   # When running GitLab on N servers, you have N `gitlab.rb` files.
   # Enable only the services you want to run on each
   # specific server, while disabling all others.
   #
   gitaly['enable'] = false
   postgresql['enable'] = false
   redis['enable'] = false
   nginx['enable'] = false
   puma['enable'] = false
   gitlab_workhorse['enable'] = false
   prometheus['enable'] = false
   alertmanager['enable'] = false
   grafana['enable'] = false
   gitlab_exporter['enable'] = false
   gitlab_kas['enable'] = false

   ##
   ## To maintain uniformity of links across nodes, the
   ## `external_url` on the Sidekiq server should point to the external URL that users
   ## use to access GitLab. This can be either:
   ##
   ## - The `external_url` set on your application server.
   ## - The URL of a external load balancer, which routes traffic to the GitLab application server.
   ##
   external_url 'https://gitlab.example.com'

   # Configure the gitlab-shell API callback URL. Without this, `git push` will
   # fail. This can be your 'front door' GitLab URL or an internal load
   # balancer.
   gitlab_rails['internal_api_url'] = 'GITLAB_URL'
   gitlab_shell['secret_token'] = 'SHELL_TOKEN'

   ########################################
   ####              Redis              ###
   ########################################

   ## Must be the same in every sentinel node.
   redis['master_name'] = 'gitlab-redis' # Required if you have setup redis cluster
   ## The same password for Redis authentication you set up for the master node.
   redis['master_password'] = '<redis_master_password>'

   ### If redis is running on the main Gitlab instance and you have opened the TCP port as above add the following
   gitlab_rails['redis_host'] = '<gitlab_host>'
   gitlab_rails['redis_port'] = 6379

   #######################################
   ###              Gitaly             ###
   #######################################

   ## Replace <gitaly_token> with the one you set up, see
   ## https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/gitaly/configure_gitaly.html#about-the-gitaly-token
   git_data_dirs({
     "default" => {
        "gitaly_address" => "tcp://<gitlab_host>:8075",
        "gitaly_token" => "<gitaly_token>"
     }
   })

   #######################################
   ###            Postgres             ###
   #######################################

   # Replace <database_host> and <database_password>
   gitlab_rails['db_host'] = '<database_host>'
   gitlab_rails['db_port'] = '5432'
   gitlab_rails['db_password'] = '<database_password>'
   ## Prevent database migrations from running on upgrade automatically
   gitlab_rails['auto_migrate'] = false

   #######################################
   ###      Sidekiq configuration      ###
   #######################################
   sidekiq['enable'] = true
   sidekiq['listen_address'] = "0.0.0.0"

   ## Set number of Sidekiq queue processes to the same number as available CPUs
   sidekiq['queue_groups'] = ['*'] * 4

   ## Set number of Sidekiq threads per queue process to the recommend number of 10
   sidekiq['max_concurrency'] = 10

  1. Copy the /etc/gitlab/gitlab-secrets.json file from the GitLab instance and replace the file in the Sidekiq instance.

  2. Reconfigure GitLab: 

    sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

  3. Restart the Sidekiq instance after completing the process and finishing the database migrations.

Configure multiple Sidekiq nodes with shared storage

If you run multiple Sidekiq nodes with a shared file storage, such as NFS, you must specify the UIDs and GIDs to ensure they match between servers. Specifying the UIDs and GIDs prevents permissions issues in the file system. This advice is similar to the advice for Geo setups.

To set up multiple Sidekiq nodes:

  1. Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb: 

    user['uid'] = 9000
user['gid'] = 9000
web_server['uid'] = 9001
web_server['gid'] = 9001
registry['uid'] = 9002
registry['gid'] = 9002

  2. Reconfigure GitLab: 

    sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

Configure the Container Registry when using an external Sidekiq

If you’re using the Container Registry and it’s running on a different node than Sidekiq, follow the steps below.

  1. Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb, and configure the registry URL: 

    registry_external_url 'https://registry.example.com'
gitlab_rails['registry_api_url'] = "https://registry.example.com"

  2. Reconfigure GitLab: 

    sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

  3. In the instance where Container Registry is hosted, copy the registry.key file to the Sidekiq node.

Configure the Sidekiq metrics server

If you want to collect Sidekiq metrics, enable the Sidekiq metrics server. To make metrics available from localhost:8082/metrics:

To configure the metrics server:

  1. Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb: 

    sidekiq['metrics_enabled'] = true
sidekiq['listen_address'] = "localhost"
sidekiq['listen_port'] = "8082"

# Optionally log all the metrics server logs to log/sidekiq_exporter.log
sidekiq['exporter_log_enabled'] = true

  2. Reconfigure GitLab: 

    sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

Enable HTTPS

Introduced in GitLab 15.2.

To serve metrics via HTTPS instead of HTTP, enable TLS in the exporter settings:

  1. Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb to add (or find and uncomment) the following lines: 

    sidekiq['exporter_tls_enabled'] = true
sidekiq['exporter_tls_cert_path'] = "/path/to/certificate.pem"
sidekiq['exporter_tls_key_path'] = "/path/to/private-key.pem"

  2. Save the file and reconfigure GitLab for the changes to take effect.

When TLS is enabled, the same port and address are used as described above. The metrics server cannot serve both HTTP and HTTPS at the same time.

Configure health checks

If you use health check probes to observe Sidekiq, enable the Sidekiq health check server. To make health checks available from localhost:8092:

  1. Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb: 

    sidekiq['health_checks_enabled'] = true
sidekiq['health_checks_listen_address'] = "localhost"
sidekiq['health_checks_listen_port'] = "8092"

  2. Reconfigure GitLab: 

    sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

For more information about health checks, see the Sidekiq health check page.

Configure LDAP and user or group synchronization

If you use LDAP for user and group management, you must add the LDAP configuration to your Sidekiq node as well as the LDAP synchronization worker. If the LDAP configuration and LDAP synchronization worker are not applied to your Sidekiq node, users and groups are not automatically synchronized.

For more information about configuring LDAP for GitLab, see:

To enable LDAP with the synchronization worker for Sidekiq:

  1. Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb: 

    gitlab_rails['ldap_enabled'] = true
gitlab_rails['prevent_ldap_sign_in'] = false
gitlab_rails['ldap_servers'] = {
'main' => {
'label' => 'LDAP',
'host' => 'ldap.mydomain.com',
'port' => 389,
'uid' => 'sAMAccountName',
'encryption' => 'simple_tls',
'verify_certificates' => true,
'bind_dn' => '_the_full_dn_of_the_user_you_will_bind_with',
'password' => '_the_password_of_the_bind_user',
'tls_options' => {
   'ca_file' => '',
   'ssl_version' => '',
   'ciphers' => '',
   'cert' => '',
   'key' => ''
},
'timeout' => 10,
'active_directory' => true,
'allow_username_or_email_login' => false,
'block_auto_created_users' => false,
'base' => 'dc=example,dc=com',
'user_filter' => '',
'attributes' => {
   'username' => ['uid', 'userid', 'sAMAccountName'],
   'email' => ['mail', 'email', 'userPrincipalName'],
   'name' => 'cn',
   'first_name' => 'givenName',
   'last_name' => 'sn'
},
'lowercase_usernames' => false,

# Enterprise Edition only
# https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/administration/auth/ldap/ldap_synchronization.html
'group_base' => '',
'admin_group' => '',
'external_groups' => [],
'sync_ssh_keys' => false
}
}
gitlab_rails['ldap_sync_worker_cron'] = "0 */12 * * *"

  2. Reconfigure GitLab: 

    sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

Configure SAML Groups for SAML Group Sync

If you use SAML Group Sync, you must configure SAML Groups on all your Sidekiq nodes.

Disable Rugged

Calls into Rugged, Ruby bindings for libgit2, lock the Sidekiq processes (GVL), blocking all jobs on that worker from proceeding. If Rugged calls performed by Sidekiq are slow, this can cause significant delays in background task processing.

By default, Rugged is used when Git repository data is stored on local storage or on an NFS mount. Using Rugged is recommended when using NFS, but if you are using local storage, disabling Rugged can improve Sidekiq performance: 

sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:features:disable_rugged

Troubleshooting

See our administrator guide to troubleshooting Sidekiq.