---
stage: Enablement
group: Distribution
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
description: 'Learn how to install a GitLab instance on Google Cloud Platform.'
type: howto
---

# Installing GitLab on Google Cloud Platform **(FREE SELF)**

This guide will help you install GitLab on a [Google Cloud Platform (GCP)](https://cloud.google.com/) using the official GitLab Linux package. You should customize it to accommodate your needs.

NOTE:
Google provides a whitepaper for [deploying production-ready GitLab on
Google Kubernetes Engine](https://cloud.google.com/solutions/deploying-production-ready-gitlab-on-gke),
including all steps and external resource configuration. These are an alternative to using a GCP VM, and use
the [Cloud native GitLab Helm chart](https://docs.gitlab.com/charts/).

## Prerequisites

There are only two prerequisites in order to install GitLab on GCP:

1. You need to have a Google account.
1. You need to sign up for the GCP program. If this is your first time, Google
   gives you [$300 credit for free](https://console.cloud.google.com/freetrial) to consume over a 60-day period.

Once you have performed those two steps, you can [create a VM](#creating-the-vm).

## Creating the VM

To deploy GitLab on GCP you first need to create a virtual machine:

1. Go to <https://console.cloud.google.com/compute/instances> and log in with your Google credentials.
1. Click on **Create**

   ![Search for GitLab](img/launch_vm.png)

1. On the next page, you can select the type of VM as well as the
   estimated costs. Provide the name of the instance, desired data center, and machine type.
   Note our [hardware requirements for different user base sizes](../requirements.md#hardware-requirements).

   ![Launch on Compute Engine](img/vm_details.png)

1. To select the size, type, and desired [operating system](../requirements.md#supported-linux-distributions),
   click **Change** under `Boot disk`. Click **Select** when finished.

1. As a last step allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic, then click **Create**. The process will finish in a few seconds.

## Installing GitLab

After a few seconds, the instance will be created and available to log in. The next step is to install GitLab onto the instance.

![Deploy settings](img/vm_created.png)

1. Make a note of the IP address of the instance, as you will need that in a later step.
1. Click on the SSH button to connect to the instance.
1. A new window will appear, with you logged into the instance.

   ![GitLab first sign in](img/ssh_terminal.png)

1. Next, follow the instructions for installing GitLab for the operating system you choose, at <https://about.gitlab.com/install/>. You can use the IP address from the step above, as the hostname.

1. Congratulations! GitLab is now installed and you can access it via your browser. To finish installation, open the URL in your browser and provide the initial administrator password. The username for this account is `root`.

   ![GitLab first sign in](img/first_signin.png)

## Next steps

These are the most important next steps to take after you installed GitLab for
the first time.

### Assigning a static IP

By default, Google assigns an ephemeral IP to your instance. It is strongly
recommended to assign a static IP if you are going to use GitLab in production
and use a domain name as we'll see below.

Read Google's documentation on how to [promote an ephemeral IP address](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/ip-addresses/reserve-static-external-ip-address#promote_ephemeral_ip).

### Using a domain name

Assuming you have a domain name in your possession and you have correctly
set up DNS to point to the static IP you configured in the previous step,
here's how you configure GitLab to be aware of the change:

1. SSH into the VM. You can easily use the **SSH** button in the Google console
   and a new window will pop up.

   ![SSH button](img/vm_created.png)

   In the future you might want to set up [connecting with an SSH key](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/connecting-to-instance)
   instead.

1. Edit the configuration file of Omnibus GitLab using your favorite text editor:

   ```shell
   sudo vim /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
   ```

1. Set the `external_url` value to the domain name you wish GitLab to have
   **without** `https`:

   ```ruby
   external_url 'http://gitlab.example.com'
   ```

   We will set up HTTPS in the next step, no need to do this now.

1. Reconfigure GitLab for the changes to take effect:

   ```shell
   sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
   ```

1. You can now visit GitLab using the domain name.

### Configuring HTTPS with the domain name

Although not needed, it's strongly recommended to secure GitLab with a TLS
certificate. Follow the steps in the [Omnibus documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/nginx.html#enable-https).

### Configuring the email SMTP settings

You need to configure the email SMTP settings correctly otherwise GitLab will
not be able to send notification emails, like comments, and password changes.
Check the [Omnibus documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/smtp.html#smtp-settings) how to do so.

## Further reading

GitLab can be configured to authenticate with other OAuth providers, LDAP, SAML,
Kerberos, etc. Here are some documents you might be interested in reading:

- [Omnibus GitLab documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/)
- [Integration documentation](../../integration/README.md)
- [GitLab Pages configuration](../../administration/pages/index.md)
- [GitLab Container Registry configuration](../../administration/packages/container_registry.md)

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