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GitLab FI

GitLab Pages

GitLab Pages is a service that allows users to generate static pages directly from the repository. It is an ideal solution for

  • project or course web pages,
  • application documentation,
  • simple user pages.

Only static pages can be run in this service. It does not allow you to run server-side scripts or programs in any standard way. Therefore, it is not suitable for applications that require dynamic content generation, form processing, or asynchronous querying.

For these purposes, we recommend running the site on user pages on the Aisa server or in the Stratus.FI virtual environment.

How to do it

Getting a simple site up and running requires setting up a repository in GitLab and configuring CI to generate that site.

  • Select an appropriate namespace and project name

    The project name is deterministically mapped to the name of the page where the project appears. In general, a project in GitLab with a path
    https://gitlab.fi.muni.cz/namespace/[subns/…/]project.git
    will be available at the URL
    https://namespace.pages.fi.muni.cz/[subns/…/]project

    The namespace of user projects has namespace identical to the faculty login, and subns/…/ is empty because the user namespace has no subgroups. Therefore, for pages related to a course or research group project, we recommend using the group namespace rather than the faculty login.

    Pages in the domain root are a special case. If you as a user (or in a group) create a project with a name identical to the subdomain name, i.e. of the form
    https://gitlab.fi.muni.cz/namespace/namespace.pages.fi.muni.cz.git
    then the generated site will be placed in the root of the subdomain
    https://namespace.pages.fi.muni.cz/

    Tip: I want to request the creation of a group

  • Adjust visibility

    Faculty GitLab has an Access Control feature enabled for Pages that allows users to set access to web pages.

    Under Settings → General → Visibility, ... → Pages, you can select any of the following options to restrict access to these users, depending on the visibility of the project:

    Private Internal Public
    Only project members project members project members project members
    Everyone with access cannot be selected users logged in GitLab FI anyone without a login
    Everyone anyone without login anyone without a login cannot be selected

  • Web content

    The structure of the site, the language used, etc. depends on the chosen generator, i.e. the program that creates the resulting static site. Most support Markdown or AsciiDoc, but you can also find specific generators, e.g. for generating documentation from source code. You can also write your own generator.

    Take inspiration from the examples

    Take a look at the official sample repositories. Most of them can be used as a skeleton for your own project.

    Beware of configuration files, in templates you often need to edit more than one configuration. If a template has README.md or similar help, read it carefully.

    Test the configuration
    We recommend starting with a very small number of pages first to see if the generator works at all.
    Custom generator
    You can also use a custom generator to generate content. Generation is done like any other task for GitLab CI. See the official documentation for the task setup requirements and where to expect the result.

  • CI/CD settings

    You can use a faculty instance of GitLab Runner or a custom instance to generate the site.

    To use a faculty instance, be sure to set the shared-fitag in .gitlab-ci.yml for tasks.

Read more

The site will be automatically accessible via https with a certificate signed by Let's Encrypt.

The URL of the site can only be changed by moving the project. Otherwise the path cannot be modified, even administratively.

Web content from your own domain

Site content from pages.fi.muni.cz can also be served from other domains. There are several options to choose from.

Custom domain outside fi.muni.cz

Prerequisites

  1. Secure your own domain. CVT does not provide registration.
  2. The domain registrar must be able to set up records like A, AAAA and TXT for verification.
  3. Optionally, you can have your own certificate. By default, GitLab will request a Let's Encrypt authority certificate and maintain it itself.

Setting up

  • Open the GitLab Pages settings In the project, in the left panel, find Deploy → Pages.
    If you don't see this option, make sure this property is enabled in the project: Settings → General → Visibility, project features, permissions.
  • Set up a new domain
    1. Click New Domain.
    2. In the Domain field, type the domain name.
    3. If you have your own certificate, cancel Automatic certificate management and insert your own certificate and key in PEM format.
      If GitLab reports errors, try inserting an intermediate certificate as well.
    4. Click Create New Domain.
  • Save the verification code After creating the domain, GitLab will give you a code of the form
    _gitlab-pages-verification-code.$DOMAIN TXT gitlab-pages-verification-code=$TOKEN
  • Set up the new domain
    Then ask the domain registrar to set up the following records (the third line is the code from the previous step): 
    $DOMAIN in A    147.251.58.89
        in AAAA 2001:718:801:23a::59
_gitlab-pages-verification-code.$DOMAIN TXT gitlab-pages-verification-code=$TOKEN
  • Verify the domain After confirming the settings from the registrar, click the renew button in the Verification Status section of GitLab. If GitLab successfully verifies the domain, it will generate a certificate for the domain and start serving it.
  • Done You should now see the page content on the new domain.

Custom domain outside of fi.muni.cz (alternative)

If your domain registrar does not allow you to establish a TXT record, consider another registrar first.

Alternatively, you can establish a domain with a proxy. In this case, the registrar must be able to handle at least the A and AAAA records. The domain will use a Let's Encrypt authority certificate managed by CVT. No other certificates can be used.

The exact settings for the registrar will be communicated to you by the administrators. Contact gitlab@fi.muni.cz.

Pages in the domain fi.muni.cz

CVT, as the registrar for the domain fi.muni.cz, can introduce records of the form example.fi.muni.cz, or also example.lab.fi.muni.cz.

First, make a domain reservation at gitlab@fi.muni.cz. In the request, specify which project is involved and whether you want to use a custom certificate. If everything is in order, the administrators will set up the domain for the site.

If you are unsure or have questions, contact the administrators at gitlab@fi.muni.cz.

Sample instance

Repository
The source repository in GitLab FI, which is a slightly modified template for Jekyll from the official source.
Result
A generated sample from the same repository.

If you don't know what to do with your own page:

Check the settings for GitLab CI
Project → Settings → CI/CD.
Check out .gitlab-ci.yml In the sample solution
This file contains the task definitions for generating a site in a faculty environment.
Check the output of the failed task
GitLab project home page → CI/CD.

Useful links

Official GitLab user documentation

Faculty Technical Information