---
stage: none
group: unassigned
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/#designated-technical-writers
---

# GitLab.com settings

In this page you will find information about the settings that are used on
[GitLab.com](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/).

## SSH host keys fingerprints

Below are the fingerprints for GitLab.com's SSH host keys. The first time you connect
to a GitLab.com repository, you'll see one of these keys in the output.

| Algorithm | MD5 (deprecated) | SHA256  |
| --------- | --- | ------- |
|  DSA (deprecated)      | `7a:47:81:3a:ee:89:89:64:33:ca:44:52:3d:30:d4:87` | `p8vZBUOR0XQz6sYiaWSMLmh0t9i8srqYKool/Xfdfqw` |
|  ECDSA    | `f1:d0:fb:46:73:7a:70:92:5a:ab:5d:ef:43:e2:1c:35` | `HbW3g8zUjNSksFbqTiUWPWg2Bq1x8xdGUrliXFzSnUw` |
|  ED25519  | `2e:65:6a:c8:cf:bf:b2:8b:9a:bd:6d:9f:11:5c:12:16` | `eUXGGm1YGsMAS7vkcx6JOJdOGHPem5gQp4taiCfCLB8` |
|  RSA      | `b6:03:0e:39:97:9e:d0:e7:24:ce:a3:77:3e:01:42:09` | `ROQFvPThGrW4RuWLoL9tq9I9zJ42fK4XywyRtbOz/EQ` |

## SSH `known_hosts` entries

Add the following to `.ssh/known_hosts` to skip manual fingerprint
confirmation in SSH:

```plaintext
gitlab.com ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIAfuCHKVTjquxvt6CM6tdG4SLp1Btn/nOeHHE5UOzRdf
gitlab.com ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQCsj2bNKTBSpIYDEGk9KxsGh3mySTRgMtXL583qmBpzeQ+jqCMRgBqB98u3z++J1sKlXHWfM9dyhSevkMwSbhoR8XIq/U0tCNyokEi/ueaBMCvbcTHhO7FcwzY92WK4Yt0aGROY5qX2UKSeOvuP4D6TPqKF1onrSzH9bx9XUf2lEdWT/ia1NEKjunUqu1xOB/StKDHMoX4/OKyIzuS0q/T1zOATthvasJFoPrAjkohTyaDUz2LN5JoH839hViyEG82yB+MjcFV5MU3N1l1QL3cVUCh93xSaua1N85qivl+siMkPGbO5xR/En4iEY6K2XPASUEMaieWVNTRCtJ4S8H+9
gitlab.com ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAAE2VjZHNhLXNoYTItbmlzdHAyNTYAAAAIbmlzdHAyNTYAAABBBFSMqzJeV9rUzU4kWitGjeR4PWSa29SPqJ1fVkhtj3Hw9xjLVXVYrU9QlYWrOLXBpQ6KWjbjTDTdDkoohFzgbEY=
```

## Mail configuration

GitLab.com sends emails from the `mg.gitlab.com` domain via [Mailgun](https://www.mailgun.com/) and has
its own dedicated IP address (`192.237.158.143`).

NOTE: **Note:**
The IP address for `mg.gitlab.com` is subject to change at any time.

## Backups

[See our backup strategy](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/infrastructure/production/#backups).

There are several ways to perform backups of your content on GitLab.com.

Projects can be backed up in their entirety by exporting them either [through the UI](../project/settings/import_export.md) or [API](../../api/project_import_export.md#schedule-an-export), the latter of which can be used to programmatically upload exports to a storage platform such as AWS S3.

With exports, be sure to take note of [what is and is not](../project/settings/import_export.md#exported-contents), included in a project export.

Since GitLab is built on Git, you can back up **just** the repository of a project by [cloning](../../gitlab-basics/start-using-git.md#clone-a-repository) it to another machine. Similarly, if you need to back up just the wiki of a repository it can also be cloned and all files uploaded to that wiki will come with it [if they were uploaded after 2020-08-22](../project/wiki/index.md#creating-a-new-wiki-page).

## Alternative SSH port

GitLab.com can be reached via a [different SSH port](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/02/18/gitlab-dot-com-now-supports-an-alternate-git-plus-ssh-port/) for `git+ssh`.

| Setting     | Value               |
| ---------   | ------------------- |
| `Hostname`  | `altssh.gitlab.com` |
| `Port`      | `443`               |

An example `~/.ssh/config` is the following:

```plaintext
Host gitlab.com
  Hostname altssh.gitlab.com
  User git
  Port 443
  PreferredAuthentications publickey
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/gitlab
```

## GitLab Pages

Below are the settings for [GitLab Pages](https://about.gitlab.com/stages-devops-lifecycle/pages/).

| Setting                     | GitLab.com        | Default       |
| --------------------------- | ----------------  | ------------- |
| Domain name                 | `gitlab.io`       | -             |
| IP address                  | `35.185.44.232`   | -             |
| Custom domains support      | yes               | no            |
| TLS certificates support    | yes               | no            |
| Maximum size (compressed) | 1G                | 100M          |

NOTE: **Note:**
The maximum size of your Pages site is regulated by the artifacts maximum size
which is part of [GitLab CI/CD](#gitlab-cicd).

## GitLab CI/CD

Below are the current settings regarding [GitLab CI/CD](../../ci/README.md).
Any settings or feature limits not listed here are using the defaults listed in the related documentation.

| Setting                 | GitLab.com        | Default       |
| -----------             | ----------------- | ------------- |
| Artifacts maximum size (compressed) | 1G                | 100M          |
| Artifacts [expiry time](../../ci/yaml/README.md#artifactsexpire_in)   | From June 22, 2020, deleted after 30 days unless otherwise specified (artifacts created before that date have no expiry).           | deleted after 30 days unless otherwise specified    |
| Scheduled Pipeline Cron | `*/5 * * * *` | `19 * * * *` |
| [Max jobs in active pipelines](../../administration/instance_limits.md#number-of-jobs-in-active-pipelines) | `500` for Free tier, unlimited otherwise | Unlimited
| [Max CI/CD subscriptions to a project](../../administration/instance_limits.md#number-of-cicd-subscriptions-to-a-project) | `2` | Unlimited |
| [Max pipeline schedules in projects](../../administration/instance_limits.md#number-of-pipeline-schedules) | `10` for Free tier, `50` for all paid tiers | Unlimited |
| [Scheduled Job Archival](../../user/admin_area/settings/continuous_integration.md#archive-jobs) | 3 months | Never |
| Max test cases per [unit test report](../../ci/unit_test_reports.md) | `500_000` | Unlimited |

## Account and limit settings

GitLab.com has the following [account limits](../admin_area/settings/account_and_limit_settings.md) enabled. If a setting is not listed, it is set to the default value.

If you are near
or over the repository size limit, you can [reduce your repository size with Git](../project/repository/reducing_the_repo_size_using_git.md).

| Setting                       | GitLab.com  | Default       |
| -----------                   | ----------- | ------------- |
| Repository size including LFS | 10 GB       | Unlimited     |
| Maximum import size           | 5 GB        | 50 MB         |

NOTE: **Note:**
`git push` and GitLab project imports are limited to 5 GB per request through Cloudflare. Git LFS and imports other than a file upload are not affected by this limit.

## IP range

GitLab.com is using the IP range `34.74.90.64/28` for traffic from its Web/API
fleet. This whole range is solely allocated to GitLab. You can expect connections from webhooks or repository mirroring to come
from those IPs and allow them.

GitLab.com is fronted by Cloudflare. For incoming connections to GitLab.com you might need to allow CIDR blocks of Cloudflare ([IPv4](https://www.cloudflare.com/ips-v4) and [IPv6](https://www.cloudflare.com/ips-v6)).

For outgoing connections from CI/CD runners we are not providing static IP addresses.
All our runners are deployed into Google Cloud Platform (GCP) - any IP based
firewall can be configured by looking up all
[IP address ranges or CIDR blocks for GCP](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/faq#where_can_i_find_product_name_short_ip_ranges).

## Webhooks

A limit of:

- 100 webhooks applies to projects.
- 50 webhooks applies to groups. **(BRONZE ONLY)**
- Payload is limited to 25MB

## Shared runners

GitLab offers Linux and Windows shared runners hosted on GitLab.com for executing your pipelines.

NOTE: **Note:**
Shared runners provided by GitLab are **not** configurable. Consider [installing your own runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/) if you have specific configuration needs.

### Linux shared runners

Linux shared runners on GitLab.com run in [autoscale mode](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/configuration/autoscale.html) and are powered by Google Cloud Platform.
Autoscaling means reduced waiting times to spin up CI/CD jobs, and isolated VMs for each project,
thus maximizing security. They're free to use for public open source projects and limited
to 2000 CI minutes per month per group for private projects. More minutes
[can be purchased](../../subscriptions/gitlab_com/index.md#purchase-additional-ci-minutes), if
needed. Read about all [GitLab.com plans](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/).

All your CI/CD jobs run on [n1-standard-1 instances](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/machine-types) with 3.75GB of RAM, CoreOS and the latest Docker Engine
installed. Instances provide 1 vCPU and 25GB of HDD disk space. The default
region of the VMs is US East1.
Each instance is used only for one job, this ensures any sensitive data left on the system can't be accessed by other people their CI jobs.

The `gitlab-shared-runners-manager-X.gitlab.com` fleet of runners are dedicated for GitLab projects as well as community forks of them. They use a slightly larger machine type (n1-standard-2) and have a bigger SSD disk size. They will not run untagged jobs and unlike the general fleet of shared runners, the instances are re-used up to 40 times.

Jobs handled by the shared runners on GitLab.com (`shared-runners-manager-X.gitlab.com`),
**will be timed out after 3 hours**, regardless of the timeout configured in a
project. Check the issues [4010](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/infrastructure/-/issues/4010) and [4070](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/infrastructure/-/issues/4070) for the reference.

Below are the shared runners settings.

| Setting                               | GitLab.com                                        | Default    |
| -----------                           | -----------------                                 | ---------- |
| [GitLab Runner](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner) | [Runner versions dashboard](https://dashboards.gitlab.com/d/000000159/ci?from=now-1h&to=now&refresh=5m&orgId=1&panelId=12&fullscreen&theme=light) | - |
| Executor                              | `docker+machine`                                  | -          |
| Default Docker image                  | `ruby:2.5`                                        | -          |
| `privileged` (run [Docker in Docker](https://hub.docker.com/_/docker/)) | `true`          | `false`    |

#### Pre-clone script

Linux shared runners on GitLab.com provide a way to run commands in a CI
job before the runner attempts to run `git init` and `git fetch` to
download a GitLab repository. The
[`pre_clone_script`](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/configuration/advanced-configuration.html#the-runners-section)
can be used for:

- Seeding the build directory with repository data
- Sending a request to a server
- Downloading assets from a CDN
- Any other commands that must run before the `git init`

To use this feature, define a [CI/CD variable](../../ci/variables/README.md#create-a-custom-variable-in-the-ui) called
`CI_PRE_CLONE_SCRIPT` that contains a bash script.

[This example](../../development/pipelines.md#pre-clone-step)
demonstrates how you might use a pre-clone step to seed the build
directory.

#### `config.toml`

The full contents of our `config.toml` are:

NOTE: **Note:**
Settings that are not public are shown as `X`.

**Google Cloud Platform**

```toml
concurrent = X
check_interval = 1
metrics_server = "X"
sentry_dsn = "X"

[[runners]]
  name = "docker-auto-scale"
  request_concurrency = X
  url = "https://gitlab.com/"
  token = "SHARED_RUNNER_TOKEN"
  pre_clone_script = "eval \"$CI_PRE_CLONE_SCRIPT\""
  executor = "docker+machine"
  environment = [
    "DOCKER_DRIVER=overlay2",
    "DOCKER_TLS_CERTDIR="
  ]
  limit = X
  [runners.docker]
    image = "ruby:2.5"
    privileged = true
    volumes = [
      "/certs/client",
      "/dummy-sys-class-dmi-id:/sys/class/dmi/id:ro" # Make kaniko builds work on GCP.
    ]
  [runners.machine]
    IdleCount = 50
    IdleTime = 3600
    MaxBuilds = 1 # For security reasons we delete the VM after job has finished so it's not reused.
    MachineName = "srm-%s"
    MachineDriver = "google"
    MachineOptions = [
      "google-project=PROJECT",
      "google-disk-size=25",
      "google-machine-type=n1-standard-1",
      "google-username=core",
      "google-tags=gitlab-com,srm",
      "google-use-internal-ip",
      "google-zone=us-east1-d",
      "engine-opt=mtu=1460", # Set MTU for container interface, for more information check https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/3214#note_82892928
      "google-machine-image=PROJECT/global/images/IMAGE",
      "engine-opt=ipv6", # This will create IPv6 interfaces in the containers.
      "engine-opt=fixed-cidr-v6=fc00::/7",
      "google-operation-backoff-initial-interval=2" # Custom flag from forked docker-machine, for more information check https://github.com/docker/machine/pull/4600
    ]
    [[runners.machine.autoscaling]]
      Periods = ["* * * * * sat,sun *"]
      Timezone = "UTC"
      IdleCount = 70
      IdleTime = 3600
    [[runners.machine.autoscaling]]
      Periods = ["* 30-59 3 * * * *", "* 0-30 4 * * * *"]
      Timezone = "UTC"
      IdleCount = 700
      IdleTime = 3600
  [runners.cache]
    Type = "gcs"
    Shared = true
    [runners.cache.gcs]
      CredentialsFile = "/path/to/file"
      BucketName = "bucket-name"
```

### Windows shared runners (beta)

The Windows shared runners are in [beta](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/gitlab-the-product/#beta)
and shouldn't be used for production workloads.

During this beta period, the [shared runner pipeline quota](../admin_area/settings/continuous_integration.md#shared-runners-pipeline-minutes-quota)
applies for groups and projects in the same manner as Linux runners. This may
change when the beta period ends, as discussed in this [related issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/30834).

Windows shared runners on GitLab.com autoscale by launching virtual machines on
the Google Cloud Platform. This solution uses an
[autoscaling driver](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/custom-executor-drivers/autoscaler/tree/master/docs/readme.md)
developed by GitLab for the [custom executor](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/custom.html).
Windows shared runners execute your CI/CD jobs on `n1-standard-2` instances with
2 vCPUs and 7.5 GB RAM. You can find a full list of available Windows packages in
the [package documentation](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/shared-runners/images/gcp/windows-containers/blob/master/cookbooks/preinstalled-software/README.md).

We want to keep iterating to get Windows shared runners in a stable state and
[generally available](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/gitlab-the-product/#generally-available-ga).
You can follow our work towards this goal in the
[related epic](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/2162).

#### Configuration

The full contents of our `config.toml` are:

NOTE: **Note:**
Settings that aren't public are shown as `X`.

```toml
concurrent = X
check_interval = 3

[[runners]]
  name = "windows-runner"
  url = "https://gitlab.com/"
  token = "TOKEN"
  executor = "custom"
  builds_dir = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\builds"
  cache_dir = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\cache"
  shell  = "powershell"
  [runners.custom]
    config_exec = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.exe"
    config_args = ["--config", "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\config.toml", "custom", "config"]
    prepare_exec = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.exe"
    prepare_args = ["--config", "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\config.toml", "custom", "prepare"]
    run_exec = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.exe"
    run_args = ["--config", "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\config.toml", "custom", "run"]
    cleanup_exec = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.exe"
    cleanup_args = ["--config", "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\config.toml", "custom", "cleanup"]
```

The full contents of our `autoscaler/config.toml` are:

```toml
Provider = "gcp"
Executor = "winrm"
OS = "windows"
LogLevel = "info"
LogFormat = "text"
LogFile = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\autoscaler.log"
VMTag = "windows"

[GCP]
  ServiceAccountFile = "PATH"
  Project = "some-project-df9323"
  Zone = "us-east1-c"
  MachineType = "n1-standard-2"
  Image = "IMAGE"
  DiskSize = 50
  DiskType = "pd-standard"
  Subnetwork = "default"
  Network = "default"
  Tags = ["TAGS"]
  Username = "gitlab_runner"

[WinRM]
  MaximumTimeout = 3600
  ExecutionMaxRetries = 0

[ProviderCache]
  Enabled = true
  Directory = "C:\\GitLab-Runner\\autoscaler\\machines"
```

#### Example

Below is a simple `.gitlab-ci.yml` file to show how to start using the
Windows shared runners:

```yaml
.shared_windows_runners:
  tags:
    - shared-windows
    - windows
    - windows-1809

stages:
  - build
  - test

before_script:
 - Set-Variable -Name "time" -Value (date -Format "%H:%m")
 - echo ${time}
 - echo "started by ${GITLAB_USER_NAME}"

build:
  extends:
    - .shared_windows_runners
  stage: build
  script:
    - echo "running scripts in the build job"

test:
  extends:
    - .shared_windows_runners
  stage: test
  script:
    - echo "running scripts in the test job"
```

#### Limitations and known issues

- All the limitations mentioned in our [beta
  definition](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/#beta).
- The average provisioning time for a new Windows VM is 5 minutes.
  This means that you may notice slower build start times
  on the Windows shared runner fleet during the beta. In a future
  release we will update the autoscaler to enable
  the pre-provisioning of virtual machines. This will significantly reduce
  the time it takes to provision a VM on the Windows fleet. You can
  follow along in the [related issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/custom-executor-drivers/autoscaler/-/issues/32).
- The Windows shared runner fleet may be unavailable occasionally
  for maintenance or updates.
- The Windows shared runner virtual machine instances do not use the
  GitLab Docker executor. This means that you will not be able to specify
  [`image`](../../ci/yaml/README.md#image) or [`services`](../../ci/yaml/README.md#services) in
  your pipeline configuration.
- For the beta release, we have included a set of software packages in
  the base VM image. If your CI job requires additional software that's
  not included in this list, then you will need to add installation
  commands to [`before_script`](../../ci/yaml/README.md#before_script-and-after_script) or [`script`](../../ci/yaml/README.md#script) to install the required
  software. Note that each job runs on a new VM instance, so the
  installation of additional software packages needs to be repeated for
  each job in your pipeline.
- The job may stay in a pending state for longer than the
  Linux shared runners.
- There is the possibility that we introduce breaking changes which will
  require updates to pipelines that are using the Windows shared runner
  fleet.

## Sidekiq

GitLab.com runs [Sidekiq](https://sidekiq.org) with arguments `--timeout=4 --concurrency=4`
and the following environment variables:

| Setting                                    | GitLab.com | Default   |
|--------                                    |----------- |--------   |
| `SIDEKIQ_DAEMON_MEMORY_KILLER`             | -          | `1`       |
| `SIDEKIQ_MEMORY_KILLER_MAX_RSS`            | `2000000`  | `2000000` |
| `SIDEKIQ_MEMORY_KILLER_HARD_LIMIT_RSS`     | -          | -         |
| `SIDEKIQ_MEMORY_KILLER_CHECK_INTERVAL`     | -          | `3`       |
| `SIDEKIQ_MEMORY_KILLER_GRACE_TIME`         | -          | `900`     |
| `SIDEKIQ_MEMORY_KILLER_SHUTDOWN_WAIT`      | -          | `30`      |
| `SIDEKIQ_LOG_ARGUMENTS`                    | `1`        | -         |

NOTE: **Note:**
The `SIDEKIQ_MEMORY_KILLER_MAX_RSS` setting is `16000000` on Sidekiq import
nodes and Sidekiq export nodes.

## PostgreSQL

GitLab.com being a fairly large installation of GitLab means we have changed
various PostgreSQL settings to better suit our needs. For example, we use
streaming replication and servers in hot-standby mode to balance queries across
different database servers.

The list of GitLab.com specific settings (and their defaults) is as follows:

| Setting                               | GitLab.com                                                          | Default                               |
|:--------------------------------------|:--------------------------------------------------------------------|:--------------------------------------|
| `archive_command`                     | `/usr/bin/envdir /etc/wal-e.d/env /opt/wal-e/bin/wal-e wal-push %p` | empty                                 |
| `archive_mode`                        | on                                                                  | off                                   |
| `autovacuum_analyze_scale_factor`     | 0.01                                                                | 0.01                                  |
| `autovacuum_max_workers`              | 6                                                                   | 3                                     |
| `autovacuum_vacuum_cost_limit`        | 1000                                                                | -1                                    |
| `autovacuum_vacuum_scale_factor`      | 0.01                                                                | 0.02                                  |
| `checkpoint_completion_target`        | 0.7                                                                 | 0.9                                   |
| `checkpoint_segments`                 | 32                                                                  | 10                                    |
| `effective_cache_size`                | 338688MB                                                            | Based on how much memory is available |
| `hot_standby`                         | on                                                                  | off                                   |
| `hot_standby_feedback`                | on                                                                  | off                                   |
| `log_autovacuum_min_duration`         | 0                                                                   | -1                                    |
| `log_checkpoints`                     | on                                                                  | off                                   |
| `log_line_prefix`                     | `%t [%p]: [%l-1]`                                                   | empty                                 |
| `log_min_duration_statement`          | 1000                                                                | -1                                    |
| `log_temp_files`                      | 0                                                                   | -1                                    |
| `maintenance_work_mem`                | 2048MB                                                              | 16 MB                                 |
| `max_replication_slots`               | 5                                                                   | 0                                     |
| `max_wal_senders`                     | 32                                                                  | 0                                     |
| `max_wal_size`                        | 5GB                                                                 | 1GB                                   |
| `shared_buffers`                      | 112896MB                                                            | Based on how much memory is available |
| `shared_preload_libraries`            | pg_stat_statements                                                  | empty                                 |
| `shmall`                              | 30146560                                                            | Based on the server's capabilities    |
| `shmmax`                              | 123480309760                                                        | Based on the server's capabilities    |
| `wal_buffers`                         | 16MB                                                                | -1                                    |
| `wal_keep_segments`                   | 512                                                                 | 10                                    |
| `wal_level`                           | replica                                                             | minimal                               |
| `statement_timeout`                   | 15s                                                                 | 60s                                   |
| `idle_in_transaction_session_timeout` | 60s                                                                 | 60s                                   |

Some of these settings are in the process being adjusted. For example, the value
for `shared_buffers` is quite high and as such we are looking into adjusting it.
More information on this particular change can be found at
<https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/infrastructure/-/issues/1555>. An up to date list
of proposed changes can be found at
<https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/infrastructure/-/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&state=opened&label_name[]=database&label_name[]=change>.

## Puma

GitLab.com uses the default of 60 seconds for [Puma request timeouts](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/settings/puma.html#worker-timeout).

## Unicorn

GitLab.com adjusts the memory limits for the [unicorn-worker-killer](https://rubygems.org/gems/unicorn-worker-killer) gem.

Base default:

- `memory_limit_min` = 750MiB
- `memory_limit_max` = 1024MiB

Web front-ends:

- `memory_limit_min` = 1024MiB
- `memory_limit_max` = 1280MiB

## GitLab.com-specific rate limits

NOTE: **Note:**
See [Rate limits](../../security/rate_limits.md) for administrator
documentation.

IP blocks usually happen when GitLab.com receives unusual traffic from a single
IP address that the system views as potentially malicious based on rate limit
settings. After the unusual traffic ceases, the IP address will be automatically
released depending on the type of block, as described below.

If you receive a `403 Forbidden` error for all requests to GitLab.com, please
check for any automated processes that may be triggering a block. For
assistance, contact [GitLab Support](https://support.gitlab.com/hc/en-us)
with details, such as the affected IP address.

### HAProxy API throttle

GitLab.com responds with HTTP status code `429` to API requests that exceed 10
requests
per second per IP address.

The following example headers are included for all API requests:

```plaintext
RateLimit-Limit: 600
RateLimit-Observed: 6
RateLimit-Remaining: 594
RateLimit-Reset: 1563325137
RateLimit-ResetTime: Wed, 17 Jul 2019 00:58:57 GMT
```

Source:

- Search for `rate_limit_http_rate_per_minute` and `rate_limit_sessions_per_second` in [GitLab.com's current HAProxy settings](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-cookbooks/gitlab-haproxy/blob/master/attributes/default.rb).

### Pagination response headers

For performance reasons, if a query returns more than 10,000 records, GitLab
doesn't return the following headers:

- `x-total`.
- `x-total-pages`.
- `rel="last"` `link`.

### Rack Attack initializer

Details of rate limits enforced by [Rack Attack](../../security/rack_attack.md).

#### Protected paths throttle

GitLab.com responds with HTTP status code `429` to POST requests at protected
paths that exceed 10 requests per **minute** per IP address.

See the source below for which paths are protected. This includes user creation,
user confirmation, user sign in, and password reset.

This header is included in responses to blocked requests:

```plaintext
Retry-After: 60
```

See [Protected Paths](../admin_area/settings/protected_paths.md) for more details.

#### Git and container registry failed authentication ban

GitLab.com responds with HTTP status code `403` for 1 hour, if 30 failed
authentication requests were received in a 3-minute period from a single IP address.

This applies only to Git requests and container registry (`/jwt/auth`) requests
(combined).

This limit:

- Is reset by requests that authenticate successfully. For example, 29
  failed authentication requests followed by 1 successful request, followed by 29
  more failed authentication requests would not trigger a ban.
- Does not apply to JWT requests authenticated by `gitlab-ci-token`.

No response headers are provided.

### Admin Area settings

GitLab.com:

- Has [rate limits on raw endpoints](../../user/admin_area/settings/rate_limits_on_raw_endpoints.md)
  set to the default.
- Does not have the user and IP rate limits settings enabled.

### Visibility settings

On GitLab.com, projects, groups, and snippets created
As of GitLab 12.2 (July 2019), projects, groups, and snippets have the
[**Internal** visibility](../../public_access/public_access.md#internal-projects) setting [disabled on GitLab.com](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/12388).

### SSH maximum number of connections

GitLab.com defines the maximum number of concurrent, unauthenticated SSH connections by
using the [MaxStartups setting](http://man.openbsd.org/sshd_config.5#MaxStartups).
If more than the maximum number of allowed connections occur concurrently, they are
dropped and users get
[an `ssh_exchange_identification` error](../../topics/git/troubleshooting_git.md#ssh_exchange_identification-error).

### Import/export

To help avoid abuse, project and group imports, exports, and export downloads are rate limited. See [Project import/export rate limits](../../user/project/settings/import_export.md#rate-limits) and [Group import/export rate limits](../../user/group/settings/import_export.md#rate-limits) for details.

### Non-configurable limits

See [non-configurable limits](../../security/rate_limits.md#non-configurable-limits) for information on
rate limits that are not configurable, and therefore also used on GitLab.com.

## GitLab.com Logging

We use [Fluentd](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/runbooks/tree/master/logging/doc#fluentd) to parse our logs. Fluentd sends our logs to
[Stackdriver Logging](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/runbooks/tree/master/logging/doc#stackdriver) and [Cloud Pub/Sub](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/runbooks/tree/master/logging/doc#cloud-pubsub).
Stackdriver is used for storing logs long-term in Google Cold Storage (GCS). Cloud Pub/Sub
is used to forward logs to an [Elastic cluster](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/runbooks/tree/master/logging/doc#elastic) using [pubsubbeat](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/runbooks/tree/master/logging/doc#pubsubbeat-vms).

You can view more information in our runbooks such as:

- A [detailed list of what we're logging](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/runbooks/-/tree/master/docs/logging#what-are-we-logging)
- Our [current log retention policies](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/runbooks/-/tree/master/docs/logging#retention)
- A [diagram of our logging infrastructure](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/runbooks/-/tree/master/docs/logging#logging-infrastructure-overview)

### Job Logs

By default, GitLab does not expire job logs. Job logs are retained indefinitely,
and can't be configured on GitLab.com to expire. You can erase job logs
[manually with the Jobs API](../../api/jobs.md#erase-a-job) or by
[deleting a pipeline](../../ci/pipelines/index.md#delete-a-pipeline). 

## GitLab.com at scale

In addition to the GitLab Enterprise Edition Omnibus install, GitLab.com uses
the following applications and settings to achieve scale. All settings are
publicly available at [chef cookbooks](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-cookbooks).

### Elastic Cluster

We use Elasticsearch and Kibana for part of our monitoring solution:

- [`gitlab-cookbooks` / `gitlab-elk` · GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-cookbooks/gitlab-elk)
- [`gitlab-cookbooks` / `gitlab_elasticsearch` · GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-cookbooks/gitlab_elasticsearch)

### Fluentd

We use Fluentd to unify our GitLab logs:

- [`gitlab-cookbooks` / `gitlab_fluentd` · GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-cookbooks/gitlab_fluentd)

### Prometheus

Prometheus complete our monitoring stack:

- [`gitlab-cookbooks` / `gitlab-prometheus` · GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-cookbooks/gitlab-prometheus)

### Grafana

For the visualization of monitoring data:

- [`gitlab-cookbooks` / `gitlab-grafana` · GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-cookbooks/gitlab-grafana)

### Sentry

Open source error tracking:

- [`gitlab-cookbooks` / `gitlab-sentry` · GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-cookbooks/gitlab-sentry)

### Consul

Service discovery:

- [`gitlab-cookbooks` / `gitlab_consul` · GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-cookbooks/gitlab_consul)

### HAProxy

High Performance TCP/HTTP Load Balancer:

- [`gitlab-cookbooks` / `gitlab-haproxy` · GitLab](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-cookbooks/gitlab-haproxy)
