Zero To GitLab in 5 Minutes


In this first video we are going to build an Ubuntu Server using virtual box, install GitLab and login, create our first code repo and push up our first commit.

Not bad for 5 minutes work.

I've covered how to install Ubuntu Server in Oracle VirtualBox before, so if that's new to you then please do watch that video. It's not hard, it's mostly next > next > next.

The alternative is to spin up a new Digital Ocean droplet, or an equivalent VM at one of their competitors. If you do this, you can get away with opting for the $5 plan, but you will need to setup a 1.5gb swap file. I have done it this way, but it would frequently hang when pushing up large charges.

The $10 range is much better specced for running GitLab but will still need a 1gb swapfile adding. At that range though you can support 100+ users.

If you want to know more about the hardware requirements - always worth a geeking-out on in my opinion - then check the official GitLab CE Install Requirements page.

In a nutshell, the spec really isn't that steep for todays hardware. There's even ways to get GitLab running on a Raspberry Pi.

Episodes