Configure an external Sidekiq instance

Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate Offering: Self-managed

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 on the GitLab instance

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

  1. Configure packaged PostgreSQL server to listen on TCP/IP adding the Sidekiq server IP addresses to postgresql['md5_auth_cidr_addresses']
  2. Make the bundled Redis reachable via TCP

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

    ## Gitaly
gitaly['configuration'] = {
   # ...
   #
   # Make Gitaly accept connections on all network interfaces
   listen_addr: '0.0.0.0:8075',
   auth: {
      ## 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
      token: 'abc123secret',
   },
}

gitlab_rails['gitaly_token'] = 'abc123secret'

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

  4. Run reconfigure: 

    sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

  5. Restart the PostgreSQL server: 

    sudo gitlab-ctl restart postgresql

Set up Sidekiq instance

Find your reference architecture and follow the Sidekiq instance setup details.

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: 

    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

History

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.

Troubleshooting

See our administrator guide to troubleshooting Sidekiq.