Commit 889f2702 authored by Marcia Ramos's avatar Marcia Ramos Committed by Achilleas Pipinellis

Restructure Pages docs index and getting started guides

[ci skip]
parent 11dd2348
# GitLab Pages from A to Z: Part 4
- [Part 1: Static sites and GitLab Pages domains](getting_started_part_one.md)
- [Part 2: Quick start guide - Setting up GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_two.md)
- [Part 3: Setting Up Custom Domains - DNS Records and SSL/TLS Certificates](getting_started_part_three.md)
- **Part 4: Creating and tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages**
## Creating and Tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages
[GitLab CI](https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab-ci/) serves
numerous purposes, to build, test, and deploy your app
from GitLab through
[Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Continuous Deployment](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/08/05/continuous-integration-delivery-and-deployment-with-gitlab/)
methods. You will need it to build your website with GitLab Pages,
and deploy it to the Pages server.
What this file actually does is telling the
[GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/) to run scripts
as you would do from the command line. The Runner acts as your
terminal. GitLab CI tells the Runner which commands to run.
Both are built-in in GitLab, and you don't need to set up
anything for them to work.
Explaining [every detail of GitLab CI](https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/ci/yaml/README.html)
and GitLab Runner is out of the scope of this guide, but we'll
need to understand just a few things to be able to write our own
`.gitlab-ci.yml` or tweak an existing one. It's an
[Yaml](http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/YAMLSyntax.html) file,
with its own syntax. You can always check your CI syntax with
the [GitLab CI Lint Tool](https://gitlab.com/ci/lint).
**Practical Example:**
Let's consider you have a [Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/) site.
To build it locally, you would open your terminal, and run `jekyll build`.
Of course, before building it, you had to install Jekyll in your computer.
For that, you had to open your terminal and run `gem install jekyll`.
Right? GitLab CI + GitLab Runner do the same thing. But you need to
write in the `.gitlab-ci.yml` the script you want to run so
GitLab Runner will do it for you. It looks more complicated then it
is. What you need to tell the Runner:
```
$ gem install jekyll
$ jekyll build
```
### Script
To transpose this script to Yaml, it would be like this:
```yaml
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build
```
### Job
So far so good. Now, each `script`, in GitLab is organized by
a `job`, which is a bunch of scripts and settings you want to
apply to that specific task.
```yaml
job:
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build
```
For GitLab Pages, this `job` has a specific name, called `pages`,
which tells the Runner you want that task to deploy your website
with GitLab Pages:
```yaml
pages:
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build
```
### The `public` directory
We also need to tell Jekyll where do you want the website to build,
and GitLab Pages will only consider files in a directory called `public`.
To do that with Jekyll, we need to add a flag specifying the
[destination (`-d`)](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/usage/) of the
built website: `jekyll build -d public`. Of course, we need
to tell this to our Runner:
```yaml
pages:
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build -d public
```
### Artifacts
We also need to tell the Runner that this _job_ generates
_artifacts_, which is the site built by Jekyll.
Where are these artifacts stored? In the `public` directory:
```yaml
pages:
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
```
The script above would be enough to build your Jekyll
site with GitLab Pages. But, from Jekyll 3.4.0 on, its default
template originated by `jekyll new project` requires
[Bundler](http://bundler.io/) to install Jekyll dependencies
and the default theme. To adjust our script to meet these new
requirements, we only need to install and build Jekyll with Bundler:
```yaml
pages:
script:
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
```
That's it! A `.gitlab-ci.yml` with the content above would deploy
your Jekyll 3.4.0 site with GitLab Pages. This is the minimum
configuration for our example. On the steps below, we'll refine
the script by adding extra options to our GitLab CI.
### Image
At this point, you probably ask yourself: "okay, but to install Jekyll
I need Ruby. Where is Ruby on that script?". The answer is simple: the
first thing GitLab Runner will look for in your `.gitlab-ci.yml` is a
[Docker](https://www.docker.com/) image specifying what do you need in
your container to run that script:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.3
pages:
script:
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
```
In this case, you're telling the Runner to pull this image, which
contains Ruby 2.3 as part of its file system. When you don't specify
this image in your configuration, the Runner will use a default
image, which is Ruby 2.1.
If your SSG needs [NodeJS](https://nodejs.org/) to build, you'll
need to specify which image you want to use, and this image should
contain NodeJS as part of its file system. E.g., for a
[Hexo](https://gitlab.com/pages/hexo) site, you can use `image: node:4.2.2`.
>**Note:**
We're not trying to explain what a Docker image is,
we just need to introduce the concept with a minimum viable
explanation. To know more about Docker images, please visit
their website or take a look at a
[summarized explanation](http://paislee.io/how-to-automate-docker-deployments/) here.
Let's go a little further.
### Branching
If you use GitLab as a version control platform, you will have your
branching strategy to work on your project. Meaning, you will have
other branches in your project, but you'll want only pushes to the
default branch (usually `master`) to be deployed to your website.
To do that, we need to add another line to our CI, telling the Runner
to only perform that _job_ called `pages` on the `master` branch `only`:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.3
pages:
script:
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
only:
- master
```
### Stages
Another interesting concept to keep in mind are build stages.
Your web app can pass through a lot of tests and other tasks
until it's deployed to staging or production environments.
There are three default stages on GitLab CI: build, test,
and deploy. To specify which stage your _job_ is running,
simply add another line to your CI:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.3
pages:
stage: deploy
script:
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
only:
- master
```
You might ask yourself: "why should I bother with stages
at all?" Well, let's say you want to be able to test your
script and check the built site before deploying your site
to production. You want to run the test exactly as your
script will do when you push to `master`. It's simple,
let's add another task (_job_) to our CI, telling it to
test every push to other branches, `except` the `master` branch:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.3
pages:
stage: deploy
script:
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
only:
- master
test:
stage: test
script:
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d test
artifacts:
paths:
- test
except:
- master
```
The `test` job is running on the stage `test`, Jekyll
will build the site in a directory called `test`, and
this job will affect all the branches except `master`.
The best benefit of applying _stages_ to different
_jobs_ is that every job in the same stage builds in
parallel. So, if your web app needs more than one test
before being deployed, you can run all your test at the
same time, it's not necessary to wait one test to finish
to run the other. Of course, this is just a brief
introduction of GitLab CI and GitLab Runner, which are
tools much more powerful than that. This is what you
need to be able to create and tweak your builds for
your GitLab Pages site.
### Before Script
To avoid running the same script multiple times across
your _jobs_, you can add the parameter `before_script`,
in which you specify which commands you want to run for
every single _job_. In our example, notice that we run
`bundle install` for both jobs, `pages` and `test`.
We don't need to repeat it:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.3
before_script:
- bundle install
pages:
stage: deploy
script:
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
only:
- master
test:
stage: test
script:
- bundle exec jekyll build -d test
artifacts:
paths:
- test
except:
- master
```
### Caching Dependencies
If you want to cache the installation files for your
projects dependencies, for building faster, you can
use the parameter `cache`. For this example, we'll
cache Jekyll dependencies in a `vendor` directory
when we run `bundle install`:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.3
cache:
paths:
- vendor/
before_script:
- bundle install --path vendor
pages:
stage: deploy
script:
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
only:
- master
test:
stage: test
script:
- bundle exec jekyll build -d test
artifacts:
paths:
- test
except:
- master
```
For this specific case, we need to exclude `/vendor`
from Jekyll `_config.yml` file, otherwise Jekyll will
understand it as a regular directory to build
together with the site:
```yml
exclude:
- vendor
```
There we go! Now our GitLab CI not only builds our website,
but also **continuously test** pushes to feature-branches,
**caches** dependencies installed with Bundler, and
**continuously deploy** every push to the `master` branch.
## Advanced GitLab CI for GitLab Pages
What you can do with GitLab CI is pretty much up to your
creativity. Once you get used to it, you start creating
awesome scripts that automate most of tasks you'd do
manually in the past. Read through the
[documentation of GitLab CI](https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/ci/yaml/README.html)
to understand how to go even further on your scripts.
- On this blog post, understand the concept of
[using GitLab CI `environments` to deploy your
web app to staging and production](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/08/26/ci-deployment-and-environments/).
- On this post, learn [how to run jobs sequentially,
in parallel, or build a custom pipeline](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/07/29/the-basics-of-gitlab-ci/)
- On this blog post, we go through the process of
[pulling specific directories from different projects](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/12/07/building-a-new-gitlab-docs-site-with-nanoc-gitlab-ci-and-gitlab-pages/)
to deploy this website you're looking at, docs.gitlab.com.
- On this blog post, we teach you [how to use GitLab Pages to produce a code coverage report](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/11/03/publish-code-coverage-report-with-gitlab-pages/).
|||
|:--|--:|
|[**← Part 3: Setting Up Custom Domains - DNS Records and SSL/TLS Certificates**](getting_started_part_three.md)||
# GitLab Pages from A to Z: Part 1
- **Part 1: Static Sites, Domains, DNS Records, and SSL/TLS Certificates**
- _[Part 2: Quick Start Guide - Setting Up GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_two.md)_
- _[Part 3: Creating and Tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_three.md)_
- **Part 1: Static sites and GitLab Pages domains**
- [Part 2: Quick start guide - Setting up GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_two.md)
- [Part 3: Setting Up Custom Domains - DNS Records and SSL/TLS Certificates](getting_started_part_three.md)
- [Part 4: Creating and tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_four.md)
----
## GitLab Pages form A to Z
This is a comprehensive guide, made for those who want to
publish a website with GitLab Pages but aren't familiar with
the entire process involved.
This [first part](#what-you-need-to-know-before-getting-started) of this series will present you to the concepts of
static sites, and go over how the default Pages domains work.
The [second part](getting_started_part_two.md) covers how to get started with GitLab Pages: deploy
a website from a forked project or create a new one from scratch.
The [third part](getting_started_part_three.md) will show you how to set up a custom domain or subdomain
to your site already deployed.
The [fourth part](getting_started_part_four.md) will show you how to create and tweak GitLab CI for
GitLab Pages.
To **enable** GitLab Pages for GitLab CE (Community Edition)
and GitLab EE (Enterprise Edition), please read the
[admin documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/administration/pages/index.html),
......@@ -33,7 +46,7 @@ CSS, and JS, or use a [Static Site Generator (SSG)](https://www.staticgen.com/)
to simplify your code and build the static site for you,
which is highly recommendable and much faster than hardcoding.
---
#### Further Reading
- Read through this technical overview on [Static versus Dynamic Websites](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/03/ssg-overview-gitlab-pages-part-1-dynamic-x-static/)
- Understand [how modern Static Site Generators work](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/10/ssg-overview-gitlab-pages-part-2/) and what you can add to your static site
......@@ -88,179 +101,6 @@ your website will be published under `https://websites.gitlab.io`.
- On your GitLab instance, replace `gitlab.io` above with your
Pages server domain. Ask your sysadmin for this information.
### DNS Records
A Domain Name System (DNS) web service routes visitors to websites
by translating domain names (such as `www.example.com`) into the
numeric IP addresses (such as `192.0.2.1`) that computers use to
connect to each other.
A DNS record is created to point a (sub)domain to a certain location,
which can be an IP address or another domain. In case you want to use
GitLab Pages with your own (sub)domain, you need to access your domain's
registrar control panel to add a DNS record pointing it back to your
GitLab Pages site.
Note that **how to** add DNS records depends on which server your domain
is hosted on. Every control panel has its own place to do it. If you are
not an admin of your domain, and don't have access to your registrar,
you'll need to ask for the technical support of your hosting service
to do it for you.
To help you out, we've gathered some instructions on how to do that
for the most popular hosting services:
- [Amazon](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/gettingstarted/latest/swh/getting-started-configure-route53.html)
- [Bluehost](https://my.bluehost.com/cgi/help/559)
- [CloudFlare](https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200169096-How-do-I-add-A-records-)
- [cPanel](https://documentation.cpanel.net/display/ALD/Edit+DNS+Zone)
- [DreamHost](https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/215414867-How-do-I-add-custom-DNS-records-)
- [Go Daddy](https://www.godaddy.com/help/add-an-a-record-19238)
- [Hostgator](http://support.hostgator.com/articles/changing-dns-records)
- [Inmotion hosting](https://my.bluehost.com/cgi/help/559)
- [Media Temple](https://mediatemple.net/community/products/dv/204403794/how-can-i-change-the-dns-records-for-my-domain)
- [Microsoft](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727018.aspx)
If your hosting service is not listed above, you can just try to
search the web for "how to add dns record on <my hosting service>".
#### DNS A record
In case you want to point a root domain (`example.com`) to your
GitLab Pages site, deployed to `namespace.gitlab.io`, you need to
log into your domain's admin control panel and add a DNS `A` record
pointing your domain to Pages' server IP address. For projects on
GitLab.com, this IP is `104.208.235.32`. For projects leaving in
other GitLab instances (CE or EE), please contact your sysadmin
asking for this information (which IP address is Pages server
running on your instance).
**Practical Example:**
![DNS A record pointing to GitLab.com Pages server](img/dns_a_record_example.png)
#### DNS CNAME record
In case you want to point a subdomain (`hello-world.example.com`)
to your GitLab Pages site initially deployed to `namespace.gitlab.io`,
you need to log into your domain's admin control panel and add a DNS
`CNAME` record pointing your subdomain to your website URL
(`namespace.gitlab.io`) address.
Notice that, despite it's a user or project website, the `CNAME`
should point to your Pages domain (`namespace.gitlab.io`),
without any `/project-name`.
**Practical Example:**
![DNS CNAME record pointing to GitLab.com project](img/dns_cname_record_example.png)
#### TL;DR
| From | DNS Record | To |
| ---- | ---------- | -- |
| domain.com | A | 104.208.235.32 |
| subdomain.domain.com | CNAME | namespace.gitlab.io |
> **Notes**:
>
> - **Do not** use a CNAME record if you want to point your
`domain.com` to your GitLab Pages site. Use an `A` record instead.
> - **Do not** add any special chars after the default Pages
domain. E.g., **do not** point your `subdomain.domain.com` to
`namespace.gitlab.io.` or `namespace.gitlab.io/`.
### SSL/TLS Certificates
Every GitLab Pages project on GitLab.com will be available under
HTTPS for the default Pages domain (`*.gitlab.io`). Once you set
up your Pages project with your custom (sub)domain, if you want
it secured by HTTPS, you will have to issue a certificate for that
(sub)domain and install it on your project.
>**Note:**
Certificates are NOT required to add to your custom
(sub)domain on your GitLab Pages project, though they are
highly recommendable.
The importance of having any website securely served under HTTPS
is explained on the introductory section of the blog post
[Secure GitLab Pages with StartSSL](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/24/secure-gitlab-pages-with-startssl/#https-a-quick-overview).
The reason why certificates are so important is that they encrypt
the connection between the **client** (you, me, your visitors)
and the **server** (where you site lives), through a keychain of
authentications and validations.
### Issuing Certificates
GitLab Pages accepts [PEM](https://support.quovadisglobal.com/kb/a37/what-is-pem-format.aspx) certificates issued by
[Certificate Authorities (CA)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_authority)
and self-signed certificates. Of course,
[you'd rather issue a certificate than generate a self-signed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-signed_certificate),
for security reasons and for having browsers trusting your
site's certificate.
There are several different kinds of certificates, each one
with certain security level. A static personal website will
not require the same security level as an online banking web app,
for instance. There are a couple Certificate Authorities that
offer free certificates, aiming to make the internet more secure
to everyone. The most popular is [Let's Encrypt](https://letsencrypt.org/),
which issues certificates trusted by most of browsers, it's open
source, and free to use. Please read through this tutorial to
understand [how to secure your GitLab Pages website with Let's Encrypt](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/04/11/tutorial-securing-your-gitlab-pages-with-tls-and-letsencrypt/).
With the same popularity, there are [certificates issued by CloudFlare](https://www.cloudflare.com/ssl/),
which also offers a [free CDN service](https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflares-free-cdn-and-you/).
Their certs are valid up to 15 years. Read through the tutorial on
[how to add a CloudFlare Certificate to your GitLab Pages website](https://about.gitlab.com/2017/02/07/setting-up-gitlab-pages-with-cloudflare-certificates/).
### Adding certificates to your project
Regardless the CA you choose, the steps to add your certificate to
your Pages project are the same.
#### What do you need
1. A PEM certificate
1. An intermediate certificate
1. A public key
![Pages project - adding certificates](img/add_certificate_to_pages.png)
These fields are found under your **Project**'s **Settings** > **Pages** > **New Domain**.
#### What's what?
- A PEM certificate is the certificate generated by the CA,
which needs to be added to the field **Certificate (PEM)**.
- An [intermediate certificate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermediate_certificate_authority) (aka "root certificate") is
the part of the encryption keychain that identifies the CA.
Usually it's combined with the PEM certificate, but there are
some cases in which you need to add them manually.
[CloudFlare certs](https://about.gitlab.com/2017/02/07/setting-up-gitlab-pages-with-cloudflare-certificates/)
are one of these cases.
- A public key is an encrypted key which validates
your PEM against your domain.
#### Now what?
Now that you hopefully understand why you need all
of this, it's simple:
- Your PEM certificate needs to be added to the first field
- If your certificate is missing its intermediate, copy
and paste the root certificate (usually available from your CA website)
and paste it in the [same field as your PEM certificate](https://about.gitlab.com/2017/02/07/setting-up-gitlab-pages-with-cloudflare-certificates/),
just jumping a line between them.
- Copy your public key and paste it in the last field
>**Note:**
**Do not** open certificates or encryption keys in
regular text editors. Always use code editors (such as
Sublime Text, Atom, Dreamweaver, Brackets, etc).
|||
|:--|--:|
||[**Part 2: Quick start guide - Setting up GitLab Pages →**](getting_started_part_two.md)|
# GitLab Pages from A to Z: Part 3
- _[Part 1: Static Sites, Domains, DNS Records, and SSL/TLS Certificates](getting_started_part_one.md)_
- _[Part 2: Quick Start Guide - Setting Up GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_two.md)_
- **Part 3: Creating and Tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages**
---
## Creating and Tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages
[GitLab CI](https://about.gitlab.com/gitlab-ci/) serves
numerous purposes, to build, test, and deploy your app
from GitLab through
[Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Continuous Deployment](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/08/05/continuous-integration-delivery-and-deployment-with-gitlab/)
methods. You will need it to build your website with GitLab Pages,
and deploy it to the Pages server.
What this file actually does is telling the
[GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/) to run scripts
as you would do from the command line. The Runner acts as your
terminal. GitLab CI tells the Runner which commands to run.
Both are built-in in GitLab, and you don't need to set up
anything for them to work.
Explaining [every detail of GitLab CI](https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/ci/yaml/README.html)
and GitLab Runner is out of the scope of this guide, but we'll
need to understand just a few things to be able to write our own
`.gitlab-ci.yml` or tweak an existing one. It's an
[Yaml](http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/YAMLSyntax.html) file,
with its own syntax. You can always check your CI syntax with
the [GitLab CI Lint Tool](https://gitlab.com/ci/lint).
- [Part 1: Static sites and GitLab Pages domains](getting_started_part_one.md)
- [Part 2: Quick start guide - Setting up GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_two.md)
- **Part 3: Setting Up Custom Domains - DNS Records and SSL/TLS Certificates**
- [Part 4: Creating and tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_four.md)
## Setting Up Custom Domains - DNS Records and SSL/TLS Certificates
As described in the previous part of this series, setting up GitLab Pages with custom domains, and adding SSL/TLS certificates to them, are optional features of GitLab Pages.
These steps assume you've already [set your site up](getting_started_part_two.md) and and it's served under the default Pages domain `namespace.gitlab.io`, or `namespace.gitlab.io/project-name`.
### DNS Records
A Domain Name System (DNS) web service routes visitors to websites
by translating domain names (such as `www.example.com`) into the
numeric IP addresses (such as `192.0.2.1`) that computers use to
connect to each other.
A DNS record is created to point a (sub)domain to a certain location,
which can be an IP address or another domain. In case you want to use
GitLab Pages with your own (sub)domain, you need to access your domain's
registrar control panel to add a DNS record pointing it back to your
GitLab Pages site.
Note that **how to** add DNS records depends on which server your domain
is hosted on. Every control panel has its own place to do it. If you are
not an admin of your domain, and don't have access to your registrar,
you'll need to ask for the technical support of your hosting service
to do it for you.
To help you out, we've gathered some instructions on how to do that
for the most popular hosting services:
- [Amazon](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/gettingstarted/latest/swh/getting-started-configure-route53.html)
- [Bluehost](https://my.bluehost.com/cgi/help/559)
- [CloudFlare](https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200169096-How-do-I-add-A-records-)
- [cPanel](https://documentation.cpanel.net/display/ALD/Edit+DNS+Zone)
- [DreamHost](https://help.dreamhost.com/hc/en-us/articles/215414867-How-do-I-add-custom-DNS-records-)
- [Go Daddy](https://www.godaddy.com/help/add-an-a-record-19238)
- [Hostgator](http://support.hostgator.com/articles/changing-dns-records)
- [Inmotion hosting](https://my.bluehost.com/cgi/help/559)
- [Media Temple](https://mediatemple.net/community/products/dv/204403794/how-can-i-change-the-dns-records-for-my-domain)
- [Microsoft](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727018.aspx)
If your hosting service is not listed above, you can just try to
search the web for "how to add dns record on <my hosting service>".
#### DNS A record
In case you want to point a root domain (`example.com`) to your
GitLab Pages site, deployed to `namespace.gitlab.io`, you need to
log into your domain's admin control panel and add a DNS `A` record
pointing your domain to Pages' server IP address. For projects on
GitLab.com, this IP is `104.208.235.32`. For projects leaving in
other GitLab instances (CE or EE), please contact your sysadmin
asking for this information (which IP address is Pages server
running on your instance).
**Practical Example:**
Let's consider you have a [Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/) site.
To build it locally, you would open your terminal, and run `jekyll build`.
Of course, before building it, you had to install Jekyll in your computer.
For that, you had to open your terminal and run `gem install jekyll`.
Right? GitLab CI + GitLab Runner do the same thing. But you need to
write in the `.gitlab-ci.yml` the script you want to run so
GitLab Runner will do it for you. It looks more complicated then it
is. What you need to tell the Runner:
```
$ gem install jekyll
$ jekyll build
```
### Script
To transpose this script to Yaml, it would be like this:
```yaml
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build
```
### Job
So far so good. Now, each `script`, in GitLab is organized by
a `job`, which is a bunch of scripts and settings you want to
apply to that specific task.
```yaml
job:
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build
```
For GitLab Pages, this `job` has a specific name, called `pages`,
which tells the Runner you want that task to deploy your website
with GitLab Pages:
```yaml
pages:
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build
```
### The `public` directory
We also need to tell Jekyll where do you want the website to build,
and GitLab Pages will only consider files in a directory called `public`.
To do that with Jekyll, we need to add a flag specifying the
[destination (`-d`)](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/usage/) of the
built website: `jekyll build -d public`. Of course, we need
to tell this to our Runner:
```yaml
pages:
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build -d public
```
### Artifacts
We also need to tell the Runner that this _job_ generates
_artifacts_, which is the site built by Jekyll.
Where are these artifacts stored? In the `public` directory:
```yaml
pages:
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
```
The script above would be enough to build your Jekyll
site with GitLab Pages. But, from Jekyll 3.4.0 on, its default
template originated by `jekyll new project` requires
[Bundler](http://bundler.io/) to install Jekyll dependencies
and the default theme. To adjust our script to meet these new
requirements, we only need to install and build Jekyll with Bundler:
```yaml
pages:
script:
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
```
That's it! A `.gitlab-ci.yml` with the content above would deploy
your Jekyll 3.4.0 site with GitLab Pages. This is the minimum
configuration for our example. On the steps below, we'll refine
the script by adding extra options to our GitLab CI.
### Image
At this point, you probably ask yourself: "okay, but to install Jekyll
I need Ruby. Where is Ruby on that script?". The answer is simple: the
first thing GitLab Runner will look for in your `.gitlab-ci.yml` is a
[Docker](https://www.docker.com/) image specifying what do you need in
your container to run that script:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.3
pages:
script:
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
```
In this case, you're telling the Runner to pull this image, which
contains Ruby 2.3 as part of its file system. When you don't specify
this image in your configuration, the Runner will use a default
image, which is Ruby 2.1.
If your SSG needs [NodeJS](https://nodejs.org/) to build, you'll
need to specify which image you want to use, and this image should
contain NodeJS as part of its file system. E.g., for a
[Hexo](https://gitlab.com/pages/hexo) site, you can use `image: node:4.2.2`.
![DNS A record pointing to GitLab.com Pages server](img/dns_a_record_example.png)
#### DNS CNAME record
In case you want to point a subdomain (`hello-world.example.com`)
to your GitLab Pages site initially deployed to `namespace.gitlab.io`,
you need to log into your domain's admin control panel and add a DNS
`CNAME` record pointing your subdomain to your website URL
(`namespace.gitlab.io`) address.
Notice that, despite it's a user or project website, the `CNAME`
should point to your Pages domain (`namespace.gitlab.io`),
without any `/project-name`.
**Practical Example:**
![DNS CNAME record pointing to GitLab.com project](img/dns_cname_record_example.png)
#### TL;DR
| From | DNS Record | To |
| ---- | ---------- | -- |
| domain.com | A | 104.208.235.32 |
| subdomain.domain.com | CNAME | namespace.gitlab.io |
> **Notes**:
>
> - **Do not** use a CNAME record if you want to point your
`domain.com` to your GitLab Pages site. Use an `A` record instead.
> - **Do not** add any special chars after the default Pages
domain. E.g., **do not** point your `subdomain.domain.com` to
`namespace.gitlab.io.` or `namespace.gitlab.io/`.
### SSL/TLS Certificates
Every GitLab Pages project on GitLab.com will be available under
HTTPS for the default Pages domain (`*.gitlab.io`). Once you set
up your Pages project with your custom (sub)domain, if you want
it secured by HTTPS, you will have to issue a certificate for that
(sub)domain and install it on your project.
>**Note:**
Certificates are NOT required to add to your custom
(sub)domain on your GitLab Pages project, though they are
highly recommendable.
The importance of having any website securely served under HTTPS
is explained on the introductory section of the blog post
[Secure GitLab Pages with StartSSL](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/24/secure-gitlab-pages-with-startssl/#https-a-quick-overview).
The reason why certificates are so important is that they encrypt
the connection between the **client** (you, me, your visitors)
and the **server** (where you site lives), through a keychain of
authentications and validations.
### Issuing Certificates
GitLab Pages accepts [PEM](https://support.quovadisglobal.com/kb/a37/what-is-pem-format.aspx) certificates issued by
[Certificate Authorities (CA)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_authority)
and self-signed certificates. Of course,
[you'd rather issue a certificate than generate a self-signed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-signed_certificate),
for security reasons and for having browsers trusting your
site's certificate.
There are several different kinds of certificates, each one
with certain security level. A static personal website will
not require the same security level as an online banking web app,
for instance. There are a couple Certificate Authorities that
offer free certificates, aiming to make the internet more secure
to everyone. The most popular is [Let's Encrypt](https://letsencrypt.org/),
which issues certificates trusted by most of browsers, it's open
source, and free to use. Please read through this tutorial to
understand [how to secure your GitLab Pages website with Let's Encrypt](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/04/11/tutorial-securing-your-gitlab-pages-with-tls-and-letsencrypt/).
With the same popularity, there are [certificates issued by CloudFlare](https://www.cloudflare.com/ssl/),
which also offers a [free CDN service](https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflares-free-cdn-and-you/).
Their certs are valid up to 15 years. Read through the tutorial on
[how to add a CloudFlare Certificate to your GitLab Pages website](https://about.gitlab.com/2017/02/07/setting-up-gitlab-pages-with-cloudflare-certificates/).
### Adding certificates to your project
Regardless the CA you choose, the steps to add your certificate to
your Pages project are the same.
#### What do you need
1. A PEM certificate
1. An intermediate certificate
1. A public key
![Pages project - adding certificates](img/add_certificate_to_pages.png)
These fields are found under your **Project**'s **Settings** > **Pages** > **New Domain**.
#### What's what?
- A PEM certificate is the certificate generated by the CA,
which needs to be added to the field **Certificate (PEM)**.
- An [intermediate certificate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermediate_certificate_authority) (aka "root certificate") is
the part of the encryption keychain that identifies the CA.
Usually it's combined with the PEM certificate, but there are
some cases in which you need to add them manually.
[CloudFlare certs](https://about.gitlab.com/2017/02/07/setting-up-gitlab-pages-with-cloudflare-certificates/)
are one of these cases.
- A public key is an encrypted key which validates
your PEM against your domain.
#### Now what?
Now that you hopefully understand why you need all
of this, it's simple:
- Your PEM certificate needs to be added to the first field
- If your certificate is missing its intermediate, copy
and paste the root certificate (usually available from your CA website)
and paste it in the [same field as your PEM certificate](https://about.gitlab.com/2017/02/07/setting-up-gitlab-pages-with-cloudflare-certificates/),
just jumping a line between them.
- Copy your public key and paste it in the last field
>**Note:**
We're not trying to explain what a Docker image is,
we just need to introduce the concept with a minimum viable
explanation. To know more about Docker images, please visit
their website or take a look at a
[summarized explanation](http://paislee.io/how-to-automate-docker-deployments/) here.
Let's go a little further.
### Branching
If you use GitLab as a version control platform, you will have your
branching strategy to work on your project. Meaning, you will have
other branches in your project, but you'll want only pushes to the
default branch (usually `master`) to be deployed to your website.
To do that, we need to add another line to our CI, telling the Runner
to only perform that _job_ called `pages` on the `master` branch `only`:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.3
pages:
script:
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
only:
- master
```
### Stages
Another interesting concept to keep in mind are build stages.
Your web app can pass through a lot of tests and other tasks
until it's deployed to staging or production environments.
There are three default stages on GitLab CI: build, test,
and deploy. To specify which stage your _job_ is running,
simply add another line to your CI:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.3
pages:
stage: deploy
script:
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
only:
- master
```
You might ask yourself: "why should I bother with stages
at all?" Well, let's say you want to be able to test your
script and check the built site before deploying your site
to production. You want to run the test exactly as your
script will do when you push to `master`. It's simple,
let's add another task (_job_) to our CI, telling it to
test every push to other branches, `except` the `master` branch:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.3
pages:
stage: deploy
script:
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
only:
- master
test:
stage: test
script:
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d test
artifacts:
paths:
- test
except:
- master
```
The `test` job is running on the stage `test`, Jekyll
will build the site in a directory called `test`, and
this job will affect all the branches except `master`.
The best benefit of applying _stages_ to different
_jobs_ is that every job in the same stage builds in
parallel. So, if your web app needs more than one test
before being deployed, you can run all your test at the
same time, it's not necessary to wait one test to finish
to run the other. Of course, this is just a brief
introduction of GitLab CI and GitLab Runner, which are
tools much more powerful than that. This is what you
need to be able to create and tweak your builds for
your GitLab Pages site.
### Before Script
To avoid running the same script multiple times across
your _jobs_, you can add the parameter `before_script`,
in which you specify which commands you want to run for
every single _job_. In our example, notice that we run
`bundle install` for both jobs, `pages` and `test`.
We don't need to repeat it:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.3
before_script:
- bundle install
pages:
stage: deploy
script:
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
only:
- master
test:
stage: test
script:
- bundle exec jekyll build -d test
artifacts:
paths:
- test
except:
- master
```
### Caching Dependencies
If you want to cache the installation files for your
projects dependencies, for building faster, you can
use the parameter `cache`. For this example, we'll
cache Jekyll dependencies in a `vendor` directory
when we run `bundle install`:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.3
cache:
paths:
- vendor/
before_script:
- bundle install --path vendor
pages:
stage: deploy
script:
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
only:
- master
test:
stage: test
script:
- bundle exec jekyll build -d test
artifacts:
paths:
- test
except:
- master
```
For this specific case, we need to exclude `/vendor`
from Jekyll `_config.yml` file, otherwise Jekyll will
understand it as a regular directory to build
together with the site:
```yml
exclude:
- vendor
```
There we go! Now our GitLab CI not only builds our website,
but also **continuously test** pushes to feature-branches,
**caches** dependencies installed with Bundler, and
**continuously deploy** every push to the `master` branch.
## Advanced GitLab CI for GitLab Pages
What you can do with GitLab CI is pretty much up to your
creativity. Once you get used to it, you start creating
awesome scripts that automate most of tasks you'd do
manually in the past. Read through the
[documentation of GitLab CI](https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/ci/yaml/README.html)
to understand how to go even further on your scripts.
- On this blog post, understand the concept of
[using GitLab CI `environments` to deploy your
web app to staging and production](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/08/26/ci-deployment-and-environments/).
- On this post, learn [how to run jobs sequentially,
in parallel, or build a custom pipeline](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/07/29/the-basics-of-gitlab-ci/)
- On this blog post, we go through the process of
[pulling specific directories from different projects](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/12/07/building-a-new-gitlab-docs-site-with-nanoc-gitlab-ci-and-gitlab-pages/)
to deploy this website you're looking at, docs.gitlab.com.
- On this blog post, we teach you [how to use GitLab Pages to produce a code coverage report](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/11/03/publish-code-coverage-report-with-gitlab-pages/).
**Do not** open certificates or encryption keys in
regular text editors. Always use code editors (such as
Sublime Text, Atom, Dreamweaver, Brackets, etc).
|||
|:--|--:|
|[**← Part 2: Quick start guide - Setting up GitLab Pages**](getting_started_part_two.md)||
|[**← Part 2: Quick start guide - Setting up GitLab Pages**](getting_started_part_two.md)|[**Part 4: Creating and tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages →**](getting_started_part_four.md)|
# GitLab Pages from A to Z: Part 2
> Type: user guide
>
> Level: beginner
- _[Part 1: Static Sites, Domains, DNS Records, and SSL/TLS Certificates](getting_started_part_one.md)_
- **Part 2: Quick Start Guide - Setting Up GitLab Pages**
- _[Part 3: Creating and Tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_three.md)_
----
- [Part 1: Static sites and GitLab Pages domains](getting_started_part_one.md)
- **Part 2: Quick start guide - Setting up GitLab Pages**
- [Part 3: Setting Up Custom Domains - DNS Records and SSL/TLS Certificates](getting_started_part_three.md)
- [Part 4: Creating and tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_four.md)
## Setting up GitLab Pages
......@@ -30,6 +25,8 @@ Optional Features:
1. **Optional**: an SSL/TLS certificate so your custom
domain is accessible under HTTPS.
The optional settings, custom domain, DNS records, and SSL/TLS certificates, are described in [Part 3](getting_started_part_three.md)).
## Project
Your GitLab Pages project is a regular project created the
......@@ -106,7 +103,7 @@ where you'll find its default URL.
> - GitLab Pages [supports any SSG](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/17/ssg-overview-gitlab-pages-part-3-examples-ci/), but,
if you don't find yours among the templates, you'll need
to configure your own `.gitlab-ci.yml`. Do do that, please
read through the article [Creating and Tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_three.md). New SSGs are very welcome among
read through the article [Creating and Tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_four.md). New SSGs are very welcome among
the [example projects](https://gitlab.com/pages). If you set
up a new one, please
[contribute](https://gitlab.com/pages/pages.gitlab.io/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)
......@@ -147,6 +144,11 @@ example we've just mentioned, you'd have to change Jekyll's `_config.yml` to:
baseurl: ""
```
### Custom Domains
GitLab Pages supports custom domains and subdomains, served under HTTPS or HTTPS.
Please check the [next part](getting_started_part_three.md) of this series for an overview.
|||
|:--|--:|
|[**← Part 1: Static sites, domains, DNS records, and SSL/TLS certificates**](getting_started_part_one.md)|[**Part 3: Creating and tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages →**](getting_started_part_three.md)|
|[**← Part 1: Static sites, domains, DNS records, and SSL/TLS certificates**](getting_started_part_one.md)|[**Setting Up Custom Domains - DNS Records and SSL/TLS Certificates →**](getting_started_part_three.md)|
# All you need to know about GitLab Pages
# GitLab Pages documentation
With GitLab Pages you can create static websites for your GitLab projects,
groups, or user accounts. You can use any static website generator: Jekyll,
Middleman, Hexo, Hugo, Pelican, you name it! Connect as many customs domains
as you like and bring your own TLS certificate to secure them.
Here's some info we have gathered to get you started.
Here's some info we've gathered to get you started.
## General info
- [Product webpage](https://pages.gitlab.io)
- [We're bringing GitLab Pages to CE](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/12/24/were-bringing-gitlab-pages-to-community-edition/)
- ["We're bringing GitLab Pages to CE" blog post](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/12/24/were-bringing-gitlab-pages-to-community-edition/)
- [Pages group - templates](https://gitlab.com/pages)
- [General user documentation](introduction.md)
- [Admin documentation - Set GitLab Pages on your own GitLab instance](../../../administration/pages/index.md)
## Getting started
- GitLab Pages from A to Z
- [Part 1: Static sites, domains, DNS records, and SSL/TLS certificates](getting_started_part_one.md)
- **GitLab Pages from A to Z**
- [Part 1: Static sites and GitLab Pages domains](getting_started_part_one.md)
- [Part 2: Quick start guide - Setting up GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_two.md)
- [Part 3: Creating and tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_three.md)
- [Hosting on GitLab.com with GitLab Pages](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/04/07/gitlab-pages-setup/) a comprehensive step-by-step guide
- Secure GitLab Pages custom domain with SSL/TLS certificates
- [Let's Encrypt](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/04/11/tutorial-securing-your-gitlab-pages-with-tls-and-letsencrypt/)
- [CloudFlare](https://about.gitlab.com/2017/02/07/setting-up-gitlab-pages-with-cloudflare-certificates/)
- [StartSSL](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/24/secure-gitlab-pages-with-startssl/)
- Static Site Generators - Blog posts series
- [Part 3: Setting Up Custom Domains - DNS Records and SSL/TLS Certificates](getting_started_part_three.md)
- [Part 4: Creating and tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages](getting_started_part_four.md)
- **Static Site Generators - Blog posts series**
- [SSGs part 1: Static vs dynamic websites](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/03/ssg-overview-gitlab-pages-part-1-dynamic-x-static/)
- [SSGs part 2: Modern static site generators](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/10/ssg-overview-gitlab-pages-part-2/)
- [SSGs part 3: Build any SSG site with GitLab Pages](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/17/ssg-overview-gitlab-pages-part-3-examples-ci/)
- [Posting to your GitLab Pages blog from iOS](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/08/19/posting-to-your-gitlab-pages-blog-from-ios/)
- **Secure GitLab Pages custom domain with SSL/TLS certificates**
- [Let's Encrypt](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/04/11/tutorial-securing-your-gitlab-pages-with-tls-and-letsencrypt/)
- [CloudFlare](https://about.gitlab.com/2017/02/07/setting-up-gitlab-pages-with-cloudflare-certificates/)
- [StartSSL](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/24/secure-gitlab-pages-with-startssl/)
- **General**
- [Hosting on GitLab.com with GitLab Pages](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/04/07/gitlab-pages-setup/) a comprehensive step-by-step guide
- [Posting to your GitLab Pages blog from iOS](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/08/19/posting-to-your-gitlab-pages-blog-from-ios/)
## Video tutorials
- [How to publish a website with GitLab Pages on GitLab.com: from a forked project](https://youtu.be/TWqh9MtT4Bg)
- [How to Enable GitLab Pages for GitLab CE and EE](https://youtu.be/dD8c7WNcc6s)
- [How to Enable GitLab Pages for GitLab CE and EE (for Admins only)](https://youtu.be/dD8c7WNcc6s)
## Advanced use
- Blog Posts:
- **Blog Posts**
- [GitLab CI: Run jobs sequentially, in parallel, or build a custom pipeline](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/07/29/the-basics-of-gitlab-ci/)
- [GitLab CI: Deployment & environments](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/08/26/ci-deployment-and-environments/)
- [Building a new GitLab docs site with Nanoc, GitLab CI, and GitLab Pages](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/12/07/building-a-new-gitlab-docs-site-with-nanoc-gitlab-ci-and-gitlab-pages/)
- [Publish code coverage reports with GitLab Pages](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/11/03/publish-code-coverage-report-with-gitlab-pages/)
## Specific documentation
- [User docs](introduction.md)
- [Admin docs](../../../administration/pages/index.md)
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