---
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/#assignments
---

# GitLab.com settings **(FREE SAAS)**

This page contains information about the settings that are used on GitLab.com, available to
[GitLab SaaS](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) customers.

## Password requirements

GitLab.com has the following requirements for passwords on new accounts and password changes:

- Minimum character length 8 characters.
- Maximum character length 128 characters.
- All characters are accepted. For example, `~`, `!`, `@`, `#`, `$`, `%`, `^`, `&`, `*`, `()`,
  `[]`, `_`, `+`,  `=`, and `-`.

## SSH key restrictions

GitLab.com uses the default [SSH key restrictions](../../security/ssh_keys_restrictions.md).

## SSH host keys fingerprints

Below are the fingerprints for SSH host keys on GitLab.com. The first time you
connect to a GitLab.com repository, one of these keys is displayed in the output.

| Algorithm        | MD5 (deprecated) | SHA256  |
|------------------|------------------|---------|
| 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` |
| 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` |

## 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 by using [Mailgun](https://www.mailgun.com/),
and has its own dedicated IP address (`192.237.158.143`).

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

### Service Desk custom mailbox

On GitLab.com, there's a mailbox configured for Service Desk with the email address:
`contact-project+%{key}@incoming.gitlab.com`. To use this mailbox, configure the
[custom suffix](../project/service_desk.md#configuring-a-custom-email-address-suffix) in project
settings.

## Backups

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

To back up an entire project on GitLab.com, you can export it either:

- [Through the UI](../project/settings/import_export.md).
- [Through the API](../../api/project_import_export.md#schedule-an-export). You
  can also use the API to programmatically upload exports to a storage platform,
  such as Amazon S3.

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

GitLab is built on Git, so you can back up just the repository of a project by
[cloning](../../gitlab-basics/start-using-git.md#clone-a-repository) it to
another computer.
Similarly, you can clone a project's wiki to back it up. All files
[uploaded after August 22, 2020](../project/wiki/index.md#create-a-new-wiki-page)
are included when cloning.

## Delayed project deletion **(PREMIUM SAAS)**

Top-level groups created after August 12, 2021 have delayed project deletion enabled by default.
Projects are permanently deleted after a seven-day delay.

You can disable this by changing the [group setting](../group/index.md#enable-delayed-project-removal).

## Alternative SSH port

GitLab.com can be reached by using 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    | **{check-circle}** Yes | **{dotted-circle}** No |
| TLS certificates support  | **{check-circle}** Yes | **{dotted-circle}** No |
| Maximum size (compressed) | 1 GB                   | 100 MB                 |

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/index.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) | 1 GB        | 100 MB  |
| Artifacts [expiry time](../../ci/yaml/index.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 * * * *` | `3-59/10 * * * *` |
| [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 |
| [Max pipelines per schedule](../../administration/instance_limits.md#limit-the-number-of-pipelines-created-by-a-pipeline-schedule-per-day) | `24` for Free tier, `288` 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 |
| [Max registered runners](../../administration/instance_limits.md#number-of-registered-runners-per-scope) | Free tier: `50` per-group / `50` per-project <br/> All paid tiers: `1_000` per-group  / `1_000` per-project | `1_000` per-group / `1_000` per-project |

## 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 either
[reduce your repository size with Git](../project/repository/reducing_the_repo_size_using_git.md) or [purchase additional storage](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/licensing-faq/#can-i-buy-more-storage).

| Setting                       | GitLab.com  | Default |
|-------------------------------|-------------|---------|
| [Repository size including LFS](../admin_area/settings/account_and_limit_settings.md#repository-size-limit) | 10 GB       | Unlimited     |
| Maximum import size           | 5 GB        | Unlimited ([Modified](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/251106) from 50MB to unlimited in GitLab 13.8.) |
| Maximum attachment size       | 10 MB       | 10 MB   |

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 uses the IP ranges `34.74.90.64/28` and `34.74.226.0/24` 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 GitLab.com shared 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#find_ip_range).

## Hostname list

Add these hostnames when you configure allow-lists in local HTTP(S) proxies,
or other web-blocking software that governs end-user computers. Pages on
GitLab.com load content from these hostnames:

- `gitlab.com`
- `*.gitlab.com`
- `*.gitlab-static.net`
- `*.gitlab.io`
- `*.gitlab.net`

Documentation and Company pages served over `docs.gitlab.com` and `about.gitlab.com`
also load certain page content directly from common public CDN hostnames.

## Webhooks

The following limits apply for [Webhooks](../project/integrations/webhooks.md):

| Setting              | GitLab.com  | Default |
|----------------------|-------------|---------|
| [Webhook rate limit](../../administration/instance_limits.md#webhook-rate-limit) | `120` calls per minute for GitLab Free, unlimited for GitLab Premium and GitLab Ultimate | Unlimited |
| [Number of webhooks](../../administration/instance_limits.md#number-of-webhooks) | `100` per project, `50` per group | `100` per project, `50` per group |
| Maximum payload size | 25 MB       | 25 MB   |

## Shared Build Cloud runners

GitLab has shared runners on GitLab.com that you can use to run your CI jobs.

For more information, see [GitLab Build Cloud runners](../../ci/runners/index.md).

## 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`         | `1`       |

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 we are
[considering adjusting it](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/gl-infra/infrastructure/-/issues/4985).

## Puma

GitLab.com uses the default of 60 seconds for [Puma request timeouts](../../administration/operations/puma.md#worker-timeout).

## GitLab.com-specific rate limits

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

When a request is rate limited, GitLab responds with a `429` status
code. The client should wait before attempting the request again. There
are also informational headers with this response detailed in [rate
limiting responses](#rate-limiting-responses).

The following table describes the rate limits for GitLab.com, both before and
after the limits change in January, 2021:

| Rate limit                                                                | Before 2021-01-18           | From 2021-01-18               | From 2021-02-12               |
|:--------------------------------------------------------------------------|:----------------------------|:------------------------------|:------------------------------|
| **Protected paths** (for a given **IP address**)                          | **10** requests per minute  | **10** requests per minute    | **10** requests per minute    |
| **Raw endpoint** traffic (for a given **project, commit, and file path**) | **300** requests per minute | **300** requests per minute   | **300** requests per minute   |
| **Unauthenticated** traffic (from a given **IP address**)                 | No specific limit           | **500** requests per minute   | **500** requests per minute   |
| **Authenticated** API traffic (for a given **user**)                      | No specific limit           | **2,000** requests per minute | **2,000** requests per minute |
| **Authenticated** non-API HTTP traffic (for a given **user**)             | No specific limit           | **1,000** requests per minute | **1,000** requests per minute |
| **All** traffic (from a given **IP address**)                             | **600** requests per minute | **2,000** requests per minute | **2,000** requests per minute |
| **Issue creation**                                                        |                             | **300** requests per minute   | **300** requests per minute   |
| **Note creation** (on issues and merge requests)                          |                             | **300** requests per minute   | **60** requests per minute    |

More details are available on the rate limits for [protected
paths](#protected-paths-throttle) and [raw
endpoints](../../user/admin_area/settings/rate_limits_on_raw_endpoints.md).

### Rate limiting responses

For information on rate limiting responses, see:

- [List of headers on responses to blocked requests](../admin_area/settings/user_and_ip_rate_limits.md#response-headers).
- [Customizable response text](../admin_area/settings/user_and_ip_rate_limits.md#use-a-custom-rate-limit-response).

### 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.

[User and IP rate limits](../admin_area/settings/user_and_ip_rate_limits.md#response-headers)
includes a list of the headers responded to blocked requests.

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

### IP blocks

IP blocks can occur when GitLab.com receives unusual traffic from a single
IP address that the system views as potentially malicious. This can be based on
rate limit settings. After the unusual traffic ceases, the IP address is
automatically released depending on the type of block, as described in a
following section.

If you receive a `403 Forbidden` error for all requests to GitLab.com,
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.

#### 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.

### 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`.

### Visibility settings

If created before GitLab 12.2 (July 2019), these items have the
[Internal visibility](../../public_access/public_access.md#internal-projects-and-groups)
setting [disabled on GitLab.com](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/12388):

- Projects
- Groups
- Snippets

### 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)
