December 2016 Summaries

GitLab's open and comprehensive Handbook, accessible to the public, has inspired organizations like UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (UKSEDS) to adopt its principles for managing remote volunteers. Facing internal engagement challenges after a structural change, UKSEDS sought advice from GitLab's Director of Strategic Partnerships, Eliran Mesika. GitLab's approach involves public accountability for individual responsibilities, regular functional group updates, and maintaining communication through specific issues to enhance collaboration and reduce isolation. Their use of daily calls, Slack channels, and centralized asynchronous processes fosters a connected and cohesive remote working environment, even for volunteers, by emphasizing transparency and shared goals.

Wouter van Kuipers, an engineer at the creative agency Lukkien, discussed with GitLab service engineer Lee Matos about their team's use of GitLab, especially focusing on the challenges they face with versioning for design files like Photoshop and InDesign and their transition to GitLab CI for testing. They require a platform that can securely host on-premises, which led them to choose GitLab over competitors. The team is also using Docker for hosting GitLab, which works well but raises concerns about potential limitations for future integrations like Mattermost. Lee emphasized that while Docker is seen as the future, most large-scale GitLab deployments typically use VMs or bare metal. In terms of long-term positioning, GitLab aims to create a cohesive end-to-end development tool akin to Atlassian's suite, distinguishing itself from GitHub by focusing on providing a comprehensive, integrated experience from idea to production without relying heavily on third-party integrations.

The text presents a comprehensive tutorial on creating a continuous delivery pipeline using GitLab CI, Spring Boot, and Kubernetes, emphasizing the integration of these technologies to streamline the development and deployment process. It begins by discussing the benefits of continuous integration and deployment, highlighting GitLab's ecosystem for building automated pipelines with ease. The tutorial details the steps to create a Spring Boot application, package it as a Docker container, and deploy it on a Kubernetes cluster, using GitLab's integrated CI/CD tools to automate these tasks. It explains the setup of a GitLab project, the creation of a Maven project using Spring Initializr, and the configuration of a Kubernetes deployment, illustrating how to manage environments and deployments within GitLab. The text underscores the efficiency and agility provided by these tools, demonstrating the advantages of a unified platform for managing source control, issue tracking, and pipelines.

Ev Kontsevoy shares his serendipitous encounters with GitLab CEO Sid Sijbrandij, which led to a collaboration between GitLab and Gravitational, a company specializing in Kubernetes. This partnership focused on optimizing PostgreSQL deployment on Kubernetes and assisting GitLab in adopting Kubernetes for their SaaS operations. The discussion highlights the benefits of Kubernetes for resource management and cost reduction, comparing its potential industry dominance to historical shifts like Windows versus Linux. Kontsevoy sees Kubernetes and DC/OS as leading platforms, driven by support from major tech companies such as IBM, Red Hat, and Google. Despite competition from Docker Swarm, Kubernetes is seen as a dominant force due to its backing and open-source nature. Additionally, Gravitational contributed to integrating a Terminal feature within GitLab, enhancing user access to Kubernetes containers directly from the GitLab environment.

GitLab.com is planning to transition from cloud hosting to owning and managing its servers to enhance performance and cost-efficiency. The plan involves purchasing and configuring various hardware components such as chassis, servers, CPUs, memory, storage, and network equipment, with a focus on building a fault-tolerant and performant CephFS cluster. The initiative aims to accommodate the rapidly growing data needs, currently at 96TB, by utilizing high-density server configurations and a blend of SSD and HDD storage solutions for optimal performance. The strategy also includes the use of Kubernetes for workload distribution and a combination of Bcache and CephFS for storage efficiency. Networking will rely on dual 10Gbps connections to handle data access and replication, while backup solutions are being explored with options like Google Nearline and Bareos. The transition is motivated by a desire to reduce hosting costs, which are notably high in the cloud, and to provide scalability that aligns with GitLab's growth projections. Additionally, hosting facility features and installation logistics are being considered to ensure a seamless transition.

Evaluating the GitLab Enterprise Edition (EE) during a free trial can be challenging without clear criteria, which is why a spreadsheet created by a major EE customer is offered to help users make informed decisions. This tool allows users to customize their evaluation process by adding other products for comparison, incorporating additional tests, and creating an evaluation timeline to maximize the trial experience. GitLab encourages users to contribute feedback and collaborate in refining the evaluation process, aiming to determine whether GitLab EE is the best fit for their company. Users are advised to engage with the sales team for any questions or feedback, ensuring a thorough trial process.

GitLab has introduced the GitLab Enterprise Edition (EE) Premium plan, aimed at global organizations requiring support for remote teams, premium assistance, high availability, and advanced workflow controls. Priced at $199 per user annually, this plan consolidates features previously offered as separate purchases, such as GitLab Geo for improved remote team productivity, file locking for better file management, and a Pivotal Tile for easier deployment in Pivotal Cloud Foundry. The EE Premium plan enhances customer experience by providing faster support response times and eliminating the need for multiple product purchases, thus simplifying the ordering process and encouraging broader usage and feedback. Existing enterprise customers will benefit from faster support and bundled features, with a 25% discount on early renewals offered until January 31, 2017, and a free trial of additional products and services until contract renewal. The former enterprise plan is now rebranded as GitLab Enterprise Edition Starter, maintaining the same features and pricing as before.

Git, a powerful version control system, offers numerous commands and features that can enhance workflow efficiency, yet many users are unaware of these capabilities. At GitLab, a variety of tips and tricks are employed to optimize Git usage, including utilizing Git's built-in help system to better understand commands, employing autocompletion scripts for command efficiency, and leveraging plugins like git-extras and git-open to extend functionality. Users are encouraged to customize their Git experience through the .gitconfig file, setting global ignore files, enabling autosquash for interactive rebase, and changing default editors and difftools. Additionally, creating aliases within .gitconfig can simplify complex command sequences, while understanding handy shortcuts like using "@" for HEAD and "-" for the previous branch can streamline operations. Despite these tips, the vastness of Git means there is always more to explore and learn, underscoring the importance of continuous learning in mastering its full potential.

GitLab recently overhauled its documentation website, transitioning from a basic Ruby script to a sophisticated static site generator using Nanoc, which provides improved flexibility, readability, and maintenance. This transformation allows for better integration with GitLab Pages, offering syntax highlighting, breadcrumbs, and an enhanced mobile design. The site consolidates documentation from multiple repositories, such as Community Edition, Enterprise Edition, Omnibus GitLab, and GitLab Runner, and is built and deployed using GitLab CI, Review Apps, and GitLab Pages. The process involves cloning repositories, compiling Markdown files with Nanoc, and deploying the static site to GitLab Pages, with specific CI/CD configurations ensuring successful build and deployment while maintaining uniform styles and validating internal links. GitLab Pages facilitates automatic deployment on successful commits, utilizing Docker-based shared Runners and custom configurations to manage review apps and production environments, highlighting GitLab's comprehensive integration capabilities.

New programmers are encouraged to embrace collaborative learning and adhere to best practices in software development, as outlined in a guide that emphasizes the importance of planning, documentation, and following coding standards. Engaging with other programmers through meet-ups and projects helps in gaining diverse perspectives and avoiding bad habits early on. Proper planning before coding is crucial to prevent poorly designed applications and maintainable codebases, with GitLab's issue board and resources like "The Pragmatic Programmer" serving as valuable tools. Following established coding conventions, contributing to open-source projects, and documenting code effectively are highlighted as essential practices for long-term success. The guide also invites experienced developers to provide feedback and encourages newcomers to explore GitLab's contribution opportunities.

At the DevOps Enterprise Summit (DOES) 2016, Haydn Mackay, U.S. Sales Director for GitLab, discussed the company's open-source code collaboration platform and its evolution since its inception in 2013. Highlighting GitLab's growth and distinction from GitHub, Mackay emphasized GitLab's integration of version control, issue tracking, code review, and CI/CD in one application, appealing to both community users and Enterprise Edition subscribers, including major clients like Disney, Akamai, and IBM. The conversation touched on the increasing industry trend of embracing open-source tools and best practices, noting that developers prefer platforms that allow contributions to the tools they use regularly. Continuous delivery was discussed as a process allowing for immediate releases, which GitLab practices with a regular release schedule but can adapt for urgent updates. Moreover, the open-source community's contributions, like GitLab CI, illustrate the platform's collaborative nature. The discussion also addressed the balance companies must maintain when utilizing open-source tools, weighing the benefits against concerns like reliability and support, while GitLab continues to focus on providing on-premise solutions.

GitLab is a fully remote company that fosters a unique company culture through various virtual and in-person interactions, despite the potential isolation of remote work. Daily team calls provide updates and personal glimpses into colleagues' lives, helping to create an approachable and connected environment, as there are no literal or metaphorical "floors" separating team members. Regular one-on-one coffee break calls serve as virtual water cooler moments, allowing employees to chat casually with colleagues worldwide. The company also hosts summits every nine months, which have taken place in cities like Amsterdam and Austin, with plans for Cancun, to strengthen team bonds through face-to-face interactions. Additionally, some employees, like Douwe and Robert, have embraced the remote lifestyle by embarking on a World Tour, working from various countries and meeting colleagues along the way, inspiring others to explore similar travel opportunities while staying connected.

Vaadin, an open-source UI development company with over 170 employees and 150,000 active users, transitioned to GitLab to streamline its project management and reduce administrative overhead, having previously used a combination of Gitolite, Trac, and other platforms. The IT manager, Mikael Vappula, found GitLab to be a suitable choice for centralizing their diverse tools, thus improving efficiency and reducing time lost by developers due to fragmented systems. The migration to GitLab, facilitated by the Omnibus distribution, was smooth, allowing the company to consolidate resources to a single server and configuration file for its 200 internal projects. The integration with Vaadin's CAS-powered authentication system required attention, but the transition was generally well-received by the team, who valued the flexibility and open-minded culture that allowed them to choose their tools. GitLab's features, such as cross-linking issues and merges, have notably enhanced workflow, collaboration, and communication within the team.

The blog post from 2016 discusses keeping a Git fork automatically updated with its upstream repository on GitLab, highlighting that while forking allows users to contribute to projects they don't have access to, staying updated with the upstream's master branch is crucial to avoid merge conflicts. The traditional process involves manually pulling updates from the upstream repository, which can be time-consuming and repetitive, especially if done multiple times a day. GitLab offers a solution through Repository Mirroring, where users can set up their fork to automatically mirror the upstream repository by navigating to the mirror settings, adding the upstream's URL, and enabling automatic mirroring. This automation ensures that the fork remains current, allowing users to focus on their contributions, with GitLab handling the synchronization. The post also mentions that public projects are easier to mirror due to fewer authentication requirements, although private projects can also be mirrored if the user is a member of the project or group. The author encourages readers to share their own solutions and feedback in the comments to benefit the community.