Decomposing the GitLab backend database, Part 1: Designing and planning

In a strategic move to address scalability issues, GitLab successfully transitioned its monolithic Postgres database into two separate entities—Main and CI—over the course of a year, detailed in their blog series "Decomposing the GitLab Backend Database." Initially motivated by the limitations of a single database, the project was initiated by a database sharding team formed in early 2021, which identified CI tables as ideal for separation due to their significant write traffic. The endeavor involved complex technical challenges, including designing mechanisms like "loose foreign keys" to manage cascading deletes and implementing mirroring for certain data dependencies. The process was broken into seven phases, allowing for incremental changes and testing, ultimately ensuring a smooth transition with minimal risk and clear prioritization of tasks across development and infrastructure teams. This phased approach enabled GitLab to confidently reconfigure their system for a dual-database setup, demonstrating a robust framework for large-scale architectural changes in software infrastructure.

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