GitLab hosting: your own GitLab, kept up by us.
The same GitLab you know, on a server in the Netherlands. Without doing the monthly update yourself.
Short answer
GitLab hosting is your own installation of GitLab on a server only your organisation uses, instead of an account on gitlab.com. Jevana hosts self-hosted GitLab on its own hardware in the Netherlands and does the management: updates, backups, runners for CI/CD and monitoring. Your code falls under Dutch law, and your team keeps working in the environment it is used to.
GitLab or Forgejo
| Subject | GitLab | Forgejo |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Large: code, CI/CD, planning, security scans, much more | Compact: code, issues, pull requests, CI/CD, packages |
| What it asks of a server | A lot of memory | Little |
| Updates | A new version every month | Calmer, smaller |
| Licence | Free basic edition; more features paid per user | Fully open source |
| Suits | Teams that use the extended features | Teams that mostly need Git and CI/CD |
We host both. Those who use GitLab for planning and security scans stay with GitLab. Those who mostly keep code in it and run builds are better off with Forgejo.
What we manage
The installation
- Your own GitLab on an address of your own
- Sign-in through your existing accounts, if you have them
- Mail for notifications, set up properly
Updates
- The monthly release and the security updates in between
- On a copy first, if your environment is large
- At a time when the team is not working
Runners and storage
- Runners for CI/CD on our hardware
- Room for container images and packages
- Clearing old artefacts, by a rule you choose
Certainty
- Daily backup of repositories, database and attachments
- A restore test
- Monitoring of disk, memory and the build queue
Why not just gitlab.com
For many teams gitlab.com is fine. You manage nothing and it works.
You choose your own installation for three reasons. You want the source code on a server in the Netherlands, at a Dutch company. You would rather pay a fixed amount than pay per user. Or your builds need access to systems that are not on the internet. If none of the three applies, stay where you are.
Questions
What is self-hosted GitLab?
Self-hosted GitLab is GitLab running on your own server instead of on gitlab.com. The software is the same; the difference is who manages the server and where the data sits. With your own installation you decide the location, the updates and who can reach it. The other side is that someone has to maintain the server, and we take that on.
Can you move our projects from gitlab.com?
Yes. GitLab has a built-in way to move groups and projects from one installation to another, with repositories, issues, merge requests and wikis. We do a trial round first and check that permissions and pipelines hold. Secrets and variables for CI/CD do not come along automatically; we set those again with your team.
Do the CI/CD runners run on your hardware too?
Yes. The runners that execute your builds and tests sit on our hardware, apart from the GitLab server itself, so a heavy build does not slow down the rest. How many builds may run at once, we agree to suit your team. If a build needs access to an internal system, a runner can also sit in your network.
Is Forgejo an alternative to GitLab?
For many teams it is. Forgejo offers repositories, issues, pull requests, CI/CD and a package registry, and asks a fraction of the computing power. It lacks GitLab's extended planning, security scans and administration features. If you do not use those, Forgejo is simpler and cheaper. We can move projects from GitLab to Forgejo, issues included.
Goes well with
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Forgejo
Git hosting and CI/CD for development teams, open source and on our own hardware.
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Forgejo Actions and runners
CI/CD next to your code: builds and tests on runners that run on our hardware.
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A European alternative to GitHub: Forgejo, Gitea or GitLab?
Three ways to host your code yourself, the difference between Forgejo and Gitea, and what you take with you when you leave GitHub.
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Kubernetes
A managed Kubernetes cluster on our hardware, for teams that already work with containers.
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Managed applications
Open source software as a complete service: we install it, update it, back it up and watch it. You use it.
From the knowledge base
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Codeberg or your own Forgejo: what suits your team?
Codeberg is a European alternative to GitHub, meant for open source. When it is enough and when you host yourself.
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Forgejo vs Gitea: what is the difference?
Forgejo split from Gitea in 2022. What has grown apart since, and which to choose for your own Git server.
Tell us what you run.
An introduction costs nothing. You talk straight away to one of the two people who will actually do the work.
or email info@jevana.systems