GitLab Git Large File Storage (LFS) Administration
Offering: Self-managed
This page contains information about configuring Git LFS in self-managed GitLab instances. For user documentation about Git LFS, see Git Large File Storage.
Prerequisites:
- Users need to install Git LFS client version 1.0.1 or later.
Enable or disable LFS
LFS is enabled by default. To disable it:
-
Edit
/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
:# Change to true to enable lfs - enabled by default if not defined gitlab_rails['lfs_enabled'] = false
-
Save the file and reconfigure GitLab:
sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
-
Export the Helm values:
helm get values gitlab > gitlab_values.yaml
-
Edit
gitlab_values.yaml
:global: appConfig: lfs: enabled: false
-
Save the file and apply the new values:
helm upgrade -f gitlab_values.yaml gitlab gitlab/gitlab
-
Edit
docker-compose.yml
:version: "3.6" services: gitlab: environment: GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: | gitlab_rails['lfs_enabled'] = false
-
Save the file and restart GitLab:
docker compose up -d
-
Edit
/home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml
:production: &base lfs: enabled: false
-
Save the file and restart GitLab:
# For systems running systemd sudo systemctl restart gitlab.target # For systems running SysV init sudo service gitlab restart
Change local storage path
Git LFS objects can be large in size. By default, they are stored on the server GitLab is installed on.
To change the default local storage path location:
-
Edit
/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
:# /var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/shared/lfs-objects by default. gitlab_rails['lfs_storage_path'] = "/mnt/storage/lfs-objects"
-
Save the file and reconfigure GitLab:
sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
-
Edit
/home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml
:# /home/git/gitlab/shared/lfs-objects by default. production: &base lfs: storage_path: /mnt/storage/lfs-objects
-
Save the file and restart GitLab:
# For systems running systemd sudo systemctl restart gitlab.target # For systems running SysV init sudo service gitlab restart
Storing LFS objects in remote object storage
You can store LFS objects in remote object storage. This allows you to reduce reads and writes to the local disk, and free up disk space significantly.
In GitLab 13.2 and later, you should use the consolidated object storage settings.
Migrating to object storage
You can migrate the LFS objects from local storage to object storage. The processing is done in the background and requires no downtime.
- Configure the object storage.
-
Migrate the LFS objects:
Linux package (Omnibus)sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:lfs:migrate
Dockersudo docker exec -t <container name> gitlab-rake gitlab:lfs:migrate
Self-compiled (source)sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:lfs:migrate RAILS_ENV=production
- Optional. Track the progress and verify that all job LFS objects migrated
successfully using the PostgreSQL console.
-
Open a PostgreSQL console:
Linux package (Omnibus)sudo gitlab-psql
Dockersudo docker exec -it <container_name> /bin/bash gitlab-psql
Self-compiled (source)sudo -u git -H psql -d gitlabhq_production
-
Verify that all LFS files migrated to object storage with the following SQL query. The number of
objectstg
should be the same astotal
:gitlabhq_production=# SELECT count(*) AS total, sum(case when file_store = '1' then 1 else 0 end) AS filesystem, sum(case when file_store = '2' then 1 else 0 end) AS objectstg FROM lfs_objects; total | filesystem | objectstg ------+------------+----------- 2409 | 0 | 2409
-
-
Verify that there are no files on disk in the
lfs-objects
directory:Linux package (Omnibus)sudo find /var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/shared/lfs-objects -type f | grep -v tmp | wc -l
DockerAssuming you mounted
/var/opt/gitlab
to/srv/gitlab
:sudo find /srv/gitlab/gitlab-rails/shared/lfs-objects -type f | grep -v tmp | wc -l
Self-compiled (source)sudo find /home/git/gitlab/shared/lfs-objects -type f | grep -v tmp | wc -l
Migrating back to local storage
To migrate back to local storage:
-
Migrate the LFS objects:
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:lfs:migrate_to_local
-
Edit
/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
and disable object storage for LFS objects:gitlab_rails['object_store']['objects']['lfs']['enabled'] = false
-
Save the file and reconfigure GitLab:
sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
-
Migrate the LFS objects:
sudo docker exec -t <container name> gitlab-rake gitlab:lfs:migrate_to_local
-
Edit
docker-compose.yml
and disable object storage for LFS objects:version: "3.6" services: gitlab: environment: GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: | gitlab_rails['object_store']['objects']['lfs']['enabled'] = false
-
Save the file and restart GitLab:
docker compose up -d
-
Migrate the LFS objects:
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:lfs:migrate_to_local RAILS_ENV=production
-
Edit
/home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml
and disable object storage for LFS objects:production: &base object_store: objects: lfs: enabled: false
-
Save the file and restart GitLab:
# For systems running systemd sudo systemctl restart gitlab.target # For systems running SysV init sudo service gitlab restart
Storage statistics
You can see the total storage used for LFS objects for groups and projects in:
Related topics
- Blog post: Getting started with Git LFS
- User documentation: Git Large File Storage (LFS)
- Git LFS developer information
Troubleshooting
Missing LFS objects
An error about a missing LFS object may occur in either of these situations:
-
When migrating LFS objects from disk to object storage, with error messages like:
ERROR -- : Failed to transfer LFS object 006622269c61b41bf14a22bbe0e43be3acf86a4a446afb4250c3794ea47541a7 with error: No such file or directory @ rb_sysopen - /var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/shared/lfs-objects/00/66/22269c61b41bf14a22bbe0e43be3acf86a4a446afb4250c3794ea47541a7
(Line breaks have been added for legibility.)
-
When running the integrity check for LFS objects with the
VERBOSE=1
parameter.
The database can have records for LFS objects which are not on disk. The database entry may prevent a new copy of the object from being pushed. To delete these references:
- Start a rails console.
-
Query the object that’s reported as missing in the rails console, to return a file path:
lfs_object = LfsObject.find_by(oid: '006622269c61b41bf14a22bbe0e43be3acf86a4a446afb4250c3794ea47541a7') lfs_object.file.path
-
Check on disk or object storage if it exists:
ls -al /var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/shared/lfs-objects/00/66/22269c61b41bf14a22bbe0e43be3acf86a4a446afb4250c3794ea47541a7
-
If the file is not present, remove the database records via the rails console:
# First delete the parent records and then destroy the record itself lfs_object.lfs_objects_projects.destroy_all lfs_object.destroy
LFS commands fail on TLS v1.3 server
If you configure GitLab to disable TLS v1.2 and only enable TLS v1.3 connections, LFS operations require a Git LFS client version 2.11.0 or later. If you use a Git LFS client earlier than version 2.11.0, GitLab displays an error:
batch response: Post https://username:***@gitlab.example.com/tool/releases.git/info/lfs/objects/batch: remote error: tls: protocol version not supported
error: failed to fetch some objects from 'https://username:[MASKED]@gitlab.example.com/tool/releases.git/info/lfs'
When using GitLab CI over a TLS v1.3 configured GitLab server, you must upgrade to GitLab Runner 13.2.0 or later to receive an updated Git LFS client version via the included GitLab Runner Helper image.
To check an installed Git LFS client’s version, run this command:
git lfs version
Connection refused
errors
If you push or mirror LFS objects and receive errors like the following:
dial tcp <IP>:443: connect: connection refused
Connection refused - connect(2) for \"<target-or-proxy-IP>\" port 443
a firewall or proxy rule may be terminating the connection.
If connection checks with standard Unix tools or manual Git pushes are successful, the rule may be related to the size of the request.
Error viewing a PDF file
When LFS has been configured with object storage and proxy_download
set to
false
, you may see an error when previewing a PDF file from the Web browser:
An error occurred while loading the file. Please try again later.
This occurs due to Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) restrictions: the browser attempts to load the PDF from object storage, but the object storage provider rejects the request because the GitLab domain differs from the object storage domain.
To fix this issue, configure your object storage provider’s CORS settings to allow the GitLab domain. See the following documentation for more details:
Known limitations
- Only compatible with the Git LFS client versions 1.1.0 and later, or 1.0.2.
- The storage statistics count each LFS object for every project linking to it.