Connections for GitLab self-managed - AWS CodePipeline
Create a connection to GitLab self-managed (console)Create a host and connection to GitLab self-managed (CLI)

Connections for GitLab self-managed

Connections allow you to authorize and establish configurations that associate your third-party provider with your AWS resources. To associate your third-party repository as a source for your pipeline, you use a connection.

Note

This feature is not available in the Asia Pacific (Hong Kong), Asia Pacific (Hyderabad), Asia Pacific (Jakarta), Asia Pacific (Melbourne), Asia Pacific (Osaka), Africa (Cape Town), Middle East (Bahrain), Middle East (UAE), Europe (Spain), Europe (Zurich), Israel (Tel Aviv), or AWS GovCloud (US-West) Regions. To reference other available actions, see Product and service integrations with CodePipeline. For considerations with this action in the Europe (Milan) Region, see the note in CodeStarSourceConnection for Bitbucket Cloud, GitHub, GitHub Enterprise Server, GitLab.com, and GitLab self-managed actions.

To add a GitLab self-managed source action in CodePipeline, you can choose either to:

Note

You can also create a connection using the Developer Tools console under Settings. See Create a Connection.

Before you begin:

  • You must have already created an account with GitLab and have GitLab Enterprise Edition or GitLab Community Edition with a self-managed installation. For more information, see https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/subscriptions/self_managed/.

    Note

    Connections only provide access for the account that was used to create and authorize the connection.

    Note

    You can create connections to a repository where you have the Owner role in GitLab, and then the connection can be used with with resources such as CodePipeline. For repositories in groups, you do not need to be the group owner.

  • You must have already created a GitLab personal access token (PAT) with the following scoped-down permission only: api. For more information, see https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/profile/personal_access_tokens.html. You must be an administrator to create and use the PAT.

    Note

    Your PAT is used to authorize the host and is not otherwise stored or used by connections. To set up a host, you can create a temporary PAT and then after you set up the host, you can delete the PAT.

  • You can choose to set up your host ahead of time. You can set up a host with or without a VPC. For details about VPC configuration and additional information about creating a host, see Create a host.

Create a connection to GitLab self-managed (console)

Use these steps to use the CodePipeline console to add a connections action for your GitLab self-managedr repository.

Note

GitLab self-managed connections only provide access to repositories owned by the GitLab self-managed account that was used to create the connection.

Before you begin:

For a host connection to GitLab self-managed, you must have completed the steps to create a host resource for your connection. See Manage hosts for connections.

Step 1: Create or edit your pipeline

To create or edit your pipeline

  1. Sign in to the CodePipeline console.

  2. Choose one of the following.

    • Choose to create a pipeline. Follow the steps in Create a Pipeline to complete the first screen and choose Next. On the Source page, under Source provider, choose GitLab self-managed.

    • Choose to edit an existing pipeline. Choose Edit, and then choose Edit stage. Choose to add or edit your source action. On the Edit action page, under Action name, enter the name for your action. In Action provider, choose GitLab self-managed.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • Under Connection, if you have not already created a connection to your provider, choose Connect to GitLab self-managed. Proceed to Step 2: Create a Connection to GitLab self-managed.

    • Under Connection, if you have already created a connection to your provider, choose the connection. Proceed to Step 3: Save the Source Action for Your Connection.

Create a connection to GitLab self-managed

After you choose to create the connection, the Connect to GitLab self-managed page is shown.

To connect to GitLab self-managed

  1. In Connection name, enter the name for your connection.

  2. In URL, enter the endpoint for your server.

    Note

    If the provided URL has already been used to set up a host for a connection, you will be prompted to choose the host resource ARN that was created previously for that endpoint.

  3. If you have launched your server into an Amazon VPC and you want to connect with your VPC, choose Use a VPC and complete the information for the VPC.

  4. Choose Connect to GitLab self-managed. The created connection is shown with a Pending status. A host resource is created for the connection with the server information you provided. For the host name, the URL is used.

  5. Choose Update pending connection.

  6. If a page opens with a redirect message confirming that you want to continue to the provider, choose Continue. Enter the authorization for the provider.

  7. A Set up host_name page displays. In Provide personal access token, provide your GitLab PAT with the following scoped-down permission only: api.

    Note

    Only an administrator can create and use the PAT.

    Choose Continue.

    Console screenshot showing GitLab self-managed personal access token entry for the new host

  8. The connection page shows the created connection in an Available status.

Step 3: Save your GitLab self-managed source action

Use these steps on the wizard or Edit action page to save your source action with your connection information.

To complete and save your source action with your connection

  1. In Repository name, choose the name of your third-party repository.

  2. Under Pipeline triggers you can add triggers if your action is an CodeConnections action. To configure the pipeline trigger configuration and to optionally filter with triggers, see more details in Add trigger with code push or pull request event types.

  3. In Output artifact format, you must choose the format for your artifacts.

    • To store output artifacts from the GitLab self-managed action using the default method, choose CodePipeline default. The action accesses the files from the repository and stores the artifacts in a ZIP file in the pipeline artifact store.

    • To store a JSON file that contains a URL reference to the repository so that downstream actions can perform Git commands directly, choose Full clone. This option can only be used by CodeBuild downstream actions.

  4. Choose Next on the wizard or Save on the Edit action page.

Create a host and connection to GitLab self-managed (CLI)

You can use the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) to create a connection.

To do this, use the create-connection command.

Important

A connection created through the AWS CLI or AWS CloudFormation is in PENDING status by default. After you create a connection with the CLI or AWS CloudFormation, use the console to edit the connection to make its status AVAILABLE.

You can use the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) to create a host for installed connections.

You use a host to represent the endpoint for the infrastructure where your third-party provider is installed. After you complete the host creation with the CLI, the host is in Pending status. You then set up, or register, the host to move it to an Available status. After the host is available, you complete the steps to create a connection.

To do this, use the create-host command.

Important

A host created through the AWS CLI is in Pending status by default. After you create a host with the CLI, use the console or the CLI to set up the host to make its status Available.

To create a host

  1. Open a terminal (Linux, macOS, or Unix) or command prompt (Windows). Use the AWS CLI to run the create-host command, specifying the --name, --provider-type, and --provider-endpoint for your connection. In this example, the third-party provider name is GitLabSelfManaged and the endpoint is my-instance.dev.

    aws codestar-connections create-host --name MyHost --provider-type GitLabSelfManaged --provider-endpoint "https://my-instance.dev"

    If successful, this command returns the host Amazon Resource Name (ARN) information similar to the following.

    {
    "HostArn": "arn:aws:codestar-connections:us-west-2:account_id:host/My-Host-28aef605"
}

    After this step, the host is in PENDING status.

  2. Use the console to complete the host setup and move the host to an Available status.

To create a connection to GitLab self-managed

  1. Open a terminal (Linux, macOS, or Unix) or command prompt (Windows). Use the AWS CLI to run the create-connection command, specifying the --host-arn and --connection-name for your connection.

    aws codestar-connections create-connection --host-arn arn:aws:codestar-connections:us-west-2:account_id:host/MyHost-234EXAMPLE --connection-name MyConnection

    If successful, this command returns the connection ARN information similar to the following.

    {
    "ConnectionArn": "arn:aws:codestar-connections:us-west-2:account_id:connection/aEXAMPLE-8aad"
}

  2. Use the console to set up the pending connection.

  3. The pipeline defaults to detect changes on code push to the connection source repository. To configure the pipeline trigger configuration for manual release or for Git tags, do one of the following:

    • To configure the pipeline trigger configuration to start with a manual release only, add the following line to the configuration: 

      "DetectChanges": "false",

    • To configure the pipeline trigger configuration to filter with triggers, see more details in Add trigger with code push or pull request event types. For example, the following adds to the pipeline level of the pipeline JSON definition. In this example, release-v0 and release-v1 are the Git tags to include, and release-v2 is the Git tag to exclude.

      "triggers": [
            {
                "providerType": "CodeStarSourceConnection",
                "gitConfiguration": {
                    "sourceActionName": "Source",
                    "push": [
                        {
                            "tags": {
                                "includes": [
                                    "release-v0", "release-v1"
                                ],
                                "excludes": [
                                    "release-v2"
                                ]
                            }
                        }
                    ]
                }
            }
        ]