GitLab provides an integrated feature to export a TAR file containing all data from the current GitLab instance.
How to make a GitLab backup?
In order to run this for a GitLab instance running on docker-compose use
docker-compose exec gitlab gitlab-backup create STRATEGY=copy
where gitlab is the container running the gitlab image, e.g. gitlab/gitlab-ce:latest.
In case you are running a docker-based setup without docker-compose, run
docker exec my-gitlab-container gitlab-backup create STRATEGY=copy
where my-gitlab-container is the ID or name of the container
Where to find the backups?
By default, gitlab stores the backups in /var/opt/gitlab/backups. In case you need to change this, look for the following line in /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:
gitlab_rails['backup_path'] = "/var/opt/gitlab/backups"
In my docker-compose configuration, I map out the entire /var/opt/gitlab directory:
volumes: - './data:/var/opt/gitlab'
hence I can find the backups in ./data/backups:
$ ls data/backups/ 1607642274_2020_12_10_13.6.3_gitlab_backup.tar