It is constantly important to keep in mind that backup is the last line of defence in the instance of any loss, including interruptions, human mistake, or ransomware. Even if GitLab, a well-known git hosting service, is where the DevOps team is working and keeps their projects, customers should understand that git alone is not a backup and cannot be a trustworthy option for meeting their collective responsibility and compliance criteria.
Who is in charge of what?
Similar to all other web hosting companies, GitLab follows the Joint Responsibility Principle while conducting business. Why does that matter? The infrastructure of GitLab’s users must be kept safe. To put it another way, GitLab must handle mistakes, server-side software and hardware issues, and infrastructural restoration following service interruptions. However, this does not imply that perhaps the user’s repository and metadata will be conveniently available during the catastrophe, as the client is responsible for the data’s protection. As a result, even the company that hosts Git recommends having a backup:
Anything not saved on the operating system are not backed up by the website. Activate backups with your item data store if necessary if you are using object storage. 
Consider GitLab backup techniques:
Every organization has two options for handling the requirement to back up their data: either create their own backup, or even use 3rd-party backup software, such as GitProtect. There are a number of things that ought to be stated in either of these variations even if both of the methods can result in simple data recovery.
First option: Self-managed backup
There are a number of methods for carrying out a self-managed backup of the specified website system, but they are all labor-intensive manual processes that take time and energy to complete. It offers built-in components that can be used, or you can write your own script.
Users of GitLab are allowed to backup and restore GitLab servers using Rake jobs. You can obtain an archive file for the GitLab system by using this method. However, it may only be rebuilt as a full bundle and to the same identical GitLab version or kind. It can take a little while and pause the process of development for a bit.
A self-written screenplay is an additional choice. Once more, by selecting this option, The entire infrastructure, procedures, frequency of recoveries, and management will all be the responsibility of the business while doing backups. Additionally, the business will have to test those copies since the capability to retrieve data is indeed the primary justification for having a backup in existence. And now for the inquiry: Could data be quickly restored without affecting the business continuity of the business? Yes, provided that the top management anticipates a scenario like that and assigns its DevOps to create a recovery script in preparation. The script will take some time to deploy because all of the data will need to be recovered in one go.
Although both of these choices appear affordable now, they could end up costing a business a lot of money in the long run, Due to the need to assign a person of the DevOps team to build programs to make backups or archives the repos on a regular basis, the worker will be diverted from his primary responsibilities. What happens if the business aims to satisfy its regulatory, legality, or joint responsibility requirements? How often backups is he required to give? The issues are open… 
Second option: Third-party backup applications
This method may appear pricey at first, but over the long run, the automating of backup plan execution which backup firms typically allow can significantly lower expenses and time the DevOps team spends on the website’s backup, allowing them to concentrate on their primary responsibilities. Despite mechanization, it offers backup capabilities that strengthen a business’s data resistance to any failure, including unlimited retention, encrypted, duplication, a ransomware-proof solution, as well as other turnkey features. These are known as “so-called” backup best practices.
Healing is an additional benefit. Backup providers, like GitProtect, typically anticipate various outcomes and, as a result, ensure that data recovery is quick and just doesn’t halt the development process. They accomplish this using a variety of recovery techniques, such as selective recovering data, point-in-time restoration, database administration between systems (for example, from the website to GitHub or Bitbucket), the ability to reinstate the same or a distinct website’s account, to the local machine, among SaaS and self-hosted accounts, and many others. In fact, such software guarantees data recovery in the event of any conceivable data loss or outage scenario.
GitLab backup Guidelines:
Backup’s key responsibility is to calm the workplace and facilitate a smooth flow of work so that the team can operate constantly and unhindered without fear. Therefore, developing a solid backup plan is crucial. However, regardless as to whether it is personally managed or a backup vendor service, what must be included in a comprehensive backup option?
the metadata first. A proper data backup should include metadata, such as Wikis, deployment keys, labels, issues, LFS, etc. in addition to repositories.
Then, sophisticated protection elements that can aid in the resistance to ransomware attacks should be included. As a result, it ought to incorporate compressing, WORM-compliant storing, at-rest and in-flight cryptography, a password vault, and the preservation of copies in an inoperable state. Given this, even though a bad actor steals the company’s backup data, he won’t be able to run it and disseminate it throughout the store. 
Lengthy memory is yet another useful trait. This website typically keeps user information for a maximum of 90 days, hence there is generally no git hosting service that’d offer long-term preservation. Therefore, some businesses need to have the option to keep their backup for considerably longer amounts of time — potentially years — in order to archive old unneeded archives for reference purposes in order to comply with legal and safety compliance issues.
Manual Gitlab Backup Procedure:
Let us just start by taking a look at a manual backup method.
Start by following the instructions below to manually backup data:
Step 1:
Sign in to your website’s account utilizing Secure Shell (SSH).
Step 2:
To generate a copy of your data, issue the operation “sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:backup:create.”
Step 3:
To exclude certain folders from the backup, just use operation “sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:backup:create SKIP = db, uploads.”
In this case, the global variable SKIP enables you to carry out that task. Step 2 can also be used to build the backup when there are no items to ignore.
Step 4:
The “/var/opt/gitlab/backups” folder will produce and store your the backup tar file. 
Step 5:
Move the computer to the zip file folder to see your newly produced full backup.
Step 6:
Enter the location, to view the backups tar file, type “ls -l.”
There you go! The initial mechanical backup of your data on the website has been made. Use this to recover Gitlab data backup when you need to use the produced backup.
Nevertheless, not everybody finds it easy to recall these instructions. The backups can also be performed automatically, which is a simpler and much more efficient option.
An Automated Gitlab Backup Process:
Backrightup is a simple-to-use GUI-based program that can assist you in regularly backing up Gitlab. So, no need to memorize any instructions when using Backrightup. Restoring and backing up takes only a few clicks.
To use Backrightup to automatically backup, follow the instructions following.
Step 1:
Sign up for an account on the Backrightup site.
Step 2:
Enter the information for your organization and access levels. Either full read/write access or read-only access is an option.
Step 3:
Backrightup will begin backing up all of your Gitlab data automatically after you register and sign in with your Gitlab organization.
Step 4:
Modifying the Backrightup repository settings. Nearly every day, Backrightup would perform a backup across all of your sources. Going to Account Settings > Repository Settings will allow you to make changes.
Step 5:
Modifying Gitlab backup data storage preferences. You can access Backrightup’s vault, wherein companies keep all of their backups. However, you can also offer your space as a means of Gitlab backup. Go to Account settings > Storage Options to accomplish this.
Step 6:
Make a backup of your Gitlab data right now.
As all of the data is automatically backed up with Backrightup every 24/7. Sometimes you want to backup on your own accord. To do this, choose the Gitlab information you wish to backup by clicking the “Run Backup(s)” button on the experimental.
