Advanced GitLab Training Course

Introduction and Foundations

• Level-setting: assessing participants' existing knowledge of Git and GitLab.
• Review of essential Git concepts: commits, branches, merges, push/pull operations.
• Overview of GitLab editions (Free vs. Premium vs. Ultimate).
• Typical GitLab use cases and organizational benefits.

Overview of GitLab Features and Architecture

• Walkthrough of the GitLab interface and project structure.
• Key features: repository management, pipelines, and issue boards.
• Understanding GitLab CI/CD architecture and runners.

GitLab Workflow

• Comparing common workflows: GitLab Flow versus GitFlow.
• Managing merge requests, approvals, and review cycles.
• Branch management and permission controls.

Organizing Projects with Groups and Namespaces

• Understanding GitLab groups, subgroups, and namespaces.
• Project visibility and group-level permissions.
• Strategies for forking and managing team access.

Implementing CI/CD in GitLab

• Setting up and registering GitLab Runners.
• Utilizing Docker and Kubernetes executors.
• Implementing Docker-in-Docker (DIND): benefits and considerations.
• Troubleshooting runner-related issues.
• Writing and structuring gitlab-ci.yml files.
• Managing variables and CI secrets.
• Creating CI workflows and defining stages.
• Integrating templates and reusable pipeline definitions.
• Configuring triggers, schedules, and manual pipeline controls.
• Generating releases and defining tagging strategies.

Issue Management and Collaboration

• Creating and linking issues.
• Customizing issue boards and labels.
• Tracking progress through milestones.

Using GitLab Markdown

• Formatting issues, merge requests, and wikis.
• Using Markdown for documentation and inline visuals.
• Implementing checklists, code blocks, and tables.

GitLab Pages

• Publishing static websites from GitLab repositories.
• Configuring GitLab Pages with custom domains.
• Integrating CI/CD with Pages deployments.

Security and Access Management

• Managing personal access tokens and project tokens.
• Securing pipeline secrets and variables.
• Overview of GitLab’s security scanning features.

Troubleshooting and Diagnostics

• Addressing common CI/CD errors and solutions.
• Analyzing runner logs and debugging failed jobs.
• Adopting best practices for pipeline reliability.

Summary and Next Steps

• Course recap and Q&A session.
• Final review session or evaluation task.
• Feedback collection and course wrap-up.
• Resources for continued learning.