[Indie Computing] Open discussion for GitLab appliance for Geo use case
Problem to solve
I have been talking back and forth with @j12t from Indiecomputing looking into applicable use cases and/or partnership model for mutual customers that may be interested in a GitLab appliance similar to what they already have in market with NextCloud. @j12t and his team would essentially package GitLab EE into their Linux distro (Arch under the hood) and install it on a Intel NUC that development teams can plug-n-play. Either the usecase
Intended users
Primary use case that could make sense is focused around GitLab Geo for highly dispersed development teams working with large repositories that could leverage a local appliance or portable appliance in close proximity as a secondary GitLab node. Think branch offices, localized teams,
@rnienaber for visibility.
Further details
Goal of this issue is to start an open discussion for this use case and better understand if technically this process of provisioning/deploying a secondary node in an appliance can be possible. Also, would like to get better feedback if this would be interesting to customers. Target market could be 1: SMB for single dedicated appliance as GitLab in a box (middle ground between gitlab.com and gitlab self hosted). 2: Large enterprises with fragmented teams using GitLab in a box for localized dev as a read/only node.
Proposal
Wanted to get a conversation going around technically evaluating if this is possible and interesting.
Permissions and Security
unknown
Documentation
N/A -- Partner driven.
Testing
What does success look like, and how can we measure that?
The idea is to help supplement adoption of Geo and/or bridge any use cases that require multiple instances of GitLab self hosted.
What is the type of buyer?
1: [Any GitLab EE] SMB for single dedicated appliance as GitLab in a box (middle ground between gitlab.com and gitlab self hosted). 2: [With Geo] Possibly enterprises with fragmented teams using 'GitLab-in-a-box' for localized dev as a read/only node.