Create programmatic way for automated cloud activation (API)
Release notes
Problem to solve
Since moving to cloud licensing we have introduced a limitation on automatic / programmatic instance activation. What could earlier be done by injecting a license file, at the moment requires manual UI driven operation.
For customers having fully automated testing / acceptance environments of GitLab (e.g., spinning up a new version, testing migrations and core functionalities before upgrade) this poses a problem breaking existing setups as they are not able to automate activation of a paid license.
It looks like there used to be a planned API endpoint (https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/273501+), but an alternative path was chosen, so this API was never implemented.
Sample customer request: https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/343826
Proposal
- Implement an API endpoint that would allow to trigger Cloud Activation process
- ... or suggest other alternatives that would allow to activate a self-managed instance without manual intervention
Intended users
I would argue that this is critical for anyone who operates GitLab as a critical part of their infrastructure.
Internal use
GitLab Environment Toolkit currently has an option to provide a gitlab_license_file
setting and hence completely automate provisioning of a new environment (see https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-environment-toolkit/-/blob/main/docs/environment_configure.md)
It currently has no support for Cloud Licensing.