First Backup Walkthrough
Walk through your first GitLab project backup with Cloudback, from triggering the backup to viewing results and downloading the archive.
GitLabAfter connecting your GitLab account to Cloudback, this guide walks you through triggering your first backup and understanding the results.
Prerequisites
- Your GitLab account is connected to Cloudback
- A subscription is assigned to the account
- At least one GitLab project appears in the dashboard
Triggering Your First Backup
While Cloudback will automatically back up your projects on schedule, you can trigger a backup immediately:
- Navigate to the GitLab section in the left sidebar
- Select the checkbox next to the project you want to back up
- Click the Trigger button in the toolbar
Alternatively, from the project details page, click Backup now.
What Happens During Backup
A GitLab backup has:
- Repository clone - Cloudback performs a bare Git clone of the repository, including all branches, tags, and refs. Git LFS objects are also fetched.
- Metadata download - Issues, merge requests, labels, milestones, boards, members, and notes are downloaded via the GitLab API.
Viewing Backup Results
Once complete:
- The Backup column shows Succeeded (green) or Failed (red)
- The Last Run column shows elapsed time
Click on the project to view detailed results on the Project Details page:
Overview Tab:
- Settings - Current schedule, storage, retention
- Statistics - Backup time and size charts
- Last Backup - Status, time, size, deduplication, storage, and collected metadata counts:
- Issues, issue notes, merge requests, MR notes
- Labels, milestones, boards
- Deduplication - Savings over time
Backups Tab:
- Complete backup history with download and restore options
Downloading Your Backup
- On the Backups tab, click the Download icon
- The archive is a password-protected ZIP file (AES-256). The password-protection can be disabled in settings if desired.
- The password is emailed automatically (if password-protection is enabled).
- Use 7-Zip to extract (Windows built-in ZIP doesn't support AES)
Inside the archive you'll find:
repo/{ProjectName}.git/- The bare Git repository- JSON metadata files (issues, MRs, labels, milestones, boards, members, notes)
Dashboard Columns
The GitLab dashboard shows:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Select | Checkbox for bulk operations |
| Account | GitLab account/group name |
| Project | Project name (clickable for details) |
| Status | Scheduled / Not scheduled / Restore only |
| Schedule | Backup schedule name |
| Storage | Storage location |
| Retention | Retention policy |
| Backup | Last backup status |
| Last Run | Time since last backup |
Next Steps
- Customize settings: Change schedule, storage, or retention from the Project Details page or from the dashboard using bulk edit
- Set up notifications: Get alerts for backup success/failure via Slack, Discord, or Teams
Learn More
- GitLab Backup Contents - Full details on what's backed up
- GitLab: Restoring Data - How to restore
- Cross-Platform Restore - GitHub ↔ GitLab migration
- Automated Daily Backups - Schedule configuration