Q: If a customer deletes their project, group, or account on GitLab.com, is their data securely deleted?
A: Neither the git repo backups nor the database backups will be purged immediately (Note: In the future, the time frame might be longer once soft deletes for groups and projects are implemented). When a project is deleted, the corresponding data from the database as well as the files associated with that project's repository, pages, and wiki will be removed, but will continue to exist in backups for up to two weeks after the deletion. For this reason we cannot guarantee that a deleted project is entirely purged from our system until the oldest of those backups expires. Please note that this is not the same as "secure delete", which typically means overwriting the deleted files' blocks with random bytes at least N times, but without the decryption keys, a stolen copy of our disk images would be unreadable.
Q: How is GitLab.com backed up?
A: You can view how our runbooks for specifics on how our database and filesystems are backed up.
GitLab.com Settings
Q: Where can I find the settings used for various services in production?
A: Data from March 2019 showed there was 3.5 Million Users, around 4,000 requests per second over https, 8.4 Million Repos, and over 3 PB total storage. See our vanity metrics dashboard.
Q: Does GitLab have an automated way to migrate from a self-hosted instance?
A: Currently you can only use the project import/export feature to migrate projects to GitLab.com.
Q: If a customer project is deleted can it be restored?
A: No, once a project is deleted it cannot be restored. In the future soft deletes for groups and projects will allow users to restore a project during the soft deletion state.
Q: Can customers be put on the allowlist for the API?
A: Yes, with sufficient evidence that it's necessary, customers can request to be allowlisted. To request to be added to the allowlist, see our section on how we handle incoming requests in the handbook.
