Stop maintaining GitLab. Start shipping features.

A managed GitLab service means VSHN takes full operational responsibility for your GitLab instance - provisioning, configuration, security updates, monitoring, incident response, and backups - while you retain complete control of your data, users, and projects. Your instance is dedicated (not shared with other organisations), runs on infrastructure you choose, and VSHN guarantees availability according to your selected SLA. Your team uses GitLab normally; VSHN keeps it running.

You provide an Ubuntu 22.04 LTS virtual machine with root SSH access and outbound internet connectivity. VSHN's Puppet Management Framework provisions and manages the Managed GitLab service on it. Most major cloud providers are supported, including AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, Exoscale, and cloudscale.ch. On-premises VMware and bare-metal servers are also supported. For Swiss data sovereignty, VSHN recommends cloudscale.ch or Exoscale, both of which operate data centres in Switzerland. VSHN advises on the required VM size during the free requirements analysis.

Two SLA tiers are available. The Best Effort plan (CHF 360 per month) includes 24/7 monitoring and incident response without a formal uptime commitment - suited for development or staging environments. The Guaranteed Availability plan (CHF 1,500 per month) commits to 99.99% uptime with round-the-clock on-call incident response, suited for production workloads. Both plans include free setup and weekly maintenance. Managed CI runner instances are available separately at CHF 200 per month.

VSHN handles all recurring maintenance: GitLab minor and security updates, server OS patches, and zero-day security fixes (applied immediately, outside the regular maintenance window when necessary). You choose a weekly maintenance window - for example, Tuesday nights - to minimise disruption to your team. The service is briefly unavailable only during scheduled maintenance. VSHN monitors your instance 24/7 and responds to incidents according to your chosen SLA.

VSHN performs automated encrypted off-site backups of both server configuration and all GitLab data, including repositories, issues, merge requests, CI/CD pipelines, wikis, and attachments. 100 GB of free backup storage is included in every plan. On-demand restore is available at any time - you can request a full point-in-time restore of your instance or recovery of specific data. Backup retention and frequency are agreed during setup.

GitLab Select Partner is the highest tier in GitLab's official partner programme. VSHN achieved this status through certified GitLab engineers, a demonstrated track record of customer deployments, and active contribution to the GitLab community. VSHN is a certified GitLab Select Partner in Switzerland. VSHN also organises the GitLab Switzerland Meetup, bringing together GitLab users and contributors across the country.

Yes. VSHN supports three CI runner models: you bring your own runner infrastructure and connect it to your managed GitLab instance; VSHN manages dedicated runner VMs on your behalf (CHF 200 per month); or CI jobs auto-scale as ephemeral Kubernetes pods via VSHN's AppCat platform. All three models can be combined. VSHN advises on the right setup based on your pipeline volume and latency requirements.

GitLab recommends the Omnibus package installation on virtual machines, which supports all GitLab features without limitations. VSHN has operated this architecture since 2015 with a mature Puppet-based framework for provisioning, configuration management, and seamless version upgrades. The VM-based approach offers the best combination of feature completeness, upgrade reliability, and operational simplicity for most organisations. A Kubernetes-based option via VSHN's AppCat Framework is in development for future availability.

Contact VSHN for a free requirements analysis - no commitment required. VSHN scopes your infrastructure, team size, GitLab licence tier (Free, Premium, or Ultimate), and SLA requirements, then provides a formal offer. Setup is free for all plans. Once the contract is signed, VSHN typically has a running GitLab instance ready within one to two business days. Existing GitLab instances can be migrated with VSHN's assistance.

GitLab SaaS (gitlab.com) is a multi-tenant platform where GitLab Inc. manages the infrastructure and your data is stored outside Switzerland. A self-hosted GitLab instance, managed by VSHN, gives you full control over where your data resides - on a Swiss cloud provider like cloudscale.ch or Exoscale, or on your own on-premises infrastructure. You choose the GitLab version, control the upgrade timeline, and keep all repositories, CI/CD pipelines, and user data within your own environment. VSHN handles all operational tasks - updates, monitoring, backups, and 24/7 incident response - so you get the convenience of a managed service with the data sovereignty of self-hosting.

GitHub is a strong platform, but Swiss organisations with data sovereignty requirements often prefer GitLab because it can be self-hosted on infrastructure they control. With VSHN's managed GitLab service, your source code, CI/CD pipelines, issues, and all project data stay in Switzerland - on AWS, Exoscale, cloudscale.ch, Azure, or your own servers. GitLab also provides a single integrated DevSecOps platform covering source control, CI/CD, security scanning, and project management in one tool, reducing the need for third-party integrations. As a certified GitLab Select Partner in Switzerland, VSHN provides expert-level support and operations with 99.99% availability SLA.

Yes. GitLab includes a built-in container registry for hosting Docker images and CI/CD with native Docker support for building, testing, and pushing containers. For hosting your containerised applications, VSHN offers APPUiO - our Swiss Kubernetes platform that integrates natively with GitLab CI/CD pipelines. Deploy directly from your GitLab repository to APPUiO with automated builds and zero-downtime rollouts. Both platforms run on Swiss cloud providers like cloudscale.ch and Exoscale, ensuring full data residency in Switzerland for your source code, container images, and running applications. Learn more at https://appuio.ch