Creating a new dev instance from prod - Docker on aws

Hello there ! I’m running Gitlab with docker compose on an EC2 instance. I need to tinker the system a little bit but OBVIOUSLY, I’m not going to do it on prod.

I’ll basically do an AMI from the current instance, and use it to create a dev instance. Since it’s running on docker, I can modify the settings before booting it up (like domain, certs, etc). My question is… since it will have the data from prod…

Is there anyway to turn it on without triggering anything ? Like pipelines, jobs etc.

Thank you !

The easiest way is to not expose any of the ports, but that would also mean to not be able to access it other than docker exec into the docker container. You should also be able to lock it away in its own vlan on aws to control communication.

What exactly are you trying to tinker with? That will help to provide a better answer since we then know the scope of things that need to be running or accessible.

Also depends on how you have things setup, gitlab is a pretty great all-in-one solution. If everything is using the built-in solution then just bringing up a instance on the side shouldn’t be that big of an issue. However things like having a all your git repos hosted by a 3rd party may cause added difficulties. Also if you have pipelines that reach out to 3rd parties like jenkins or security scanners.

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There are some vulnerabilities that I have to fix on the system but yeah, like you said. I’m hosting all the repos, security scanners, etc so yeah. It’s not going to be an issue.

Thank you !