This draft keeps the useful migration flow from a sensitive work log: prepare storage, install the package, preserve the SSH host identity, move the backups and secrets, restore GitLab cleanly, and validate the instance before you start trusting it again.
This is a carefully sanitized first-pass draft from a sensitive note. The useful pattern is still there: test the registry with curl against /v2/, vary the host and scheme deliberately, confirm the image naming path, and validate that the backup and retention tasks around the same service are in place.
This draft turns a real GitLab upgrade note into a cleaner walkthrough focused on the upgrade path, the intermediate required version, and the service checks I used after each step.