diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 44bd9780..ec373e69 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -33,4 +33,5 @@ RUN chmod 700 /root/.ssh && chmod 600 /root/.ssh/authorized_keys && chown root:r
 EXPOSE 22
 EXPOSE 80
 
-CMD ["/gitlab/gitlab"]
+ENTRYPOINT ["/gitlab/gitlab"]
+CMD ["start"]
diff --git a/resources/gitlab b/resources/gitlab
index af7809ed..8d3dd9cc 100755
--- a/resources/gitlab
+++ b/resources/gitlab
@@ -125,21 +125,41 @@ chown -R git:git /home/git/.ssh
 
 cd /home/git/gitlab/
 
-# reset the database if the --db-init switch was given.
-if [ "$DB_INIT" == "yes" ]; then
-	sudo -u git -H force=yes bundle exec rake gitlab:setup RAILS_ENV=production
-fi
+gitlab_start () {
+	echo "Starting gitlab server..."
+	# reset the database if the --db-init switch was given.
+	if [ "$DB_INIT" == "yes" ]; then
+		sudo -u git -H force=yes bundle exec rake gitlab:setup RAILS_ENV=production
+	fi
 
-# start the gitlab application
-# sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:env:info RAILS_ENV=production
-/etc/init.d/gitlab start
+	# start the gitlab application
+	# sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:env:info RAILS_ENV=production
+	/etc/init.d/gitlab start
 
-# create satellite directories
-sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:satellites:create RAILS_ENV=production
-sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:check RAILS_ENV=production
+	# create satellite directories
+	sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:satellites:create RAILS_ENV=production
+	sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:check RAILS_ENV=production
 
-# kickstart the rails application
-wget "http://localhost" -O /dev/null
+	# kickstart the rails application
+	wget "http://localhost" -O /dev/null
 
-# watch the access logs
-tail -F /var/log/nginx/gitlab_access.log
+	# watch the access logs
+	tail -F /var/log/nginx/gitlab_access.log
+}
+
+gitlab_help () {
+	echo "Available options:"
+	echo " start       - Starts the gitlab server (default)"
+	echo " help        - Displays the help"
+}
+
+case "$1" in
+	start)
+		gitlab_start
+		;;
+	help|*)
+		gitlab_help
+		;;
+esac
+
+exit 0