This version of GitHub Enterprise was discontinued on 2021-03-02. No patch releases will be made, even for critical security issues. For better performance, improved security, and new features, upgrade to the latest version of GitHub Enterprise. For help with the upgrade, contact GitHub Enterprise support.

System overview for GitHub Insights

GitHub Insights is a standalone application which interfaces with GitHub Enterprise.

GitHub Insights is available with GitHub One. For more information, see "GitHub's products."

In this article

Requirements for running GitHub Insights

GitHub Insights requires a supported version of GitHub Enterprise Server.

GitHub Insights requires a machine, called the application server, hosted either in the cloud or locally. Standard type machines with a base OS of Debian Buster, Debian Stretch, or any LTS versions of Ubuntu 16.04+ are supported.

To provision GitHub Insights, the application server must be able to run certain dependencies, including Docker. The application server may require the Docker daemon to be run as sudo. Kubernetes is not supported. For more information, see "Installing GitHub Insights."

The application server should meet minimum specifications.

SpecificationMinimum
vCPUs16
RAM64GB
Disk250GB

If you'll use GitHub Insights to import large amounts of data, we recommend greater minimum specifications. For more information, see "Managing repositories."

Security and authentication for GitHub Insights

GitHub Insights runs on your infrastructure and is governed by your existing information security controls. GitHub Insights uses existing user accounts in GitHub Enterprise for authentication and access permissions.

Network Security

GitHub Insights's internal firewall restricts network access to the application server's services. Only services necessary for the application server to function are available over the network.

GitHub Insights requires the following ports to be open for inbound and outbound traffic.

PortServiceProtocol
22SSH USERTCP
80HTTP USERTCP
443HTTPS USERTCP

Authentication and access permissions

Authentication for GitHub Insights is handled through GitHub Enterprise. During installation, you will create a GitHub App, which allows GitHub Insights to authorize users. The GitHub App is also used to interact with GitHub Enterprise within the scope of the user and app’s permissions.

GitHub Insights has two permission levels.

  • Admin permissions correspond to the role of site administrator on GitHub Enterprise. People with admin permissions have access to all settings for GitHub Insights.

  • All other users in GitHub Enterprise have user accounts in GitHub Insights. Users can view all metrics but have limited access to settings.

Data access in GitHub Insights is restricted according to each user's data access in GitHub Enterprise. A user will never see data in GitHub Insights for repositories the user does not have access to in GitHub Enterprise.

Architecture of GitHub Insights

System architecture