Exporting the GitHub Enterprise Server source repositories

After locking the source repositories you can export them one at a time, or in bulk using a list of repository URLs in a text file. You will then create a single migration archive for the import process.

Note: Locking a repository prevents users from pushing to the repository or modifying a repository's resources, like issues, labels, milestones, wikis, and comments. New teams and collaborators can't be associated with a locked repository.

If you're performing a trial run, you don't need to lock repositories. Otherwise, it's highly recommended. For more information, see "About Migrations."

SSH into your GitHub Enterprise Server instance.
```
$ ssh -p 122 admin@HOSTNAME
```
To prepare a repository for export, use the ghe-migrator add command with the repository's URL:
- If you're locking the repository, append the command with --lock. If you're performing a trial run, --lock is not needed.
```
$ ghe-migrator add https://hostname/username/reponame --lock
```
- You can exclude file attachments by appending --exclude_attachments to the command. File attachments can be large and may needlessly bloat your final migration archive.
- To prepare multiple repositories at once for export, create a text file listing each repository URL on a separate line, and run the ghe-migrator add command with the -i flag and the path to your text file.
```
$ ghe-migrator add -i PATH/TO/YOUR/REPOSITORY_URLS.txt
```
When prompted, enter your GitHub Enterprise Server username:
```
Enter username authorized for migration:  admin
```
When prompted for a personal access token, enter the access token you created in "Preparing the GitHub Enterprise Server source instance":
```
Enter personal access token:  **************
```

When ghe-migrator add has finished it will print the unique "Migration GUID" that it generated to identify this export as well as a list of the resources that were added to the export. You will use the Migration GUID that it generated in subsequent ghe-migrator add and ghe-migrator export steps to tell ghe-migrator to continue operating on the same export.

> 101 models added to export
> Migration GUID: example-migration-guid
> Number of records in this migration:
> users                        |  5
> organizations                |  1
> repositories                 |  1
> teams                        |  3
> protected_branches           |  1
> pull_request_reviews         |  1
> milestones                   |  1
> issues                       |  3
> pull_requests                |  5
> pull_request_review_comments |  4
> commit_comments              |  2
> issue_comments               | 10
> issue_events                 | 63
> releases                     |  3
> attachments                  |  4
> projects                     |  2

Each time you add a new repository with an existing Migration GUID it will update the existing export. If you run ghe-migrator add again without a Migration GUID it will start a new export and generate a new Migration GUID. Do not re-use the Migration GUID generated during an export when you start preparing your migration for import.

If you locked the source repository, you can use the ghe-migrator target_url command to set a custom lock message on the repository page that links to the repository's new location. Pass the source repository URL, the target repository URL, and the Migration GUID from Step 5:
```
$ ghe-migrator target_url https://hostname/username/reponame https://target_hostname/target_username/target_reponame -g MIGRATION_GUID
```
To add more repositories to the same export, use the ghe-migrator add command with the -g flag. You'll pass in the new repository URL and the Migration GUID from Step 5:
```
$ ghe-migrator add https://hostname/username/other_reponame -g MIGRATION_GUID --lock
```
When you've finished adding repositories, generate the migration archive using the ghe-migrator export command with the -g flag and the Migration GUID from Step 5:
```
$ ghe-migrator export -g MIGRATION_GUID
> Archive saved to: /data/github/current/tmp/MIGRATION_GUID.tar.gz
```
- To specify where migration files should be staged append the command with --staging-path=/full/staging/path. Defaults to /data/user/tmp.
Close the connection to your GitHub Enterprise Server instance:
```
$ exit
> logout
> Connection to hostname closed.
```
Copy the migration archive to your computer using the scp command. The archive file will be named with the Migration GUID:
```
$ scp -P 122 admin@hostname:/data/github/current/tmp/MIGRATION_GUID.tar.gz ~/Desktop
```
To import the archived migration data to a GitHub Enterprise Server instance, see "Importing migration data to GitHub Enterprise Server".

Exporting the GitHub Enterprise Server source repositories

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