Prerequisites
- You must have a GitHub Enterprise license file. To download an existing license file or request a trial license, visit enterprise.github.com. For more information, see "Managing your GitHub Enterprise license."
- You must have a VMware vSphere ESXi Hypervisor, applied to a bare metal machine that will run your GitHub Enterprise Server instances. We support versions 5.5 through 6.7. The ESXi Hypervisor is free and does not include the (optional) vCenter Server. For more information, see the VMware ESXi documentation.
- You will need access to a vSphere Client. If you have vCenter Server you can use the vSphere Web Client. For more information, see the VMware guide "Log in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Web Client."
Hardware considerations
Minimum requirements
We recommend different hardware configurations depending on the number of user licenses for your GitHub Enterprise Server instance. If you provision more resources than the minimum requirements, your instance will perform and scale better.
| User licenses | vCPUs | Memory | Attached storage | Root storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trial, demo, or 10 light users | 2 | 16 GB | 100 GB | 200 GB |
| 10 to 3,000 | 4 | 32 GB | 250 GB | 200 GB |
| 3,000 to 5000 | 8 | 64 GB | 500 GB | 200 GB |
| 5,000 to 8000 | 12 | 96 GB | 750 GB | 200 GB |
| 8,000 to 10,000+ | 16 | 128 GB | 1000 GB | 200 GB |
For more information about adjusting resources for an existing instance, see "Increasing storage capacity" and "Increasing CPU or memory resources."
Storage
We recommend a high-performance SSD with high input/output operations per second (IOPS) and low latency for GitHub Enterprise Server. Workloads are I/O intensive. If you use a bare metal hypervisor, we recommend directly attaching the disk or using a disk from a storage area network (SAN).
Your instance requires a persistent data disk separate from the root disk. For more information, see "System overview."
You can resize your instance's root disk by building a new instance or using an existing instance. For more information, see "Increasing storage capacity."
CPU and memory
GitHub Enterprise Server requires more CPU and memory resources depending on levels of activity for users, automations, and integrations.
When you increase CPU resources, we recommend adding at least 6.5 GB of memory for each vCPU (up to 16 vCPUs) that you provision for the instance. When you use more than 16 vCPUs, you don't need to add 6.5 GB of memory for each vCPU, but you should monitor your instance to ensure it has enough memory.
Warning: We recommend that users configure webhook events to notify external systems of activity on GitHub Enterprise Server. Automated checks for changes, or polling, will negatively impact the performance and scalability of your instance. For more information, see "About webhooks."
You can increase your instance's CPU or memory resources. For more information, see "Increasing CPU or memory resources.
Downloading the GitHub Enterprise Server image
- Navigate to the GitHub Enterprise Server download page.
- To download your license file, click Download license.
- Click Get the latest release of GitHub Enterprise Server.
- Select GitHub On-premises, then click VMware ESXi/vSphere (OVA).
- Click Download for VMware ESXi/vSphere (OVA).
Creating the GitHub Enterprise Server instance
To create the instance, you'll need to import the GitHub Enterprise Server image to your virtual machine and attach an additional storage volume for your instance data. For more information, see "Hardware considerations."
- Using the vSphere Windows Client or the vCenter Web Client, import the GitHub Enterprise Server image you downloaded. For instructions, see the VMware guide "Deploy an OVF or OVA Template."
- When selecting a datastore, choose one with sufficient space to host the VM's disks. For the minimum hardware specifications recommended for your instance size, see "Hardware considerations." We recommend thick provisioning with lazy zeroing.
- Leave the Power on after deployment box unchecked, as you will need to add an attached storage volume for your repository data after provisioning the VM.
- Create a new virtual disk to use as an attached storage volume for your instance data, and configure the size based on your user license count. For instructions, see the VMware guide "Add a New Hard Disk to a Virtual Machine."
Configuring the GitHub Enterprise Server instance
- Copy the virtual machine's public DNS name, and paste it into a web browser.
- At the prompt, upload your license file and set a management console password. For more information, see "Managing your GitHub Enterprise license."
- In the Management Console, configure and save your desired settings. For more information, see "Configuring the GitHub Enterprise Server appliance."
- The instance will restart automatically.
- Click Visit your instance.