Preparing the GitHub Enterprise Server source instance
-
Verify that you are a site administrator on the GitHub Enterprise Server source. The best way to do this is to verify that you can SSH into the instance.
-
Generate an access token with the
repo
andadmin:org
scopes on the GitHub Enterprise Server source instance. -
To minimize downtime, make a list of repositories you want to export from the source instance. You can add multiple repositories to an export at once using a text file that lists the URL of each repository on a separate line.
Exporting the GitHub Enterprise Server source repositories
Note: Locking a repository prevents all write access to the repository. You cannot associate new teams or collaborators with a locked repository.
If you're performing a trial run, you do not need to lock the repository. When you migrate data from a repository that's in use, GitHub strongly recommends locking the repository. For more information, see "About Migrations."
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SSH into your GitHub Enterprise Server instance. For more information, see "Accessing the administrative shell (SSH)."
$ ssh -p 122 admin@HOSTNAME
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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
- If you're locking the repository, append the command with
-
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 subsequentghe-migrator add
andghe-migrator export
steps to tellghe-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
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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
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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
.
- To specify where migration files should be staged append the command with
-
Close the connection to your GitHub Enterprise Server instance:
$ exit > logout > Connection to hostname closed.
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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
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To prepare the archived migration data for import into a GitHub Enterprise Server instance, see "Preparing to migrate data to your enterprise".