To enable shell access, you must add an SSH key to your GitHub Enterprise installation. Shell access allows you to run commands that don't require elevated permissions (such as date, uptime, top, and ps) as well as many command-line utilities provided specifically for GitHub Enterprise.

Shell access is not available on GitHub Enterprise versions prior to 11.10.260.

  1. Navigate to the Management Console.

    http(s)://hostname/setup

  2. Click the "Settings" tab. Settings tab

  3. Click Add new key. Add new key

  4. Paste your public SSH key into the text field that appears, restricting access to particular IP addresses if necessary. Paste key

  5. Click Add key. Add key

  6. At the bottom of the page, click Save settings. Save settings

Once your instance has been configured, you can SSH into it as the admin user with the following command:

ssh admin@hostname

Troubleshooting

For issues related to establishing an SSH connection with your GitHub Enterprise installation, see "Troubleshooting SSH: Permission denied (publickey)."