A migration involves moving your data from one GitHub Enterprise appliance to another; an upgrade involves updating the software on an appliance without moving any of your data.
For information on moving repositories between GitHub.com and GitHub Enterprise, see "Moving a repository from GitHub.com to GitHub Enterprise."
GitHub Enterprise does not support merging—or migrating—multiple appliances into one.
Migrations
You can migrate data from one appliance to another one that is running the same or a newer version of the GitHub Enterprise software.
Reasons to migrate
- Transitioning from a 32-bit appliance to a 64-bit appliance
- Testing a new version of GitHub Enterprise before deploying it to production
Prerequisites
- Two GitHub Enterprise appliances
- An intermediate server to store backups on
Procedure
The following steps provide an overview but are no substitute for reading "Migrating GitHub Enterprise."
- Set up a new appliance.
- Enable maintenance mode on your production appliance.
- Back up the data on your production appliance.
- Restore the data on your new appliance.
- Run database migrations on your new appliance.
Upgrades
You can upgrade the software on an existing GitHub Enterprise appliance without moving any of your data. This will involve some downtime because you must enable maintenance mode on your appliance during the upgrade.
Reasons to upgrade
- Security updates
- Stability improvements
- New features
Prerequisites
- A GitHub Enterprise appliance
- A new software package (GHP) file
Procedure
The following steps provide an overview but are no substitute for reading "Upgrading to the latest release."
- Enable maintenance mode on your appliance.
- Upload the new software package to your appliance.
- Wait for the configuration run to complete.
- Disable maintenance mode on your appliance.
