To install GitHub Enterprise on XenServer, you must deploy the GitHub Enterprise disk image to a XenServer host.

In this guide

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 "License files."

  • You must install the XenServer Hypervisor on the machine that will run your GitHub Enterprise virtual machine (VM). We support versions 6.0 through 7.0.

  • We recommend using the XenCenter Windows Management Console for initial setup. Instructions using the XenCenter Windows Management Console are included below. For more information, see the Citrix guide "How to Download and Install a New Version of XenCenter."

Hardware considerations

GitHub Enterprise requires a persistent data disk separate from the root disk. For more information, see "System overview."

For your storage device, we recommend a high-performance SSD, either directly attached or from a storage area network (SAN).

We recommend different hardware configurations based on the number of seats used in your GitHub Enterprise instance.

Seats vCPUs Memory Attached storage Root storage
10-500 2 16 GB 100 GB 200 GB
500-3000 4 32 GB 250 GB 200 GB
3000-5000 8 64 GB 500 GB 200 GB
5000-8000 12 72 GB 750 GB 200 GB
8000-10000+ 16 128 GB 1000 GB 200 GB

These are minimum recommendations. More resources may be required depending on your usage, such as user activity and selected integrations.

Note: The root disk can be resized by building a new appliance or using an existing appliance. For more information, see "Increasing storage capacity."

Warning: We recommend you use webhooks to fetch repository changes for continuous integration (CI) or similar systems. Regular automatic checks, or polling, will significantly reduce the scalability of your instance. For more information, see "About webhooks"

Downloading the GitHub Enterprise image

  1. Navigate to the GitHub Enterprise download page.

  2. To download your license file, click Download license.

  3. Click Get the latest release of GitHub Enterprise.

  4. Select GitHub On-premises, then click XenServer (VHD).

  5. To download your license file, click Download license.

Creating the GitHub Enterprise instance

To create the instance, you'll need to import the GitHub Enterprise image to your virtual machine and attach an additional storage volume for your instance data. For more information, see "Hardware considerations."

  1. In XenCenter, import the GitHub Enterprise image you downloaded. For instructions, see the XenCenter guide "Import Disk Images."
    • For the "Enable Operating System Fixup" step, select Don't use Operating System Fixup.
    • Leave the VM powered off when you're finished.
  2. Create a new virtual disk to use as an attached storage volume for your instance data, and configure the size based on your seat count. For instructions, see the XenCenter guide "Add Virtual Disks."

Configuring the GitHub Enterprise instance

  1. Copy the virtual machine's public DNS name, and paste it into a web browser.

  2. At the prompt, upload your license file and set a management console password. For more information, see "License files."

  3. In the Management Console, configure and save your desired settings. For more information, see "Configuring the GitHub Enterprise appliance."

  4. The instance will restart automatically.

  5. Click Visit your instance.

Further reading