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This version of GitHub Enterprise was discontinued on 2023-01-18. No patch releases will be made, even for critical security issues. For better performance, improved security, and new features, upgrade to the latest version of GitHub Enterprise. For help with the upgrade, contact GitHub Enterprise support.

Configuring a hostname

We recommend setting a hostname for your appliance instead of using a hard-coded IP address.

If you configure a hostname instead of a hard-coded IP address, you will be able to change the physical hardware that your GitHub Enterprise Server instance runs on without affecting users or client software.

The hostname setting in the Management Console should be set to an appropriate fully qualified domain name (FQDN) which is resolvable on the internet or within your internal network. For example, your hostname setting could be github.companyname.com. Web and API requests will automatically redirect to the hostname configured in the Management Console. Note that localhost is not a valid hostname setting.

Hostnames must be less than 63 characters in length per Section 2.3.4 of the Domain Names Specification RFC.

After you configure a hostname, you can enable subdomain isolation to further increase the security of your GitHub Enterprise Server instance. For more information, see "Enabling subdomain isolation."

For more information on the supported hostname types, see Section 2.1 of the HTTP RFC.

Warning: Do not change the hostname for GitHub Enterprise Server after initial setup. Changing the hostname will cause unexpected behavior, up to and including instance outages.

  1. From an administrative account on GitHub Enterprise Server, in the upper-right corner of any page, click .

    Screenshot of the rocket ship icon for accessing site admin settings

  2. If you're not already on the "Site admin" page, in the upper-left corner, click Site admin.

    Screenshot of "Site admin" link

  3. In the left sidebar, click Management Console. Management Console tab in the left sidebar

  4. In the left sidebar, click Hostname. Hostname tab in the settings sidebar

  5. Type the hostname you'd like to set for your GitHub Enterprise Server instance. Field for setting a hostname

  6. To test the DNS and SSL settings for the new hostname, click Test domain settings. Test domain settings button

  7. If you don't receive a green checkmark next to all entries, review your configuration for the setting that failed. For more information, see "Configuring DNS nameservers." Table showing status of DNS and SSL configurations

  8. Under the left sidebar, click Save settings.

    Screenshot of the save settings button in the Management Console

    Note: Saving settings in the Management Console restarts system services, which could result in user-visible downtime.

  9. Wait for the configuration run to complete.

    Configuring your instance

To help mitigate various cross-site scripting vulnerabilities, we recommend that you enable subdomain isolation for your GitHub Enterprise Server instance after you configure a hostname. For more information, see "Enabling subdomain isolation."