Installing GitHub Enterprise Server on VMware

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 "Managing your GitHub Enterprise license."
• You must have a VMware vSphere ESXi Hypervisor, applied to a bare metal machine that will run your GitHub Enterprise Server instances. We support versions 5.5 through 6.7. The ESXi Hypervisor is free and does not include the (optional) vCenter Server. For more information, see the VMware ESXi documentation.
• You will need access to a vSphere Client. If you have vCenter Server you can use the vSphere Web Client. For more information, see the VMware guide "Log in to vCenter Server by Using the vSphere Web Client."

Hardware considerations

GitHub Enterprise Server 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 user licenses used in your GitHub Enterprise Server instance.

These are minimum recommendations. More resources may be required depending on your usage, such as user activity and selected integrations. When increasing CPU resources, it's recommended to add at least 6.5 GB of memory for each CPU (up to 16 CPUs) added to your GitHub Enterprise Server instance. For more information, see "Increasing CPU or memory resources."

Downloading the GitHub Enterprise Server image

1. Navigate to the GitHub Enterprise Server download page.
2. To download your license file, click Download license.
3. Click Get the latest release of GitHub Enterprise Server.
4. Select GitHub On-premises, then click VMware ESXi/vSphere (OVA).
5. Click Download for VMware ESXi/vSphere (OVA).

Creating the GitHub Enterprise Server instance

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

1. Using the vSphere Windows Client or the vCenter Web Client, import the GitHub Enterprise Server image you downloaded. For instructions, see the VMware guide "Deploy an OVF or OVA Template."
   • When selecting a datastore, choose one with sufficient space to host the VM's disks. For the minimum hardware specifications recommended for your instance size, see "Hardware considerations." We recommend thick provisioning with lazy zeroing.
   • Leave the Power on after deployment box unchecked, as you will need to add an attached storage volume for your repository data after provisioning the VM.
2. Create a new virtual disk to use as an attached storage volume for your instance data, and configure the size based on your user license count. For instructions, see the VMware guide "Add a New Hard Disk to a Virtual Machine."

Configuring the GitHub Enterprise Server 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 "Managing your GitHub Enterprise license."
3. In the Management Console, configure and save your desired settings. For more information, see "Configuring the GitHub Enterprise Server appliance."
4. The instance will restart automatically.
5. Click Visit your instance.

Further reading

• "System overview"