In a recent move, GitHub has added a data residency option for its Enterprise Cloud service, focusing initially on users in the European Union. The new feature lets business clients select their data storage locations, addressing increased concerns about control and sovereignty over their information.
GitHub Enterprise is a platform designed specifically for businesses and organizations that need a secure, scalable, and customizable version of GitHub. It offers advanced features and controls tailored to enterprise needs, including deployment options, enhanced security, customization, enterprise-grade support, and other advanced features
EU Focused Launch with Global Plans
The feature is now available to businesses within the EU, but GitHub plans to extend it to include Australia, parts of Asia, and Latin America. Currently, access is granted to customers who have a representative from GitHub or Microsoft.
Data residency improves account management for businesses, providing them with options to keep user identities and namespaces distinct on ghe.com, independent from the broader public cloud. All the benefits are supported through the technical backbone provided by Microsoft Azure, known for its reliability and recovery capabilities.
Insights from GitHub's CEO on Data Governance
Thomas Dohmke, who leads GitHub, points out how vital data residency is for AI progress. He emphasized that housing code data in the EU aids organizations with governance, which can drive economic advancement locally and on a worldwide scale.
Originating from a 2022 proof of concept, this data residency function took a couple of years to develop. The company leveraged its internal tools like GitHub Issues and Projects to handle thousands of project-related tasks across numerous teams. Use of GitHub Codespaces and Actions facilitated seamless integration during the build process.
Deployment Approach and Evaluation
The implementation involved a cautious “deploy then merge” method, which included trial deployments before changes reached the core codebase. GitHub's method involved both automated and manual assessments and was gradually rolled out to test environments, ensuring reliability. Feature flags aided in managing the rollouts to mitigate risks.
To support development, an isolated testing environment was established for the team behind GitHub Enterprise Importer. The setting supported over 8,000 deployments and handled more than 1,000 action jobs every month, offering crucial insights and contributing to the product's reliability.
