docs/content/admin/configuration/configuring-network-settings/enabling-subdomain-isolation.md

title, intro, redirect_from, versions, type, topics, shortTitle

title	intro	redirect_from	versions	type	topics	shortTitle
Enabling subdomain isolation	You can set up subdomain isolation to securely separate user-supplied content from other portions of your {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_server %} appliance.	/enterprise/admin/guides/installation/about-subdomain-isolation /enterprise/admin/installation/enabling-subdomain-isolation /enterprise/admin/configuration/enabling-subdomain-isolation /admin/configuration/enabling-subdomain-isolation	ghes *	how_to	Enterprise Fundamentals Infrastructure Networking Security	Enable subdomain isolation

About subdomain isolation

Subdomain isolation mitigates cross-site scripting and other related vulnerabilities. For more information, see "Cross-site scripting" on Wikipedia. We highly recommend that you enable subdomain isolation on {% data variables.product.product_location %}.

When subdomain isolation is enabled, {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_server %} replaces several paths with subdomains. After enabling subdomain isolation, attempts to access the previous paths for some user-supplied content, such as http(s)://HOSTNAME/raw/, may return 404 errors.

Path without subdomain isolation	Path with subdomain isolation
http(s)://HOSTNAME/assets/	http(s)://assets.HOSTNAME/
http(s)://HOSTNAME/avatars/	http(s)://avatars.HOSTNAME/
http(s)://HOSTNAME/codeload/	http(s)://codeload.HOSTNAME/
http(s)://HOSTNAME/gist/	http(s)://gist.HOSTNAME/
http(s)://HOSTNAME/media/	http(s)://media.HOSTNAME/
http(s)://HOSTNAME/pages/	http(s)://pages.HOSTNAME/
http(s)://HOSTNAME/raw/	http(s)://raw.HOSTNAME/
http(s)://HOSTNAME/render/	http(s)://render.HOSTNAME/
http(s)://HOSTNAME/reply/	http(s)://reply.HOSTNAME/
http(s)://HOSTNAME/uploads/	http(s)://uploads.HOSTNAME/
https://HOSTNAME/_registry/docker/	http(s)://docker.HOSTNAME/{% endif %}{% ifversion ghes %}
https://HOSTNAME/_registry/npm/	https://npm.HOSTNAME/
https://HOSTNAME/_registry/rubygems/	https://rubygems.HOSTNAME/
https://HOSTNAME/_registry/maven/	https://maven.HOSTNAME/
https://HOSTNAME/_registry/nuget/	https://nuget.HOSTNAME/{% endif %}

Prerequisites

{% data reusables.enterprise_installation.disable-github-pages-warning %}

Before you enable subdomain isolation, you must configure your network settings for your new domain.

• Specify a valid domain name as your hostname, instead of an IP address. For more information, see "[Configuring a hostname](/enterprise/{{ currentVersion }}/admin/guides/installation/configuring-a-hostname)."

{% data reusables.enterprise_installation.changing-hostname-not-supported %}

• Set up a wildcard Domain Name System (DNS) record or individual DNS records for the subdomains listed above. We recommend creating an A record for *.HOSTNAME that points to your server's IP address so you don't have to create multiple records for each subdomain.
• Get a wildcard Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate for *.HOSTNAME with a Subject Alternative Name (SAN) for both HOSTNAME and the wildcard domain *.HOSTNAME. For example, if your hostname is github.octoinc.com, get a certificate with the Common Name value set to *.github.octoinc.com and a SAN value set to both github.octoinc.com and *.github.octoinc.com.
• Enable TLS on your appliance. For more information, see "[Configuring TLS](/enterprise/{{ currentVersion }}/admin/guides/installation/configuring-tls/)."

Enabling subdomain isolation

{% data reusables.enterprise_site_admin_settings.access-settings %} {% data reusables.enterprise_site_admin_settings.management-console %} {% data reusables.enterprise_management_console.hostname-menu-item %} 4. Select Subdomain isolation (recommended). {% data reusables.enterprise_management_console.save-settings %}