This article was written by Kamil Beer, an Atlassian Engineer at iDalko.
Migrating the Atlassian tools is always a hot topic. Irresolute your deployment type is certainly possible, but it requires some good consideration before execution. So in the first part of the series, "Best practices: Maintaining the Atlassian Stack", I clarify how to migrate Jira in detail.
I'll also walk you through all the necessary steps you have to take before, during, and subsequently migrating your Jira. So if you're looking for the ultimate guide to a secure migration, go along on reading.
Before nosotros get to the content, y'all might want to download this worksheet:
Here's an overview of what nosotros're going to cover in this extensive guide:
Chapter i– Earlier y'all Migrate Jira: What Deployment Models should I Choose for my Atlassian Stack? 1.1. On Deject or on Server? 1.2. Deployment Limitations Chapter 2– Fix to Drift Jira: Analysis and Clean-up 2.ane. Assay 2.2. Clean-upwardly Chapter 3– How to Finer Plan it all before y'all Drift Jira iii.1. Server to Cloud iii.ii. Site Import or Migration Assistant? Affiliate 4– Staging, Tasting, and Execution: It's Fourth dimension to Drift your Jira iv.1. Staging Server Migration 4.2. User Acceptance Testing 4.three. Production Server Migration 4.4. Post-migration back up
Chapter 1- Before yous Migrate Jira: What Deployment Models Should I Choose for my Atlassian Stack?
Before I get to the function where I'll discuss how to drift Jira in full detail, permit me first by going over the deployment models that we have. There are many paths to traverse in the Atlassian world, forth with the risk of choosing the wrong one when choosing the deployment model for your Atlassian Stack. How to deploy Jira? What rules should I ready up? And how about security? How to maintain the awarding? Equally an admin, you probably asked yourself these questions already.
Luckily, these paths have been already trodden past many experts, including those at iDalko. And they are what our new series of articles will cover, Atlassian stack best practices, based on our experience.
Alright, so you lot have decided to use Jira – or Confluence or Bitbucket – to help you lot out. Great! You searched how to install information technology and met the first crossroad. Where should the application run?
On Deject or on Server?
And they don't even mention the third option: Data Centre. So, what is the right choice?
In this affiliate, I'thou going to depict the deployment choices, upsides, and downsides. It's useful to both novice and veteran administrators especially earlier y'all migrate your Jira.
Cloud
Simply put: Cloud ways Atlassian hosts the application.
Deject deployment has been around since 2008. Atlassian started offering a evolution platform with Jira, Confluence, SVN, Crowd, Bamboo, Fisheye, and Crucible called Jira Studio. In 2011, a product named OnDemand allowed the use of carve up applications, unlike the arranged Jira Studio. In 2013, Jira Studio was discontinued and OnDemand was named Cloud in 2014.
And so, with Cloud, you don't demand to provide the application infrastructure or perform any complicated server administration tasks. Only at that place are other things to consider, detailed below.
To (not) keep it simple, in that location are four types of Cloud deployments:
Cloud Free, introduced in March 2020, allows you to use Jira Software, Core, Service Desk, Confluence, Trello, Bitbucket, and Opsgenie for free. It's a good introduction, but the limitations don't make it very production-viable (east. thousand. Jira lacks permissions, Bitbucket is limited to 5 users).
Cloud Standard is the most common Cloud solution. This article will talk about its upsides and downsides in detail.
Cloud Premium is a more powerful Cloud Standard. Information technology has a 99.nine% uptime SLA, unlimited file storage, and 24/7 support. New features include IP Allowlisting and Project Archiving. For minor teams, users toll twice as much (eastward. g. a user in JSW costs $7 for Cloud Standard and $xiv for Cloud Premium). But the more users yous have, the lower will be the cost increment.
Cloud Enterprise (in Early Admission) goes even farther. With unlimited users, a 99.95% uptime SLA, the ability to choose Data Residency and "guaranteed integration with many essential enterprise SaaS tools", it's certain to be a dream come up true for many teams, but too at a cost that won't make it accessible to most of them. You can effort it out here.
Now that we covered the Cloud types, allow'due south see what Cloud Standard has to offering.
Upsides
You pay per user, not in bulk. In Cloud, you pay for every active user in the application. But in Server or Data Center, you purchase licenses in bulk. In Server, the toll tiers are ten/25/50/100/250/500/2000/10000+.
You probably noticed the big jumps – and yeah, this certainly ways that one time you hit 501 users on Server, you need to purchase the way more expensive 2000-user license including all apps you utilize. In Deject, you would pay for that one extra user but. This, all the same, only applies to the Cloud monthly subscription. Yearly cloud payments still have their own user tiers.
Pricing example – Jira Software
No hardware costs. Yous don't need to buy or hire servers, nor take care of their maintenance, scaling, deprecation, cooling, or electricity. You don't accept to rent employees to do that for you. This is taken care of past Atlassian that hosts all of its cloud solutions via AWS. These servers are located all over the world for better access and performance.
And while y'all still need an ambassador, all the necessary tasks are washed via the UI.
Easy upgrades. You lot don't need reanimation, time-consuming deployments on dev and test instances, or partaking in the backbreaking procedure of an instance upgrade. Upgrades are done on the background past Atlassian. You but come up to an upgraded instance with new features i day.
Downsides
Reduced customization and support of popular software. Customization of Cloud applications is severely limited: you tin but use some apps from Server, or they might miss some primal features y'all were used to (e. 1000. Scriptrunner, JEMH).
Some pop enterprise software, similar Active Directory, isn't supported either. You lot will have a hard time with integrations. Various organisation settings are missing (no Priority schemes), others cannot exist customized (eastward. g. your own URL).
No custom domain. Whenever you register a Cloud application, information technology will have a ".atlassian." second-level domain like this: https://yourname.atlassian.com/. This is currently non possible to change – the difficulties in doing and then have been described past the lead developer of this characteristic hither.
Reduced number of users. On Cloud, the maximum number of users is 5000. This might be a problem in big organizations, as you would and then demand to federate into multiple instances.
Subscription model. Unlike Server, which has perpetual licensing (the initial toll is for the application and year-long maintenance that you don't demand to pay again), Deject requires either monthly or yearly payments to remain working. This is a standard SaaS model. All the same, it means that once you no longer need any upgrades and still want to utilise the application, y'all need to pay for the instance or lose your data. Or you lot have the option to migrate Jira to a Server instance.
Server
Simply put: Server means y'all host the awarding.
Important note: Atlassian appear the end of Server era equally of February 2, 2021, so that is the end of new server license sales and you tin no longer buy or request a quote for a new server product. In that location will too be an update on new prices for server renewals and upgrades and the customers accept the option to renew their maintenance until Feb 2, 2024
Jira 1.0 was made in 2002 to piece of work on-premise. And other applications later including Confluence, Bitbucket, Crowd, Fisheye, and Crucible all became ready for local deployment as well.
So, what do you need when deploying locally? Certainly, your ain/a hosting provider'due south server to run the awarding (Linux, Windows Server, AWS, or Azure are all options), a database, a file arrangement, and an ambassador that tin can put it all together. In the beginning, the help of some other IT technicians might likewise be necessary. And while it all may seem like a big investment, information technology'southward just well worth it.
Upsides
User-friendliness. Sure, yous might demand to upgrade on your own once in a while, merely nobody volition drastically change your application or its features without yous. If you lot want to keep information technology as is, afterwards your users spent a long time familiarizing themselves with the tool, zilch stands in your manner.
New (Cloud) UI or onetime (Server) UI?
In Cloud, features appear and disappear, just like the UI that many users complained about in the links above. In Server, once you gear up your instance up, that's how it will remain. Few people like changes but if they are necessary, you lot can approve them kickoff, or exercise a rollback later. And what helps with this is…
Perpetual model and developer licenses. Once y'all buy an Atlassian server license, yous go the awarding and a year of maintenance. Paid maintenance means access to new upgrades and to a very helpful Atlassian Support aqueduct.
After the maintenance expires, you lot can extend it for 50% of the cost of the current license user tier for some other year. But fifty-fifty if you don't, you can however keep using the application. Before the maintenance expires though, you should upgrade to the latest stable version.
You also become a developer license, which is a copy of your production license you can use for non-product servers, for example, a staging example for upgrade testing, app trials, or important changes, a examination instance for your users to play around and larn the application, or for an annal case for old projects/spaces/repositories.
Still, from time to time, various security vulnerabilities surface, and one of the solutions is to upgrade the awarding. If you don't have active maintenance, this might go a large problem, but even then, you tin…
Keep your Atlassian stack in a individual network. Dissimilar the Cloud case, which is visible to anyone, you can put the Server instance inside your VPN. This is both a practiced pace, security-wise, and also a way to fend off hacking attempts when visible on the internet. Recently, Atlassian has released a beta version of a characteristic that allows IP whitelisting on Cloud Premium, but a truthful application integration within a individual network is however missing.
Security aspects become even more complicated on Cloud with third-political party apps, as the data they process aren't hosted by Atlassian but by the vendors. This might crusade GDPR non-compliance. On Server, everything remains on your motorcar.
Keeping Jira or Confluence in a individual network is nonetheless one of the most requested capabilities for enterprise deployments.
Availability. There's no guaranteed uptime for a Cloud Atlassian application. When your Cloud instance is downwardly, you submit a ticket to Atlassian Back up… and await. If you use Server, then the uptime is upwards to yous. If you prepare your infrastructure for it, impressive results and depression reanimation tin be achieved east. thou. via a clustered Docker pipeline, even in enterprise environments.
While Atlassian guarantees 99,9% uptime for Deject Premium plans, this even so means about 45 minutes of reanimation monthly, and that is in theory and given perfect circumstances.
Admission. Yous tin admission the file system and the database and perform diverse tweaks and custom integrations. Your filesystem can exist scaled equally the instance grows, which is not the instance with Cloud, which has 250 GB file infinite as the maximum.
Downsides
Atlassian'southward investment. A couple of Atlassian Summits focused nearly solely on Deject and Data Eye. In that location aren't that many impressive new features made for Server (e. grand. Automation for Jira or Jira Suite Utilities nonetheless remain a paid app, different on Cloud).
Bulk user pricing and other pricing bug. We already mentioned paying for the necessary hardware, software, staff, etc. Another hurdle might concern licensing, with big differences betwixt user counts (if y'all accept 501 users, yous need to buy the 2000 user license) – including apps. Some of this can exist resolved by omitting maintenance for select apps or the primary example at your own risk.
At that place were besides Atlasssian'south large cost increases in October 2019. Users who bought 3 or five years of maintenance before have undoubtedly fabricated the correct option. More than increases are expected to happen in the future, as the prices take risen virtually every yr in the by decade.
Atlassian can't aid remotely. On a Cloud instance, in instance it comes crashing down, Atlassian technicians will log in to your case equally system administrators and check what's wrong. On Server, they tin help only via the helpdesk, which is yet very useful. You also need to provide various logs and files, ideally in the form of a support zip.
Data Middle
Simply put: Data Center means you host the application, utilizing the power of several servers.
Data Eye deployment was beginning fabricated available for Jira 6.4 in 2014 so for version vii.0 in 2015, when Jira was split into Jira Core, Jira Software, and Jira Service Desk-bound.
Other tools quickly followed conform, with Confluence Data Center already being available in September 2014 and Bitbucket Data Center (named Stash by and so) in March 2015. In August 2017, Crowd entered the Data Center family.
Merely what exactly does the Information Center deployment bring?
Kickoff, information technology runs the application on several servers. What this ways is that information technology provides better performance and tin can sustain a heavier load than a Server instance.
Second, it provides a fill-in solution. Server A might exist down, but your awarding volition nevertheless run from servers B and C. Neat and useful when you need high uptime, for instance, for documentation or a support service desk.
Upsides
True Loftier Availability (HA). On Server and Cloud, in that location is a single point of failure. On Data Heart, you can connect to equally many servers as you want and ensure that they will continue you online. Also, the time you lot wait to get your Cloud or Server site backup is no more than an event.
Functioning at scale. When your Jira Server instance grows to about 200 000 issues, you have to do some actually advanced stunts to keep it running well. As you distribute the load betwixt several servers with DC, you tin can scale the instance even further. It's too a fashion to ease the pressure on a fast-growing application that you already scaled every bit much every bit possible. Over again, you can always add more servers hosted either locally or on AWS/Azure to improve functioning.
SSO 2.0 An interesting do good is the improver of SAML connection to Azure Advert, ADFS, and several other identity providers. This allows a unmarried sign-on and authentication into Atlassian tools. Note that for SSO, yous can cull either Crowd or your local identity provider, non both.
Case diagram of a Data Heart deployment
Downsides
The toll. With the exception of Bitbucket, the starting tier of Information Center is 500 users (Jira/Confluence) or l agents (Jira Service Desk) at $12,000 yearly. And that's just the main application – you take to add the price of any third-party apps to this mix. Clearly, this deployment is feasible mainly for the enterprise. While Bitbucket DC bachelor from 11 users up certainly seems interesting, one has to counterbalance the value it'd really bring when compared to a regular Server case.
Licensing model. Even though yous host Data Center, the licensing model is different from Server. Yous need to pay the same cost every year.
Cluster limitations. While Data Center can be deployed on several servers, you have to ready the rest of the infrastructure for High Availability, likewise. This means the filesystem (e. one thousand. using GlusterFS) and the database (many database vendors nowadays offer a HA solution). They also all take to be compatible and supported, which might not always be piece of cake.
Deployment Limitations
At present that you know the main backdrop of the iii deployments, there is another betoken to consider: some applications can be deployed simply in Deject, some just on the Server version, and only a few can be deployed in Information Centre. Thankfully, there is a large overlap – see below.
Summary
Cloud, Server, Data Center are the deployment options an Atlassian administrator should know well-nigh. While Cloud might prove useful in scenarios where y'all don't have a server available to host your data, Server might be more useful when you do and when you run more than and more employ cases and customizations. Data Center becomes relevant once you lot reach the enterprise scale.
This chapter introduced them all in-depth. But maybe you already chose your hosting, but it doesn't work as well as initially planned. You lot might exist fifty-fifty because migrating to a dissimilar ane.
So in the adjacent chapter, I'll explore everything near the preparation earlier y'all migrate Jira.
Chapter 2- Fix to Migrate Jira: Analysis and Clean-up
In the previous chapter, we covered the Atlassian tools deployment models and their ups and downs. Simply in case you already have a Jira instance up and running, this chapter volition help you get fully prepared to drift Jira.
So maybe you lot institute out that a critical feature you need in Jira isn't on Cloud. Or that you need to update your Confluence without scheduling Server downtimes all the time. Or that your numerous dev teams demand a better performing, always-online Bitbucket – perhaps in a Information Center. This chapter is for those stuck in this situation to aid them successfully drift their Jira instance.
Moving your application from Cloud to Server, vice versa, and even to Data Heart is certainly possible. But every platform has different requirements, behaviors, and even looks dissimilar, then information technology'southward necessary to beginning put together a game plan. What is required to execute a Jira migration in the all-time fashion possible?
Hither I'll cover the two steps regarding the grooming; Analysis and Cleanup.
Clarify the New Platform before you Drift Jira
The first step of this journey is about taking a hard, honest await at whether the new platform suits your needs, what will alter, and if migrating Jira is even possible. In that location are several angles to this:
Price
Information technology's necessary to take into consideration potential price change is essential. To illustrate, we compared the costs of Jira Software for 100, 1000, and 2000 users on Cloud, Server, and DC. We included five popular apps: Tempo Timesheets, eazyBI, JMWE, ScriptRunner, and Xray, and created a quote for five years (June 2020).
For Cloud, we used Standard annual pricing and saved 2 months of payment from the monthly model. For Server, the prices contain maintenance paid every year. Yous can, even so, not pay for the maintenance and however use the application.
No discounts have been applied, so these are the official prices from Atlassian in USD, cumulative over the years.
Yous can also create your ain quote hither:
Deject
Server
Jira Software – 100 users
During the first two years, Cloud was priced similarly to Server. From the third year on, the price difference leaned more in favor of Server. The hosting and staff costs aren't included in the Server cost, nor is the decision to non renew maintenance. Doing and so might be useful if yous're isolated behind a firewall and less vulnerable to security exploits.
Jira Software – 1000 users
The chiliad-user tier is available on Cloud Standard. On Server, you tin can buy either a 500 or a 2000-user license. But even here, nosotros see that the more than time passes, the better the price for Server gets. The 1000-user Data Center remains priced mostly better than its 2000-user Server analogue.
Jira Software – 2000 users
In a large instance, the Cloud/ Server toll departure becomes much more visible. Here, Data Middle comes every bit a viable option priced betwixt Deject and Server.
Compliance and Security
What should y'all also consider when changing deployments is the GDPR. If y'all're in Europe and want to drift to Jira Cloud, think twice. Many companies sign contracts or NDAs with customers or suppliers proverb that confidential information remains on local servers. This drastically changes in Cloud, as data may be stored anywhere. Thus, all those agreements will need to change as you move from Server/ Data Center. In enterprises, these revisions might have years.
If you piece of work behind a firewall, you will demand to whitelist vii domains, a large number of IP ranges, the required Amazon/ Cloudflare services, and various third-party app sites for Deject. Atlassian instructs that you lot should let everything with a service name "Amazon" or "Cloudfront", several IPs to receive notifications, and yet another set of IPs for Trello and Bitbucket. You tin read more about it here. You lot'd have to do that on every firewall. Even the Server products will need whitelisting, mainly for the Atlassian Marketplace.
Another point is your user base. Let's say you employ Crowd, connected to your Active Directory, and providing SSO on Server. Or you're using Atlassian Access with Azure AD or GSuite and are moving on Cloud. The oversupply isn't available on Cloud – and you will need to buy an extra app to integrate GSuite and ADFS on Server. What will be the authenticator (or SSO provider) post-migration?
Likewise, Cloud Standard supports only 5000 users, in example you have an enterprise Server/DC deployment and want to drift Jira to Cloud, so beware!
If you are migrating Jira to Server instead, know that you lot will have to strengthen your application server yourself. That ways building up a proxy, providing an SSL certificate, changing ports for SSH, deploying an application like fail2ban.
User Experience
Virtually of us resist change, and irresolute an awarding y'all use daily is a big one. Users will be startled even past different colors, non to mention various buttons not existence where they used to be. And the users finally learned where is what and how it works.
Or they might hate the new blueprint. There was a significant pushback after the 2017 Cloud UI change, so much so that Atlassian reverted to the old UI at the terminate of 2019. User resistance is something to be prepared for, no matter which platform you're migrating to.
Yous can mitigate this by providing learning resource for users and giving them early on notice. Atlassian has a great library of complimentary grooming and we at iDalko have prepared a user guide for you lot with which you won't become lost!
Features
If you utilize integrations on Server, then they might non work on Cloud at all. Direct database access will not be available, and so you will have to rebuild what y'all can in REST API. Legacy systems will be heavily impacted and integrating COBOL or FORTRAN software just seems hard to imagine. Same for custom hacks or apps. It could exist impossible to transfer them on Cloud, Atlassian vets all Cloud apps and upholds strict standards for them. And well, apps on Deject and Server are written differently, too.
Deject apps are written in "Atlassian Connect", a framework different from the Coffee one on Server. On Server, an app is installed directly into the software, just a Cloud app is a split web application connected, for instance, to Jira by Residual API. Read more about this type of deployment here.
Apps like Power Admin, JMCF, or Rich Filters only exercise not have a Cloud variant. Nevertheless, it's prophylactic to say that as the more popular the app, the higher chance is to come across information technology on all deployments. Some apps have limited features, like Scriptrunner's very different feature set. Others might non migrate data correctly, easily, or at all.
While you tin can't easily transfer all apps/ integrations from Server to Cloud or vice versa, information technology's useful to get-go test whether all features take been migrated using a demo instance. And 2nd, to bank check all app differences in the vendor'southward documentation.
If you're migrating to Cloud, a demo instance might be more difficult, every bit your best bet is a trial version. There are rumors of a sandbox environment, but only on the Cloud Premium deployment.
Other Considerations
How much downtime can you beget? Cloud Standard has no guaranteed uptime.
What monitoring changes (via Nagios, Grafana…) will y'all need to do?
When migrating from Cloud to Server, your application administrator volition acquire extra duties – he should administrate the server, too.
How will yous maintain your backups when moving from Jira Deject to Server?
Clean up the Instance earlier Migrating your Jira
Did the analysis go well? Good! The next footstep is tidying your instance upwards so that you do non carry over onetime data or unused configuration. Even if you lot didn't migrate Jira in the terminate, it is a helpful procedure to do one time or twice a year.
So, how to do it? There are many ways, just let's mention the near common steps. We will properly focus on how to perform a cleanup in ane of our next articles.
Archiving Projects, Spaces, and Repositories
If you lot have been using Jira, Confluence, or Bitbucket for some time already, chances are you have many of these that users don't use anymore. These may be finished projects, sometime documentation or training tools, duplicates, and then on that are unnecessarily taking up database and file space.
A good fashion to determine if a Jira project is used is to sort its problems by their updated appointment. With a third-political party app like Rich Filters or Power Admin, finding the last updated date is even easier.
Confluence shows space activeness on every space'southward default home page. If you use Better Content Archiving, you will see which pages are edited and read in each space. In Bitbucket, every repository has a last commit engagement.
Archive Jira/Confluence/Bitbucket by simply taking a backup, confirming its integrity, and delete the old content from production.
Deleting One-time and Indistinguishable Objects
After removing the projects, many workflows or custom fields won't be used anymore. Yous should remove them, as the admins will later have trouble finding the ones they need. And having as well many fields slows Jira down when searching and viewing issues. Lookout man this video to notice out more than.
You will find unused objects in each of their respective sections, for Workflows, Screens, various schemes… or you can utilise Power Admin or Optimizer for Jira (paid) to practise this usage cheque for you.
To check if a custom field is used, a handy query to use is <name of field> IS Non Empty to see how many bug actually employ this custom field.
Removing Unused Users
This will relieve you money and amend security. Whenever a user leaves or stops using the application, the best practice is to deactivate them. Nevertheless, sometimes y'all may forget and their accounts volition remain active. As an admission indicate, this is a security risk and it makes license usage college. Unused accounts should be removed earlier you migrate your Jira example.
Information technology isn't easy to check which users are active unless y'all want to dig in the database (and just on Server/ Data Center) or manually cheque every user. A useful app that shows users who haven't logged in for some time or at all is User Management for Jira, available for Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket.
Checking for Errors
When migrating to Cloud, don't migrate misconfigurations. So unless you will rebuild everything from scratch, checking the awarding logs and the example integrity helps identify errors in the electric current configuration and their cause.
You tin either read your logs manually or use the Jira/Confluence Log Analyzer that scans your log for errors and points you lot to relevant Atlassian KB articles. Y'all can also utilise the gratis Integrity Check app for all the same another scan for misconfigured boards, dashboards, and Jira projects.
App Usage Inspect
Thousands of apps are available, complimentary to use for 30 days. So information technology's tempting to effort them all out. They will remain installed after the trial menstruation, though. Or possibly you run an app that was popular once, but users stopped using it. Don't migrate unused apps that take infinite and raise the costs. Same with the apps with redundant features, like Jira workflow modifiers or Confluence table enhancers.
You can find the usage of some apps with Power Admin or Admin Toolbox, mainly workflow apps like JMWE, JSU, or ScriptRunner.
Apps that bring new features and create new objects, like portfolios in Portfolio for Jira (now Advanced Roadmaps), BigPicture programs, or Object Schemes in Insight can be audited by checking the last updated engagement of each of the objects they create, in addition to simply asking their users.
Lastly, there are apps without a articulate usage trace, like diverse gadgets or macros. Search for them in the database, using the apps' proper name. For example, type in com.qotilabs.jira.rich-filters-plugin to search for all Rich Filters gadgets.
Summary
In one case you lot've decided which deployment model suits you lot all-time, it's fourth dimension to migrate Jira to your desired destination. Simply the migration would exist manner smoother and less fourth dimension-consuming if you prepare for it, clarify the platform and the possible changes, and run a proficient clean-upwardly.
Are y'all all done and ready to migrate Jira? Then permit's move on to the next affiliate on planning your Jira migration.
Chapter 3- How to Effectively Plan information technology all before Migrating Jira
In the previous affiliate, I analyzed whether to migrate Jira or not, and I besides provided some handy tips on how to make clean up the application before executing the migration. Hither, I'll focus specifically on planning the migration and what the steps to execute this big functioning are in small, manageable chunks.
Alright! Your instance is clear as day and you are certain of moving it someplace else. We'll assistance you consider the necessary migration steps and avoid any pitfalls on the way.
We will cover the Deject to Server and Server to Cloud migrations, with Jira as the application we will be moving.
Server to Cloud
Migrating to Jira Cloud has become very popular lately due to Atlassian wanting to move Server customers to Cloud.
One option is to migrate Jira using a Migration Assistant: the free apps Jira Deject Migration Assistant and Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant.
JCMA's features resemble Configuration Director, a popular Jira project migrating app: not only you choose the projects to drift, but also specific users and groups. JCMA is bachelor for Jira 7.6 and higher and CCMA for version 5.10. and up.
Another style to migrate Jira is by doing a regular Site Import.
As with Server, you should exist aware of all Cloud limitations. For instance, the app availability, loss of customizability, the user limit, the maximum attachment size, and diverse other "showstoppers". You lot can read more than virtually this in the commencement commodity of this series hither.
Again, kickoff you volition demand a valid license. What helps is Atlassian'south "Extended migration trial" that allows yous to use the Deject site until your Server/ Data Center license expires. This means that you don't have to worry about co-terming or paying for an extra license while you are still on Server. You tin try it out in either Deject Archetype or Cloud Premium for a minimum of 2 months.
With this license, you can institute a staging server and troubleshoot your time to come Deject product site including the necessary fourth dimension to test all integrations. Before, the only option you had was a trial version for seven days with an extension possible via Atlassian support.
The only downside to the Extended migration trial is that it doesn't apply to apps. So you might need to ask the app vendors separately for a similar license.
Atlassian support promises extra help during the migration process should any problem arise, so make sure to let them know in advance.
A new term yous will see on Cloud is an Organization. This is a global control panel where you lot define who can admission which application. You tin as well connect your user directory to an Organization to manage Atlassian users in the same domain. Find more info here.
Another thing to spotter out for that concerns users is that members of a grouping with the same proper noun every bit a group on Cloud will become migrated to the Cloud grouping. And that ways they will proceeds all Cloud permissions!
As you will exist migrating from Server, which might have been accessible only, for example, through a VPN, you might want to double-bank check your public filters and dashboards and reduce their visibility. Most chiefly, review the Public Signup option that allows users to create their ain accounts.
When importing Jira together with Confluence, review the Confluence Cloud Importer characteristic called "Jira Macro Repair". This is used when macros in Confluence fall apart, run it if your macros don't work.
Site Import or Migration Banana?
Using the Site Import method, y'all'll exist creating a Server backup file, which you lot'll import on Deject later. The files in the archive need to be structured similar this:
If you have a large case, the best practice is to import attachments and the XML backup separately or even to split the attachments/ logos/ avatars folders and import them in parts. Read this guide on how to do so.
So, check the XML files for specific errors that might crusade the import to fail, such equally invalid characters, indistinguishable clustered jobs, and more. We have included these revision steps in the runbook. You can read about how to fix these errors in the Site Import documentation. Also, the import itself usually stalls around 50% and 90% mark – this is normal.
Finally, create a copy of your install + information binder and a database dump just in case.
Permit's have a look at the Server to Deject migration runbook. Steps exclusive to the Site Import will exist colored bluish, while steps exclusive to the Migration Assistant will exist colored green.
If you haven't already, you tin become this checklist for yourself by downloading our gratis worksheet.
So we went over what awaits you afterward the migration, whether to Cloud or to Server: what to prepare for, be information technology the user, license, or hardware requirements. We have also prepared checklists for both types of migrations.
Summary
The next chapter will focus on the bodily technical steps when we'll create a staging platform, we'll involve users in testing and remind you what not to forget after the migration is done.
Affiliate 4- Staging, Testing, and Execution: Information technology's Time to Drift your Jira
Alright, we've planned how to migrate Jira and went over what not to forget whether moving to Deject or to Server. Now, we'll set up up a staging case, mention how other users could help and what to have prepared after you're finished.
You know what to do before, during, and afterwards yous drift Jira, and then permit's exercise information technology.
But hold on! You better try information technology on a staging server first.
In this chapter, we'll show yous how to create one, and afterward that'due south washed, you lot can read through our examination example for user acceptance tests. Finally, we'll address post-migration back up and the few things you shouldn't forget when it'southward over.
Staging Server Migration
So what is a staging server? And why would you want to use it, anyway?
A staging server is a testing platform identical to future production. "Platform" can hateful the whole application server (Server) or at least the application (Cloud). Basically, you lot exam the Jira migration hither get-go. Yous will find out how much work, how much time and reanimation will the bodily production migration accept, and you'll besides observe various errors, and how to prevent them. Then how do you create a staging server?
Below, we've prepared a guide (Site Import method for Cloud) that mainly covers the technical steps. On a complex instance, you might need to perform additional verifications equally outlined in Chapter three.
Migrating to Deject:
Create a server backup. On Server, cull Organisation -> Backup System and name information technology.
Prepare ii nix files.
The first one will contain activeobjects.xml and entities.xml – discover them in your server fill-in file in JIRA_HOME/import. Call it due east.thousand. "data_import.aught".
The second one will contain the JIRA_HOME/attachments, JIRA_HOME/logos, and JIRA_HOME/avatars folders. Call this one east.k. "media_import.zip".
Sign up for a Cloud instancehere. Either:
Employ a regular trial version for 7 days, extendable through Atlassian support for up to 37 days.
Employ anExtended Migration Trial for Jira or Confluence. Activate it on my.atlassian.com.
Utilize a complimentary development instance, a Cloud Free case, or a paid subscription. However, the first two are limited when it comes to the number of users.
When your instance is prepare, become to System -> Restore Organisation. Choose "Import information" and upload "data_import.nothing". Then, choose Import Media and upload "media_import.zip". The importer will allow you lot know nearly whatever errors earlier proceeding.
User Acceptance Testing
Subsequently the staging instance is online and the major issues are fixed (see the runbook in Chapter 3 for the particularly nasty ones), the next step is involving your users. User acceptance tests (UATs) permit the admins to delegate a role of their work and ensure that everyone can apply the new surround smoothly.
Who do I need?
A varied team. To have equally much of the application covered as possible, each tester should work with the tool differently. The UAT grouping might include:
A regular user that works with the tool every day
A power-user with broad permissions (let's say a PM or a Scrum Principal)
A user that works with additional parts of the application (e.g. with apps, integrations)
A user that gets reports from it (to see if the data he pulls are correct).
The more testers, the better – for a dominion of thumb, 5 users with different roles should suffice.
You tin can also involve your team leaders in the UAT. As a migration changes the application'due south look substantially, the managers will nigh likely want to get involved so that their teams won't experience lost after the production migration. And if the team leaders learn the how-tos starting time, they volition be able to pass them on subsequently.
How long for the tests?
A week or ii should be sufficient to fe out common errors. Create a Jira issue for every tester, connect information technology to a test case page in Confluence and inquire the users to fill it out equally they test. When finished, they can assign their findings to the responsible person.
What exercise they practice?
UATs concern the features that everyone commonly works with. Here is a sample Jira test case for your testers (add specific features of your application in it). If users struggle with annihilation in particular, information technology might be a practiced idea to elaborate on information technology in your training materials.
Once more, you can download the gratuitous worksheet here.
Production Server Migration
If the UATs went well, if all errors were stock-still, and at that place'south nothing left to do… And so it'south time.
There aren't many new technical things that haven't been covered. What changes, however, is that this time, it'southward serious!
If you've migrated to Cloud, you don't demand to create a new site. You can just reset the old one past canceling and reactivating the subscription.
The all-time way to keep with the migration is to schedule it on the weekend to take enough time to fix any problems that might arise. Also, as a reminder, brand sure to:
Have a migration plan and a schedule accessible to anybody involved, for instance, the DB administrator, the server ambassador, etc., with means to contact them – a telephone number and an email.
Put an announcement banner on the quondam example sending the users to the new instance.
Set the permissions to read-only on all projects/ spaces/ repos.
Send a global electronic mail to all users on Friday. Brand sure it contains:
A description of what is happening (We volition exist moving our Jira… )
A link to the new instance they will utilize from Monday (The link to it is hither…)
Who and how to contact issues (For questions and issues reports, contact…)
A summary of changes, link to training videos, and documentation
That all piece of work they do from a certain point in time (permit'south say Friday at 6 pm) volition be lost (this should also be the fourth dimension to set the application read-only).
Post Migration Support
Mail-migration back up is about making certain your users transition to the new instance smoothly. And fifty-fifty though they might come across problems, you're there for them!
In the Friday message, tell users where they can get help. This is very important – otherwise, they might experience lost. You can point them to a support email, but a meliorate choice is to create a Jira project dedicated to user support where they tin create a ticket – even anonymously, if their account doesn't work (don't forget to set the project permissions and what the anonymous user tin run across).
This manner, you lot are setting upwards future constructive governance of Atlassian-tools requests, bugs, and changes and fugitive chasing emails and undocumented calls.
Many users will see the new application for the beginning fourth dimension and will be dislocated. Others, who perhaps should have tested the instance, but haven't, will encounter problems. They might have a problem with something that worked well on the old example, or fifty-fifty in staging. They may fifty-fifty asking whole new features.
Documenting the types of raised tickets helps resolve possible misunderstandings downwards the line. Either fashion, brand sure that during the first two post-migration weeks, you are set up for an extra workload and your Atlassian Engineers are at that place to aid.
Conclusion
In this guide, I tried to cover everything you need to take into consideration before, during, and afterward the migration. Fifty-fifty if y'all're already a Jira user, it'd be a skilful thought to review each deployment model with its own upsides and downsides again to make the best selection earlier you migrate Jira.
Nosotros then went over the process of preparation where you demand to analyze the new platform and make clean upward your instance. In chapter 3, step-past-step planning for a Server to Cloud migration was discussed in detail and a couple of checklists were also provided to help yous migrate more easily. And finally, in the terminal chapter of this article in the serial of maintaining the Atlassian Stack, we discussed the execution, the staging server and user acceptance testings, and the postal service-migration support.
Here's all you lot needed to know virtually how to migrate Jira. So if you have followed the guide thoroughly, we should congratulate you on a successful migration!
Recommended Reads:
Maintaining the Atlassian Stack: Best Practices
GDPR: The Complete Guide to Compliance Regulations in Jira
How to Set up and Validate your Jira Examination Case later on Changes or Migration
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