Jira DC Migration to Cloud w/ Existing Data

[Amanda Mason]

Hi all -

I'm preparing for an upcoming migration to Jira Cloud and I'm looking for a solution that allows for migrating Jira project data into a cloud instance that has existing data. The JCMA is the preferred mechanism when migrating to a new instance, but what's the best solution when migrating projects to an existing site? As I understand, JCMA will perform a full site replacement, which will not work in my scenario. 

I'd rather not do a CSV import as I want to retain history, comments, attachments, etc.

Has anyone successfully done this? What tools or approaches did you use?

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @Amanda Mason 

With JCMA you can select which projects you want to migrate. You do not have to migrate all projects. As long as a project with the specified key doesn't already exist in the destination Jira Cloud instance, the project's data can be migrated. If a project with the same key exists then JCMA will not proceed with the migration.

This will also cause all the configuration elements associated with that project to migrate; all the schemes, fields, status, resolutions, priorities, issue types, etc. If there are configuration elements already in the Jira Cloud instance with the same names you may get duplicate items created with (migrated)  appended to their names.

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski · Accepted solution]

@Amanda Mason 

@Trudy Claspill  is absolutely right, you don't have to migrate your entire instance at once. JCMA is actually built for project-by-project migrations, and I’ve successfully used this approach many times to move data from active Data Center environments into Cloud.

In my experience, focusing on specific projects can even be more efficient because the individual migration runs are smaller and easier to manage. You just need to ensure the destination site doesn't already have projects with the same keys or names. This method is far superior to a CSV import because it preserves the "soul" of the issues like their full history, comments, and attachments much more reliably.

The main thing to keep in mind is that JCMA will bring over associated workflows and custom fields. If your Cloud site already has similar configurations, you should expect some manual cleanup afterward to keep your system from getting cluttered with duplicate schemes. I'd definitely recommend testing with a single project first to make sure everything lands exactly where you expect it.