Jira server upgrade from 7.3 to the latest version (8.3.1)

Niveditha

Hi,

We are upgrading JIRA server from 7.3 to 7.13.5 to avoid the security vulnerability released on July 10th 2019. 

we are thinking that, upgrade directly to the latest version (8.3.1) will include many features including openJDK bundled facilities.

Please suggest us what is the best way to proceed, directly upgrading to the latest version or to the 7.13.5 version. 

If there will be no issues in upgrading to the latest version, please let us know the procedure and any steps to follow to avoid any type of issues. And let us know the Jira service desk compatibility with this upgrade.

If you are not recommend this, keep us posted with the guide lines and impacts with the upgrade.

Thanks!

Regards,

Niveditha

DPKJ

I have upgraded my instance from Jira 7 to 8 without any issue (Jira 8 is at least 30% faster).

There are some points you need to consider thought,

• DB version you are using must be compatible with new version of Jira (or update it before upgrade)
• Jira 8 will need more system memory
• You need to separately upgrade/install Service Desk after Jira upgrade from UPM (don't worry your old license will work)
• You must have active Jira license.
• Check all plugins compatibility that you are using, if require upgrade them before.
• Jira will rebuild whole index after upgrade from 7 to 8. So first startup will be slow. (There is a work around in upgrade guide involving putting some config in jira home)
• It is always better to upgrade first on Staging instance.

Also there is guide published by Atlassian follow it step by step (https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver/upgrading-jira-applications-938846936.html)