Upgrade Jira server 6 to jira server 8

Question

Hello,

We have been asked to migrate from jira server 6 to jira server 8. Is there any configuration to do apart from the upgrade?

Thank you!

Rilwan Ahmed · Answer

Hi @[deleted],

Please go through the supported platforms and upgrade matrix as mentioned by @Trudy P Claspill .

I would strongly recommend you to  Create a replica of your Jira instance in a testing environment, Upgrade the test environment and then proceed with production. This will help you identify any issues during the upgrade process or after upgrade.

Here are the major changes from 6 to Jira 8.

* Incompatible index: Due to the upgrade of the library responsible for the Jira index, your current index will become incompatible. You'll need to create a new index by reindexing Jira after the upgrade.
* Index location changes: Starting from Jira 8.0, the Jira index will be stored in a new location: <Jira-home-directory>/caches/indexesV1.
* Automatic reindex: Because of the above changes, Jira will trigger an automatic reindex after the upgrade, which might mean you'll need to reindex twice following the upgrade. Since this might be really time-consuming for large Jira instances, you can disable the automatic reindex, and run it manually whenever you're ready.
* Incompatible apps: You'll need to disable all apps that are incompatible with the new version before the upgrade. Incompatible apps might block the upgrade or the Jira startup after the upgrade.
* Reduced logging: Application log output ( atlassian-jira.log ) is no longer mirrored in the Tomcat log file, catalina.out , to preserve the disk space.
* Jira needs more memory: We've increased the default heap size available to Jira to 2GB. Note that this change requires extra steps if you're using 32-bit systems.
* Zero downtime upgrades: This upgrade method won't be available when upgrading from Jira 7.x to Jira 8.x. Once you're on Jira 8.x, you can use it to upgrade to any later version.

Note:
I personally recommend you to upgrade to version 9 instead of 8. If you are still going with 8, I would recommend to select 8.22 which has Atlassian support till 16 February, 2024

Trudy P Claspill · Answer

What do you mean by configuration?

Have you reviewed the Supported Platform to see if there have been deprecations you need to address?

Have you checked all your third party apps to see if they are compatible with v8 and what the upgrade path is for each of them?

Have you reviewed the Technical Upgrade Notes for each interim release to see what those say?