How to move Project Issues from one installation to another??

Question

When JIRA was first installed at our site, they used 2 production licenses / 2 separate installations. Now that we are planning to migrate from JIRA 3.13 to the latest 4.x version we understand the product better and want to have all Projects under 1 installation / license.

I will be creating the Projects and workflows and all of that manually myself in the one installation, but my question is about how we would migrate all of the issue DATA that were created for the Projects under the second installation over just the one installation.  I assume that this is actually NOT something that can be done in the actual migration, but rather a task that our UNIX (system) Administrators would have to do manually.  But if that is the case, can you tell me how it would be done so that I can report to them?

Thanks,

Brad.

Dieter · Answer

First create the new consolidated 4.x instance bei Restoring the XML backup from the more complex 3.13 instance (the one which has more workflow schemes, custom fields, ...)

Then you will need to create another temporary 4.x instance from the less complex instance (also by restoring the XML backup) since you cannot  use Restore to restore the 3.13 backup. Version of backup and target instance must be the same

After you have got there you will need to configure the projects of the less complex instance. Just create empty projects with the same name and schemes.

Then you will be able to restore the data from the temporary 4.x instance backup to the consolidated instance.

Ok, these are just some lines of text but this work is going to take some time ...

J. Caldwell · Answer

So there are several ways you could do this. None of them easy. All of them you need to test before doing. All of them, you'll want to prevent use of the ssytem while you are doing the work.

First off, I would recommend that you setup your new installation in 3.13 and then move data and then upgrade or to upgrade and then move data. The reason being is that there is significant change between the versions you are on to the one you want to go to. It will save you time and effort if you don't try to migrate data between different versions. Like to like is easier.

Way to do it (from hardest and most challenging(opportunity to lear) to easiest(which none of them are):

1) Code up a service that will review the data within a specific project in your old instance and then write it out to the new ones. I can't really tell you how to do this as it really requires someone to do a bunch of internal research to your instance and coding.

2) Backup/Restore - Restore your environment from your old to your new. Then create your new projects/workflows in the new. Then move any of those projects/issues to the new ones that you want to, and then delete the rest. Don't setup the new environment first as it will get overwritten in the restore.

3) Export the project/issues - You can export the project/issues from your old enviornment to an excel file. You'll then want to convert that to a CSV file and you'll need to look at the data. Different statuses/workflow/etc all will have a different numerical representation in your new Jira then your old Jira. You'll need to figure out what those are and then edit your CSV and make sure the values are right. If your data points are right, you can then import the CSV file into the new system. If they aren't you'll need to go back and keep reviewing your data. Allows you to do small chunks.

4) Bob Swift's commandline tools - Check them out. There is some copying functionality and it may be of use here. I really like the tool as well for Admin.

5) Hand create ever one of them. (not fun)