Merging Jira Instances

Question

We are attempting to merge an On Demand instance v4.2 (Jira A) into our own locally hosted instance v4.3.4 (Jira B)  and had some questions and concerns:

How do we export the data from Jira A?

Can Jira A be imported into Jira B (different versions)?

How do we merge the data from Jira A with Jira B?

How are the issues mapped to a user, will the merge automatically map the users accordingly?

In the meantime while we wait,

- Can we create users now in Jira B or will it conflict when we merge?

- Can we create projects now in Jira B or will it conflict when we merge?

- We are using Crowd for user management in Jira B, how will this impact issues and user associations from Jira A when it's merged?

Please advise,

Ben

Andrew Frayling · Answer

Hi Ben,

In answer to your specific questions:

1. How do we export the data from Jira A?
You need to get Atlassian to do this for you by raising a ticket in the OnDemand project at https://support.atlassian.com

2. Can Jira A be imported into Jira B (different versions)?
Not advisable. If JIRA A is 4.2 and JIRA B is 4.3.4 I would install a local copy of 4.2 with an eval license, import the data from JIRA A, upgrade it to 4.3.4, export from that and use that to import into JIRA B. It's not as painful as it sounds.

3. How do we merge the data from Jira A with Jira B?
If your situation is that you have Projects A, B and C in JIRA A and Projects X, Y and Z in JIRA B and you want to end up with JIRA B having Projects A, B, C, X, Y and Z then follow the documentation for restroing a project at http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Restoring+a+Project+from+Backup  If the situation is that JIRA A has Project A and JIRA B has Project A and you want to merge them all in to one Project A then things are going to get a bit messy and you're probably going to have to manually modify XML backups, move issues, etc.

4. How are the issues mapped to a user, will the merge automatically map the users accordingly?
If the same users with the same user names already exist in both JIRA A and JIRA B then the users will be mapped automatically. If they differ have a look at http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRAKB/How+to+Merge+JIRA+Instances

5. Can we create users now in Jira B or will it conflict when we merge?
Creating users in JIRA B should be fine.

6. Can we create projects now in Jira B or will it conflict when we merge?
See point 3 above

7. We are using Crowd for user management in Jira B, how will this impact issues and user associations from Jira A when it's merged?
See points 4 and 5

Unfortunately there are no straight answers to merging JIRA instances as it really depends on individual implementations, configurations and customisations, but I hope this is of some help?

Andrew.