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How can I be a part of clients JIRA projects when I cannot have access to their JIRA server?

Jesse Banks

I am an independant contractor working with large corporate customers. I am trying to work with them and track task progress and make progress reports using Jira.

My problem is very similar to working offline, but because my computer does not have the correct domain setup I cannot access their server. I need a way to work offline where I can never sync with the server.

I found this topic on a similar subject, and Jira client looks promising, but I do not think it can help since I cannot directly sync with a Jira server. Unless, there is some way for them to export the project for me to modify and return to them?

I have my own instance of Jira server running, but as stated in the other thread the import function seems to be for migration not data ingestion.

At this point I may have to send them backups of a project on my server, they can import them to a duplicate project on their end. This is non ideal as my work cannot be associated to tasks in the real project. It will take effort for them to manually sync my tasks to keep their project current.

Accepted answers

Jesse Banks

VPN access seems the only answer.

All comments

Mikael Sandberg

There are a couple of apps that can sync issues between Jira instances that may work for you. One of them is Backbone Issue Sync, but if you search on synchronize on the marketplace you will find others too.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

Most of the add-ons will require a route to the server that is inside their firewalls. If you're going to do that, you might find it easier to get them to set up a VPN so you can remotely connect in through their firewall and get direct access.

If you have to remain outside their networks, then Backbone could still help you - it can do a lot of synchronisation over email, without direct access to their Jira.

francis

One of these other solutions is Exalate which allows for private / public network connections allowing you to synchronise data between the server of your customer - which is behind a firewall and not reachable from the internet - and your JIRA (which should be accessible from the private one.

If you would like to get more details, don't hesitate to book a meeting on https://exalate-demo.youcanbook.me

Br,

Francis

Jesse Banks

That looks really promising, but the problem I see, is the requirement of purchasing a license for all servers involved. It is cheap for my scale Jira license, but this seems to cause my client to buy a multi-thousand dollar license to interact with me alone.

francis

We do support a connection based model. This is to support the case where a supplier wants to connect to all their customers.

In this model, you still need to install the add-on on every instance and then purchase an exalate subscription.

Check the details on the subscription pricing

Francis

Jesse Banks

I really like the update by email option provided by backbone, but just like the other add-on solution proposed, this forces my large customer (really, a small group in a huge corp.) to buy an expensive license (because they are using the corporate Jira server with a massive license count) and install the add-in on their server (IT nightmare of galactic proportion apparently) just for interacting with me (a very small fish).

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

Yes, that's a problem whatever you do.

By far the best answer here is to get them to give you VPN access through their firewalls. Much as I like the add-ons that can synchronise, a VPN is a better answer.

michelle_melancon

Is the issue that you cant access the server at all or that they don't want you to have visibility to any other data? I had a similar issue with contractors and third party companies needing access and I was able to configure specific projects for this purpose. it worked out nicely. I gave one user per vendor to log into their projects and it allowed issues to be moved to internal projects if need be.

Jesse Banks

VPN access seems the only answer.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

I have to agree.

Synchronisation was a route worth exploring, but you still have to open up a route for it (unless there's one like "email" already there), and you'll be doing that with VPN anyway.

Technically, VPN is the best answer, as there's no duplication or working in separate places and gives you full access with very little configuration to do. Financially, it's definitely a win, as the cost of "set up a VPN" is similar to the cost of "set up a communications route for sync", but with the sync, you also need to pay for add-ons, especially as you would need to pay for a lot of users who would not use it!