Server[AD auth] to cloud [SAML] migration

Question

Were currently using Confluence Server, authenticating via AD, and I've been tasked with migrating my org to Confluence Cloud. Because we have a JIRA cloud instance set up to use SAML already, its been decided that we will be using the same SAML setup for Confluence as well.

Our AD usernames currently include arbitrary numbers at the end of each username; and our JIRA setup currently uses a firstname.lastname setup for usernames. Because of this, anytime I try to test space imports on the cloud instance, I keep getting 'Unknown User (xxx)' as owning all of the pages/spaces. I've messed around with trying to change the userkey in the xml thats exported from the Confluence Server, but when I make any changes I get an "com.atlassian.confluence.importexport.ImportExportException: Unable to complete import: Error while importing backup: The scope of the import extends outside of the space." error upon import.

I also thought that this [https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-53910] might have been helpful, but that was no luck either.

So, my questions are:
Is there a way to change the creator/owner userKey of a space using the API or on import?
Is there a known process that can be used to account for the change in authentication method/username when migrating from Confluence Server to Cloud?
Any additional advice based on the situation would also be appreciated.

AnnWorley · Answer

An Atlassian support engineer will contact you (using the email address you used for this post) via our support portal in order to gather more information and provide options for your project. I plan to update this thread for the purpose of making the strategy public in case it can be of help for other customers with similar cases.

Bryce Montgomery · Answer

Thanks Ann.

I'm a bit confused on this though.  Will support be helping me to resolve this issue or is this just a way to track something this specific use case for future reference?

AnnWorley · Answer

Hi Bryce,

To best answer all your questions in a way that suits your use case I opened a support request on your behalf. Please expect an email from our support portal.

Once you find the best solution we can circle back to this thread to share with the Community.

Thanks,

Ann