Change Google Apps domain

Question

We've got an existing Jira On-Demand installation that is tied to our company domain. Over the next few weeks, we'll be rebranding our company and all our emails will be changing. Luckily changing all the usernames on the Google side (to the new domain name) will be really easy, but I'm not sure how to configure Jira to handle the new Google Apps domain.

So, my question is: how can we best migrate away from our old domain name and still be able to login to Jira? Ideally I'd like to support both our new and our old domain, but realize that might not be possible. Is there a way to convert the Google Apps account that is tied to our installation & users?

Michael Knight · Answer

Here's my understand of how it works:

The usernames are the key here. If you initially have GApps user 'user1@firstdomain.example.com', their username in OnDemand will be 'user1' and their email will be set to 'user1@firstdomain.example.com'.

When you disconnect from GApps, the user will remain as-is in the OnDemand system and will just need an OnDemand password set for them to be able to log in.

If you hook up your OnDemand instance to a new GApps domain, it will not automatically do anything to your users. However, when a user logs in, it will perform the following checks, depending how they log in:

* Attempt to log in via Google:* Does 'user1@seconddomain.example.com' exist in this GApps domain?* If yes, allow them to log in and change their email address to 'user1@seconddomain.example.com'.

* Attempt to log in via OnDemand with OnDemand password:* If the OnDemand password is correct, log them in. Nothing about their account will change and they will be considered an external (non-GApps) user.

If usernames that do exist in the new GApps domain log in via OnDemand instead of Google, they can just log out and log back in via Google to have their account linked (i.e. where their email changed to the new GApps domain).

It's impossible to have duplicate usernames in the system, so you should never find yourself in a system where the same users exists twice in the system (with a firstdomain and seconddomain email addresses). Obviously this all assumes that your usernames in both GApps domains are the same (i.e. not "john.smith" and "jsmith").

Dave Welch · Answer

Great info. Thanks Michael!

I toyed around with setting passwords on the regular login details and that will probably work to keep us running when we switch. One question I had tho: once we detach the existing GApps integration, we'll have just the regular users accounts (linked to their old emails). If we add GApps again, will we be able to sync the new google accounts to the existing accounts for easy login? Or would that make duplicates in the system?

Michael Knight · Answer

The way to change Google Apps (GApps) domains is to remove the current GApps integration and then go through the usual process to add OnDemand to your new GApps domain.

When GApps integration is removed, all your users will remain in the system. You'll want to make sure you have OnDemand passwords set for your users (which you can do using the user management tool in AOD, or the users can do for themselves from the JIRA profile page). Even if you don't do this, users can still request passwords resets from the login page.

To have GApps integration removed, file a support issue requesting it. Note that we will need to restart your instance to remove it, so let us know an appropriate time to do this.

You add OnDemand to your new GApps domain from this page on Google Marketplace:

* http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=3421+6389312883797462351