Early Access Program for updating Jira and Confluence links after server-to-cloud migration

[#1]

Hello, my name is Ali, and I am a product manager on Atlassian's Migration team, working on the tools to help you migrate your data from self-managed infrastructure (Server and Data Center) to Cloud. For those of you in the middle of a cloud migration or about to start one, I would like to invite you to participate in an Early Access Program (EAP) to use the Link Migration Service User Interface (known as Product links) to update Jira and Confluence product links following a server-to-cloud migration.

What are product links?

Product links are URLs that direct users to entities such as Jira issues or Confluence pages. For example, users may link to a Jira ticket where they are tracking work on a Confluence page that explains the work they’re doing and why. These kinds of links are incredibly important for providing more context and giving teammates and stakeholders the visibility they need.

The most familiar examples of product links include:

• Links between Jira issues in different instances

• Links from Jira issues to Confluence pages

• Links from Confluence pages to Jira issues

How does Link Migration Service help?

When you migrate your products to the cloud, many product links may not function correctly. This issue occurs because the links continue to point toward the resources to which they were originally configured, resulting in redirected traffic to your old Server or Data Center instances or to resources that are no longer available, like in the following example:

Until now, there wasn't a solution to update these links without reaching out to Atlassian Support. We are now changing that to make it easier and faster for you to update these broken links and, as a result, get up and running in cloud sooner.

What is included in the Early Access Program (EAP)?

In this EAP, you’ll have access to a new view on admin.atlassian.com called 'Product links.' Under the 'Product links' section, you’ll be able to see your migrated products, and for each product, you’ll have the ability to update all supported product links by executing link updates.

You can even use 'Product Links' to update links after test migrations so you can complete proper user acceptance testing of links before production migrations.

How to use the feature

1. Access feature

After you’re granted access, go to admin.atlassian.com, and select Settings > Product links.

2. Select product

Select the product in which you want to update links. For example, if you wish to update links in Jira issues that point to Confluence pages, choose the Jira product to update these links within the Jira issues.

3. Map links

For each link update, you’ll need to provide details of the products that were linked to the cloud product you are updating. This process involves mapping pre- and post-migration URLs. This mapping will be used to locate links and update them accordingly. You can add more linked products by selecting Add another product and mapping another set of URLs.

If you’re updating a product that was migrated from a staging environment, tick Migrated from a backup and provide the source server URL. This will help us find the links you’re trying to fix.

4. Update product links

When you hit Update links, it will identify any obsolete links, replace their server URLs with the corresponding cloud URLs, and update resource IDs to align with the new cloud IDs of migrated resources. During this process, the ‘Last update status' next to the product being updated will display 'In-progress.’

5. Reviewing the results

Once a link update job is complete (as indicated by the ‘Last update status'), you can review the results using the audit log. The audit log provides a detailed view of each modified resource. You can also use the 'History report’ to see summarized results of the completed link updates. To double-check that the link updates went through successfully, browse your Jira and Confluence instances to make sure the links now accurately point to the correct cloud sites.

How can I join the EAP?

If you're interested in using the product and providing us with feedback, please complete the form below. After reviewing your information, our engineers will grant you access to the Early Access Program (EAP) for your cloud site and provide support throughout the EAP.

[Form] Join Product Links User Interface EAP

More information

Leave a comment on this post if you have any questions or feedback. To learn more about this product, see Update product links after the migration.

Other EAP: REST API access

Apart from the user interface, we also offer APIs to update links. If you prefer using APIs, you can request access using the form below.

[Form] Join Product Links API EAP

[API docs] Updating product links with APIs

[JG Meillaud _]

This is great,

If I understand correctly this will allow to spread the migration across more, smaller batches without relying on Atlassian support for these essential link fixes.

[Ali BenCafu]

@JG Meillaud _ Yes, you're spot on! You can fix links between small migration batches without relying on Atlassian support.

[JG Meillaud]

Hi @Ali BenCafu ,

I tried it on our sandbox and it seems to be working perfectly!

Very happy that you have included the option to differentiate the URLs in case of a migration from a backup (which is our case).

Cheers,
JG

[JG Meillaud _]

Hi @Ali BenCafu

We used it after a migration to our live site and so far so good!

However, we noticed 1 unexpected behaviour:

When there is a link fix on a Confluence task

It sends a someone has edited a task to the users mentionned on the task

Which is confusing for them

Cheers,
JG

[Heather Mardis]

I have used this 'update links' feature on my jira/confluence cloud and a review of the results does seem to have update all the links, See image below: each of my products show with a 'SANDBOX' note in blue, but I do not have a sandbox available for either product, what does this mean?

I look at the sites both jira/confluence and the pre-updated links still seem to be in place but there are no instructions for how to 'publish' the sandbox updates? Nor is there any reference to this 'SANDBOX' behavior in the instructions.


I had old sandboxes we used to test our migration, do I need to create a new sanbox before runnin this?

[Ali BenCafu]

@JG Meillaud _ @Heather Mardis I will engage engineering to check for you. Thanks for using the product and raising these points.

[Daniel Serkowski]

Hello. 

I am Daniel from the Link Migration Service engineering team. Thank you for using the product, and bringing these issues to our attention!

@Heather Mardis , we have created a ticket in our backlog to fix this bug.
@JG Meillaud , we are investigating the cause of this issue, and we will get to you as soon as I have more information.

Best,
Daniel