More flexibility in how data is migrated using the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant

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With digital transformation at the top of many companies' priority lists and the end of Atlassian Server support approaching quickly, there’s never been a better time to start evaluating or executing a migration to Atlassian Cloud. We’ve now migrated over one-third of our Server user base with more customers completing their migration every day.

That’s why we’re actively investing in making cloud migrations as easy and reliable as possible. We offer tons of free resources through the Atlassian Migration Program, including free migration tooling to help on-premise customers make the switch: the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant, Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant, and Bitbucket Cloud Migration Assistant.

These tools are the migration method of choice for the majority of our customers and can be used to migrate data across your entire Atlassian portfolio. Customers love the Cloud Migration Assistants because they:

• Offer an easy interface to track your progress

• Include built-in app assessment and app data migration for many popular Jira and Confluence apps

• Won’t overwrite existing cloud data and can identify issues with your site prior to beginning your migration

• Can be used to migrate data for Jira Software, Jira Service Management, Jira Work Management, Jira Advanced Roadmaps, Confluence, Confluence Questions, Bitbucket, and many popular Jira and Confluence apps.

But just like no two on-premise environments are the same, no two migrations are the same. That’s why we’re committed to offering more flexibility in the migration journey.

Jira Cloud Migration Assistant now supports “all data at once” migrations

Today, we released version 1.7.7 of the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant (JCMA) that will allow customers to use the tool to migrate all data at once, in addition to the existing project-by-project migration capability. 

With this first release (Alpha), the migrate all data at once feature in JCMA will migrate the same types of data that Site Import currently supports. 

Going forward, bundling the “all data at once” migration option within JCMA will allow us to improve the reliability, speed, and performance of these types of migrations.

For more information on this new capability, please visit the Atlassian Support documentation or refer to the FAQs below.

FAQs:

• Who will have access to this release?

  • All customers using the latest version (1.7.8) and above of the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant will have access to the Alpha release of “all data at once” migrations using JCMA.

• What does it mean that this is an Alpha release?

  • The “Migrate all data at once” option will have an Alpha tag in-product, signifying that this is the first release of the feature. The Alpha version will be at parity with the existing Site Import migration method. Future JCMA releases will increase the reliability, speed, and performance of these migrations, as well as the types of data migrated. The typical Atlassian Support SLAs apply to this Alpha feature.

• How will I choose between migrating all data at once vs. choosing what to migrate?

  • After connecting to your cloud site, JCMA will prompt you to choose between the two migration options.

• Are app migrations supported in the all data at once migration option in JCMA?

  • Yes. From JCMA 1.9.4, migrating all data at once supports app migrations. However, apps containing app-specific custom fields or workflow rules are not supported in this version. Starting with JCMA 1.9.17, app workflow rules and custom fields are compatible when migrating all data at once.

• Do I need to do anything if I’m an app developer that integrates with the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant?

  • Not yet. Your existing migration logic will continue to work as implemented. We’ll be in touch as we begin to explore how app migrations can be supported in the all data at once migration option.

• Will Site Import still be available as a migration method separate from JCMA if I’m migrating more than 1k users?

  • Yes. As of now, Site Import will still be available as a separate migration method to JCMA. The migrate-all-data-at-once feature will go into GA in JCMA 1.9.2, and we plan to discontinue Site Import for server-to-cloud migrations in November 2023. 

Questions? Please refer to the Atlassian Support documentation for more information or comment below.

[Steven Rhodes]

Does this mean you can choose not to migrate the users / groups? And will this feature also be available in the migrate cloud site feature?

[Dave Mathijs]

"Offer an easy interface to track your progress"

JCMA can do much better in displaying the actual progress of an ongoing migration. Sometimes you're wondering if the migration is stuck or not because the only message you have is "Running" or "Ongoing"

Elapsed time of each selected option should be visible after the migration has completed as you have no clue how long a (test) migration took to complete.

App data residency and an automated migration path for the top 100 apps are a must.

[Taranjeet Singh]

@Ritesh Ranjan Thank for sharing this great feature addition to the JCMA functionality and the flexibility it will provide to migrate data in coming days. I think this would be a great feature for JCMA if it really improves the reliability, speed and performance of data migrations, and also start supporting app data migrations.

Is there any plan in near future to include this "all data at once" migration approach option in CCMA and BCMA as well?

[Chris Schneider]

"Migrate all data at once" should include the migration of Insights to Assets as well. The migration of our asset data is very time consuming and painful, as there are so many bugs and open urgently needed feature requests for Assets itself and the Rest-API.

[Ritesh Ranjan]

Thanks @Dave Mathijs for the feedback. I will consider feedback for how we can get more visibility into ongoing migrations. 

Thanks @Taranjeet Singh we are continuing to work on improvements to this migration method, including ways to make it more reliable and performant. 

[Dhiren Notani_Exalate_]

Hello @Ritesh Ranjan ,

I am Dhiren, one of the Pre-Sales Engineers working with Exalate.

Are you by any chance willing to explore 3rd Party Solutions for Migration?

Exalate, provides a fully bi-directional synchronization between Jira (Cloud/Server/DC) and Jira (among other ITSM systems) that is fully customizable. Although Exalate is built as an integration solution but it can also be used for Migration purpose as well. 

If you would like to see a customized demo of the product in action, feel free to book a slot with us. 

Thanks, Dhiren

[Ritesh Ranjan]

With the release of JCMA 1.7.8, the migrate all data at once feature is now available to all customers. 

Check out more details about the latest version of JCMA at https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1222010/jira-cloud-migration-assistant?tab=overview&hosting=datacenter. 

[Oto Machaladze]

Hello,

Great article!

In case, you want to migrate assets (formerly insight) from Server or DC to the cloud instance, you can use our assets migration tool. 

For more information you can reach out to our article:

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Service-Management/How-can-Assets-be-migrated-from-Jira-Data-Center-to-Cloud-or/td-p/2382324

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to contact us.

Thank you!