JIRA Administrators counting against the license users

HPC Administration January 24, 2013

Hi,

I have downloaded JIRA 5.4.2.1 and installed it in my hardware. I have setup a group containing 6 users to the global permission "JIRA Users". According to http://www.atlassian.com/licensing/jira, this means I should be using 6 active users counting toward my license. But the license information page indicates 7 active users, and if I add some administrators the number goes up by the same amount.

Clearly, it's counting administrators. Is this normal?

Thanks,

F

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Abdoulaye Kindy Diallo
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January 24, 2013

Basically, the license count is based on the Global Permissions. Users with any of the following Global Permissions will count towards the license:

  • JIRA System Administrators
  • JIRA Administrators
  • JIRA Users

You can refer to this documentation from here for further details.

HPC Administration January 24, 2013

Thanks for the answer. I guess that http://www.atlassian.com/licensing/jira, which says:

Licensing fees are quoted per number of 'active users'. An active user in JIRA is by definition any user account in the system with the "JIRA Users" global permission, i.e. anyone who can log in. Unlimited 'anonymous users' are permitted on all licenses.

is a bit misleading, it clearly says only "JIRA Users". We have an admin team that does only admin and have no interest in the projects, so base don the text above I had not counted them when sizing my license. Anyway, thanks again.

Filipe

Damian Nowak November 1, 2013

JIRA Knowledge Base is not an official documentation. On the other hand, JIRA FAQ is directly at atlassian.com and people may refer to it just before buying a license by clicking "View the purchasing FAQ for JIRA" link below the pricing.

The FAQ they only count members of "JIRA Users" global permission. However, JIRA counts anyone that can log in - not only "JIRA Users" but also "JIRA Administrators" and "JIRA System Administrators". (Please don't confuse "groups" with "global permissions", they are different things)

It's not OK the official FAQ says this and JIRA performs that.

Norman Abramovitz
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November 1, 2013

Actually, I trust the knowledge base more than FAQs since in many cases the knowledge base answers seems to have more detail than the FAQ. FAQs, in general, looks to me to be more marketing than technical.

The FAQ does also state anyone who can log they would be counted.

Damian's point is well taken though, that a buyer would look more likely at the FAQ. and the FAQ response could be rewritten to be clearer.

Damian Nowak November 1, 2013

@Norman, Usually yes, it's more marketing than technical. But this very answer is highly technical as it mentions technical terms like "global permission".

What you are citing is not true as well. Again, "JIRA Users" global permission is mentioned, and "anyone who can log in" is just a description of what this permission stands for. (And which is not true since "JIRA System Administrators" is a separate global permission, and they can login as well)

An active user in JIRA is by definition any user account in the system with the "JIRA Users" global permission, i.e. anyone who can log in.

Damian Nowak November 1, 2013

Maybe "it's very rare" and "in most cases is not a good thing" but that's how it's explained in the FAQ. What's more, I am running a JIRA & Confluence hosting business and I am fine with accessing just the admin panel, not my customer's data. And there surely are other people who are just administrators and don't need anything more than access to the admin panel.

This is done right in FishEye where administrators are able to access admin panel with a single password - just to administrate the instance, not view the repos or reviews.

We may discuss it endlessly but the fact is that the FAQ is currently broken.

Norman Abramovitz
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November 1, 2013

I am not disagreeing with the quoted text, but it could be confusing as you stated. My rewrite would have dropped the global permission part. It is very rare for the admins not to have the users global permission and still be able to do their work.

Try dropping the the global users permission on a new admin account and it should not be counted against your license. I am not talking about the groups or roles, but the actual permission which means it will take some effort to make this happen since this is not the default behavior.

But..., this admin account would not be able to create issues which in most cases is not a good thing. He cannot track his issues in Jira.

I just think simplifying the statement would actually avoid the confusion since the 'technical detail' requires some good understanding of Jira's behaviors.

Read the documentation below about admins. If the functionality is broken, then report it.

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Managing+Global+Permissions

1 vote
MatthewC
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January 24, 2013

I'd say yes... admins can access the system so they need a licence.

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