Cloud solutions for Atlassian products

[Jose Avila]

Hi Support,

I'd like to obtain more information about the cloud solutions Atlassian provides for Jira server and Jira Service Desk and Confluence.

Some of the questions I specifically have in mind are:

1) Is it possible to migrate data from on-prem to the cloud? If so how?

2) What solutions do you provide on the cloud (PaaS, IaaS, SaaS)?

3) Which cloud provider is being used; AWS | Microsoft Azure?

4) What benefits do we get by having Atlassian products in the cloud?

5) Approximately, how much does it the cost per year to have Jira in the cloud?

6) How does Support work on a cloud environment? Does it has to go through Atlassian first or AWS/Azure directly?

I also appreciate any additional document with further information about this topic.

Thanks,

Jose

[Dave Theodore [Coyote Creek Consulting]]

First, you need to define "cloud." Atlassian has hosted versions of many of their products and they are called Atlassian Cloud. You also have "cloud service providers" such as AWS, Azure, etc. Atlassian's "Cloud" products differ from their Server and Data Center products, so you will need to review the differences and limitations of each in order to determine which solution is best for you.  We have this discussion with a lot of different clients and it's  not a trivial one. You may want to reach out to a Solutions Partner to have a deep dive on the topic. My website is in my profile if you want to schedule a call.

With regard to your questions, I'll respond based on what we see. Hopefully this will be helpful.

1. Yes. Depends on whether you go to Atlassian Cloud or you install a Server product in AWS or Azure, but essentially, you export the data from the on-prem instance and import it to the destination.  This process is definitely less complicated if you go from your on-prem server to a server in AWS or Azure, since you have control over the database and filesystem, you can see log files, etc.
2. Atlassian's hosted Cloud is a variation of their Server products with significant modifications. It is not a multi-tennant SaaS app. If you host in AWS, it's no different than hosting on a physical server in your data center.
3. Historically, AWS has been the most popular. Atlassian supported most products on AWS longer and they have the most advanced features.  Lately, we have been working with a lot of clients that want to move to Azure. I'm not sure why this happened suddenly, but my guess is that Microsoft has some incentives for companies that buy a lot of software from them already.  Azure is a few years behind AWS in terms of the availability of advanced features, but Atlassian tools run well in Azure.
4. If Atlassian hosted Cloud, all upgrades and care and feeding is done by Atlassian. You still administer and configure each application. If hosted on your cloud service provider, the most common reasons we see from clients are (in no particular order): corporate initiative to move as many things to cloud as possible, perception of ease of access for non-employees, perception of cost savings, something else. 
5. Depends on your needs, but I would expect the costs to be at least $1000/month for the AWS/Azure cost alone.
6. Atlassian only supports their applications.  They have awareness of AWS and Azure, but they will not troubleshoot issues with cloud service providers. That's where Solution Partners come in.  Many of us are knowledgeable on the Atlassian side of things and also the cloud service provider side of things.  

I recently did a webinar on implementing Confluence Data Center in Azure.  You can check out the recording of the webinar on our website. Since the topic was Data Center, it's got a lot more information that you need for a Server implementation, but you can get an idea of what is involved and what to expect.

My feelings about Cloud in general is that it isn't right for everyone.  You need to consider security, cost, administrative overhead, service level agreements and many other factors.  If your Atlassian tools are getting swept up in a greater corporate initiative to move to cloud, then it's a pretty easy decision.  If this is a one-off, you should think things through before making a decision.  Cost is something that is not easy to get an exact number on.  The major cloud service providers have cost calculators that you can use to get a decent idea, but I would recommend budgeting more than what they say, since you can't predict the network or storage usage. Hopefully this helps point you in the right direction.