HSQL DB vs external DB

[Blommetje]

I get the message i'm working with a HSQL DB, which can cause problems. There are already bugs logged, so i do not want a new DB. How can I change to an external DB? And how real is the risk? Will this happen soon or once in a lifetime?

Is there a how-to somewhere?

[Pedro · Accepted solution]

It will be very similar to installing new JIRA, so use this document https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Migrating+JIRA+to+Another+Server as reference.

Of course you can skip: migrating jira home directory and migrating jira settings.

[Blommetje]

Thnx, sounds good. Can't do it now because everyone is working with it. Will try it tonight though..

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

The documentation covers this, a lot, because you shouldn't use HSQL for real data. Have a look at https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Database+Notes , choose a proper database and then swap over to it.

With HSQL, you can be absolutely fine, for years. Then lose the entire set of data for no good reason, without any warning. I've destroyed Jira HSQL databases with dubious plugins, killing the tomcat partway through, or even just running an upgrade on a slow machine. There's no way of knowing when it'll go bang, and no way of predicting how catastrophic the damage would be.

[Blommetje]

Thnx for the answer, but I don't really get it to be honest. In Jira admin i can't find anywhere to change the DB settings. I can shut it down i guess and then run the setup again. Does Jira create the DB automatically? Because now there is no DB... so i can't change the connection.

[Ken Wood]

"but I don't really get it to be honest" - think of the HQSL DB as a toy meant only for evaluation and testing purposes, NEVER for production use... like a kid learning to drive a tricycle. A database like Oracle or mySQL or one of the other Atlassian recommended databases is an industrial strength product, an '18 wheel tractor trailer rig' by comparison with the tricycle.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I think the confusion might be that Maarten is thinking a database change is just a quick switch. It isn't. You need to convert your existing data from one database to another. You can reconfigure an existing Jira installation to use another database (covered in the database notes I pointed at), but you then have an empty database (yes, Jira does create everything it needs if you point it at a new empty database, but it can't create your data). Jira does make this easy - export to xml creates a copy of your data in a format that any other Jira can read and poke into a completely different database backend.

HSQL has a number of industrial-strength uses. Jira is not one of them!

[Matt]

Notice:

Remember that you can dump all Jira config to xml file and restore from it using another database instance, check:

$JIRA_HOME/dbconfig.xml