JIRA upgrade 3.x to 6.x

[Onkar Ahire]

Hi Friends,

We are planing to upgrade JIRA 3.x to JIRA 6.x, There are huge amount of data available in current instance, hence my question is what needful precautions or steps to be take care.

Thanking you

Best Regards

Onkar Ahire

[RicardoA · Accepted solution]

Hi Onkar

We recommend upgrading from 3.x to 4.0.1 and from this JIRA version you can directly upgrade to JIRA 4.4.5, which is the last version for JIRA 4. After upgrading to JIRA 4.4.5, you are free to upgrade all the way to the latest version of JIRA which is 6.1.3 (you no longer need to upgrade to an in-between version), but that is up to you. Also attempt to the plugins versions and alway perform a backup before attempting any changes.

The requirements for running the last version of JIRA is documented here: https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/JIRA+Requirements

Hope it helps,

Ricardo Carracedo.

[Onkar Ahire]

Thanks Ricardo,

Nic and you have given me a valuable information. I am planning to make a proper documentation before upgrade to avoid human mistakes.

Thanks once again.

Best Regards

Onkar Ahire

[Jo-Anne MacLeod]

One small note, there is one plugin and I believe that it is JIRA Misc Worflow Extensions, but don't quote me on that one, and please don't yell if I have named the wrong one, that had a change between 3.13 and 4.0. If you use that plugin, after you do your upgrade, verify the your workflows. The issue that you may see is on some of your conditions/post functions. If they are displaying an error, you will need to update your xml file. I know that I am being a bit vague, but I'm reaching into the dark areas of my memory. If you see this, then just google the error, there is the exact instructions on how to fix it. It is easy to do, bottom line, don't worry if you do see the problem.

If I find the exact error (and fix) I will post the link here, just so you have a reference in case you need it.

[Onkar Ahire]

Thanks Jo-Anne.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Test the whole process on a copy of production.

Take backups

Step through versions - 3 to 6 is probably not going to work and you'll need to plan and test it. Assumung you're on 3.13, I'd consider 3.13 -> 4.0 -> 4.4 -> 5.1 -> 6.1. But your testing should uncover any issues with that approach.

Analyse the plugins in use for forward compatibility, and deal with the ones you need to remove as you go

Read the release notes for every minor version, i.e. 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.0 etc (I'd even skim the point release notes just in case)

Most importantly, read the upgrade process documents for EVERY step you are going to do - the recommended path changes part way through.

Watch out for the labels field and user layouts too - they change significantly.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

No, jumping to 6.x is very unlikely to work. Step through versions. Test before each jump. Jira will NOT handle anything if you try to jump too far across versions.

Plugins depend on what they are. If there are dependencies, then you need to look at each one in detail and work out what the upgrade is going to do to it.

There's no quick and easy way to say an upgrade is a success - yes, make sure Jira is running, but then test it. Read the log, manually. Look for issues everywhere. Have a well rounded set of tests you want to run and use them.

[Onkar Ahire]

Thanks Nic,

If it is standalone JIRA and asking me to upgrade directly, Should I proceed ? Do JIRA handle everything ? If current JIRA instance issues do have some plugin dependencies and which is not compatible with newer one then what are the steps should I follow ?

At every upgradation how will I get success acknowledgement (Do I need to go to System info and grab number of issue details mataches to current and previous JIRA version or any support tool like Log scanner, Integritiy checker etc...?

That's all

Apart actually I had already gone through JIRA upgradation 5.x to 6.x but must to take some precaution for jumping jira version to version thrice :) and need to know if something else that I need to aware.

Thanks

Best Regards

Onkar Ahire

[Onkar Ahire]

Sure Nic,

Thanks.

[Dan Charlson]

Hey Nic – we are going 3.x (3.7.4) to current (7.2). I understand from your advice above you recommend going by each major version. We use our own database (not cloud). Here's our question: would it be better to (1) use the built-in database while we go through the upgrade and then switch to Linux/PostgreSQL? Or (2) the reverse? Thanks, Dan

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

It depends on how you use the internal database.  

If you are using "export to xml, then import", and not using the system during the changes beyond a little bit of testing,  the hsql stuff will generally work.  But I would much prefer to use postgres throughout.  Obviously, stick with the supported versions for whichever JIRA you are one.

As for JIRA itself, go with

3.7.4 -> 3.13 -> 4.0 -> 4.4 -> 5.1 -> 6.0 -> 6.4 -> 7.target

There is a good chance you can skip 6.0 in there, but don't rely on it.

[Tiberio de Oliveira]

@Nic Brough -Adaptavist-I'm having problem to find jira versions under 4.1. Do you know where I can find them?