Migrating 2 Jira instances to 1

[Miguel Santos]

Hello,

I have a client that has two Jira instances in production:

- One server has Jira Software with a PostgreSQL db;

- Another server has Jira Service Desk with a MySQL db;

Both servers have different configurations, and different projects between them.

The objective is to migrate both instances to one single server, while keeping the configurations and projects/issues from the two previous servers.

The problems I've found are that, as you create a backup using the built-in Jira tool and try to restore it on another instance, the data is completely wiped and overwritten by the backed up data. Also, the project and issue migration is something they are very concerned about.

How should I go about doing this?

Thank you in advance!

[robert Mugabuhamye · Accepted solution]

hello @Miguel Santos , 
Merging two Jira instances is not an easy tasks but there are add-ons that can help you in the process.

• https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1211147/project-configurator-for-jira
• https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1211611/configuration-manager-for-jira

The process would be:

1. you create new Jira instance for testing
2. you import the backup of your biggest instance on the new instance
3. you use one of the add-ons to get the project's configurations backup of your second instance (full projects with issues,boards, filter etc)
4. you merge them on your testing instance using the same tool.
5. Once you are happy with your testings, you do it in prod.

If you wanted to do it manually, without the apps, you have to take one instance and re-do the whole project's configuration on the second one manually and then imports the issues using csv export/import.

With this kind of merging, I recommend a lot of validation to make sure you are not losing anything.

good luck ;)

[Miguel Santos]

Hello Robert, and thank you for your reply.

I think those apps are going to be a big help, thanks a lot!

[Darin Klein]

Thanks Robert, we are currently testing migration from our MySQL based JIRA to Postgres to start "clean" and then import in use projects via Configuration Manager.  We use that add-on now for migrations between dev/test/prod and it works quite well. 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Off the shelf, you need to configure each project you want to import on the target system, then use "project import" to bring in  the issues from each one in turn from the backup of the full source system.

See https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirakb/how-to-merge-jira-server-instances-244352137.html

I strongly recommend the use of one of the "configuration management" apps in the marketplace though, that enables the configuration to be validated and brought in, and a couple of them have their own export/import code as well.  They make it a lot easier to merge!

[Miguel Santos]

Hello Nic and thank you for your response.

By "configure each project you want to import on the target system" are you referring to custom fields, etc?

My biggest concern is the configurations on each instance, as I have been searching for ways to easily migrate projects.

By now I see only one solution:

1. Compare both instances' configurations;

2. Apply one of the instances' configurations to another instance;

3. Backup that second instance with all configurations;

4. Import to target instance;

5. Finally import all projects to the target instance.

Does it seem like a viable way or is there another easier/safer way of going about it?

[Joe Pitt]

There is at least one paid for plugin in the marketplace that allows migrating projects. I don't know if it will do an entire instance. There is no solution out of the box. 

[Miguel Santos]

Hello Joe and thank you for replying,

Yes, as Robert says below those tools do exist. :)

[Rakesh Kumar]

Hi Miguel, 

As you have mentioned,  your both the instances have different flavour of jira (first one is Jira service desk and second one is jira software).  You also need to make sure that your target instance must have jsd installed on top of jira software.  If you do not intend to use any plugins help then it would be a bit tedious however not impossible. If i would have to do this migration,  i would go in phases, 

1. Prepare a staging target instance with both the jira applications with same versions (there is a compatibility matrix for jira software with jsd,  make sure your source jsd is compatible with source jira software)   installed with trial licenses. Also make sure all the required plugins of same version also installed.

2. Choose all the projects which are sharing a particular types of configurations Create all the custom fields,  resolutions,  workflows,  screens and all required configurations of that particular type. 

3. Import those particular projects one by one in your newly prepared instance and verify if you are able to retain all the data. You should go first either for jira software projects or jsd projects but one by one. 

4. If all goes well,  repeat from step 2 for another set of projects which uses same set of configurations. 

Regards, 

Rakesh

[Miguel Santos]

Hello Rakesh and thank you for your response.

Yes I can see how that would require a lot of work. Not that I wouldn't be willing to do it, but of course if I can do it faster and/or easier, I should for the projects sake.

I think I will go with Roberts solutions, it seems the easiest and less time consuming.