Upgrade JIRA from 6.0.1 to higher versions (7,8)

[Arjun]

Hi,

Currently, we are using JIRA having version 6.0.1. We are planning to upgrade it to the following versions whichever is feasible. The current version of JIRA is affecting the JIRA environments but not users. As a part of vulnerability remediation, we need to upgrade to any of the below versions.

• 7.6.14 and later 
• 7.13.5 and later 
• 8.0.3 and later  
• 8.1.2 and later 
• 8.2.3 and later

I'm need a few clarifications on this. Please answer to the following questions.

1. If we upgrade to any of the above mentioned versions, will there be any screen changes to the users?

2. What are the things that will affect the existing users?

3. Will there be any cost for upgradation?

4. Can you please explain the step by step process of upgradation and points to be kept in mind for the successful upgradation?

Kindly reply me back at the earliest.

[Petr Vaníček · Accepted solution]

Hi,

it will not be easy to do this. Read carefully upgrade notes for all releases.

Main points:

• make clone of server as test environment
• do everything first on test environment
• after every interim upgrade do snapshots and backups

Answers on your questions:

1. There is a lot of changes in GUI, but nothing unacceptable by users
2. Read all release notes - it's best what you can do (for Jira 6, for Jira 7 & 8)
3. If you have valid maintenance then not - only your time
4.  Detailed below

How to upgrade

Are you experienced with Jira upgrade or not? If not then it's not good idea start with that huge upgrade task. Maybe will be better to contact any Atlassian partner company in your country (https://partnerdirectory.atlassian.com/).

If you are ready to start then try to follow this upgrade path (downloads for 6.x here and for 7+ here under View all versions).

current -> 6.1.x -> 6.4.x -> 7.0.x -> 7.1.x -> 7.6.x -> 7.13.x -> 8.3.0

After every upgrade do snapshots and test functionality of Jira (update addons, make integrity checker,...). This upgrade path is only my recommendation - maybe you will need make one or more additional interim versions or less, but make it everytime on test environment first.

Let me know if you have any questions, but primary if you want do this yourseld then you should be able to find everything on your own. ;-)

[Vladimir]

Hi Petr

You have listed multiple versions
current -> 6.1.x -> 6.4.x -> 7.0.x -> 7.1.x -> 7.6.x -> 7.13.x -> 8.3.0
Do I need to update for each one (I have v6.4.8) or can I miss some of the versions?
Similar to 6.4.8 -> 7.6.x -> 7.13.x -> 8.3.0 (because 7.6 and 7.13 LTS)

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

No!  Do not skip most of these versions, you will break it if you do.

You must go through the versions I listed before in my answer, although obviously, if you're on a later version than 6.0 you won't need to go back and downgrade. 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

• Yes, you will need to read through all the release notes
• As 1
• Not if you have a licence that ends after the release date of a target version
• You will need to upgrade via versions 6.0 -> 6.4 -> 7.0 -> 7.13 -> 8.2.  You do not need to go through the security patching versions, just make sure you select a target version that has been fixed.  See https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver/upgrading-jira-applications-938846936.html

[John Stoffel]

I know this is an old thread, but do I really need to go via 6.4 when I want to move from 6.0.7 RHEL 5.11 32bit to 7.0.11 RHEL 7.6 64bit in one go?  Yeah, I know this will be a *total* pain in the ass to do.  Not looking forward to it.  But really hoping I can just goto 7.0.11 directly since I have only one extra addon for this very quiet instance.  

Just the Postgressql part of this migration is going to suck I kow.  LOL.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Yes, you do need to go through each version I listed. 

6.0 to 7.0 almost always fails, so get it to 6.3 or 6.4 before going to 7.0 

You must not skip 7.0 or you will end up with broken data that you won't find out about until you get to 7.8 or above. 

7.13 is a bit flexible, you just need to be on 7.6 or above.  7.5 and lower sometimes have issues when upgrading to 8, hence the recommendation to go to 7.13 - the upgrade of 7.anything to 7.13 rarely goes wrong, and 7.13 to 8.anything is even less problematic.

[Pete Singleton]

You will need to review the release notes and upgrade notes for each of the N.n versions you are upgrading through.