install jira on a memory stick / external ssd ?

[Radu Rogojanu]

can I install my Jira starter edition on a memory stick or an external ssd?

I would like to use it in 3 locations (home, company1, company2) in a 'local' mode (i.e. no server available or internet connection).

I noticed during installation that the server ID is required, so i stopped

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

No, it won't work. First, as you've noticed, the server ID will change with each host.

On top of that, you need to understand the structure. Although it's a doddle to stick the application somewhere (it doesn't matter as long as it can be read), the data is not readily portably. You'd need to think about how to connect to the database. You could use an HSQL file-based database, but this is known to fail catastrophically sometimes - Atlassian explicitly tell you not to use HSQL for real data. Even if you have a an accessible shared datasource, there's the dynamic files (index, attachments etc). The attachments might be portable, but the index needs to be on a fast disk, and undergoes heavy write cycles, so a USB stick fails on both criteria. If you chose to ignore the index and host it off the USB/SSD, you'll find you need to reindex every time you moved sites.

All of that said, I run it on my laptop and carry that to client sites.

[Nicholas McCagg]

At least, that's been my experience. In running instances of both Confluence and JIRA from a non-standard location, it seems as if some resources (especially for HSQL databases) default to locations on the C:\ drive, regardless of what drive you're running it from.

[Nicholas McCagg]

In addition, the JIRA launcher will save some of its files and settings to the local drive, making using a flash drive very impractical and near-impossible.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

mmm, I've not tried that, I always use WAR or Standalone. I was thinking specifically of the content of jira.home, I didn't know the launcher would do more outside there.