Attempting to merge two instances. Is project import possible?

[Dominic Bevacqua]

I need to merge a project from a non-OnDemand instance to our OnDemand instance.

The download instance is of an older version, but I have successfully restored a backup to a trial OnDemand instance which has the same versions as the target OnDemand instance.

To finish the migration, I would ideally use the project import feature to import a single project from the backup of the trial OnDemand instance into the target OnDemand instance. However, this feature is not available in OnDemand. I think my options are:

1. Have you guys perform the project import for me (assuming the feature is just hidden from me)

2. As per comments by Yvonne here https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/47590/can-we-merge-two-on-demand-jira-accounts:

bq. You can ask Atlassian to create an export of your data. Please keep in mind, that due to the fact that OnDemand is a suite of applications data manipuation is necessary to make it importable on a standalone installation, so the export will take some time and needs to be scheduled. You should ask for it well in advacec if you have deadlines to meet.

bq. Next you have to merge those 2 backups in your local installation, importing project by project. Once merged you can generate for JIRA a full backup and import it to your new OnDemand instance. Please keep in mind, that you need the exact version that is bundled in OnDemand so this will work!

The first option would be the ideal solution but I realise that it may not be possible.

This is a pressing issue, as we have very little time before the non-OnDemand instance ceases to function.

Thanks.

Dominic.

[Dominic Bevacqua · Accepted solution]

I fixed this with a variation on approach 2. I was able to do it without any data manipulation from Atlassian.

In summary:

• create standalone JIRA instance with exactly the same version as target OnDemand instance (NB Atlassian upgrade regularly, so be careful - I had to upgrade my standalone instance twice!)
• back up target OnDemand instance
• restore backup from target OnDemand instance to standalone instance
• back up other OnDemand instance (the one that contains the project(s) to be merged
• log in as sysadmin/sysadmin (unless you have changed that password) use project import tool to import selected project(s) from backup in previous step (this process can be fairly involved but is well documented)
• back up standalone instance and restore to OnDemand (you'll need to upload backup with a WebDAV clients - I user Cadaver on Ubuntu)
• celebrate!

The only gotchas were:

• logo got lost somewhere along the way
• make sure that backup files contain your avatars and attachments
• avatars were imported but not linked up to users. it may be possible to do this by updating entities.xml but very users in my system had avatars so I could manually link them up
• you may need to add application access for users (all of our google apps users lost application access - again thankfully there were not too many users otherwise it would have been a massive PITA)

[Dominic Bevacqua]

I fixed this with a variation on approach 2. I was able to do it without any data manipulation from Atlassian.

In summary:

• create standalone JIRA instance with exactly the same version as target OnDemand instance (NB Atlassian upgrade regularly, so be careful - I had to upgrade my standalone instance twice!)
• back up target OnDemand instance
• restore backup from target OnDemand instance to standalone instance
• back up other OnDemand instance (the one that contains the project(s) to be merged
• log in as sysadmin/sysadmin (unless you have changed that password) use project import tool to import selected project(s) from backup in previous step (this process can be fairly involved but is well documented)
• back up standalone instance and restore to OnDemand (you'll need to upload backup with a WebDAV clients - I user Cadaver on Ubuntu)
• celebrate!

The only gotchas were:

• logo got lost somewhere along the way
• make sure that backup files contain your avatars and attachments
• avatars were imported but not linked up to users. it may be possible to do this by updating entities.xml but very users in my system had avatars so I could manually link them up
• you may need to add application access for users (all of our google apps users lost application access - again thankfully there were not too many users otherwise it would have been a massive PITA)

[Theinvisibleman]

Hi Dominic,

I believe that in order to import the project into your OnDemand, you would need the help from our OnDemand support team. Please raise a ticket here : support.atlassian.com. You will have to log in (if you already have an account. If not, please create one), and raise an OnDemand issue.

Cheers,

Joe