Backup and restore of Jira

[paul]

I'm testing backup/restore of Jira. My db data sits on MySQL and I back it up with mysqldump. I'm wondering how I need to backup the files/attachments of Jira. The document states I need to back up <Jira Home Directory>/data/ and restore that folder.

Can I or should I backup/restore the entire <Jira Home Directory>?

[Harry Chan · Accepted solution]

I'd recommend backup up the entire home directory. There are folders you *can* exclude, e.g. logs, import, export and also the felix cache in the plugins directory.

It'd just be safer this way and save you a lot of time to restore unless space is a major concern.

[MatthewC]

I think it sounds like you are getting a little confused. When backing and restoring up Jira you would probably be talking about the XML export and restore, not a DB dump.

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Backing+Up+Data

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Restoring+Data

When you do a restore, the attachments can either be in the import directory or you can just copy the attachment directory an do a re-index afterwards.

You don't need to generally do the whole directory but you should reindex

[paul]

Actually I do know about XML export/restore. I just chose not to use XML for back up. Atlassian does mention you can use a native tool of the given database to backup (MySQL in my case) so I chose to use mysqldump to back up the database side of Jira.

My question is when I backup/restore files of Jira, can I restore the entire <Jira Home Directory> or just <Jira Home Directory>/data/ (which includes 2 directories: attachments and avatars)?

[paul]

Just documenting backup/restore procedure.

[MatthewC]

Sorry, I didn't quite understand from your question. It's always safer to backup more files than less. It's just that when you do an XML import, you can also restore the attachments to JIRA_HOME\import\attachments but you should always backup the entire JIRA HOME to ensure you can fallback if the restore fails.

Are you also moving servers or doing all the work on one server?