Disaster recovery posture for Cloud instance

[Kieran Donnelly]

I administer both Jira & Confluence cloud edition (< 50 users). My previous experience with backup and recovery is in relation to the Jira server edition (vm snapshots, mysql database backups, index saving etc.)

I'm new to Cloud and wondering what steps other users take to ensure they have peace of mind and also what tools or guarantees Atlassian provides with the standard cloud offering.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

On the Atlassian side, see https://www.atlassian.com/trust/security/security-practices#business-continuity-and-disaster-recovery

On the subscriber's side, there is an "export everything" function built into the Cloud services which you could use regularly to get a copy of everything.  It's more intended for migration and hence, while complete, is not that friendly for use as a backup - it's only really useful if restored into a Data Center (or Server, for now) System, or another Cloud instance.

[Kieran Donnelly]

Thank you for the reference material.

[Johnny Hermann]

Hi Atlassian, I am researching Disaster Recovery for our use of Jira & Confluence Cloud.  Is this still the latest official response from Atlassian?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Yes, that link is what Atlassian are broadcasting on the subject.

[Johnny Hermann]

OK, and your comment on "subscriber's side" also stands - i.e., the only option available is to backup Jira & Confluence content ourselves?  Can we presume the following links are what you are referring to?

• Confluence Admin - Create a site backup
• Jira Admin - Export data from Jira Cloud

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Yes, that's spot-on, exactly what I would have linked to if asked (I don't have them bookmarked, so I didn't volunteer).

I think I was a bit short on previous answers here, and I'd like to add what someone pointed out to me a few months ago.  Cloud is "software as a service", and part of that service is "not having to worry too much about most disasters"

The way I've talked with people about that over the years is to question what the worries are about the disaster scenarios.

Almost everyone needs some form of DR.  But what they need depends on the nature of the disaster and what its impact upon them is. 

Atlassian's Cloud service is in a place where you simply don't need to worry about most of the things that could go wrong.  If they lose a pile of servers, they've got backups and a way to tell you that there's a problem and what the impact is on your service.

It's worth thinking through what the scenarios actually are.  In most cases, "a regular download of our data just in case Atlassian somehow collapses overnight" is all you're going to need.

[Johnny Hermann]

Thanks for the more comprehensive follow-up.

> In most cases, "a regular download of our data just in case Atlassian somehow collapses overnight" is all you're going to need.

Indeed, as a smaller company this is pretty much all we are looking into at this time (for these tools).

I have read through quite a bit of the docs now, and have a better picture of what the official stance is, and what can be achieved by us end consumers.

One possibility is the new free Admin Kit plugins.  Are you aware of anyone using & discussing those in the Atlassian Community?  Do those persisted back-ups count towards pricing-tier storage caps?

• Admin Kit for Jira Cloud
• Admin Kit for Confluence Cloud

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I have not run into those apps at all, so I cannot tell you anything.  

I have had a quick look, because of your pointers, and at a glance, it looks like they can get you the "get our data out, and keep working with it, just in case Atlassian totally fails" stuff you might be looking for.

But I am not sure they do - I've not tried them!

The bit I can tell you is that the backups that they take are local to your machines, they do not create huge files on your Atlassian Cloud systems.  They get you a download of your Cloud system, suitable for re-upload.

[Johnny Hermann]

Sounds like sufficient for our needs.

Docs are pretty light though.  Are you able to find out if our backups on Forge are encrypted at rest?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

The backups of the service are encryted at rest.

By default, anything you do on Forge is encryted at rest.  But you are free not to - that is your choice.