Move JIRA 5.2 to a different server

[Stefania Stradi]

Goog morning,

we need to change the server in which we have installed JIRA (from Win2000 to Win2008).

For the db everithing can be done by using a dump of the db, but for the attachments that are sotred in a folder of the server what we have to do?

We just have to move the files under the same foled in the new server?

Thanks

Stefania

[Mike Rathwell]

Stefania,

I do this very thing regularly to get a snapshot of my production system onto a development system and it works reliably every time even when moving from one database server to another.

1. Prep a target system, in your case a Win 2k8 server and DB of your choice. Install your target version of JIRA clean/empty on that server (don't migrate anything at this point; just make an empty, brand new JIRA install on your target server) with the same logical locations for the various JIRA_INSTALL and JIRA_HOME directories.
2. Add any JAVA_OPTs you have on the production instance to this new one
3. Shut down the fresh clean instance of JIRA
4. Do an XML backup of the instance from the admin -> system -> backup function on the admin pages
5. (This step isn't required but helpful if you can) - Stop the production JIRA and copy the JIRA_HOME (data directory) to the same logical path on the target server
6. Start the new JIRA with the copied data directory in place (it still won't look like the duplicate yet)
7. Go to the admin pages of the new instance and restore the XML backup
8. Go get some coffee while you wait and ponder one's choice in career path
9. When it's done it will be a faithful replica of the current production instance complete with screens, plugins, workflows, etc.

I really don't recommend the DB dump method in the JIRA case if you can avoid it. The XML variant i suggest here seems to be more consistent and (most important to me) simple.

mike

[Arthur Gonçalves]

Hello Stefania,

Yes, you'll need to move your attachments to the new $jira_home, however I recommend you to ensure you're following the guidelines described here to have a smooth migration.

-- Arthur Gonçalves