Restoring Jira using the backups of /opt/atlassian and /var/atlassian directories

[Alptugay Değirmencioğlu]

Hello, my server had a disk failure so I have to create a new JIRA machine. I have a fairly new backup of /opt/atlassian and /var/atlassian directories. I have tried installing a new JIRA using the .bin file. And after I have tried the following:

1. Copying my backup directories to the newly installed Atlassian directories without overwriting
2. Copying my backup directories to the newly installed Atlassian directories with overwriting
3. Changing the cd command in /etc/init.d/jira so that it enters my backup directories instead of the newly created directories.

But I get an HTTP 500 error like the following:

type
Exception report


message
org.ofbiz.core.util.GeneralRuntimeException: Could not determine database type. (Communications link failure The last packet sent successfully to the server was 0 milliseconds ago. The driver has not received any packets from the server.)

description
The server encountered an internal error (org.ofbiz.core.util.GeneralRuntimeException: Could not determine database type. (Communications link failure The last packet sent successfully to the server was 0 milliseconds ago. The driver has not received any packets from the server.)) that prevented it from fulfilling this request.


exception
com.atlassian.util.concurrent.LazyReference$InitializationException: org.ofbiz.core.util.GeneralRuntimeException: Could not determine database type. (Communications link failure

How can I recover my data?

[RobertH]

The database configuration appears to be the source of the error above.  I'd make sure that you have the appropriate DB driver in your JIRA  lib directory, then make sure that the dbconfig is still relevant to the old database that I assume you still have running.  

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

You have only talked about the installation and home directories.

Where is your database backup?  What did you do with that?

[Joe Pitt]

If you did the install why are you restoring anything but the data? And that should be from a JIRA xml backup and the attachments from server backup if they were on the same server. I've moved JIRA between servers for upgrades several times that way and never had a problem. Depending on how you define things you may need to make changes to IP addresses, server names, or DNS tables.

[Alptugay Değirmencioğlu]

I am trying to restore the data. But I do not have a JIRA xml backup. What I have is the whole /opt/Atlassian and /var/Atlassian directories. I am sure that these should be enough to restore my data. But I don't know how. I am not able to get anything more from my old JIRA server as the disk has failed.

[Joe Pitt]

I'd suggest you contact Atlassian for help.But first you need to know where the database and attachments were being stored. Many shops the standard is to put data on a separate drive than the OS so restoring those directories may not get the data. I've never restored except from an xml backup. We take them automatically and take backups of that drive. 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Atlassian strongly recommend the use of database backups over XML, especially on larger systems - they work fine for restoration as well.