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Deploying System Configuration Snapshots
Configuration Manager offers two deployment modes for system configuration snapshots. Each "mode" represents a different deployment strategy. The deployment modes are Merge Configuration and Restore Configuration.
When you choose a system snapshot to be deployed, on the first page of the deploy configuration wizard, you will choose the "deployment mode".
Deployment Modes
Merge Configuration
When you deploy a system snapshot in "merge" mode, all the configuration in the snapshot is "merged" with the existing Jira configuration. This means that all objects from the snapshot which are not present in the system will be added, and the configuration of all objects which are present in both the snapshot and the target Jira instance will be replaced with the one from the snapshot.
For example:
Project "Library" is present in the snapshot but not in the target Jira instance - A new project "Library" will be created (added) and will have the same configuration as in the snapshot.
Project "Marketing" is present in the snapshot, and the target Jira instance - The configuration of the "Marketing" project will be replaced with the one from the snapshot.
Project "Human Resources" is not present in the snapshot but exists in the target Jira instance - The project "Human Resources" will not be changed in any way.
Restore Configuration
When you deploy a system snapshot in "restore" mode, the configuration of the target Jira instance is "replaced" by the configuration in the snapshot. This means that all objects from the snapshot that are not present on the system will be added, and the configuration of all objects that are present in both the snapshot and the target Jira instance will be replaced with the one from the snapshot, and all objects which are not present in the snapshot will be deleted from the target Jira instance. At the end of the deployment, the system configuration on the target instance is identical to the system configuration from the snapshot.
For example:
Project "Library" is present in the snapshot but not in the target Jira instance - A new project "Library" will be created(added) and will have the same configuration as in the snapshot.
Project "Marketing" is present in the snapshot, and the target Jira instance - The configuration of the "Marketing" project will be replaced with the one from the snapshot.
Project "Human Resources" is not present in the snapshot but exists in the target Jira instance - The project "Human Resources" will be deleted.
Deploying a snapshot in restore mode may lead to deletion of projects including all issues. This change can not be reversed.
Using Merge or Restore mode
Restore mode is suitable for the case when you want to create a "staging" Jira instance, which is an exact copy of the "production" Jira instance (a.k.a refresh staging from production). Using Configuration Manager to achieve that is much faster than restoring an XML backup of the "production" system to the "staging" system. Sometimes using Configuration Manager is the only possible way to transfer configurations and issues, especially when you're working with large Jira instances, where creating a backup leads to performance degradation of the production system and the backup is so large that you're not able to transfer it and restore it to the "staging" system. Using Configuration Manager will allow you to perform such a "refresh" in just a few minutes compared to hours for really large Jira instances.