Move projects from Jira Cloud to Server/DC

Moving projects is one of the most common tasks for Jira аdministrators. This document shows how to move projects from a Jira Cloud site to а Jira Server/Data Center instance using the Configuration Manager for Jira (CMJ) app.

The goal is to transfer projects from a Jira Cloud site to a Jira Server or Data Center instance without losing user-created data or project configurations.

'Jira backup for server' feature announcement

Atlassian has announced that, on November 30, 2024, they will discontinue the ‘Jira backup for server’ feature we use to move data from the Cloud to Data Center. Afterward, the only way to apply this Cloud-to-Data Center use case will be through the use of Atlassian’s CSV file import wizard.

Use case steps

This section will guide you through the use case's steps:

High-level process
Prerequisites and use case elements
Detailed process

High-level process

Setup: Set up two temporary Staging Jira Server instances.
Phase 1: Restore the configuration from the source Jira Cloud site and the configuration from the target Jira Server site to separate Staging Servers.
Phase 2: Deploy projects and issues from the Staging Server (1) to the Staging Server (2) with CMJ.
Phase 3: Conduct user acceptance testing of the configuration changes on the Staging Jira Server (2).
Phase 4: Deploy the projects and issues from the Staging Server (1) to the Production server with CMJ.

For more details, read our Detailed process guide below.

Why use a Staging environment?

Testing changes in a Staging environment before applying them to the Production systems is an IT best practice.

The Staging environment should mirror as close as possible the Production environment. This way, you can test and ensure the planned changes won't introduce disruption or unexpected behavior for Jira users after deployment on Production.

Atlassian's article called Establishing Staging Server Environments for Jira describes how to set up such environments for Jira.

Prerequisites and use case elements


Jira Cloud	3 Jira Servers	Project Snapshot	New Project Mode	Medium

1 source Jira Cloud site and 1 Production Jira Server instance.
2 Staging servers: 2 Staging Jira Server or Data Center instances are required. They’ll serve as replicas of the source Jira Cloud site and the target Jira Server/DC. Make sure the Staging (2) (i.e. the one created from the target) and the Production Jira Server/DC (target) have the same Jira version.
CMJ version: Make sure the same version of CMJ is installed on the Staging and Production instances.
Licenses: You need a paid license for each Production instance. In this case, one paid license for the Production Jira Server instance and two free developer CMJ licenses for the Staging instances.
Supported objects: Make sure CMJ supports the Jira configuration objects you would like to configure. Supported objects and integrated apps are listed in our Configuration Object Support Matrix and List of Integrated Apps documents.
Apps: Any apps used to configure objects in the test instance must also be installed on the Staging and Production instances, ensuring the app versions are the same.
Resources: CMJ loads configuration and dependencies and performs analysis in memory, so you should allocate sufficient resources depending on the Jira instances. We recommend following Atlassian’s Jira sizing guide.

Detailed process

Review the diagram and detailed guide below to understand the use case better.

Setup

Set up two temporary Staging Jira Server instances designated for the source Jira Cloud and target Jira Server/DC instance.
Install CMJ on both of the Staging servers.
Install CMJ on the target Production Jira Server or Data Center instance.

Phase 1: Restore configurations to the Staging Servers

Back up the data on the source Jira Cloud site (check Atlassian’s Export data from Jira Cloud document). Make sure that you create a backup for server, not for cloud.
Restore the XML backup to the Staging Server (1) (for more information, check the Atlassian document Restoring data).
Back up data on the target Jira Server instance (check Atlassian’s Backing up data document).
Restore the XML backup to the Staging Server (2) (for more information, check Atlassian’s Restoring data from an xml backup document).

Phase 2: Deploy projects and issues from Staging Server 1 to Staging Server 2
Create a project snapshot with issues on the Staging Server (1) using CMJ. Pick the projects you want to move (for more information on how to create project snapshots, check the Project Snapshot and Project Snapshot with Issues documents).
Deploy the project snapshot on the Staging Server 2 using CMJ (for more information on deploying project snapshots, check the Single Project Snapshots and Multi-project Snapshots documents).

Phase 3: Test the configuration changes on Staging Server 2
Get stakeholders involved in user acceptance testing to confirm the proposed changes are operating as expected.

Phase 4: Deploy projects from Staging Server 1 to the Production Jira Server
Back up the data on the Production Jira Server instance (check the following Atlassian document: Backing up data).
Create a snapshot on the Staging Server (1) using CMJ with the same projects, issues, and configurations tested on phase 2 (in a nutshell, the same snapshot that was deployed on Staging Server (2) during phase 2). For more information on creating project snapshots, check the Project Snapshot with Issues document.
Deploy the project snapshot on the Production Jira Server using CMJ.
For more information on deploying project snapshots, check the Single Project Snapshots and Multi-project Snapshots documents.
(optional) Retire the Staging servers.

Tips & Tricks

Performance

For stable performance and to avoid potential OutOfMemory errors for large snapshot deployments, make sure you increase the Java heap of your Jira instances. You can use the Jira sizing guide as a reference and double the heap numbers for very large deployments. A rough guideline is 32GB for moving a project with 100,000 issues (attachment files moved separately).

Apps

Note that 3rd party apps, even if they are available for Cloud and Server, will work differently in most cases. Please contact the 3rd party app vendor regarding the migration procedure of the app data.

Move Projects from Jira Cloud to Server/Data Center