Move Projects from Jira Cloud to Cloud

Owned by Rosen Marinkov
Last updated: Sept 19, 2023 by Stanley Neychev
5 min read

Update October 2022! A new approach for migrating projects between Jira Cloud sites in fewer steps. Use our newest companion apps for your journey: Cloud Migration Tool and Configuration Manager for Jira Cloud.

Please refer to the updated steps below to move configurations between Jira Cloud sites with the CMJ Cloud and Cloud Migration Tool apps, both released in October 2021.

 

On this page:

 

Move projects between Jira Cloud sites

You can use our Configuration Manager for Jira Cloud and Cloud Migration Tool apps to move projects from one Jira Cloud site to another. The approach described in this article can also be used for merging Jira Cloud sites.

This use case allows you to transfer projects from one Jira Cloud site to another without losing user-created data and project configurations.

As a prerequisite, you need to create the following temporary resources:

  • a backup Jira Server or Data Center instance, and

  • a Jira Cloud site sandbox.
    You can learn more about Jira Cloud sandboxes in Atlassian's documentation.

Use the Cloud Migration Tool app to move projects to Jira Cloud sites

In the future, you'll need only the Configuration Manager for Jira Cloud app. You'll be able to install it on each cloud instance, and there won't be a need for a temporary backup server. Until then, you can use the workaround approach described in this document.

To move projects and issues between Jira Cloud sites:

  1. Install the Cloud Migration Tool on a temporary Jira Server or Data Center instance.

  2. Install the Configuration Manager for Jira Cloud app on the target Jira Cloud site.

By using these two apps together, you can transfer projects without losing any data or configurations.

Use case steps

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

  1. High-level process

  2. Prerequisites and use case elements

  3. Detailed process

High-level process

  • Setup: Set up а temporary Jira Server/DC instance and a sandbox of the target Jira Cloud site. 

  • Phase 1: Restore the source configuration to a temporary Server/DC instance and the destination configuration to the sandbox.

  • Phase 2: Move projects and issues from the Jira Server/DC to the sandbox using Cloud Migration Tool.

  • Phase 3: Conduct user acceptance testing of the configuration changes on the sandbox.

  • Phase 4: Migrate projects and issues from the source Jira Server/DC instance to the target Jira Cloud site using the Cloud Migration Tool.

For more detail, check out the Detailed process below.

Why use a sandbox environment?

Testing changes in a sandbox environment before applying them to a Production Jira Cloud site is a practice recommended by Atlassian. Learn more about managing product sandboxes.

The sandbox 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.

Prerequisites and use case elements

2 Jira Cloud sites and a sandbox

Temporary Jira Server

Project migration with Cloud Migration Tool and Configuration Manager for Jira Cloud

Medium

  • 2 Jira Cloud sites: one source Jira Cloud site and one target Jira Cloud site.

  • Sandbox: a sandbox of the target Jira Cloud site.

  • Jira Server instance: а temporary Jira Server or Data Center instance. The temporary Jira Server/DC should use the latest Jira version to restore the destination Jira Cloud configuration without problems.

  • Licenses: You need a paid license for the Configuration Manager for Jira Cloud on the target Jira Cloud site. Learn more about the app's licensing and prerequisites.

  • Supported objects: Make sure Cloud Migration Tool supports the objects you want to move along with your projects. Review the Supported Configuration Elements document for a list of the objects supported by the Cloud Migration Tool.

  • Apps: Any apps used to configure objects in the source Jira Cloud site must also be installed on the target Jira Cloud site.

Detailed process

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

 

Setup

  1. Backup Server: Back up the data on the source cloud instance (check Atlassian's document Backing up data). Make sure that you create a backup for server, not for cloud.

  2. Restore the XML backup to the temporary Server (for more information, check the Atlassian document Restoring data).

  3. Sandbox: Copy data to the sandbox from your Production Jira Cloud site.
    Learn more about copying data to a sandbox

    Phase 2: Transfer projects from the backup server to the sandbox

  4. Transfer the projects and issues from the Jira Server instance to the sandbox with the Cloud Migration Tool.
    Follow the migration process described here

    Phase 3: Test the configuration changes on the sandbox

  5. Get stakeholders involved in user acceptance testing in this phase to confirm the proposed changes are operating as expected.

    BY UNEXPECTED BEHAVIOR If the configuration changes don't meet stakeholders' expectations or the proposed changes are causing unexpected behavior, make changes in the source Jira Cloud site. Then, start the use case from the beginning (Phase 1).

    Phase 4: Migrate projects from the backup server to the target Jira Cloud site

  6. Migrate the projects and issues from the backup server to the target Jira Cloud site using the Cloud Migration Tool.
    Migrate Projects and Issues to Jira Cloud

  7. (optional) Retire the backup server and sandbox.

Cloud-to-cloud change deployment

We're happy to announce that you can now use Configuration Manager for Jira (CMJ) Cloud to introduce configuration changes from one Jira Cloud site to another. For the use case details, refer to CMJ Cloud's Deploy configuration changes from Jira Cloud to Cloud document.

Coming soon

We're also working on allowing you to move project issues between Jira Cloud sites with CMJ Cloud. Once we launch this functionality, you'll be able to move projects and issues between Jira Cloud sites without Staging Jira servers in between.

Please check our roadmap for updates and upcoming features!