Running a full migration in the sandbox

[vthomas9]

Hi -

I have been migrating small test Jira Projects to the cloud to learn how JCMA works and where there are gaps, e.g, missing issue icons, issue priorities. This has been very useful to do.

Now, I want to test run a full migration of our Jira server into the Sandbox. I'll be migrating ~44 projects and ~33,700  issues. 

Has anyone run this sort of test? If so, any tips or lessons learned? How long did it take, etc.?

Thanks,

Virginia T.

University of Washington

[Adam Rypel [MoroSystems]]

Hello @vthomas9 ,

Adding to Josh - we are Atlassian Solution Partners and we have migrated around 10 of our customers, so I can give you some points that came to my mind in regards of testing. Every instance is specific though.

• First of all, test your migrations ideally from testing server environment. JCMA can actually slow down or freeze your Jira, so it's not really safe to just run that on production
• Set your heap memory to minimum 8GB. JCMA Pre-migration checks are very demanding and your Jira might otherwise freeze due to OutOfMemory error.
• If you haven't yet, make some assessment of your instance. Go through your whole instance, analyse apps, integrations, customizations, etc.
• As for the performance, it depends on your sizing, But JCMA has improved a lot in performance and last time it took us around 4 hours to migrate 70000 issues. I think 5 hours for pre-migration checks, those can be sometimes longer
• During these tests I suggest to develop a migration runbook to have step by step guide what to do from the beginning till the end, so you don't forget anything during your production migration. Also don't forget about steps for app migration
• Do as many tests as you need, sometime we have to run 4-5 iterations to debug all the errors
• When the data are migrated, have as many users as you can to do UAT, if the tests are thorough, you can find gaps easily

There can be many more, just don't underestimate the testing and you'll be fine :) There are many helpful documentations on JCMA (Josh posted some of them), so these might be helpful.

Good luck!

[vthomas9]

Hi @Adam Rypel [MoroSystems] 

Wow, thanks for this useful information!  I've been reading the tons of migration docs that Atlassian provides; however, the docs are missing key practical info, such as, how to run test migrations. 

I've migrated small test projects and have flushed out  a few gaps. I tried migrating one of our more complex projects. This did not migrate correctly. The project contains about six Boards. JCMA migrated a subset of the project.   I'm not sure why, but my hypothesis is that I have to migrate the full  set of projects associated with the six Boards. 

Thanks!

Virginia T.

[Josh Harris]

Hi Virginia!

Josh from the Atlassian Cloud Migration Team here!

Glad to hear your tests have been beneficial so far. For your End-to-End test migration to the sandbox, I'd recommend clearing your cloud sandbox first and then (if applicable) copying any data from your production site to the sandbox. This is to make sure you have a solid replica in the test environment that would mirror your production migration.

Next, make sure you take a look through the Jira Pre-Migration Checklist  and check out What Gets Migrated With JCMA. This is help ensure common migration errors/mistakes can be avoided and your team has an understanding what to expect in Jira after migration.

As every data shape and server environment is different, it is hard to give an exact number of how long the migration can run, but that is the goal of Testing! For this size of migration, I'd expect a few hours, or longer, for the Jira issues to migrate (that estimate can vary depending on apps, attachments, etc.). 

If you run into any issues or have Planning questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us!

Best,
Josh Harris | Cloud Migrations Manager

[vthomas9]

Hi @Josh Harris 

Nice to meet you!  

I've read through the migration docs and have created the following draft migration plan based on what I have read. 

Does this plan make sense?  Do you see anything that is missing?

Once I complete testing, I will add more details to this plan or runbook, as @Adam Rypel [MoroSystems] mentioned.

I have a some questions listed below.  Can you help answer them?

Thank you, 

Virginia T.

Migration plan

1. Do the pre-migration checklist items, as needed.

   1. JCMA pre-migration checklist

   2. CCMA pre-migration checklist

2. Schedule the migration day and request Atlassian support to be available.
3. Migrate users to the Cloud. 
   1. Atlassian recommends migrating users and groups before data using JCMA and CCMA.
   2. Assess users any time before migration.  Every user must have both a valid and unique email address.
   3. Verify domain.  Is this required?
4. Setup user groups, as needed.
5. Setup email.  Can this be done ahead of time?  How to do it
6. If using Atlass Access, set this up before migrating data.
7. Configure Jira cloud:
   1. Assign icons to issue types.
   2. Other config?
8.  Migrate JIra attachments ahead of time.  
   1. How long will this take? 
   2. Should it be done after hours?
9. Migrate Confluence attachments ahead of time.
   1. How long will this take? 
   2. Should it be done after hours?
10. Migrate Jira Projects using JCMA
    1. How long will this take?
    2. Should it be done after hours?
11. Migrate Confluence Spaces using CCMA
    1. How long will this take?
    2. Should it be done after hours?
12. Post-migration. Fix broken links w/ help from Atlassian Support.
13. Invite users to the Cloud.
    1. Send verification email to users.
14. Done! Relax!

[Josh Harris]

Hi @vthomas9 ! 

I'd recommend reaching out to the Cloud Migration Team through embedded link!  Our team works through MOVE tickets and will be happy to address your questions and support your migration. 

Please take a look at how Cloud Migration Managers support your migration and how we structure migrations!

Best,
Josh

[vthomas9]

Hi @Josh Harris 

Thanks for this info.  We've been running test migrations.

We don't have a sandbox for our Confluence since we purchased Standard. We ran a full test of everything to the cloud. To prepare for our Prod cutover I will need to clear out our Cloud Confluence and all the users.

Q: How do I clear out Cloud Confluence Prod and the User list?

Thanks,

Virginia T