Why does re-installing JIRA Service desk keep failing?

[David FALLAS]

JIRA version 7.10.2

Service Desk version 3.13.2

 We have made a number of attempts at installing JIRA Service Desk - all of which have failed. When we attempt to go to the customer portal, only raw JSON is displayed. 

In addition we are seeing a number of other problems

* there is no content in the Service Desk Configuration page

* the Email configuration page shows errors for each of the options.

* Versions and Applications informs that Service Desk is licensed but not installed - and when we click the Install button the following appears in atlassian-jira.log:

2018-08-04 07:51:43,266 UpmAsynchronousTaskManager:thread-2 INFO davidf 471x893x1 1oilduh 172.23.33.105 /rest/plugins/1.0/ [c.a.plugin.loaders.ScanningPluginLoader] No plugins found to be installed
2018-08-04 07:51:43,307 UpmAsynchronousTaskManager:thread-2 INFO davidf 471x893x1 1oilduh 172.23.33.105 /rest/plugins/1.0/ [c.a.plugin.manager.DefaultPluginManager] Updating plugin 'com.atlassian.servicedesk.application' from version '3.13.2' to version '3.13.2'
2018-08-04 07:51:43,310 UpmAsynchronousTaskManager:thread-2 INFO davidf 471x893x1 1oilduh 172.23.33.105 /rest/plugins/1.0/ [c.a.plugin.loaders.ScanningPluginLoader] Removed plugin 'com.atlassian.servicedesk.application'
2018-08-04 07:51:45,524 UpmScheduler:thread-1 WARN davidf [c.a.upm.pac.PacClientImpl] Update check request may take longer because of the number of apps

The cause could be related to the fact that we uninstalled Service Desk then reinstalled it with the latest version. 

All JIRA plugins are up to date - those that were not, were disabled or uninstalled.

I have run Integrity checker and find that there are many errors to do with references to missing fields. For example:

ERROR: The field layout item with id 12053 has a reference to the deleted custom field with id customfield_11004. (JRA-4423)

ERROR: The field layout item with id 12055 has a reference to the deleted custom field with id customfield_11005. (JRA-4423)

ERROR: The field layout item with id 11237 has a reference to the deleted custom field with id customfield_11000. (JRA-4423)

Checking the database - select * from fieldlayoutitem where fieldidentifier = 'customfield_11004'; - these seem to be associated with Service Desk and may be part of the problems we are seeing.

Might these be part of the root cause - and how can I clean these up?

[David FALLAS · Accepted solution]

We have resolved this but only after significant effort tracking down the root cause.

The best link we found was: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Service-Desk-questions/Problem-with-Service-Desk-after-Update/qaq-p/770188

In summary the sequence is:

1. Install JSD from the obr file (https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/com.atlassian.servicedesk.application/versions)
2. JSD will now be incompatible with JIRA and you will asked to upgrade JIRA.
3. Upgrade JIRA, but JSD will still not be usable.
4. Uninstall JSD, then reinstall JSD from the obr file (link as above)
5. Restart JIRA whereupon JSD becomes usable again.

[David FALLAS]

This is NOT an answer but is added here as a comment to provide a list of links to other folk landing on this page who have also encountered this problem (or a variation thereof):

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDSERVER-4732

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Service-Desk-questions/Jira-Service-Desk-unable-to-create-project/qaq-p/740346

https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirakb/after-upgrading-to-jira-service-desk-3-2-x-or-greater-service-desk-project-s-navigation-bar-shows-unable-to-render-element-due-to-an-error-845943102.html

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Questions/How-to-repair-the-broken-upgrade-Is-a-downgrade-possible/qaq-p/96422

This appears to be a significant deficiency for which there does not yet appear to be a robust/reliable solution.