Can I successfully upgrade Jira LTS from 8.20.11 to 9.4.1 while running Confluence 7.15.2?

[Tim Hailey]

Hello,

I need to upgrade Jira from the LTS release 8.20.x to the latest LTS release of 9.4.x. 

When reviewing the documentation "Jira 9.4 Long Term Support release upgrade guide"
https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirasoftware/jira-9-4-long-term-support-release-upgrade-guide-1178869720.html, it states at the bottom of this guide to make sure I have compatible versions of our Atlassian tool stack.

"Compatible versions of your Atlassian suite

Make sure you know which Bamboo, Bitbucket, and Confluence versions are compatible with Jira 9.4 so that your stack is fully functional after the upgrade.

• Bamboo: versions 8.0 and later
• Bitbucket: versions 7.17 and later
• Confluence: versions 7.19 and later
  • Before Confluence 7.17, there was an issue with this API endpoint that prevented full integration. The issue was fixed for Confluence 7.17, so make sure you’re upgrading to a more recent version. We recommend Confluence 7.19."

I am running the correct versions of Bamboo and BitBucket. However, Confluence is currently at 7.15.2. 

Will I have any issues upgrading Jira LTS 8.20.x to 9.4x LTS with Confluence 7.15.2 running? Is there any workaround? Would I have to upgrade Confluence first?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Tim Hailey
Sr. Atlassian Systems Administrator

[Ste Wright · Accepted solution]

Hi @Tim Hailey 

This is quite a specific question - realistically, it'd be best to test the upgrade in a non-Prod environment first (assuming you have a Confluence instance with a similar version).

The documentation is clear - upgrading Confluence is the safer option. Choosing to not do so has its risks.

Another alternative though is to contact Atlassian directly, get their advice. They might have got this question from another customer :) - contact them via: https://support.atlassian.com/

Ste