Jira Instance consolidation using CMJ while source and target Jira versions are non-compatible

[Nirmani Kalakheti]

Hello Answerers, 

I have a few questions regarding Jira project migration and using CMJ. 

I am cross posting to get the better and quick answer. 

We are in the process of consolidation our Jira instances into one Jira DC. We have X no of instances with different versions (7.x). These instances won't match to our target instance Jira 8.x. It is recommended that the source Jira and target Jira should be on the same versions. But, we can NOT upgrade our source instances due to the validation process which would take several months only for upgrade. So we started the importing projects using CMJ without upgrading our source instances. And I did so, as CMJ told that without matching the versions, it should be absolutely fine.

But, during the deployment I got the warning of Version Difference: "The snapshot was created on Jira 7.x and you are deploying to Jira 8.x. Deploying a non-compatible snapshot may result in deployment failure, configuration errors or data loss".

So my questions are:

• What would be the negative result/s by deploying a non-compatible snapshot?
• What does the warning means which said, "in deployment failure, configuration errors or data loss"?
• How do I find if I have deployment failure even though audit says deployed successfully?
• How do I know if there are configuration errors though log says deployed successfully?
• How do I know if there are data losses though log says deployed successfully?
• Do you know if it is okay to export/import projects without the compatible versions of Jira?

I am very nervous if we would lose data or so. Thanks for reading this!

Your help would be really appreciated!

[Rudy Holtkamp]

Hi @Nirmani Kalakheti ,

If you want to migrate you MUST have the same version otherwise you run into the problems you mentioned (and maybe more). Database tables could be/will be different hence import is not possible.

If you can't upgrade the source instances you might be able to make an export of the instance and rebuild it on a separate server. There you can upgrade that instance and import it in your DC instance. 

Just to be sure you say you can't upgrade it because it would take months. You should consider how long it will take to fix all the problems you are facing when you don't upgrade. Main take away, don't rush, take your time and check, check, check. If you are pushed by management, explain that it would take longer if you take another route.

Good luck,

Rudy

[Nirmani Kalakheti]

Hi @Rudy Holtkamp and @Teodora V _Fun Inc_

I have some updates from CMJ aka Botron support and sharing the ditto here: 

• What would be the negative result/s by deploying a non-compatible snapshot?

In general, there are no constraints in exporting/importing snapshots in terms of versioning. From the versions that you have on source and target, I can say to you that there is nothing that can be expected to break.

• What does the waring means which said, "in deployment failure, configuration errors or data loss"?

This warning shows every time when someone is trying to upload a snapshot from previous versions. This has been left behind from the older version of CMJ when there are differences in the configuration objects in different versions of Jira. For your versions of CMJ and Jira, there is not a case for showing it.

• How do I find if I have deployment failure even though audit says deployed successfully?
• How do I know if there is configuration errors though log says deployed successfully
• How do I know if there are data losses though log says deployed successfully?

If you have a successful deployment then the deployment must be passed successfully. If there is some problem in the audit log, log or there are some data losses the status of the deployment is going to be failed.

Once again I want to assure you that you won't have any data losses.

As Ivan Milev said to you there is not a problem to migrate configuration from different versions of Jira with older to newer versions of CMJ.

Only for your older Jira instance - 7.x you need to use CMJ 6.6.6 as you can see in the Compatibility Matrix. For your other Jira instances, I recommend you use the latest version of CMJ which is 6.7.0.

[Lakshmi Sindhagatta]

Hi @Nirmani Kalakheti @Teodora V _Fun Inc_ @Rudy Holtkamp 

I have some similar questions. wnat CMJ version is reccomonded? Will we encounter any data loss? If yes what data issues we may encounter?

Planning to use CMJ to export/import data. is CMJ compatible if source and destination versions are running different versions of JIRA as below.  Incsae if compatible, what version of CMJ should we use?

Source Version: JIRA server version of 8.13.1 - export data

Destination/target : JIRA data center version 8.20,6 - import data 

[Nirmani Kalakheti]

Hi @Lakshmi Sindhagatta , have you ever used CMJ before?  would test in the lower environment such as Dev or Stage before going to the production and try to test 1 or 2 projects. You can visualize what is going to change, what is going to be deleted or removed during the deployment.

You can check this Compatibility Matrix page and compare. In my above answer, CMJ team have clearly said that there won't be any issues. And I didn't have any issues in my case, I successfully migrated 100+ projects. But in your case, both of your Jira versions are latest than mine. I would encourage you to create an account in the their service desk portal and ask similar quesiton. They are very very good on respones. When you have a concrete answer, plear let the community know by answering back here. If you like my answer please feel free to accept it. 

Good Luck!

[Lakshmi Sindhagatta]

Thanks @Nirmani Kalakheti . I contacted the CMJ support and got the response. They suggested to try in an off environment. and do the integrity check. You have suggested as well. Additionally, Never used CMJ before will we able to preserve the project key and issue id? what file format the CMJ export and import will be?

[Nirmani Kalakheti]

@Lakshmi Sindhagatta , Yes it does preserve the project Key and issue Id. It will have Json and xml files. It is fairly simple but you have to be very careful during export and import what to select or not. Again, Good Luck!

[Lakshmi Sindhagatta]

Thanks @Nirmani Kalakheti 

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

Hi @Nirmani Kalakheti 

I would kindly suggest you write to CMJ's support where Botron's engineers will be more than glad to assist you with information about your use case!

[Nirmani Kalakheti]

Thanks @Rudy Holtkamp , we are not rushing but testing and gathering information. However, Botron was telling it is ok to migrate projects even though with the non-compatible versions.