Can a test environment be created by cloning VM?

[Jason Freeman]

I have a production environment of Jira Service Desk in a virtual machine. I would like to make a test environment.

Can I just clone my production VM and then make relevant settings changes in the new test VM?

1. Does my license allow for a production environment and test environment at the same time?

2. Which settings would need to be changed on the test VM to ensure there were no conflicts?

[Filiberto Selvas]

Hello @Jason Freeman I am a product manager in Atlassian.  Would you be willing to have a phone conversation about your requirements for test environments?   If you are please send me an email at: Fselvas at Atlassian dot Com to coordinate a time and day that is convenient for you.  Thank you in advance 

[DPKJ]

You can create test environment using mentioned process. Some points you need to consider are,

• Replicating DB, and setting DB configuration in test environment to use replicated DB (it won't be essential if your DB is also inside same VM)
• Replicating Home similar to DB
• Using Atlassian Developer License inside test environment. You can ask Atlassian for Developer licenses for creating test/developer/staging environments similar to production.
• Disabling notification and emails in test environment, so real user won't receive test environment notifications

You can follow/read this guide for more information, https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver074/establishing-staging-server-environments-for-jira-applications-881683281.html

[Jason Freeman]

What does "replicate home" mean? Wouldn't everything be 100% already identical since I am cloning the VM?

[DPKJ]

Yes, if your home directory is inside VM.

But some users like me prefer mounting separate shared volume (like EBS on AWS) for home directory. This way we don't have to move data from home directory if we decide to switch/upgrade machines. Also, it will make switch to Data Center offering in future much easier.

But this is completely a personal preference.

[Jason Freeman]

Yeah, my instance is 100% self contained.

So, I would need to change:

• Base URL
• Test license

Is that pretty much it?

[DPKJ]

Yes.

And email/notification settings if it is configured.

[Jason Freeman]

Good thinking. Didn't think of that.