Move JIRA to another server - why is a complete reinstall needed?

[Ebiz Team]

If JIRA is a tomcat/Java application, I don't understand why a complete reinstall, backup, and import would be needed when moving the application from one server to another server.  

Why is is not possible to just copy all the files and clone the database? (of course, updating the database configuration and licenses on the new server)  

Is JIRA designed to break if moved?  This is not typical behavior for a JavaEE application.

thanks,

Kevin

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

Nope, it's not designed to break.  But it often does because people miss things when they do a simple clone. 

IF the operating system setup is the same on all the points that matter, you use the same directory structure, and you use the same database (or change the settings file to point to a new one), then yes, actually, you can just copy the whole lot.  Although I'd tend to recommend skipping the index copy and rebuilding a new one.

[Michele]

Hi Nic,

could you provide a documentation in which I can find a list of important directories/fiels to copy during migration to another server?

Thanks

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Not really, but it is simple:

1. The JIRA installation directory
2. The JIRA Home directory
3. Anything involved in automatic starts of the system (/etc/init.d/jira for example)