Can two users run the External System Import Process at the Same Time

[Doug Slay]

Will there be any issue if two users run the External Systems Import process from their local machines simultaneously updating different projects?

We tried this and saw one of the imports get hung and had to cancel it.  Just want to see if this could be the reason or was it something else/

[Aaron Geister _Trundl_ · Accepted solution]

@Doug Slay 

I typically recommend to not bulk import at the same time because of the stress on the system. 

I would say that it's probably best to do each import separately and wait for one to finish before starting the second one. 

I have seen import take some time when there are large amounts of data. Sometimes after the import is complete its good to refresh the page. 

[Manoj Gangwar]

Hi @Doug Slay,

Yes, multiple users can run the External Systems Import in Jira Cloud simultaneously. 

[Doug Slay]

thank you!

[Doug Slay]

I am seeing a weird behavior though.  I have an import started and then a colleague starts an import on a separate project.  His import completes almost immediately and states that the import of 248 items imported successfully.  The CSV file he was using had more than 2000 records in it.  The previous successful import he ran before I started mine had 248 records though.

When he goes to the target project nothing has been imported.

That cannot be a coincidence.

[Sunny Ape]

I would advise the opposite of what @Manoj Gangwar has said and agree with @Aaron Geister _Trundl_ . You should NOT have multiple people using the External System Import feature at the same time.

It is a classic mistake to confuse the External System Import feature with the 'general' CSV import feature available via the bulk import feature of a Project. Although the two can achieve the same outcome, the External System Import is designed for either doing a full restore from a backup CSV, or a very low level transfer of raw data from a different platform over to Jira and essentially 'rebuilding' an environment from scratch. Because it has the capacity to bypass many of the safeguards of the bulk CSV import feature, it has the potential to be extremely destructive if not used properly, hence the reason its use is restricted to Jira SYSTEM admins, not general Jira PROJECT admins or similar.

If two people use the External System Import feature concurrently without a very robust understanding of what the tool can do, they are more than capable of over-writing each other's work, without any warning. The consequences can often be difficult and time consuming to undo.