JIRA Server Migration

[Shirley Simmons]

Our JIRA servers reside in a data center that is being decommissioned. We are planning to move to another data center. Would someone tell me what configuration changes would need to be made from an application standpoint once the servers are moved. Thanks.

[Dave Theodore [Coyote Creek Consulting]]

The simplest thing would be to zip up the installation and home directories and copy them on to the new server. You'll also need to export the database data and load it in to the database on the destination side.  Then all you need to do is set up Java, start scripts or user environment for the user running the app and it should start.  You'll need to set up a proxy server or SSL presentation, as well, if applicable. It's documented pretty well by Atlassian.

[Shirley Simmons]

Thank you Dave for your response. However, I verified with our Infrastructure team the following: we are basically moving our VM environment, where our JIRA servers reside, to another DC. Basically, they will just move VM from one host to another.

What is required from an application configuration standpoint. ex., firewall ports that  should be open, configuration files that need modifying, etc... Hope this explains better.

[Dave Theodore [Coyote Creek Consulting]]

Got it.  That is certainly easier.  It's a bit difficult to anticipate all the things you may encounter, but here are some things to check, as I expect the IP address on the server will change.

1. IP that the database binds to (ideally, it should bind to 127.0.0.1 only and Jira should connect to it there.)
2. If you're using a locally installed reverse proxy server, it will need to bind to the new IP address.
3. If you have a host-based firewall, it may reference the old IP, so it will need to be updated to use the new IP.
4. If the hostname will change, the reverse proxy may need to be updated to reflect the new name.
5. If the hostname will change, you will need to update the BaseURL in the Jira admin interface.

There may be other things, as well, but that list should get you started.

You may have network ACLs, firewalls, VPN policies and other things that need to be updated, as well, but those are not things you can do on the Jira server itself.  

[Shirley Simmons]

Thank you for your response Dave. Do you know which firewall ports should be open and recommended by Atlassian.

[Dave Theodore [Coyote Creek Consulting]]

Simply put, they should be the same as you are using now.  

The default configuration has Jira listening on 8080, but if you are not connecting to that port, I wouldn't recommend opening it.  Only open that port if you connect to Jira like this:

http://jira.domain.com:8080

If you just point to http://jira.domain.com you will need to open port 80. If that redirects to SSL, you will also need to open 443.

If you have SSL configured on Jira's tomcat, the default port is 8443, so the URL will look like this: https://jira.domain.com:8443

All this stuff is configurable, so you could be using other ports.  Not being familiar with your environment, it's a bit difficult for me to speculate what all of the required ports are.

[Shirley Simmons]

Thank you.