Why do I lose the plugins when I backup and restore JIRA?

[Dee Scarano]

We've done a backup and restore using native database backup tools as described in https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA050/Backing+Up+Data (we're on JIRA 5.0).

The restore seems to have been successful except that none of the user-installed plugins seem to have come across. I can't find any doco on why this might have happenened.

It might be worth noting that we forgot to back up the attachments from the data\attachments directory but I don't see how that could be related.

Also worth noting that this is a move from one server to another (from stage to prod).

Any ideas anyone?

[Renjith Pillai · Accepted solution]

Dhyana,

JIRA works with three different sources:

1. Installed path - the actual jira compiled code
2. Home directory - indexes, attachments, plugins
3. Database - JIRA data

When you do a native database backup, you are addressing only the last part. If you need a complete backup, you need to address 1 and 2 as well. 1 you can ignore since you can always get JIRA freshly installed using the same version you were running before.

And if you are migrating to another version of JIRA, the plugins is anyway of no use as it may not be compatible from the older version and it is always safe to install it from market place.

[Dee Scarano]

Ah right, so it's the entire home directory that needs to be moved across, not just the data\attachments directory as the doco implies. Thanks very much we'll try this :)

[Renjith Pillai]

It docs makes a safe assumption that, from a backup point of view, the data\attachments is sufficient. Others can be rebuilt even without a backup

Plugins - From market place

Caches - Created automatically

Indexes - Reindex JIRA

[Matthew Mares]

I had a similar situation. I uploaded the .xml file to a fresh install and needed all the same Plugins and Attachments from production to come along with it. Confused as to why they were not included in the .xml file, I found this link which will help alleviate some peoples problems - Splitting a JIRA instance. 

Quick guide:

1. Get the instance running.
2. Upload the .xml backup.
3. Copy the attachments directory from your existing server to your new server. (Be sure to enable attachments in the settings)
4. Copy installed-plugins directory from your existing server to your new server. 
   1. If this breaks your instance for some reason, Enable Safe Mode to disable all plugins and test each one by enabling and re-indexing.

Learning as I go. Hope this helps.

[Daria Trainor]

Project Import does not import plugins. You should manually install required plugins.

From the documentation:

If your instance of JIRA had any custom field plugins (e.g. JIRA Toolkit) installed when the backup file was created and the custom field was used in your project, then your target instance of JIRA must have the same version of the plugins installed for the Project Import tool to automatically work.

[Dee Scarano]

Thanks Daria,

But I think the doco that you referred to is talking about the backup and restore of a single project. I'm talking about the entire instance. I would have thought the plugins would be included in that :(

[Daria Trainor]

Here is a documentation for migrating all Jira OnDemand to a Jira installed site (instance backup and restore) and the last step here is installing Jira plugins. I guess Jira does not want to deal with Plugins licencing keys so they did not include it in the instance backup.

5. Check which plugins are installed on your JIRA OnDemand site

Any plugins that you are currently using with JIRA OnDemand will need to be installed in your JIRA installation. For example, GreenHopper, Tempo, etc.

Navigate to Administration > Issues > Plugins and note the plugins listed under the User-installed Plugins section. You will need to note the plugin names and versions.

6. Install plugins

For each plugin that you noted in the previous step, install it in your JIRA installation. You must install a version of the plugin that is equal to or later than the plugin version that was installed JIRA OnDemand. Atlassian does not provide support for data that is downgraded as a result of installing an older version of a plugin.

See Managing JIRA's Plugins for instructions on how to install a plugin. You will need to manually add the plugin license keys.