Read/Write Access Between JIRA Instances, Application Link Questions

[bbullock01]

I'm looking to connect two JIRA servers behind the same firewall and have a couple questions on doing so. First I will say that both instances are already setup, JIRA 1 has 500 user licenses purchased for it, JIRA 2 has 5.

JIRA 1 is an internal JIRA instance used for internal projects. 
JIRA 2 is an external JIRA instance that uses JIRA Service Desk to allow "agents" to communicate with customers.

Here are my questions:

1. How can I link the two so that I can not only link tickets between the instances, but also have users from JIRA 1 see AND comment on customer tickets in JIRA 2. PLEASE NOTE, customers should not be able to see these comments.

2. To get the workflow in Question 1, do I need to purchase an extra set of licenses in JIRA 2 for all the users in JIRA 1?

3. Are there issues with linking JIRA instances of different versions? JIRA 1 is v6.4.7 and JIRA 2 is 7.3.6

Thanks,

Brett

[Matthias Gaiser _K15t_ · Accepted solution]

Hi Brett,

to answer your questions 1 & 2:

In order to link tickets between instances, you should have an application link setup between your instances.
If you want the users from Jira 1 also comment on the tickets (internally) in Jira 2, the users need also a license there - but not a Jira Service Desk license, a basic Jira Core license is enough.

As an alternative, I suggest another solution:

You can setup an issue synchronisation between your Jira instances so that certain (or all) issues from Jira 2 are synchronised with issues in Jira 1.
Your Jira 1 users could then comment on the issues in Jira 1 as they would do with a usual issue - and all the comments will be synchronised as internal comments into Jira 2.

You might want to have a look at this blog article which describes a situation like yours.

I'd recommend to use Backbone Issue Sync since I work in this team, but you could also have a look at the other issue sync solutions in the marketplace which should be able to solve this problem as well.

Cheers,

Matthias. 

[bbullock01]

This really helps to clarify things. Thank you!

[bbullock01]

@Matthias I am watching your webinar on Backbone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3xMjBY4t8g. At 15:06, you select a specific project from the internal JIRA. Can you link the external JIRA to more than one internal JIRA project?

[Matthias Gaiser _K15t_]

Of course, Brett. You can link multiple projects from the Jiras to each other - in Backbone we call this link an integration between two projects.

You could define the following integrations:

• project A, Jira 1 <> project B, Jira 2
• project A, Jira 1 <> project C, Jira 2
• project D, Jira 1 <> project E, Jira 2
• ...

If you're interested in a demo & discussion of your use case, let us know via support@k15t.com. Please reference this discussion and you'll be redirected to me.

[francis]

Mathias does explain it very well.   

If you would need comment impersonation, where the comment itself is created by a specific user (instead of a generic proxy user), you might also have a look at Exalate.    It includes the capability to create users (if necessary) and much more.

Francis