Refreshing test instance of Jira and application links didn't copy

[Kyle Jones]

We have a test instance of Jira that we refreshed from our production instance of Jira. When the refresh was completed the Application Link Configurations did not copy. Is this working as designed or is it a bug?

Thanks

Kyle

[Andy Heinzer]

Tell us more about how you did this refresh.   Did you create a database backup for use in the new install?  Or did you create an empty database and import an XML backup there?

The applinks are stored in the database.  So in theory either method should be able to preserve these.   However there are a couple of scenarios I can think of where this could fail:

1. If you imported the XML backup to an empty database using the setup wizard, the only way I could see this failing would be if the entire XML backup did not complete the restoration.  The only way to really tell if this happens is to look closely at the $JIRAHOME/log/atlassian-jira.log at the time of this import.  The log should have 100% entry if all the data has been restored.  However sometimes there might be a SQL exception or other error during this import and as a result some data is not imported.
2. The application links are based off the server ID.  If you installed a fresh copy of Jira, and generated a new license based off this new server ID, before you restored the data via an XML import, then it might have been possible that the data in the database restore does not match up with the current server ID of that new Jira install.   Try to run this SQL command on both the production and test SQL instances for the two Jira instances:
   

   select * from propertystring where id in (select id from propertyentry where PROPERTY_KEY='jira.sid.key');
   

   
   If the string does not match, then you have a different server ID which might explain this.   We actually have had cases where it's recommended that you change the server ID when you clone a production instance to prevent problems with the other applications trying to communicate with two different Jira installs with the same ID at the same time.  More info in Changing Server ID for Test Installations.

Aside from these two methods, I'm not sure what else could cause this.  I suppose it could be a new bug, but I have not seen any reports of this just yet.

[Vickey Palzor Lepcha]

Andrew - I have a question here .

Is it expected that with refresh using xml import app links also get copied ?

I have been doing refresh quite a lot using xml backup.

My test jira using its app link connects to test confluence.

When I do a refresh - app link is always retained. test jira pointing to test confluence

By what is being discussed out here , after refresh my test jira would point via app link to prod confluence instead.

[Andy Heinzer]

Yes, the XML import restores all the data in your database at the time that backup was taken. This is expected to include the data in regards to how those applinks are configured from Jira's side.