What would be broken if I continue using MySQL 5.6 for Jira Server?

[Xin Liu]

Atlassian announced that they would drop support for MySQL 5.6 since Jira version 8.12. I have some servers that are still running MySQL 5.6, and I cannot simply upgrade them.

So my question is, if I continue using MySQL 5.6 for Jira, what would possibly go wrong?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

If you stick with versions of Jira that support MySQL 5.6, then you'll be fine, although when they go end-of-life, you'll no longer get any support from Atlassian for them.

Using an unsupported database can work fine in the best cases.  In the worst cases, it could corrupt your data or refuse to run at all.

"I simply cannot upgrade them" is not a valid statement - you should, and to remain supported, you must.  Whatever is stopping you upgrading needs to be fixed or removed.