After Atlassian announced its change of strategy to become a cloud-first company, many people have been looking for the best way and conditions for their Atlassian Cloud migration. In this blog post, you'll find some tips and considerations when migrating to Jira Cloud with an expired Jira Server license.
To migrate to Cloud, current Server users with an expired license have a time window -framed below. To do so, it's necessary to consider a series of steps i.e., the instance has not been updated to a recent version lately.
Whatever your case is, we'll provide more context through each of the steps you need to take to achieve this objective:
Determine whether you need to upgrade to a newer version
If your current Server license has expired or is about to expire, it's still possible to migrate to the cloud at no additional cost. Considering the work this process may cause, Atlassian offers a 60-day free cloud migration trial for Server clients who have equally expired maintenance.
In most cases, it's possible to migrate directly to Cloud from your current Server site. If you have an older version of Server, you may need to upgrade to a newer version before migrating using the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant.
Which versions are supported prior to migration?
- To migrate to Jira Cloud, you must have a Jira Server (or Jira Data Center) version 7.6.0 or later. If you have an earlier version, you will need to upgrade to a newer version.
- To migrate to Jira Service Management Cloud, you must be on Jira Service Management 3.9.0 or later. If you have an earlier version, you will need to upgrade to the next version.
Suppose it's needed to integrate Bitbucket Server or Bamboo for the migration process. Check this matrix. In that case, it will inform you whether you have a compatible version of Bitbucket Server or Bamboo before starting.
Suppose you have a nonsupported Server or Data Center version and don't have an active Server license maintenance (which is required to upgrade). In that case, it's possible to fix it by using a free trial license to upgrade in preparation for your migration. If you have further questions about this, contact our team of Atlassian Certified Professionals.
Once we've considered the upgrade of your instance, let's consider the following:
Using a trial license to upgrade and migrate
If you have an unsupported version and don't have the maintenance active for your Server license (which is required to upgrade), use a free evaluation license to upgrade and be prepared for the migration. This can be done from my.atlassian.com.
Given the timeline of changes established because of Atlassian's cloud-first strategy, it's no longer possible to create a new evaluation license for Server (check the schedule for changes in Server licenses); however, Data Center evaluation licenses can be used for Server installations. Please note that these types of evaluation licenses only last for 30 days. If you think you'll need more time to complete the migration, request to extend it to 90 days.
Why upgrade your current version?
The answer to this question depends on the product and deployment options. However, the overall reason to upgrade is to allow the system to match the features available for your Server or Data Center product to the ones in Cloud. Let's go through product by product from a general point of view:
- For Jira, it's recommended to switch to an advanced version due to the significant changes version 8.0 has brought in terms of reindexing since they have updated the Lucene library responsible for the indexing in Jira; it's also recommended to disable those apps that aren't compatible or update them to current versions since these can block the Jira update.
Check this upgrade matrix, which shows the most relevant features for each version.
- For Confluence, follow the steps described by Atlassian in its documentation for this process. It's important to check that you're reading the documentation corresponding to the tool version you have. This link corresponds to version 7.17 (check this at the screen's top-right).
Upgrading Server
If you need to upgrade to a supported version, follow the step-by-step upgrade instructions for your product. In addition, it's vital to bear in mind the following considerations if you want to achieve a successful version upgrade:
- Backup of your site before upgrading.
- Perform pre-upgrade checks, including a status check (where supported).
- Set up a test environment in which you can perform a simulation of the upgrade.
- Atlassian's documentation provides step-by-step instructions on each of these processes.
The most cumbersome step in this process is performing the version upgrade, which will allow you to use the migration wizard we referred to at the beginning of this article. After the update, be sure to review the guide created by Atlassian on migration planning for common questions, best practices, pre-migration checks, and step-by-step instructions on how to migrate.
If you need further assistance in this process of catching the Atlassian cloud first strategy, contact us. We'll help you, whether you need help managing your licenses, more information on migration planning, technical troubleshooting, or perhaps you need support on your strategy or specialized guidance based on a specific methodology.
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