How the DVCS synchronization works in Jira Server and Data Center

Summary

DVCS is a plugin in Jira that synchronizes data from repositories. To better understand its features, check Integrating with development tools.

Here we'll better understand the synchronization process.

Solution

Environment

Jira 8 or later on-premises.

Notice that there are differences between 8.14+ and earlier versions on how webhooks behave.

Sync types

Below are listed the types of syncs. We'll see when they're called in the Sync trigger session.

1. Soft syncs

Syncs that update data in the database. Consists of Changesets and/or Pull request sync.

Click sync icon button to do soft sync:

2. Full Sync

Syncs that delete the data present in the database before starting. Consists of Changesets and Pull request sync.

Full syncs are only run by performing UI/REST API specific requests or by adding a new repository.

To show the full sync dialog: SHIFT + left mouse on the sync icon and click on the Full sync button:

3. Changeset sync

Fetches all branches for the repository and creates an item in the message table for each, to synchronize its changesets.

Then:

• If the changeset already exists, skip to the next one;

• Fetch commit data;

• Attempt to extract the issue key from the commit message;

• Mark it as a smart commit if:

  • smart commits are enabled,

  • the sync is a soft sync,

  • and a potential issue key has been extracted

• Create Changeset in the database

4. Pull request sync

Fetches pull requests for the repository and create/update them as needed.

5. Repository Fetch

Fetches all the repositories for the organizations. If the automatic sync option is enabled, the new repositories will be synchronized.

6. Webhook sync

In Jira 8.14 or higher, the webhooks from the repositories are consumed and update the related tables, without fetching data.

For this to work, it needs to reach the new endpoints, as described in Improving the DVCS sync performance by migrating old webhooks to the new format. Otherwise, it will behave just as in pre-8.14 versions.

In earlier versions (8.13 or lower), the webhooks are just triggers for soft syncs.

Sync triggers

During regular operation, these are the events that trigger syncs:

1. Scheduled job

DVCS has a scheduled job that runs by default every hour.

ℹ️ For environments with large volumes of data to be synchronized, we recommend increasing the interval. Check How to change the interval or schedule of the DVCS repositories sync in Jira Data Center

For all organizations:

• It fetches all repositories;

• Runs a soft sync for changesets and pull requests for all repositories.

2. Webhooks (pre-8.14 endpoint)

For Jira running 8.13 or earlier or for repositories added in the early versions, webhooks will trigger either a Changeset or Pull request soft sync, depending on the data in them.

For repositories using the new endpoints in Jira 8.14+, the payload is consumed and no sync is triggered.

Troubleshooting

To troubleshoot DVCS syncs, enable the DEBUG logging level (or TRACE, if you'd like to log full message body content) for the com.atlassian.jira.plugins.dvcs package and check the atlassian-jira.log files.