Jira 7.13 to Jira 8.5 Long Term Support release upgrade guide
Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Summary
Since Jira 8.0 introduced a number of platform changes, upgrading from Jira 7.x to Jira 8.5.x Long Term Support release requires a comprehensive upgrade procedure. Refer to the Long Term Support release upgrade guide for details.
Solution
Preparation
Here are the steps you should complete to prepare your current environment for the upgrade.
Testing the upgrade
Create a replica of your Jira instance in a testing environment, so you can test the upgrade.
Preparing for the upgrade
Get Jira ready for the upgrade by running a health check, checking app compatibility, and creating backups.
Optimize your upgrade process
We want your upgrade to be plain and quick sailing, so here are some tips you can consider to speed up the process:
Estimate your downtime
run the upgrade on the test environment to get an estimation of how long your upgrade might take in production. Note that in addition to the downtime related to the usual upgrade tasks, you should plan some extra time for full reindexing.
Upgrading apps
go to ⚙ > Manage apps and look up the suggestions provided by your Universal Plugin Manager (UPM). Some apps have cross-platform compatibility and can be updated even before the upgrade. Update them in advance to speed up the upgrade process.
test upgrading apps in your test environment first. Then, you'll now which apps need upgrading and which need removing before you move to production.
Check custom configuration file list
It might happen that your Jira has files that contain custom configuration. If you want to keep this config on your upgraded Jira instance, you need to copy these custom changes to the respective files in your new Jira.
If you're on the latest version of the ASTS plugin, go to ⚙ > Applications > Plan your upgrade to see the list of files in which you introduced custom changes. If you want to keep these changes in your upgraded instance, you need to copy the changes (not entire files!) to the respective files during upgrade. Have this list handy, it will save you time during the upgrade process.
If you cannot pull up the Plan your upgrade page, compile the list of files you've modified. For some suggestions regarding files that get modified most frequently, see here.
Upgrading
Want to have a step-by-step overview of your upcoming upgrade tasks? Great! We've laid everything out in this Trello board.
Jira Server
I'm using a stand-alone version of Jira.
Jira Data Center
I have a clustered version of Jira.
Known issues
Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
Jira 8.5 upgrade fails with an issue properties error | This error seems to be caused by entities that custom plugins can leave in the database. If it happens, make sure to remove the custom plugin and re-index Jira. If it persists, contact Support. To follow the issue, see DEVHELP-3134. |
Upgrading from Jira 7.x to Jira 8.5 results in data base tables and columns missing | This issue has been spotted during upgrading with installer. Make sure to upgrade manually when you upgrade from Jira 7.6 or 7.13 to 8.5. Learn more... |
Running Jira 8.x on Windows with AdoptOpenJDK 11.0.4_11 produces an exception | Use AdoptOpenJDK 11.0.2 as per Supported platforms. |
Long filter descriptions can affect upgrading from Jira 7.x to Jira Enterprise release 8.5 | Make sure that your filter descriptions do not exceed 32766 characters. Learn more... |
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