"License too old" error when upgrading Jira
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
Upgrading Jira on an expired license to a JIRA version released prior to the license expiry date results in the following error:
License Too Old For Build: We found a problem with your JIRA license
Your current Jira Software license doesn't allow you to upgrade to this version of JIRA (8.5.5). Jira Software expired on02/April/20 2:00 PM, and you can currently only upgrade to versions released prior to this date. Alternatively you can renew your license atmy.atlassian.comwhich will allow you to upgrade to this version of JIRA (8.5.5). You can enter your new licensehere.
See our documentation for more information on licensing errors.
(!) Notice the versions and dates above are given as an example only
Environment
This can happen on any versions of Jira where the current license is expired and an attempt to upgrade to a later version is performed
Diagnosis
Scenario 1: Higher than expected versions of add-ons are present in $JIRA_HOME/plugins/installed-plugins
To verify, check the $JIRA_HOME/plugins/installed-plugins folder for .jar files which versions are higher than the 'valid' version you're upgrading to.
For example, suppose an upgrade to 8.5.5 is being performed and it's failing with the error "License Too Old For Build: We found a problem with your JIRA license"
On checking the $JIRA_HOME/plugins/installed-plugins amongst other plugins we see some files are of newer versions:
jira-bamboo-plugin-8.5.18.jar
jira-fisheye-plugin-8.5.18.jar
jira-greenhopper-plugin-8.5.18.jar
jira-software-application-8.5.18.jar
So somehow 8.5.18 version plugins are present there, and the expected versions should be 8.5.5 only. What happens is when Jira tries to load 8.5.18 plugins, the built in license check identifies that plugin versions are higher than the core version of Jira.
To verify the core version on which Jira is trying to start up, open $JIRA_HOME/log/atlassian-jira.log and search for 'Jira starting' event, you will see something like below
**************** JIRA starting... **************** 2021-06-02 11:03:00,616+1000 localhost-startStop-1 INFO [c.a.jira.startup.JiraStartupLogger] ___ Environment _____________________________ JIRA Build : 8.5.5#805005-sha1:a6982cff65627fb3fa50669b736095827f0ea0a7 Build Date : Fri Jun 05 00:00:00 AEST 2020
The key information here is JIRA Build #, which is 8.5.5. If there are higher versions plugins present in $JIRA_HOME/plugins/installed-plugins Jira will present the "License too old" error
Scenario 2: Jira version you're trying to update is higher than the existing license entitles you to upgrade
To verify this, please take a note of whether the license installed on the server is still valid and not expired. Notice that even with minor versions upgrade, customers are only entitled for free upgrades while the license is still valid.
If there's an expired license on your server, for example Jira Software or Jira Service Management - you will not be able to upgrade that Jira instance unfortunately even to a version that was released while the license was still valid.
Cause
The most likely cause for this issue is that an attempt to upgrade JIRA to a version released past the license expiry was performed, during which JIRA genuinely reported that the upgrade is not possible due to 'license too old' error quoted above; Subsequent attempts to upgrade even to a valid version will still fail
Another possible scenario is that if the license expiry date is the same date as the build, it could be possible that the cause is due to the JVM time set on the actual JIRA server; I.e. from users perspective the license is valid, but from the server's perspective it's already too late to upgrade
Solution
For the first scenario, here's what you'd need to do:
Stop JIRA
Move the incorrect version plugins to another folder as a backup
Start JIRA
If in doubt, don't hesitate to contact Atlassian Support, we'll be happy to help
For the second scenario, you will either need to roll the upgrade back , or should you need to persist with the upgrade, the only solution is to procure a valid license, for which please raise a case with our Billing and Purchasing team at my.atlassian.com
Was this helpful?