Startup check: Adding and removing JIRA system properties

Summary

This page describes how to set Java properties and options on startup for JIRA. This process should only be undertaken if you have a full understanding of the impact these system properties have on your JIRA instance. For this page, we'll use the hide.system.error.details property as an example. When this property is set, it hides all details of configuration problems when you're attempting to start JIRA. If you're a JIRA administrator, you can still view more information on these configuration problems in the logs, but for anyone trying to access your instance, they'll simply see an error message. Removing the properties will expose the details of these configuration problems to anyone trying to access your instance.

We would like to encourage you to add the property XX:+IgnoreUnrecognizedVMOptions on adding any properties to the startup. This will ensure that Jira won’t fail to start due to a bad parameter, as this allows to bypass any bad arguments being passed to Java.

Solution

Linux

1. From <jira-install>/bin, open setenv.sh.

2. Find the section JVM_SUPPORT_RECOMMENDED_ARGS=

3. Remove the hide.system.error.details property.

4. Save the file.

ℹ️ All parameters must be in a space-separated list, inside the quotations.

Windows (starting from .bat file)

1. From <jira-install>/bin, open setenv.bat.

2. Find the section set JVM_SUPPORT_RECOMMENDED_ARGS=

3. Remove the hide.system.error.details property.

4. Save the file.

ℹ️ All parameters must be in a space-separated list, inside the quotations.

Windows service

There are two ways to configure system properties when running JIRA as a Windows service, either via command line or in the Windows registry.

Setting properties for Windows services via the command line

1. Identify the name of the service that JIRA is installed as in Windows ( Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services ):

   

   ℹ️ In the above example, the SERVICENAME is: JIRA231112155942

2. Open the command window from Start >> Run >> type in 'cmd' >> Enter

3. cd to the bin directory of your JIRA application installation directory.

4. Run:

   1 tomcat8w //ES//%SERVICENAME%

   ℹ️ In the above example, it would be tomcat8w //ES//JIRA231112155942

   

5. Click on the Java tab to see the list of current start-up options:

   

6. Remove or add options in the Java options section.

7. Click Apply.

Setting properties for Windows services via the Windows registry

In some versions of Windows, there is no option to add Java variables to the service. In these cases, you must add the properties by viewing the option list in the registry.

1. Go to Start >> Run, and run "regedit32.exe".

   

2. Find the Services entry:

   32-bit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE >> SOFTWARE >> Apache Software Foundation >> Procrun 2.0 >> JIRA

   64-bit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE >> SOFTWARE >> Wow6432Node >> Apache Software Foundation >> Procrun 2.0 >> JIRA

   

3. To change existing properties, especially increasing Xmx memory, double-click the appropriate value.

   

4. To change additional properties, double-click options.

   

5. Remove properties by deleting them, or enter properties on a separate line.

Verifying your settings

To verify what settings are in place, check the <jira-home>/logs/atlassian-jira.log or catalina.out file. A section in the startup appears like this: