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descriptionFind guidance on the best approach to move from Jira or Confluence Server or Data Center to Atlassian cloud.

Important changes to our server and Data Center products

We’ve ended sales for new server licenses, and will end support for server on February 2, 2024. We’re continuing our investment in Data Center with several key improvements. Learn what this means for you

There are a number of methods available to move data from server or Data Center to cloud, and cloud to cloud. The best approach will depend on the needs of your particular migration. Learn about the primary methods, along with the benefits, requirements, and limitations for each.

Assessing your environment

You can minimize any negative impacts by conducting a pre-assessment of your source and destination site and choosing the ideal migration type that meets your needs.

Some migration methods are only feasible in certain scenarios, and even when multiple migration methods are technically possible, there may be non-technical factors that influence which option you select. You may need to use more than one method – typically when you need to merge multiple server instances or cloud sites as part of your migration. In order to determine which method best meets your needs, it’s helpful to:

  • Understand your destination: Some of the recommendations are dependent on whether there’s data present in your cloud site already. In that case, we use the term existing cloud site. New cloud sites are those that don’t yet have data and aren’t being used in production.

  • Define what data you need in cloud: Before choosing the right migration approach, you should clearly define what you need to migrate. For example, do you need to migrate everything, or just a selection of projects or spaces? Knowing this can help avoid migrating data that isn’t needed in cloud while reducing your time to migrate and risk of errors during the migration.

  • Products to migrate: Which product(s) will you be migrating?

  • Consolidation:  Do you need to migrate multiple server or cloud instances?

  • Downtime: Generally speaking, the more data and users you have, the more downtime you can expect and the greater the benefit of a method that supports migrating in stages. 

  • Strategy: Do you want to migrate all at once, or in stages? Because you’re migrating less data at once, staged migrations can be helpful if you want to reduce risk of errors or issues that block your migration, reduce downtime, or provide more hands-on support to users during the first few days after migrating. For more guidance, check out Choose your migration strategy.

  • Understand app migration: None of the methods outlined here will migrate apps or app data. Note that today, you’ll need to work with marketplace partners on app migrations, not the Atlassian migration support team. This Knowledge Base article includes information on what app migration paths currently exist.

    Atlassian is also working with top marketplace partners on automated app migrations, which will enable app data to be migrated within the Jira and Confluence Cloud Migration Assistants. Follow the Cloud Roadmap for information on when this feature will be delivered.

When to consider using a Partner

Pending your team’s level of expertise, your migration complexity, and timeline, Atlassian Solution Partners are trained to help customers move to cloud successfully and with minimal disruption. We recommend working with a partner if you have a more complex migration, or need assistance executing on the guidance our support team provides.

Consider enlisting the help of a Solution Partner if you:

  • have limited internal resources to help with this project

  • need help with things outside of the scope of Atlassian support, including User Acceptance Testing, server upgrades, or user training

  • need help with migration project management, planning, and execution

  • have a complex merging scenario

  • need to migrate five or more business-critical apps

  • have specific security and compliance needs

  • need to migrate over 1,000 users

  • need to meet a specific condensed migration timeline

To find a partner to help with your migration, just get in touch.

Choosing your approach

Depending on what you want to achieve, you may need to use one or more of the following methods during your Jira or Confluence migration.

Atlassian is actively investing in improvements to the Jira and Confluence Cloud Migration Assistants, including support for Jira Service Management migrations, cloud to cloud migrations, and automated app migrations. For the latest on our migration tooling, visit the “migrating to cloud” section of the Cloud Roadmap.

Jira Cloud Migration Assistant (recommended)  

The Jira Cloud Migration Assistant is a free app, built and maintained by Atlassian, that can be installed on your Jira Server instance. We’re constantly improving the migration assistant to be the easiest and most reliable way to move from server to Jira Cloud.

Use this method when:

  • you want to migrate only some projects to cloud

  • you want to migrate to a new or existing cloud site

  • you want to migrate all at once or in phases


Benefits

Limitations

  • You can assess your apps in the assistant to prepare for migration

  • Will not overwrite existing data in your cloud site

  • You can choose what projects you want to migrate

  • You can choose to migrate only users and groups. Migrates users managed by external directories.

  • You can choose to migrate only users related to the projects you need to migrate

  • Can migrate in stages

  • The app is installed in your server instance, and can help identify issues before you migrate

  • Guides you through the migration with an easy to use interface

NOTE: We’re actively working to support many of these items in the future.

Jira Cloud site import

Jira Cloud site import uses a Jira Server or Cloud xml backup to import everything from one site into cloud. This method will overwrite any existing data in your cloud site, so is only recommended when you’re moving to a new cloud site.

Use this method when:

  • you want to migrate everything to a new cloud site

  • you need to merge multiple Jira Cloud sites

  • you're migrating Jira Service Management (formerly Jira Service Desk)


Benefits

Limitations

  • Good for migrations to new cloud sites

  • Jira Service Management (formerly Jira Service Desk) will be migrated

  • Advanced Roadmaps will be migrated

  • Can migrate all data at once


  • App data won’t be migrated

  • The migration will overwrite any existing data in your cloud site (except users and groups)

  • Users may need to be imported separately

  • Can only migrate all users except users from external directories.

  • You’ll need to be on a supported self-managed version

  • You can’t choose what you do and don’t want to migrate (for example, only select projects)

  • Attachments need to be split into 2 - 5 GB chunks to avoid timeout errors

  • Because this method is “all or nothing” large amounts of data can result in longer downtimes

Jira Cloud CSV import

You can import issues from Jira Server or Cloud into a cloud site using CSV import.

Use this method when:

  • you want to migrate only some projects to cloud

  • you want to migrate from server to an existing cloud site

  • you want to migrate in phases

  • you need to merge multiple Jira Cloud sites

  • you're migrating Jira Service Management (formerly Jira Service Desk) from server to cloud

Benefits

Limitations

  • Will not overwrite existing data in your cloud site

  • You can choose which issues you want to migrate

  • Does not require knowledge of how to install and set up a server application

  • Can migrate in stages

  • Jira Service Management (formerly Jira Service Desk) can be migrated

While the simplest approach, this also migrates the least amount of data. Limitations include:

  • App data won’t be migrated

  • Users will not be imported (view options)

  • Only imports issues, not entire projects – you’ll need to recreate and set these up in cloud before importing the CSV

  • Issue History will not be retained – for example, timestamp of issue transitioned or issue updated. Agile reports in Jira Software will no longer have the issue history data needed to correctly present charts such as burndowns, cycle times.

  • Issue rank will not be retained, so any manual ranking of Jira Software boards will be lost

  • You can only export 1,000 issues per spreadsheet by default (view workarounds)

  • You'll need to follow additional steps to import attachments, Sprints, and Versions

  • Links to Confluence pages under the "Mentioned On" section in Jira issues will not be imported

  • Requires that global and project-level configuration is the same between the source and destination

Merge in Jira server

If you need to either consolidate server instances or merge with an existing Jira Cloud site, merging sites in Jira server may be a prerequisite step to your migration to cloud. However, you may be able to skip this step depending on which migration method you choose – for example, if you’re importing issues via CSV or using the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant, you don’t need to consolidate server instances before importing the issues to cloud.

Use this method when:

  • you need to merge multiple Jira Cloud sites

  • you need to merge multiple Jira Server sites

  • you want to import only specific projects from one cloud site to another

Benefits

Limitations

  • Can migrate in stages

  • Jira Service Management (formerly Jira Service Desk) can be migrated

  • Apps and app data won’t be migrated. This means you'll need to reinstall, and will lose data from apps that were installed in the source cloud site

  • Users will not be migrated (view options)

  • Requires knowledge of how to install and set up a server application

  • Merging sites usually takes quite some time to complete, especially for large sites

Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant (recommended)

The Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant is a free app, built and maintained by Atlassian, that can be installed on your Confluence Server or Data Center instance. The migration assistant is the easiest and most reliable way to move from server to Confluence Cloud.

Use this method when:

  • you want to migrate from server or Data Center to a new or existing cloud site

Benefits

Limitations

  • You can assess your apps in the assistant to prepare for migration

  • You can choose what spaces you want to migrate

  • You can choose to migrate only users and groups

  • The app is embedded in your server instance and can help identify issues before you migrate

  • Guides you through the migration with an easy to use interface

  • Includes app assessment capabilities

  • Can migrate in stages

  • Supported for Confluence Server version 5.10 or above

  • Provides reports of the migration

NOTE: We’re actively working to support the items above in the future.


Confluence Cloud site import

Confluence Cloud site import allows you to import an entire site into another Confluence Cloud site.

Use this method when:

  • you want to move from one Confluence Cloud site to a new cloud site

Benefits

Limitations

  • Can migrate everything at once

  • App data won’t be migrated

  • Not available for cloud sites that also have Jira installed (in this case, use Confluence Cloud space import)

  • The migration will overwrite any existing Confluence data in your cloud site

  • Because this method is “all or nothing,” migrating large amounts of data or users can result in longer downtimes

  • Site import will fail for backup files greater than 200 MB (view workarounds or contact support to increase the limit)

Confluence Cloud space import

Generate individual XML exports of each space, and import them into the destination cloud site. This process will add those spaces on top of the existing spaces, without overwriting any data. Learn more.

Use this method when:

  • You want to merge multiple Confluence Cloud sites

  • In edge cases where the Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant can’t be used, our support team may recommend this method to move from server or Data Center to cloud

Benefits

Limitations

  • Allows you to merge with an existing Confluence Cloud site without overwriting data

  • Can migrate in stages

  • Available on sites that have Jira installed

  • App data won’t be migrated

  • Users won’t be migrated

  • If importing from server or Data Center, must be on version 6.14 or later

Bitbucket migration methods

We’re in the process of creating a migration assistant for Bitbucket to migrate code, pull requests, and basic configuration settings from Bitbucket Server. If you’re interested in using this tool, sign up for the Bitbucket Cloud Migration Assistant early access program for updates as we roll it out.

If you want to begin planning your migration or get an overview of the recommended activities for the current process, check out our Bitbucket Server to cloud migration guide. If you prefer to wait until BBCMA is available to migrate your Bitbucket server instance to cloud, bookmark our roadmap for updates.”

More information and support

We have a number of channels available to help you with your migration.