Plan your Cloud migration
Documents to help you prepare to migrate your Atlassian Server or Data Center products.
Differences administering Jira Server or Data Center and Cloud
This page outlines the differences you can expect as a Jira Data Center or Server administrator when moving to Jira Cloud. Some of the capabilities listed below apply to more than one product.
If you want to explore how Cloud is different for your users, check out the Cloud adoption toolkit.
Administrator roles
Administrator global permissions
Works differently in Cloud.
What’s different
In Jira Data Center and Server, there were two levels of global administrator permissions, Jira administrator, and System administrator. In Cloud, you assign roles to people. Roles include User, Product admin (which is equivalent to Jira administrator global permission), and Organization admin, which is similar to System administrator global permission, but has rights to manage user directories, security settings, billing details, and other configurations for all the products in your organization, not just Jira.
How it works in Cloud
Who it affects
Organization admin, Product admin
Jira, Jira Service Management
Apps and integrations
Install apps
Works differently in Cloud.
What’s different
Some apps are only available for Server or Data Center, or only for Cloud. You can only install apps from the Atlassian Marketplace. You can’t install an app by uploading a file. This includes apps you’ve built yourself or those designed for Server or Data Center. If you want to develop your own app, you can use the Forge or Connect platforms to build the app. You can list the app publicly, so others can use it, or use a secret token to list it privately.
How it works in Cloud
Who it affects
Organization admin
Confluence, Jira, Jira Service Management
Listeners
Works differently in Cloud.
What’s different
You can’t configure listener interfaces in Cloud. In Jira Data Center and Server, listeners were used when you wanted to trigger an action in an external system based on an event that happened in Jira. Webhooks provide a better way to do this in Jira Cloud products (and more recent versions of Jira Data Center).
How it works in Cloud
Who it affects
Organization admin
Jira, Jira Service Management
Assets (previously known as Insight)
Works differently in Cloud.
What’s different
Assets is a part of Jira Service Management used for asset management. In cloud, it’s available on selected plans. There are some differences in how asset management works including object schema templates, integration with other 3rd-party tools, some bulk actions, and the ability to extend automation with Groovy scripts.
How it works in Cloud
Who it affects
Product admin
Jira Service Management
Install intermediate certificates
Not available in Cloud.
What’s different
It’s not possible to install intermediate certificates in Jira Cloud products as they can cause problems when you add secure POP/IMAP mail servers that have certificates signed by non-root CAs. If you need an intermediate certificate for an integration, you should obtain a certificate signed by a trusted root Certification Authority (CA).
How it works in Cloud
N/A
Who it affects
Organization admin
Jira, Jira Service Management
Opsgenie incident management
Only available in Cloud.
What’s different
Opsgenie provides on-call and alert management and is included with your Jira Service Management Cloud subscription. Features available may depend on your plan.
How it works in Cloud
Who it affects
Product admin
Jira Service Management
Auditing and governance
Audit logs
Works differently in Cloud, and may require an additional subscription.
What’s different
An audit log is available with all paid Jira Cloud and Jira Service Management Cloud plans, and is similar to the audit log provided with Jira Server. However, the Cloud audit log doesn’t provide the ability to configure granular coverage areas and levels as in Jira Data Center. An additional audit log for user management and organization-level events is available with an Enterprise plan or Atlassian Guard Standard subscription.
How it works in Cloud
Audit activities in Jira applications
What activities does the audit log include?
Who it affects
Organization admin
Jira, Jira Service Management
People directory
Works differently in Cloud.
What’s different
The people directory lists all the people in your organization, and allows people to be grouped into teams for the purpose of sharing or mentioning people. You can’t hide or restrict access to the people directory in Cloud.
How it works in Cloud
Who it affects
Organization admin, Product admin
Jira, Jira Service Management
Email and mail servers
Customize email templates
Not available in Cloud.
What’s different
You can’t modify email templates in Jira Cloud. In Jira Data Center and Server, this was only possible by modifying the underlying Velocity templates, which you don’t have access to in Cloud. Customer email customization is possible in Jira Service Management.
How it works in Cloud
N/A
Who it affects
Organization admin, Product admin
Jira
Outgoing mail server
Works differently in Cloud.
What’s different
Your Cloud application includes an internal SMTP server configured to send notifications. There should be no need for you to administer the internal SMTP server manually. You can configure the sender email address for Jira projects, so emails are sent on behalf of your domain.
How it works in Cloud
N/A
Who it affects
Organization admin, Product admin
Jira, Jira Service Management
Incoming mail server
Works differently in Cloud.
What’s different
You can configure POP/IMAP mail servers but not file system messages. An incoming mail server is used to create issues via email, and must be configured to standard ports POP: 110; SECURE_POP: 995; IMAP: 143; SECURE_IMAP: 993. You can also connect a Google, Microsoft or other custom email address to your service project and view email logs for each of these accounts.
How it works in Cloud
Create issues and comments from email
Who it affects
Organization admin
Jira, Jira Service Management
General administration
Backups
Works differently in Cloud.
What’s different
In Cloud, automated Amazon Relational Database Service backups are created for disaster recovery purposes. Site backups must be manually created, if you require them.
How it works in Cloud
Track storage and move data across products
Back up Jira by exporting data
Back up Confluence by exporting data
Suggestion CLOUD-6498: Automatic backup generation
Who it affects
Organization admin, Product admin
Confluence, Jira, Jira Service Management
Base URL
Works differently in Cloud.
What’s different
We provide you with a secure, authenticated domain name. Your Cloud site will be accessible at example.atlassian.net, where example is a unique identifier that you specify when signing up. If you’re on a paid plan, you can change this identifier, but you can’t change the atlassian.net domain.
How it works in Cloud
Update a product URL subdomain
Suggestion CLOUD-6999: Use a custom domain
Who it affects
Organization admin, Product admin
Confluence, Jira, Jira Service Management
External user directories
Available in Cloud, but may require an additional subscription.
What’s different
You can't use another Cloud or Server / Data Center instance for user management. There are a wide range of options for managing your users, including provisioning users from an identity provider or LDAP directory, or connecting with a service like Google Workspace. User provisioning and some Google Workspace features require an Enterprise plan or Atlassian Guard Standard subscription.
How it works in Cloud
Who it affects
Organization admin
Bitbucket, Confluence, Jira, Jira Service Management
Mobile apps and app management
Works differently in Cloud, and may require an additional subscription.
What’s different
You can’t use a server app to connect to a Cloud product. Users will need to install the Cloud-specific mobile app. The functionality available in the app will be similar to the Server and Data Center apps. Mobile App Management (MAM) and Mobile Device Management (MDM) integrations are available but may require an Enterprise plan or Atlassian Guard Standard subscription.
How it works in Cloud
Get the Confluence Cloud mobile apps
Get the Jira Cloud mobile apps
Mobile App Management (MAM) for Atlassian mobile apps
Mobile Device Management (MDM) for Atlassian mobile apps
Who it affects
Organization admin, Product admin, Users
Confluence, Jira, Jira Service Management
Single sign-on
Available in Cloud, but may require an additional subscription.
What’s different
Single sign-on is available but requires an Enterprise plan or Atlassian Guard Standard. The process of connecting your Identity Provider (IdP) will be similar to the process you followed in Data Center.
How it works in Cloud
Configure single sign-on for your organization
Configure SAML single sign-on with an identity provider
Who it affects
Organization admin
Bitbucket, Confluence, Jira, Jira Service Management
Upgrades
Not necessary in Cloud.
What’s different
We perform all required maintenance and upgrades for you during scheduled maintenance windows. If you have a Premium or Enterprise plan you can choose the release track that best suits your needs, and create a sandbox instance that gets changes before your production instance.
How it works in Cloud
Keep track of maintenance windows
Manage Atlassian product sandboxes
Who it affects
Organization admin
Confluence, Jira, Jira Service Management
Project and workflow administration
Archive individual issues
Now available in Cloud via API
What’s different
Individual issue archiving, previously exclusive to Jira Data Center, is now available in Jira Cloud for Premium and Enterprise customers. Jira Cloud admins can archive issues using APIs
How it works in Cloud
Individual issues can now be archived or unarchived using APIs. Learn more about announcement here, and check out the API documentation to learn how it works.
Who it affects
Product admin
Jira, Jira Service Management
Cross-project boards and filters
Works differently in cloud
What’s different
In Jira Data Center and Server, boards locations are associated to projects. This connection ensures that the boards and filters are always available, even if the original creator is no longer active.However, in Jira Cloud, the location of cross project boards is associated to the user and not projects.
How it works in Cloud
In Jira Cloud, if the owner of a cross-project board or filter becomes inactive, the board or filter becomes private and can no longer be accessed or modified.
Who it affects
Product admin
Jira, Jira Service Management
Import issues
Works differently in Cloud.
What’s different
In Cloud, you can import data from a range of external applications using a CSV or JSON file, or import data directly from Bitbucket and Trello. This method is not used when migrating from Jira Server or Data Center to Cloud, as specific migration tools are available to help streamline this process.
How it works in Cloud
Import and export your data to and from Jira Cloud
Who it affects
Organization admin
Jira, Jira Service Management
Import XML workflows from file
Not available in Cloud.
What’s different
While product admins can export a workflow to XML, you can only import workflows from the Marketplace, not directly from an XML file for security reasons. You can share your workflow with other users on Marketplace.
How it works in Cloud
Import and export issue workflows
Who it affects
Product admin
Jira, Jira Service Management
Inject HTML and JavaScript into issue fields
Not available in Cloud.
What’s different
You can’t paste or otherwise inject HTML and JavaScript into issue fields. This is to limit the risk of cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.
How it works in Cloud
N/A
Who it affects
Product admins, Users
Jira, Jira Service Management
Text gadget
Not available in Cloud.
What’s different
The Text gadget is not available in Cloud. This is to limit the risk of cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. The gadget was disabled by default in Jira Data Center and Server for the same reason.
How it works in Cloud
N/A
Who it affects
Product admins, Users
Jira, Jira Service Management
Issue hierarchy model
Works differently in Cloud.
What’s different
Server or Data Center maintains two types of issue hierarchy:
Jira connects issues from the base level (containing stories, bugs, tasks) to epics. Thus a valid epic-link relationship is when the base/child issue is one level below the epic level.
Advanced Roadmaps installed in the Server or Data Center instance connects issues around in an extended hierarchy.
An epic link connects an issue from the base/child level (level 0) to an issue of the epic issue type fixed at level 1.
A parent link connects an issue to a parent on a level above it, provided the parent issue type is not a built-in epic issue type.
How it works in Cloud
In Cloud, the issue hierarchy is similar to the one in Advanced Roadmaps.
Learn more about issue hierarchy in Cloud
Learn about the two methods to maintain epic link information during migration.
Who it affects
Product admins
Jira, Jira Service Management
Service project administration
Canned responses
Works differently in Cloud
What’s different
In Jira Service Management Cloud, a canned response can be either personal or shared. A personal canned response can’t be shared with other agents and will only be visible to the agent or admin who created it. Shared canned responses, on the other hand, are shared with all the agents in a service project. Currently, only project admins can create shared canned responses in Jira Service Management.
How it works in Cloud
Learn more about canned responses in Jira Service Management
Who it affects
Product admin
Jira Service Management
Import SLA configuration from another project
Not available in Cloud.
What’s different
You can’t currently export the SLA configuration from one project and import it into another. This functionality was available in Jira Service Management Data Center and Server, but has not yet been developed for Cloud.
How it works in Cloud
N/A
Who it affects
Product admin
Jira Service Management
Priority schemes
Not available in Cloud.
What’s different
In Jira Service Management Data Center and Server, you could configure priorities per project. This is not available in Cloud.
How it works in Cloud
N/A
Who it affects
Product admin
Jira Service Management
Need help choosing?
Still deciding whether cloud or Data Center is right for your organization? Head to our comparison page to explore the benefits of each.
Learn more about the differences between Cloud and Data Center
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