Migrate a large userbase to Cloud

This information applies to both the Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant and Jira Cloud Migration Assistant. This does not apply to other Server to Cloud migration strategies.

How user migration works

The migration assistants use email addresses as the key identifier for your users. The first time you migrate, the Migration Assistant will copy all the users from your Server and create Atlassian Accounts for them in Cloud using their email addresses. These users will only be added to your Cloud license if they are a member of a group with license permissions.

Every migration, after the first, the Migration Assistant will link space or project data to the existing email addresses in Cloud rather than recreating those users. This means that it will be much faster to migrate users and groups from the second migration onwards. The estimated time to migrate does not take this into account.

Learn how groups and permissions are migrated

Recommendations for large userbases

If you have a large userbase, generally over 2,000 active and inactive users, we recommend migrating all your users and groups without any spaces or projects first. This can happen while your users are still working in Server, as no space or project data will be extracted (meaning no downtime). Then, when you come to migrate spaces or projects later, it will be a faster migration with a shorter downtime.

If you're using the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant you can also choose to migrate only the users referenced in the projects you are migrating. This can reduce the number of users you need to migrate and will mean a shorter downtime.

Learn more about migrating users and groups with Jira Cloud Migration Assistant

Assessing and preparing your users for the migration

This information applies only to the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant. The assessment isn’t available for Confluence right now.

In Atlassian Cloud, every user must have a valid and unique email address, which often isn’t the case for users in Server and Data Center products. Users whose email addresses don’t meet these requirements will block your migration.

You can use the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant to assess your users and identify the ones whose addresses are invalid or duplicated. You can complete this assessment at any time, even if you’re not planning to migrate anytime soon. It will help you understand the state of your users and how many updates will they need before you can migrate.

After completing the assessment and viewing the results, you can also choose one of the suggested options to automatically fix the email addresses during migration, for example by merging all duplicate accounts or migrating invalid users as Former users.

Learn more about assessing and preparing users

More information and support

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

• for migration planning information, visit the Atlassian Migration Program website

• for technical issues or support with strategy and best practices, get in touch with our support team

• for peer advice, ask the Atlassian Community

• for expert guidance, work with an Atlassian Partner