No cloud migration is created equally, and because there are several factors to consider when planning your migration, it can all feel overwhelming. As an Atlassian Specialized Partner in Cloud, our goal is to help guide you through the messiness of migrations and develop a path that fits your specific business needs and leads you to a successful Atlassian Cloud Migration.
Our team of migration experts recently hosted a Q&A-style webinar about the most common issues they see with cloud migrations and provided their insights about moving to Atlassian Cloud. Below is a list of all the questions that were asked and the answers that our team gave.
Q: What is the easiest way to determine if all the add-ons are still in use in the system prior to the cloud migration/test?
A: Have Praecipio run a database query.
Q: How do I migrate from Server to Cloud? What are the options?
A: Outside of a custom solution, there are 3 potential methods of migrating server data to cloud.
1. Leverage the Jira and Confluence cloud migration tools developed by Atlassian
2. Run a full site export/import
3. Use an add-on like Configuration Manager for Jira from Appfire.
Of these options, Atlassian only supports 1 and 2, and 2 will be deprecated as a supported method in the near future. None of these methods are perfect, there are pros and cons to consider for each, and potentially have additional objects and elements that would have to be solutioned for.
Q: Do you see any challenges with having a hybrid environment with, for example, a Cloud Confluence linked to an on-prem Jira?
A: The main challenge to a hybrid approach is going to be related to security. In order for the applications to communicate rules and allowances will need to be put in place between the cloud site and the internal network. If the current scenario is that both Jira and Confluence are on-prem, and Confluence is migrated to Cloud, there are some additional challenges to consider with existing issue links between the two that would have to be overcome depending on the migration method.
Q: How to deal with SSO for our partners whom also have different IdP at their end on Jira Cloud configured with Atlassian Access SSO.
A: When talking about Atlassian Access, the main consideration you have to take into account is that in the server setting, all user accounts belong to the individual application, but in cloud, all accounts are Atlassian accounts and exist independently from the cloud sites. This allows a user to have permissions on multiple sites but potentially be governed by a different organization. If you have partners that you wish to grant access into your cloud site, and they have their own SSO policy in place, you can freely grant them access without any impact to your current user base. As an example, for our customers we frequently leverage our @praecipio.com accounts, which we have managed by our own IdP.
Q: 1. Do you have any automated way to clean up an on-prem instance of Jira before migrating to cloud, things like filters and boards that belong to legacy projects that no longer exist?
2. Can the ability to have team-managed projects be disabled to ensure teams do not create a mess and stick to enterprise standards?
A: 1. We have developed several scripts and queries over time that can be used to help identify orphaned boards and filters, but this process is seldom completely automated and often requires additional input and context.
2. Yes, in cloud there is a global permission associated with who can create team-managed projects.
Q: When it comes to merging of Jira Server projects into an existing Cloud instance (where the projects are replacing previous existing projects), is there a preference of whether going on-prem to cloud or go to a cloud instance and then go cloud to cloud? Or is that hop unnecessary? Do you have a preference as to whether to use Appfire's cloud migration tool or Atlassian's native migration tool?
A: Going from server to cloud and then cloud to cloud is more than likely going to be an unnecessary hop, but this depends largely on the migration method and the context surrounding the environments involved. We tend to leverage Atlassian's cloud migration tools when possible to gain the benefit of having support from Atlassian, but there are scenarios where Appfire's Configuration Manager for Jira needs to be leveraged, especially if there's a more complex instance merge happening.
Q: When migrating Jira from on-prem to cloud, is there a way to migrate a project without its data (i.e. keep issue types, dashboards, etc BUT not the issue tickets)?
A: This functionality does not exist natively within the migration toolset developed by Atlassian, but it is certainly a scenario that could be accomplished. There are several factors that would have to be considered such as preference of data archival.
Q: Do I need to have Atlassian Access to use the claim domain?
A: Yes, Atlassian Access is required to claim domains and set up authentication policies, including the use of SSO.
Whether you're looking for a speedy, low-cost migration or have complex enterprise requirements, we have a path for you. While the journey to Atlassian Cloud comes with its fair share of challenges, our experts are equipped with a deep understanding of migration intricacies and have helped hundreds of enterprise organizations successfully move to cloud. With our team as your guide, start planning your migration with confidence. Watch the full webinar on-demand!