Limiting the number of issues returned from a search view such as an RSS feed
Jira allows you to view search results in several different formats, including Word, Excel, RSS, or XML.
A search view that returns too many issues can take a long time for Jira to complete and can use a large amount of memory. It can be a factor in OutOfMemoryErrors in Jira.
An large RSS feed of search results can be particularly problematic, because:
- the user's RSS reader will continue to make the request periodically (for example, every hour)
- since the RSS reader makes the request, not the user directly, the user is unaware that the request takes a long time or is failing
You can use the following three properties in jira-config.properties to limit the number of issues returned by a search view.
See Making changes to jira-config.properties for the details of how to make and apply changes to your jira-config.properties file.
jira.search.views.default.max
The jira.search.views.default.max property sets a 'soft' limit on the number of issues returned. It has a default value of 1000. You can set it to 100 (for example), by specifying the following in your jira-config.properties file:
jira.search.views.default.max = 100
For an RSS or XML view, Jira applies the limit by appending the tempMax parameter to the URL of the search view. For example:
In the above example, Jira will limit the number of issues returned to 200 (in this example).
However users can override this 'soft' default by removing the tempMax parameter from the URL or by increasing the value of tempMax.
jira.search.views.max.limit
The jira.search.views.max.limit property sets a 'hard' limit on the number of issues returned. It has a default value of 1000. You can set this property's value to 200 (for example), by specifying the following in your jira-config.properties file:
jira.search.views.max.limit = 200
If a user makes an issue view request that would return more than 200 issues (in this example), Jira does not return the issues but instead returns a 403 (Forbidden) error. While the user might not be happy, it prevents Jira from consuming lots of resources and possibly running out of memory.
Make sure you set the value of jira.search.views.max.limit to greater than or equal to the 'soft' limit set by jira.search.views.default.max. Otherwise all search views that would return issues limited by the default 'soft' limit will instead return a 403 (Forbidden) error.
jira.search.views.max.unlimited.group
You may have a requirement for most users to have the limit imposed on them, but a few users to be exempt from the limit. One example of this is if your Jira instance is Internet facing. You may want external (Internet) users to have the limit imposed on them, but for internal users to be able to produce unlimited search views. You can use the jira.search.views.max.unlimited.group property to achieve this.
The jira.search.views.max.unlimited.group property is disabled by default, by being either absent from your jira-config.properties file or present but disabled with a preceding '#'. If you enable this property in your jira-config.properties file, you must specify a valid group for its value or leave it empty. For example:
jira.search.views.max.unlimited.group = jira-administrators
Users exempted from the limit via this technique will still have to add the tempMax parameter to the URL for an RSS or XML view, as described above, in order to exceed the jira.search.views.default.max soft limit.