Reasons to upgrade
Learn more about the benefits of upgrading to the latest version.
Upgrading from Jira 8.x to Jira 9.x
If you're already on Jira 9.x, feel free to skip this section.
Jira 9.0 is a platform release. As every platform release, it’s brought significant changes that aren’t usually provided in smaller feature releases. All of them affect the upgrade in some way and require that you take extra steps into consideration. Here’s everything you need to know.
Key changes in Jira 9.7
- New design and enhanced functionality for configuring custom fields contexts: We're introducing an improved user experience for configuring contexts of custom fields. The updates will help you manage custom fields more efficiently across multiple projects and in different issue types. Learn more about configuring contexts for custom fields
Pin comments in Jira issues: We’re introducing the ability to pin comments in Jira. All important comments you’ve pinned will always appear at the top of the Comments tab, above the other issue comments. Learn more about pinned comments
Fixed validation for required custom fields of the Select list (cascading) type: The new validation ensures that the hierarchy of the Select list (cascading) field’s options is preserved and displayed correctly in the issue view. As a result, when creating or editing an issue with a custom field of this type, you can be sure that you see correct values that will be saved along with your other changes.
- Take index snapshots with one click at any time: Jira admins can now create index snapshots on a given node with a single click at any time. This improvement doesn’t replace default scheduled index snapshots.
- Enhanced mail queue health check: We’re adding a new health check that will help Jira admins determine if emails are sent from mail queues without any issues. If some emails in a queue haven’t been sent within a specified amount of time, this check won’t pass. The feature will be tuned in the upcoming releases.
Learn more in the release notes
Deciding to upgrade
When deciding to upgrade, you should consider a significant time investment to get new features, performance improvements, bug fixes, continued support access, company requirements, and many other benefits. Here are a few tips on how to prepare for the upgrade.
Upgrade: What am I getting?
New features
For every new version of Jira Software, we publish Jira Software release notes and Jira Software upgrade notes. These resources have important information about the upgrade.
The upgrade matrix lists all the features and improvements introduced in consecutive Jira releases. The matrix lets you compare versions and select the one you want to upgrade to. It also provides an overview of bugs, fixed in each release.
If you want to dig deeper and learn about all the technical specifics of upgrading Jira Software for a particular version, see Technical upgrade notes section in the matrix.
Performance improvements
Many of our releases focus on performance improvements, so you and your team can have an effective product experience with minimal technical slowdown. Two examples of these improvements are the optimization of indexing time and faster page load time for dashboards and issues.
Learn more from the performance report
Bug fixes and new releases
We use the public Jira instance to track the development of product bug fixes and suggestions. Many customers report issues and suggestions that would benefit their team and vote for or watch them. Just like watching Jira issues in your instance, you'll be notified via email when an issue is updated.
View Jira public issue tracker
Access to support
For Long Term Support releases, we provide support and bug fixes in all server products for two years after a version is released. Ending support after two years allows us to focus our resources on supporting more up-to-date versions used by the majority of customers. This means that after a version has reached its end of life, our support team will only be able to assist with upgrade-related questions.
For versions that aren’t Long Term Support releases, we provide support for two years but the fixes are available only until the next version is out. Then, we only fix critical bugs. If you want to get all the new features and fixes, it's good to upgrade versions.
Upgrade: what should I consider?
In addition to technical considerations, there are a few other factors to consider for a smooth upgrade.
Time
The amount of time for the upgrade depends on several factors, including the size of your instance and the number of apps and customizations. As a general rule, it's best to incorporate some buffer time for planning and execution in case anything unexpected comes up.
Tools
No external tools are required to complete the Jira upgrade. There are a few handy resources that can help you along the way, like the App Compatibility Checker and the Instance Health Check.
To open these Jira tools:
- In the upper-right corner of the screen, select Administration
> System. - In the left panel, go to System support and select Troubleshooting and support tools.
Stakeholders
It's a good idea to carefully consider how to communicate information about the upgrade, especially if it’s introducing major changes. You might consider informing an approver, end users, and, if you've acquired the license through an approved Atlassian Solution Partner, your partners, as they may offer additional services to assist you during the upgrade.
All ready?
Head back to the upgrade matrix, and choose the version you want to upgrade to.