Upgrading Jira Data Center with zero downtime
You've chosen to upgrade Jira Data Center (clustered) with zero downtime.
Zero downtime upgrade isn't available when upgrading from a major Jira version to another major version (for example, from Jira 8.x to Jira 9.x). You'll need to use one of the regular methods.
If you're already on Jira 9.x and you plan to upgrade to another Jira 9.x version, you can use zero downtime for the upgrade.
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About Zero downtime upgrades
Upgrade with zero downtime is a special method available for Jira Data Center. It introduces the upgrade mode that allows your nodes to work on different Jira versions while you're upgrading them one by one. During the upgrade, Jira remains fully functional and open to your users.
You can use this method to upgrade Jira Software Data Center and Jira Service Management Data Center. Jira Software 7.3 or Jira Service Management 3.6 are the minimum versions you need to be able to use this upgrade process. If you're running a Jira installation with both Jira Software and Jira Service Management, don't worry, we got you covered!
As the zero downtime upgrade can be quite lengthy, depending on how many nodes you have, we've also got a handy checklist you can use to make sure you've done everything you need. We still recommend that you go through all the steps on this page. The checklist is just a handy tool to help you keep track of what you're doing.
Technical overview
For more information on what happens with your cluster in terms of upgrade, see ZDU technical overview.
FAQs
If you still have doubts, have a look at our Zero downtime upgrade FAQs.
Before you begin
Step 1: Prepare for the upgrade
Make sure you've completed the steps in Preparing for the upgrade. These are mandatory pre-requisites, essential for a smooth upgrade.
You must also check that a data pipeline export isn't in progress.
Step 2: Choose your version
If you need help with choosing the right version, head to the upgrade matrix to get a quick run down of features, supported platforms, and technical upgrade notes for all Jira versions.
Putting Jira into the upgrade mode
Put Jira into the upgrade mode to allow your nodes to work on different versions while you're upgrading them one by one.
- Go to Administration (
) > Applications > Jira upgrades. - Select Put Jira into upgrade mode. This will only be available if your nodes are all on the same version.
Canceling the upgrade
- You have the option to cancel the upgrade, which will take Jira out of the upgrade mode, until you start upgrading your nodes. The option will be disabled then.
- To cancel the upgrade later, roll each node back to its original version.
Updating Jira Service Management
This step is required only if you use both Jira Software and Jira Service Management. If you use only one of them, you can skip this step.
- Download the required Jira Service Management OBR file. Make sure you download the version compatible with the Jira Software version you're going to install. The compatible version is listed next to Jira Service Management's version, for example Jira Server 7.12.3.
- Change the extension of the OBR file you downloaded from
.obrto.zip. - Unzip the file to extract the contents.
Copy all the
.jarfiles from the directory where you extracted the contents of the zip file and from the child directory dependencies. Place the files in<Jira shared home>/plugins/installed-plugins. Learn more about the shared home directory in step 2 here.
The terminal commands are:Linuxcp *.jar dependencies/*.jar <Jira shared home>/plugins/installed-pluginsWindowscopy *.jar + dependencies/*.jar <Jira shared home>/plugins/installed-plugins
During the upgrade process, upgraded nodes will be picking up the new Jira Service Management .jar files from the shared home, while nodes that haven't been upgraded will be using the old versions of .jars. When your upgrade is complete, all your nodes will be running the new version of Jira Service Management. If you upgrade all nodes and are certain your Jira instance no longer requires the old .jar versions, we recommend removing them to avoid clutter in the <Jira shared home>/plugins/installed-plugins folder.
Upgrading Jira
Once your Jira instance is in the upgrade mode, you can upgrade each node individually. Upgrading a node will involve stopping Jira, upgrading the installation, and then starting Jira.
Stopping Jira will remove the node from your cluster, making it unavailable. Any users logged in to that node will lose their current session before being routed to another node. As the admin, it's up to you to decide which nodes to upgrade and in which order. You always need to have at least one node online and connected to your cluster to achieve zero downtime.
- DATA CENTER Upgrading Jira Data Center (installer)
- DATA CENTER Upgrading Jira Data Center (manual)
Finalizing your upgrade
Finalizing an upgrade will allow any required upgrade tasks to run on your instance and take Jira out of the upgrade mode. Once the required tasks have completed, your installation is upgraded.
- Navigate to Administration () > Applications > Jira upgrades.
- select Finalize upgrade. This will only be available if all your nodes are all on the same new version.
In case you need to roll back
As a system admin, you can cancel the upgrade by selecting the Cancel upgrade button at any time during the upgrade as long as you haven't selected Finalize upgrade. If you cancel the upgrade, you can restart it at any time.
After cancelling, you should stop each node that has been upgraded, reinstall the original version on these nodes, and add them to the cluster again.