Set up a JIRA site
You will need your own JIRA instance for this Getting started guide. Let's get you set up with a JIRA Cloud site. JIRA Cloud is our hosted JIRA offering. You will be up and running with your own JIRA instance in a few minutes without installing a thing! If you have a JIRA site already, you can skip this stage.
STEP 1 OF 8
Step 1. Sign up for a JIRA Cloud site
Signing up for a JIRA Cloud trial will provide you with a fully-functional JIRA Cloud site for seven days. The JIRA Cloud trial is totally free! No credit card required.
- Go to http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/try/
- Choose the Free Trial for the For projects package.
- Read the FAQs at the bottom of the page. Don't skip this step, the FAQs have important information about what you are signing up for.
- Click Next at the top right of the page.
- Fill in the form and submit it. Note down the site address and site administrator details.
Can't use JIRA Cloud?
If you cannot use JIRA Cloud, instructions for installing JIRA Server on your own server are available below.
- Installing JIRA on Windows
- Installing JIRA on Linux
- Installing JIRA on Mac OS X
(note, Mac OS X recommended for evaluations only)
Tips for filling in your JIRA Cloud form:
- Don't add any other applications. You won't need them for this tutorial and you can always add them later.
- Stick with 10 users for now. You won't need more than 10 users for this tutorial and you can always add more later.
- You can choose to keep your site after your trial. Keep this in mind when picking a site address.
- If you don't have a my.atlassian.com account, you will set one up during the signup process. This account is used to manage your licenses for Atlassian products. It is different to the administrator account that you also create during signup: the administrator account is used to access your new JIRA Cloud site.
That's it! Grab a quick coffee — it will take about 10 minutes for your JIRA Cloud instance to be provisioned. You will receive an email when your JIRA instance is ready.
Step 2. Create the demonstration project
Access your new site via your browser, using the site address that you entered when signing up (e.g. https://jira101.atlassian.net). Log in to your new site using the site administrator credentials that you entered when signing up (e.g. jsmith).
This is the first screen that you will see when accessing your new JIRA Cloud site:
You will see this dialog whenever you create a new project. This allows you to set up different types of projects with a single click, including Scrum and Kanban.
Choose Demo Project and click Next. This will create a new project that has sample data. We won't be using the Demo Project for this tutorial, however the issues in the project contain handy information about JIRA. Take a few minutes to browse through them.
Note, if you have already created projects in your JIRA site, the Demo Project won't be available. Don't worry, you won't need it for this tutorial.
Congratulations! You now have a new JIRA Cloud site set up with the sample 'Demonstration' project.
Next steps
Next you will be adding users to your new JIRA site and learning about how JIRA's licensing works.
Stopping here? Please leave us your feedback before you go!
