Getting started with Jira Software Data Center
Maybe you're just starting out with Jira Software Data Center, or maybe you're almost ready to let users into a production Jira Software Data Center instance. Either way, there are tons of resources available, and we've collected some of the most relevant ones here to help you get started.
You can run Jira Data Center in a cluster, or as standalone (non-clustered) installation. This guide applies to clustered Data Center installations.
You'll want to make sure you follow these steps in order:
1. Get to know Data Center
Atlassian's Data Center products offer scalability, availability, and performance for mission-critical Atlassian applications.
Additionally, check out the Jira Data Center Overview to learn more about the clustered architecture of Jira Data Center.
2. Plan your Jira Software Data Center deployment
As part of your planning, familiarize yourself with the Jira Data Center architecture and performance benchmarks:
- Jira Data Center Overview
- Jira Data Center FAQs
- Jira Data Center Performance
- Data Center infrastructure recommendations
New to Jira? Skip the rest of this section.
Ready to migrate? Read through these guides to help minimize disruption during the switch:
You may not need all of these steps, but they can help you plan ahead and avoid surprises!
Migrating to Data Center? This is important...
Take inventory of your Apps and make sure they're compatible with Data Center. You can learn more at Jira Data Center Apps, and learn more about Migrating third-party Apps.
You'll copy your existing data as part of a switch from Jira Server to Jira Data Center, and this is a great opportunity to assess and clean up custom fields in your Jira instance. Learn more at Managing custom fields in Jira effectively.
3. Build your Jira Software Data Center cluster
How you build your Jira Data Center cluster will depend on the needs and preferences of your organization. You'll need to assess the number of users you have, the amount of data you have, the expected usage patterns, and the resources your organization has available in order to determine how to proceed. This is an important part of the planning process, so don't skip it!
To help you get started, we've provided some Example Data Center configurations which can give you an idea of sizing guidelines and cluster configurations for different Atlassian Data Center products.
We've also got some general advice about node sizing and load balancers, to help you find your feet if this is your first clustered environment:
Once you've digested that, we have some more specific advice for Jira Software Data Center. These pages can help you decide how to set up your new cluster:
4. Install and configure Jira Software Data Center
Set up all of the hosts for your cluster? Then you're ready to install!
If you're installing on hardware that your organization provides and manages (not on AWS or Azure), use the instructions at Installing Jira Data Center (own hardware).
If you're using AWS or Azure, we have additional resources to help you install:
Can't find what you're looking for in the documentation? Check out our troubleshooting pages, and the Jira community forums and Data Center community forums for help and advice.
5. Maintain and scale Jira Software Data Center
Once you've got Data Center deployed, here are some resources for monitoring the health of the cluster and scaling it up to accomodate more users:
Ready to grow? Read up on scaling and adding nodes to your new Jira Software Data Center cluster:
Still have a question about Jira Data Center?
We've collected the latest round of questions our Atlassian experts get asked on a daily basis. Save yourself some time and check if yours has already been answered on the Jira Data Center FAQs page.