Merge multiple instances of Jira server
Platform notice: Server and Data Center only. This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Server and Data Center platforms.
Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
How do I merge two Jira Server instances?
You want to merge Jira Y.x (Jira A) into existing Z.y (Jira B) instance. This is a complex task, however, as users, custom fields, workflows and schemes must match first before completing the project import. You may be required to change the configuration of your target Jira instance to accommodate the project import.
General steps (please see details about each step below):
- Upgrade Jira A to Z.y version
- Do XML backup for upgraded Jira A
- Import XML into existing Jira B instance.
We recommend doing that first using test instances.
Update your Jira A
You need a Jira application A and Jira application B to be the same version to be able to import XML.
Please double-check Important Version-Specific Upgrade Notes. There could be some settings specific to your usage.
Other documentation for your reference:
Do XML backup for upgraded Jira A
Backup your Jira A instance: Backing Up Data
Import XML into existing Jira B instance.
Basically, the steps that you would have to take is to use a Restoring a Project from Backup
Project xml export will contain all data (users, issues, flows), but it will not restore it during restoring project from backup. Depending on your data, you may also need to create additional screens, issue types, custom fields and other to be able to import XML backup. Please review article and check other limitations which might affect you.
To migrate your workflow, you can use steps from Sharing your workflow documentation. Use Export > As Workflow step to export your workflow
- For Jira application versions below 7.0, the Project Import functionality does not include Active Objects data and so it is not possible to move Jira Agile and Jira Service Management project data between instances.
- For Jira application versions above 7.0, only Sprint and Ranking data are considered to be the most important types of data in Jira Agile and was included in the Active Objects being imported. See for more details: JRA-28748 - Getting issue details... STATUS
The third-party plugins below may help to migrate the projects configurations during a Project Import:
What's the right way to merge two Jira instances into one when I have users with different usernames in both instances?
Example: JiraA has project1, JiraB has projectBeta
John Smith is
john.smith on JiraA
jsmith on JiraB
This functionality is not available in Jira applications by default. There are various workarounds such as using custom scripts to import the data, creating an XML Backup file and using a script to "find and replace" before importing and even to merge users at the database level.
Can we combine two licenses in one Jira instance?
It is not possible to combine two licenses to a single Jira application instance. More info on Licensing FAQ.
Track the feature requests: