Symptoms

1. Certain JIRA functions may fail with SQL Exceptions.
2. JIRA may fail to run altogether.

The following appears in the atlassian-jira.log:

___ Database Configuration ________________
     Loading entityengine.xml from                 : file:/C:/Data/Jira/atlassian-jira/WEB-INF/classes/entityengine.xml
     Entity model field type name                  : mssql
     Entity model schema name                      :
     Database Version                              : Microsoft SQL Server - 10.50.2500
     Database Driver                               : jTDS Type 4 JDBC Driver for MS SQL Server and Sybase - 1.2.4
     Database URL                                  : jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://sqlserver:1433/jiradb
     Database JDBC config                          : mssql jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://sqlserver:1433/jiradb

Cause

This is either caused by an incorrect configuration when JIRA is installed or this bug as tracked under JRASERVER-25329 - JIRA 4.4 MSSQL schema in dbconfig.xml does not get picked up by ./config.sh. In this case all tables will be stored on the root schema (dbo), and occasionally other applications will store tables under this schema. Having a schema specifically for JIRA can prevent something like this from occurring and we recommend fixing this immediately. Additionally, this can cause some failures with Active Objects, (e.g.: plugins such as GreenHopper, Tempo, Activity Streams).

 If the schema is missing altogether, it is absolutely critical that it is specified otherwise it will cause significant problems with the JIRA instance.

Resolution

1. Stop JIRA and point it to use the dbo schema.

2. Start JIRA and back it up using the XML export functionality as in Backing Up Data.
3. Create the required schema, as in the below documentation, ensuring it has the correct permissions:
   
   1. Connecting JIRA to SQL Server 2005 & Setting Up a SQL Server 2005 database for JIRA.
   2. Connecting JIRA to SQL Server 2008.
4. Stop JIRA.
5. Using the JIRA Configuration Tool update JIRA to refer to the new schema (this should be jiraschema).
6. Start JIRA.
7. Restore the XML backup from step 2.

This can also be done with the steps within Change the schema name for Jira database tables.