Backing Up Data

This page describes how to back up your JIRA data, and establish processes for maintaining continual backups. Backing up your JIRA data is the first step in upgrading your server to a new JIRA revision, or splitting your JIRA instance across multiple servers. See also Restoring JIRA data and Restoring a Project from Backup.

Creating a complete backup of JIRA consists of two stages:

1. Backing up database contents

There are two possibilities: native database-specific tools, or JIRA's XML backup utility.

For production use, it is strongly recommended to use native database-specific tools instead of the XML backup service. XML backups are not guaranteed to be consistent, as the database may be updated during the backup process. Inconsistent backups are created successfully without any warnings or error messages, but fail during the restore process. Database-native tools offer a much more consistent and reliable means of storing data.

Using native database tools

All serious databases come with tools to back up and restore databases (the 'MS' inRDBMS). We strongly recommend these tools in preference to the XML backup option described below, as they:

ensure integrity of the database by taking the backup at a single point in time
are much faster and less resource-intensive than JIRA's XML backup.
integrate with existing backup strategies (e.g. allowing one backup run for all database-using apps).
may allow for incremental (as opposed to 'full') backups, saving disk space.
avoid character encoding and format issues relating to JIRA's use of XML as a backup format.

See the documentation for your database on how to set up periodic backups. This typically involves a cron job or Windows scheduled task invoking a command-line tool like mysqldump or pg_dump,

Using JIRA's XML backup utility

To perform a once-off backup, e.g. before an upgrade, follow the steps below. (Note that you can also configure scheduled XML backups, as described in Automating JIRA Backups. )

Log in as a user with the 'JIRA System Administrators' global permission.
Bring up the administration page by clicking either the 'Administration' link on the top bar or the title of the Administration box on the dashboard.
Under the 'Import & Export' sub-menu in the left-hand navigation column, click the 'Backup Data to XML' link. This will display the 'Backup JIRA data' page:

Screenshot: The Backup JIRA Data Page

If you see the following message at the top of this page, you will need to set a safe backup path first (by following the procedure below) and then restart this particular procedure from step 1 (above).
You have not named a safe backup directory and hence you are not allowed to make backups for security reasons. You must edit jira-application.properties and explicitly set 'jira.paths.safe.backup.path=/to/some/safe/path'. Restart JIRA and then you will be able to make arbitrary backups. NOTE : If you are using Windows, you will need to use double \ characters, for example
d:\\some\\safe\\path
In 'File name' field, type the full path, including filename, of the location to which you want JIRA to write the backup file. Note: Ensure that JIRA has rights to write to this location.
(Optional but recommended) Select the 'Backup as Zip' checkbox.
Click the 'Backup' button, and wait while your JIRA data is backed up.
When the backup is complete, a message will be displayed, confirming that JIRA has written the data to the file you specified.

Setting a safe backup path

Due to security vulnerabilities in JIRA that have been fixed in JIRA 4.1.1 and later (and in earlier versions of JIRA that have been fixed via patches available from JIRA Security Advisory 2010-04-16), it is now a mandatory requirement to explicitly set a safe backup path in JIRA before JIRA data XML backups can be performed.

To set a safe backup path, where JIRA data XML backups will be stored:

Shutdown JIRA.
Open the jira-application.properties file in a text editor. Refer to Advanced JIRA configuration with jira-application.properties for details.
Locate the jira.paths.safe.backup.path varibale in this file.
Set this variable's value to a valid and safe directory path for the operating system on which JIRA runs. A safe path is one which excludes the JIRA web application directory and other sensitive areas of the operating system.
Examples of valid directory paths used with this variable:
- UNIX-based systems (e.g. Linux or Mac OS X)
```
jira.paths.safe.backup.path=/some/safe/path
```
- Windows systems
```
jira.paths.safe.backup.path=d:\\some\\safe\\path
```
Restart JIRA.

2. Backing up the `data` directory

The data directory is a sub-directory of your JIRA Home Directory. It contains application data for JIRA, e.g. if you have attachments enabled, all files attached to JIRA issues are stored in the data\attachments directory (not in the database).

To back up the data directory , you need to create a snapshot of the data directory (including all files and subdirectories), then back up the snapshot. Note that the directory structure under the data directory must be preserved in the snapshot.

Creating this snapshot is an operating system-specific task, e.g.:

On MS Windows, a batch script copying the directory can be written and scheduled periodically (Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Scheduled Tasks). There are also various utilities available to simplify this (eg. http://www.picozip.com).
On Linux/Solaris, it is best to write a small shell script, placed in /etc/cron.daily , backing up files to a directory like /var/backup/jira . It is best to copy an existing script in /etc/cron.daily to ensure local conventions (file locations, lockfiles, permissions) are adhered to.

Your "attachments" directory may be located elsewhere

If you have put your attachments directory in a custom location (see Enabling File Attachments) rather than inside the data directory, you will also need to backup your attachments directory using the snapshot method described above.

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