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Atlassian Cloud Migration

Atlassian Cloud Migration Guide

Atlassian server products will end of life in February 2024. Our experts will help you migrate your Atlassian products to the Atlassian Cloud. linkyard serves over 140 satisfied customers

Stefan Haller

Senior Consultant | Managing Partner
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Anna Schmassmann

Senior Consultant | Head of Product Integration
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Vanda Maeder

IT Service Manager
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Atlassian server end of life, what now?

Why migrate to the Atlassian cloud?

Cross icon that symbolizes the sales stop of Atlassian server licenses

Sales stop: Atlassian server products

In February 2021, Atlassian stopped selling new licenses for server products such as Jira, Confluence or Bitbucket.
Tool icon that symbolizes support for Atlassian server products

Alimony: Support and patches

Support and patches will be offered until February 2024 - after that, the server products will definitely no longer be usable.
Cloud icon that symbolizes migration to the Atlassian Cloud

Possibility: Cloud or data center

This means that the two cloud and data center variants will remain in the future. But for many companies, it no longer makes sense to operate applications themselves. The financial and personnel costs are too high to justify this.

Scalability in the Atlassian cloud

Scale quick and easy in the cloud

In the cloud, you can scale very quickly and without much effort. Companies with particularly sensitive data, such as banks, insurance companies or health data, are an exception. These usually have special requirements that they must comply with.
Comparative graph that compares administrative costs in the Atlassian Cloud with the on-premise variant

Migrate, but how?

How to migrate to the Atlassian cloud?

For migrations of any complexity, it is advisable to create checklists so that nothing is forgotten. We are guided by the following points.
The more of these questions are answered with “yes,” the more complex the migration usually becomes.
Icon that symbolizes the number of users to migrate to the Atlassian Cloud

Question 1: number of users

How many users do the instances you want to migrate have?
Plugin icon that symbolizes the plugins to be migrated to the Atlassian Cloud

Question 2: plugins

Are there plugins for Jira or Confluence that are being used?
Server icon, which symbolizes an AD connection

Question 3: AD connection

Is an AD connection required if one is currently available?
Code icon that symbolizes other adjustments for migration to the Atlassian Cloud

Question 4: Other adjustments

Are custom fields or other adjustments, e.g. automatisms, being used that are worth mentioning?

Attention mistakes!

Complexity of
migration

We also always recommend cleaning up the instances so that there are no legacy issues in the cloud, but only relevant data.

Which areas of Confluence should be migrated?

The number of areas helps us to assess the complexity of the migration.

Which projects from Jira should be migrated?

The more content you migrate, the more likely you are to run into errors.

How long does the migration take?

Migration time horizon

We expect a turnaround time of around 4 weeks.
If errors occur in the plugins during migration, which we have to forward to the manufacturers, the turnaround time can be significantly longer.
Icon that symbolizes test migration to the Atlassian Cloud

Test migration

First, a test migration is carried out and any problems are identified and addressed.
Cloud icon that symbolizes the verification of the migration to the Atlassian Cloud

Approval

The data migrated for testing purposes is then tested and approved by customers.
Cloud icon with question mark, which symbolizes the possibility of a second test migration to the Atlassian Cloud

Second test migration

If there are any further faulty points during the tests, a second test migration can be carried out.
Icon that symbolizes productive migration to the Atlassian Cloud

Productive migration

Once the incorrect points have been corrected, the productive migration is carried out at the end.

What does migration cost?

Since the instances differ, we do not have a fixed price for the migrations; the prices depend on the apps used and the overall complexity.
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Our services

In particular, we specialize in subscription management, training & webinars, consulting & support, and individual system integrations.

Carry out migrations and advise

If you have decided to take the step towards the cloud, we will be happy to assist you. As certified Atlassian partners, we have successfully completed a number of migrations and know the stumbling blocks.
Illustration of migrating to the Atlassian cloud

Trainings: Arrive
in the cloud

Our training ranges from simple end-user
Badge icon that represents a completed Atlassian Cloud training session.

Essential Trainings

Basically, moving from server/data center to the cloud is not a big deal for users and most get along well in the new environment after a short period of acclimation. However, if support is required, we offer Essentials training for cloud products.
Badge icon that represents a completed Atlassian Cloud training session.

Refresher for administrators

The administration of the individual products in the cloud is also similar to that of server/data centers. If you still need a small refresher, feel free to contact us and we will arrange a course that suits your needs.
Badge icon that represents a completed Atlassian Cloud training session.

Atlassian admin area

What's new in the cloud is the Atlassian admin area. Among other things, users and global authorizations are managed here or licenses are assigned. For many of our customers, we have adopted this on server/data centers. If you now want to manage this yourself, you can also contact us and we will arrange a suitable course.

Alternatives to Atlassian Cloud

Atlassian Data Center

Data Center offers everything for highly available operation and meets the highest security requirements

Phonemos

Collaborate with your team, customers, and external partners on documentation, knowledge databases, or QMS.

JetBrains

Creating and delivering your code, planning your work, and working with your team — always smooth and enjoyable.

archiving service

If you want to store your instance for a longer period of time or “freeze” it in a sense, this is the right option for you.

Your contact

Stefan Haller | Managing Partner

Don't trip!

Stumbling blocks when migrating to the Atlassian Cloud

Cloud Migration Assistant

It is very gratifying that Atlassian has developed a cloud migration assistant for Jira and Confluence, which handles a large part of the migration. There are certain limitations, but in principle, processes can be migrated from Jira and pages from Confluence. Global configurations and settings are not migrated (as of January 2023).
However, the Cloud Migration Assistant is also a bit unpredictable in some cases. Certain things that were easily migrated during the test migration then generate error messages on the production day, or even content could be migrated without errors with earlier versions of the assistant; with current versions, a different migration procedure must be selected for comparable content and work with workarounds. At linkyard, we have a standardized migration procedure that we use for new migration projects, but we are prepared for unexpected deviations.

Plugins

A second stumbling block can be the plugins used. There are plugins that aren't available in the Atlassian Cloud. Alternatives must be sought here and migration of the data to the alternative plugin is rarely guaranteed. If the plugins also exist for the cloud, it must be checked how the data can be transferred to the cloud. In the best case scenario, the plugin data is also migrated with the Cloud Migration Assistant (e.g. as an attachment to Gliffy). In the second-best case, the plugin offers a migration path (e.g. with draw.io) and the data can also be transferred to the cloud with just a few clicks. If the data cannot be migrated as in the cases just mentioned, the only thing left is to manually reconfigure and enter the data (e.g. Scriptrunner), which can be very time-consuming depending on the plug-ins and their use.
When linkyard carries out the migration, we rely on customer support for the plugins - especially those that we don't use or don't know how to use them in a company - and need information about how the teams work and how to use the plugins.

Collaboration

And this brings us to what is actually the most central point for migration: cooperation between customers and the linkyard. The migration should always be regarded as a project in which both sides must reserve appropriate time for work. We don't know all instances and don't always see the special features right away. That is why we need explanations when, for example, a special plug-in is used in the company or how users are managed. With detailed tests by our customers, errors can also be discovered and eliminated before the productive migration, which means that the discovered errors can be avoided or quickly resolved during the productive migration. In this way, the targeted schedules can be met.

General information about migrating to the Atlassian Cloud

Of course, this is not a complete list of the stumbling blocks. For example, there are also Confluence macros that exist on server/data centers but do not exist in the cloud. Transferring users to the cloud also doesn't have to be trivial, especially if an AD connection is being used or one is to be reused in the cloud.
With every migration, we recommend that you first migrate, analyze, and review all content for testing purposes in order to then be optimally prepared for the productive migration.