This documentation relates to an older version 2.4 of the Structure Plugin for JIRA. View the current documentation home.

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Structure data is backed up and restored separately from other JIRA data. Structure data includes structures, hierarchies, synchronizers - everything added to JIRA by the Structure plugin. Structure backup does not include issue data (except for some issue attributes that are added just in case).

Structure is backed up separately due to technical limitations of the supported versions of JIRA platform. In the future we plan to merge Structure backup with the main JIRA backup.

You need the JIRA System Administrators global permission to back up, restore, or migrate Structure data.

A backup file can be used in two ways:

  • Full structure restore. This operation replaces all existing structure data (if any) with the data stored in the backup file. This operation refers to issues by their numeric IDs (not issue keys!), so the issues must be present in JIRA before this operation is run, and issue IDs must be the same as they were at the time the Structure backup file was created.

    Issue IDs are preserved if JIRA instance is fully restored from backup with Restore System command. Issue IDs are not preserved if the issues are moved to another JIRA instance with JIRA's Project Import feature – use structure migration in this case.

  • Migration / partial import. This operation lets you restore one or more structures backed up at a different JIRA instance (assuming that the issues have been moved over with the JIRA's Project Import command). It also allows you to merge the backed up structure data with the structure data already existing on your JIRA.

    A structure in a backup file cannot be restored if it refers to issues in a project that is not present in the JIRA instance.

Proper Backup Sequence

To back up your JIRA with structure:

  1. Perform the standard JIRA backup.
  2. Back up Structure.

Of course you can back up structure separately if all you need to copy is the hierarchies and structure configuration. 

Proper Restore Sequence

To restore your JIRA with structure:

  1. Restore JIRA data first.
  2. Restore structure from backup.

Proper Import Sequence

To import your JIRA projects with structure to another JIRA instance:

  1. Import necessary JIRA projects from JIRA backup.
  2. Migrate structure

File-Based Backup

You can also back up and restore the whole structure directory in the JIRA home (see Structure Files Location) manually - but only when JIRA is not running or when Structure plugin is disabled. When restoring structure data backed up this way, make sure you're using the same version of the Structure Plugin that was there when the backup was created.

Detailed Instructions: