Both large and small projects need to be managed in some way. It is essential to track the progress and statuses of key tasks. Projects can be managed using “ancient” methods – on a piece of paper, a blackboard, or using colored cards… but why if there are many better ways? The problem actually arises when we want to scale up. Then, organizations would require more storage space as there would be much more data, tasks and statuses.

The topic of scale is one thing, but let’s look at the current trend, which is remote work. That’s a time when online tools should allow any team/project member to check or update the current status of given work. Of course, the market is full of tools. They differ in price, capabilities and popularity. The best known of these is an Atlassian product, Jira, and that is what we will focus on today.

What is Jira?

Jira allows teams to plan, track, and release software projects in an organized and efficient manner. It offers a variety of features such as issue tracking, agile boards, and reporting capabilities that make it a popular choice among software development teams. Jira also helps teams manage essential project data throughout the project lifecycle, and such data forms the backbone of effective project management, issue tracking, and workflow customization for organizations of all sizes. This data includes everything from project history and issues to attachments, user interactions, and configuration settings.

The simplicity Jira brings

Additionally, Jira has a large ecosystem of add-ons and integrations with other tools, making it customizable to fit the needs of any team. Its user-friendly interface and wide range of functionalities makes it a valuable tool for teams looking to streamline their workflow and increase collaboration.

On top of that, Jira provides many tools for reporting, also with real-time visualizations. While Jira enables access to historical data, keep in mind that it does not offer formal compliance-grade retention, and organizations may require third party backup or archiving tools. Of course, this can be scaled – each team or project can have their own workspace and create workflows according to their own needs.

Things to consider when implementing Jira

If we are already using the tool on a daily basis, or are just about to, we need to be aware of the amount of data we store there. Usually everything that we create and track in Jira is of critical business value. And as such, we can’t afford to lose that data, or at least temporarily lack access. Of course, securing the infrastructure is part of the responsibility that lies with the service provider, but users should still pay special attention to security and backups. Organizations can’t rely solely on a single source of data, especially when that source is not their own.

Proper management of Jira accounts is crucial for remote teams, because secure and efficient collaboration is essential for most DevOps ecosystems. This is important for Jira Service Management environments, where service continuity and rapid data recovery are critical. Jira Software is the core tool relied on by many teams for project management and issue tracking and this is exactly where the aforementioned shared responsibility model comes in:

  • Atlassian is responsible for the security of the infrastructure
  • Customers are responsible for protecting their own data, managing backups, and planning for disaster recovery

Jira data security management

While Jira is a powerful tool, it’s also important to consider the security aspect when using it. It provides a number of security features to help protect the data, such as the ability to set permissions and access controls for users, or the ability to encrypt data. Note that for on-premise or self-hosted instances, encryption depends on your infrastructure and configuration. Additionally, Jira can be integrated with single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to apply an extra security layer.

There are also auditing and logging capabilities, which allow organizations to track user activity and detect any suspicious behavior. These features help us to ensure that only authorized users can access and modify data, and that data is transmitted and stored securely.

Backup tips for Jira

Creating backups regularly is crucial for ensuring data integrity and disaster recovery. When choosing a Jira backup solution, it’s important to consider factors such as backup frequency, data retention policies, and storage options. For those who prefer more control, using a backup directory on-premises or leveraging a multi-storage system can add redundancy and further support data protection.

Actually, there are several tips for Jira backup. Let’s take a look at some available options:

  1. Jira Cloud permits basic data export or migration, rather than comprehensive disaster-recovery.
  2. Use a third-party backup solution. These tools can be used to backup your Jira data with full coverage, automation, unlimited retention and reliable recovery.
  3. Jira Data Center allows DIY backups.

Whether you’re using native Jira features or third-party backup solutions, it’s essential to have a clear backup plan that includes regular testing of the restore process to guarantee data integrity.

What is the Jira backup utility to be exact?

Let’s take a quick look at Jira’s native utilities. For that of course we need “system administrator” global permissions. This feature allows us to create a backup of the Jira data, including issues, attachments, and project configurations. The backup process can be initiated through the Jira administration console, and the backup file is created in the form of a .zip file. The backup file includes a full XML export of all Jira data, which means it is an entire backup of your Jira instance. The built-in backup utility can be used of course for scheduling regular backups, so that the data can be backed up automatically on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

The restoration process involves manually unzipping the backup file and importing the data at the account level, which can be complex and prone to errors, especially when restoring individual items.

However, as Atlassian reminds us, there is no guarantee that XML files will be consistent.

Custom Jira backup script

Another way to perform a backup is to manually write a script that will perform all the necessary steps. Generally creating own scripts for backing up data can provide a flexible and customizable solution for an organization. Howver, this is not the most recommended and secure way. In this case we need to use the Jira REST API to extract data, such as issues, projects, and users, and then store that data somewhere. By using scheduling tools such as cron, you can automate the backup process and make sure that your Jira data is being backed up regularly. You can set up a cron job to run your backup script at specified intervals, such as daily or weekly, ensuring consistent and automated backups. However, before creating your own backup script, it is crucial to review Jira’s documentation and guidelines for data backup to ensure that your script meets the standards for data integrity and security.

Before we start creating our own script, it would be a good idea to take a look at this repository. Although there is a ready-made script out there, we should treat it more as a guideline and template which we should check and modify for our needs. The aforementioned script requires an account and a generated Atlassian API key, and it applies to the Jira Cloud version. Some organizations may prefer to use a python script for greater flexibility, especially in Linux environments.

However, if we host Jira (and its database) on our own, we can try to create something similar to this drafted script below. Such script will perform a full backup, including the database, attachments, avatars, and configuration files. It will store the backup data in the compressed .tar.gz file.

Keep in mind that this is just a general outline of the script. You will need to customize it to fit the specific needs of your Jira instance. This approach can also be adapted to support scheduled backup routines, providing consistent and automatic data protection.

====================================================================== #!/bin/bash # Set the date and time for the backup now=$(date +”%Y-%m-%d-%H%M”) # Set the directories for the JIRA installation and the backup location jira_dir=”/path/to/jira/installation” backup_dir=”/path/to/backup/location” # Create the backup directory if it does not exist mkdir -p “$backup_dir” # Dump the JIRA database to a file mysqldump -u username -p password jira_database > “$backup_dir/jira-database-$now.sql” # Copy the attachments and avatars directories to the backup location rsync -av “$jira_dir/data/attachments” “$backup_dir” rsync -av “$jira_dir/data/avatars” “$backup_dir” # Copy the JIRA configuration files to the backup location rsync -av “$jira_dir/conf” “$backup_dir” # Compress the backup data tar -czvf “$backup_dir/jira-backup-$now.tar.gz” “$backup_dir” # Remove the uncompressed backup data rm -rf “$backup_dir” ======================================================================

Third-party Jira backup tool – GitProtect

One of Atlassian’s recommended solutions is to use a third-party backup solution. And while we’re at it, let’s check out how the GitProtect.io tool does it. This tool helps to automate DevOps processes regarding backup and recovery. It supports GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Bitbucket, and, of course, Jira. GitProtect.io allows us to automatically backup and restore Jira data including: Projects, Issues, Roles, Workflow, Users, Boards, Comments, Attachments, and more. All this with the convenience and reliability of automatic backups that simply run in the background.

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How to set up GitProtect.io?

The configuration and setup are very fast and easy. All we need to do is to authenticate our Jira instance and link the accounts to start performing an automated backup of your Jira data. That’s all.

As a storage we can use any AWS S3 compatible cloud, on-premise, or choose GitProtect Cloud Storage. Redundancy, as one of the principal factors in backup, is implemented here as well. We can add as many storages as we need for redundancy and the backup 3-2-1 rule fulfillment.

How does it help with data Recovery?

Regarding Data Recovery we can restore our entire Jira instance data using this solution. No need to have any additional solutions. GitProtect.io is a complete All-in-ONE backup and restore solution, which permits to perform a granular, point-in-time, and cross over restore, as well as full data recovery.

Users also get: Cloud-to-Cloud or Cloud-to-Local restore, restore to the same or a new account, or even to a free Jira account with no-user recovery option. Thus, this solution permits us to respond to any event of failure and get back to work fast without downtime.

How does it guarantee security?

The tool uses strong AES encryption in-flight and at rest to protect our data. Moreover, the solution permits us to create our own encryption key to enhance the security of our data protection. 

At the same time, we have access to audit logs, statistics and visualizations about all actions performed in the system. There is a possibility to set up some notifications, for example mail or slack, to keep us up-to-date. 

GitProtect.io puts security in the first place and follows strict international requirements. It has already passed SOC 2 Audit and is in the process of certification for compliance with ISO 27001

Jira backup is available in Atlassian Marketplace, with a free trial version, just to check if this is the tool that you need – and trust me, you will love it!

Conclusion

As in most cases, we have many ways to solve our problems. We need to weigh all the pros and cons, but keep in mind that the security of our data is crucial to our business, no matter what we do. Security, backups and, of course, the ability to easily and quickly restore it when needed – these should be features of any IT system.

And to sum up, let’s watch the video:

Finally, I refer you to a certain article describing Jira backup best practices.  

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