This page describes the migration path you can follow to migrate Xray data from Jira Server/Data Center to Jira Cloud. If you have any questions about which approach best suits your organization, please contact our support team directly.
Required steps to migrate
Before migrating from Xray Server/DC to Cloud be sure you've completed the steps recommended:
- Have a valid License for Xray
- Enable Sub-Task in Jira Cloud
- Issue Types names are the same both on Server and Cloud
Requirement ↔ Test Link must match both on Server and Cloud
- Review Issue Security applied to Xray Issues.
- Xray Custom Fields must be visible on Test Execution Issue Screens Scheme
- Run the pre-flight checks
Ready for a Checklist? Make Sure you do not forget any step and download our Xray Migration from Server to Cloud Checklist.
Learn more at Migration Preparation.
Also make sure you are aware of the differences between Xray Server and Xray Cloud.
Be also sure, that if you select the Xray Cloud Standard you are aware of the storage limit and API rate Limit. If the storage and api rate limit, offered by Xray Standard is not enough, you might consider upgrading to Xray Enterprise.
Migration Assessment
As in any other other move, you first need to make sure you run a comprehensive and complete assessment.
Avoid assessing and planning data migration too late on your migration journey. Xray is seemly integrated with Jira, so it's migration can be as complex as the Jira itself.
In the assessment follow the following steps:
- Determine current Xray Version
- Determine data size
- Evaluate diferences between Xray Cloud & Xray Server/DC
- Evaluate the Xray offering - Standard or Enterprise
Xray Version
In order to use Jira Cloud Migration Assistant to migrate you need to have Xray version 7.7.0 or higher.
In case you have a lower version, please upgrade to more recent version.
Data Size Assessment
Knowing your luggage weight will have a big impact on the effort and time to migrate. So the first step is to understand exactly what will be the data size.
Guardrails
Object | Mapping to App Assessments Data | Guardrail | Risk | Recommendations |
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| Medium | Cleanup data to decrease data size or accept risk | |
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How to Determine Test Runs & Attachments Data size
The volume of Test Runs and Attachments can have huge contribution to the time it takes to migrate and increases also the complexity.
Before committing with a timeline to migrate, please make a serious assessment of your data size.
Check the following articles to:
Xray Cloud vs Xray Server/DC
If you are looking to migrate from Jira Server/DC to Jira Cloud, you need to consider the differences between Xray Server/DC and Xray Cloud. These differences might affect how your users work and interact with Xray.
The ideas, goals, and major features are the same. However, while there is great similarity between them, there are a few subtle differences between the two versions. This is mainly due to:
- Jira architecture - The way apps work in Server and Cloud is completely different. In Server, apps can integrate with many aspects of Jira, while on Cloud, there are a lot of integration points missing, e.g. JQL functions, Project Templates, calculated fields at agile boards (like requirement status), etc.
- Product Age - Xray Cloud is a newer product. Therefore, some of the features are not yet present (eg. Historic Test Coverage report), although we plan to include these features in future releases. Also, we took the opportunity to improve some features (e.g. Project Level Settings).
For a full comparison between the Server/DC and Cloud versions of Xray, please refer to Xray Server and Xray Cloud.
Xray Standard + Xray Enterprise
When moving to Cloud, confirm which apps you will need to fulfil your needs.
We recommend you to run a comparison between the offers to select the best option for your use case. Be also sure, that if you select the Xray Cloud Standard you are aware of the storage limit and API rate Limit.
Learn more about the differences at https://www.getxray.app/xray-enterprise or contact our sales team to get more information.
Migration Planning
Now that you've completed your assessment and we have a clear idea of what you are moving to Cloud and what expects you, you can start planning your migration.
To plan the migration follow the steps:
- Select the migration strategy - we recommend using Jira Cloud Migration Assistant
- Communicate and understand the limitations
Select the Migration Strategy
Jira Cloud Migration Assistant
Atlassian provides the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant (JCMA) to help users transition from an on-premise Jira instance (Server or Data Center) to Jira Cloud.
Thanks to our integration with the JCMA, migrating from Xray Server/Data Center to the Cloud is straightforward and user-friendly.
Migration Options
The JCMA app provides two approaches for migrating to the Cloud:
Choose What to Migrate (Recommended): this option allows you to select specific projects, issue types, or configurations to migrate. It offers flexibility by enabling a phased migration and reduces the risk of transferring unnecessary or outdated data.
Migrate All Data At Once (Not Recommended)
This option migrates all data from your Server/Data Center instance to the Cloud in a single operation. While it may seem efficient, it’s important to note the following considerations:- Data Volume: large datasets can prolong migration times and potentially lead to errors or interruptions during the transfer.
- Increased Complexity: Migrating everything at once may bring over unnecessary data, such as outdated configurations, unused custom fields, or inactive projects, which could clutter your Cloud environment.
- No Phased Testing: Unlike selective migration, this approach doesn’t allow for phased validation, making it harder to troubleshoot issues.
For these reasons, we recommend using the Choose What to Migrate option for most scenarios. However, if your dataset is relatively small or you’re confident in its consistency, the Migrate All Data At Once can be a viable option.
Please note that Atlassian has discontinued the Migrate All Data At Once option. Please see: Discontinuing migrate-all-data-at-once. If you follow this migration and use an old version from Xray, please notice that you will need to follow a different process. To learn more, please check the edit issue type names.
Migrating Xray Data through Jira Cloud Migration Assistant
Any Xray related projects that are somehow connected, must be migrated together within the same migration, otherwise, any Xray link between the projects will not be present in the cloud after the migration.
E.g., all the Tests in the Test Plans of Project A must be part of the migrated Projects.
Avoid data change during the migration, otherwise the migration might fail.
Understand and Communicate the Limitations
Issue History and Test Run Activity
Due to the textual nature of the data in the activity logs, the entries are mostly copied directly. The language, phrases and markups may differ from server to cloud.
Migration drift not supported
All the linked data must be migrated together so data integrity can be guaranteed on the cloud.
Automated Step Library
Not supported by Xray Cloud and will not be migrated.
Cucumber settings
Will not be migrated to cloud. (Miscellaneous settings section)
Gadget Configuration
Configuration of Xray gadgets will not be migrated.
Xray Notifications
Xray Notifications (events) will not be migrated. Xray Cloud does not provide this feature.
Document Generator
Templates migrated from the Server must be revised once there are some differences between the server and cloud version.
Archived Issues
Xray data belonging to the archived issues are not migrated.
In the past we've seen migrations failing due to archived projects. Xray does not have visibility/permissions into these projects so please check if you are trying to migrate archived projects.
If you want to migrate archived projects, you first need to unarchived them.
Follow this article to understand how to check which projects are archived: [Xray] How to get all Archived Projects?
Migration Preparation
Before hitting "Migrate" you need to perform some steps to avoid issues and unsuccessful migrations.
Pre-Migration Checks - Steps for a successful Migration
Pre-Migration Checks are mandatory to a successful migration.
Before initiating the migration, it's crucial to perform the following checks to ensure a smooth process:
- Confirm you have a valid License for Xray
- Jira migration stage must be successful
- Confirm sub-tasks are enabled on Jira Cloud
- Confirm Issue Types names are the same both on Server and Cloud
Confirm Requirement ↔ Test Link must match both on Server and Cloud
- Review Issue Security applied to Xray Issues.
- Xray Custom Fields must be visible on Test Execution Issue Screens Scheme
- Run a Preflight Check: Confirm project linkages, issue linking, issue security schemes, and other dependencies are properly configured.
- Pre-load attachments: if you want to save time on the migration day, you can pre-load attachments.
These preparatory steps simplify the migration process and minimize potential issues.
For more detailed guidance, refer to:
Licensing
A valid Xray app license is required to migrate Xray data, otherwise, Xray data won't be migrated to the cloud.
Jira migration stage must be successful
Before the Xray migration stage is executed, all issues and Jira entities are migrated by Atlassian's JCMA. In order to guarantee that Xray migration is successful, all these Jira entities must be 100% migrated, without warnings. If you encounter problems in Jira's migration stage, please contact the Atlassian support team.
Pre-loading attachments
Atlassian provides a feature that allows you to migrate Jira attachments in advance, saving you time on the migration day. Go above to see more.
Confirm Sub-Tasks are enabled in Jira Cloud
Xray makes use of Sub-Tasks for Sub-Test Executions, so you need to make sure that Sub-Tasks are enabled in your Jira Cloud to acomodate the issue type Sub-Test Execution.
To learn more about enabling sub-tasks in Jira Cloud check the Atlassian Documentation.
Edit Issue Type Names
The name of the issue types needs to be the same on both server and cloud before starting the migration.
The Issue Type Precondition/Pre-Condition may have to be changed as it is named differently in the server and cloud versions of Xray.
https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/add-edit-and-delete-an-issue-type/
This procedure is only applicable when using the option "Migrate all data at once" from JCMA. If the migration is carried out using the "Choose what to migrate" option (i.e., choosing the specific projects to migrate), the extra steps described bellow should be disregarded.
Due to the way the "Migrate all data at once" option works on JCMA, when choosing this option a few additional steps must be taken to ensure compatibility with the Xray migration. So if you are using the "Migrate all data at once" option, please follow the steps below:
- On the Server side, rename all Xray issue types like this (avoid spaces before and after):
- Pre-Condition → Xray Precondition
- Test → Xray Test
- Test Execution → Xray Test Execution
- Test Plan → Xray Test Plan
- Test Set → Xray Test Set
- Sub Test Execution → Xray Sub Test Execution
- Still on the Server side, and only after the Xray types are renamed, create 6 dummy issue types like the list below:
- Precondition
- Test
- Test Execution
- Test Plan
- Test Set
- Sub Test Execution
After carrying out the previous operations, the issue types on the Server should look like this:
Figure 1 - Issue Types
After the migration is completed, the dummy issue types created with this purpose can be deleted, and the Xray issue types can be renamed back to their original names.
Sometimes when migrating with the "Migrate all data at once" option, the issue type avatars can be broken on the Cloud side after the migration (i.e., the migration is successful but the icons of the Xray issue types are missing). If that happens, the icons can be downloaded and updated manually on the Cloud following the procedure described here.
Edit Requirement ↔ Test Link
The Issue Link used for Requirement Coverage is slightly different between Xray Cloud and Xray Server/DC. To ensure that Xray Cloud will recognise these links, the Issue Link type must be edited on Server/DC to match the link used by Xray Cloud:
- Name: Test
- Outward Description: tests
- Inward Description: is tested by
This step must be done manually prior to migrating since the Issue Links are migrated by Jira instead of Xray.
The configuration can be found in MY_JIRA_SERVER_URL/secure/admin/ViewLinkTypes!default.jspa
Some Xray custom fields must be visible
Make sure that the following Xray-created custom fields are added to the Test Execution issue screen and are visible to all users in all projects that you are migrating.
Check Issue Security Levels
The Issue Security Scheme may restrict Xray's access to issues during the migration.
If you are using Security Levels for Xray Issues ( Test, Test Set, Test Plan, Test Execution, Sub-Test Execution and Pre-Condition) - you'll have to temporarily add "Any Logged in user" to all the security levels used by Xray Issue Types or remove all the Security Schemes/Levels from those issues.
Run Preflight Checks
These checks are meant to help you plan your migration by taking into consideration Xray related constraints. The checks will let you know if:
- the group of Projects that you are migrating contains any Xray links to data outside of these Projects.
If there are any such links, Xray will let you know which projects should be added to the migration to avoid ending up with missing links in the Cloud instance. This check should be done before any migration begins.
The preflight checks are available when the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant is installed and a version of Xray supporting the migration to Cloud is also installed. The page can be found in the Administration → Manage Apps → Xray → Cloud Migration. Here you see a table with all the instance projects listed, select all the projects for your migration and then press Validate. If there are no errors, you can leave this page and proceed with your migration through the Jira Migration Assistant. If there are any errors you can see the details and steps to fix the issues.
Figure 2 - Project List
Example: Project Xray Test Project was selected for migration. The preflight checks found that there is a link to another project that is not part of the migration (Xray Dev Test).
Figure 3 - Preflight Checks
We'll select the missing projects for the preflight checks and validate.
Figure 4 - Project List - no errors
There are no more errors, meaning that the projects can be migrated together safely. We can now go back to the Jira Migration Assistant and plan our migration with both projects.
Pre-load Attachments
Atlassian provides a feature that allows you to migrate Jira attachments in advance, saving you time on the migration day.
For more details about the steps required to preload the Xray attachments, please check these steps:
It's essential to have Xray version 7.8.2 installed, as this version includes the attachments feature. Additionally, you'll need to ensure that JCMA is updated to version 1.11.17 or higher. Below is a step-by-step guide to explain how the preload process works:
- Install Xray version 7.8.2 - This version is critical as it introduces the attachments functionality.
- Ensure JCMA version 1.11.17 or above is installed - This version of the migration assistant is required for the preload feature to function properly.
- Activate a dark feature on Jira Data Center - To enable the preload, you must activate a specific dark feature. Use the following code to enable it:
com.atlassian.jira.migration.app.data.preload.feature - Enable an additional feature on the Cloud's end - There’s an additional feature that must be activated on the Cloud side, but this is managed by Atlassian and does not require any action on your end. This very important step. You can ask us too and we can ask Atlassian to activate it.
By following these steps, the preload process should work as expected.
Go here to see more about Xray attachments.
The Migration Process
Now that you've assess, plan an prepare the migration you are ready to go to Jira Cloud Migration Assistant and start the migration.
If you want to know how to start the migration please go to Atlassian Documentation.
Migrate All Users
It is recommended that you select the option "All users and groups from the Jira directory" when choosing which users to migrate in the Jira Migration Assistant. This is due to the way that Jira checks which users are related to a project which will not consider users assigned to Test Runs.
Figure 5 - JMCA Users Migration
The Xray migration starts right after the Jira migration. While Xray is migrating projects, the Xray app screens/actions will be disabled until the end of the migration. Those screens will show a warning and an action to allow the user to see the current progress of the migration. This progress shows details about what is being done.
Figure 6 - Xray Blocked message in Tests
Xray Cloud also provides a page on the app administration section with all the migration plans in progress and done. Here the Jira administrator could see the history of migration and the ongoing migration plans. Learn more about this here.
Figure 7 - Migration Status
Unsuccessful Migrations
We are continuously working to improve and reduce the effort of migrating Xray to Cloud. Nevertheless, we recognise that issues may affect your migration that will cause a failure.
Our Migration Effort Score is rated by our customer as "Normal" and a big percentage of customers to do not face any blockers. The success depends on understanding and follow all the steps needed and tha data size anda complexity.
If the Xray migration is not successful during the Jira cloud migration plan, we highly recommend trying it again. Before trying again, make sure the cloud project is removed. If the issue persists, please contact our support in order to get help.
Most Common Reasons for Unsuccessful Migration
| Problem | Solution | Reference |
|---|---|---|
 Xray version is not compatible with Jira Cloud Migration Assistant | Upgrade Xray Version | |
| During the migration, there was a data change. | Re-run Migration and make sure there is no data change. | |
| Migration failed due to Archived projects | Unarchived the projects and migrated again. | |
| Migration failed due to Issue Security Scheme | Remove issue security schemes from projects before migration, or set issue security to "Any logged-in user." and then rerun the migration. | |
| Missing Permissions | Update the Xray app to 7.2.0 and later, or grant the "Browse Projects" and "Edit Issues" permissions to "Any logged-in user." | |
| Migration failed due to Missing Projects | Re-run the Migration and include all the projects that share dependency. | |
| Migration failed due to Xray issuetypes not matching | Re-run the Migration. But, before please check and rename all the Xray issues to match in both instances before the migration | |
 Xray Sub Test Execution is not installed on the Xray Cloud | Before the migration, please ensure that the Jira Sub-task is enabled, and then re-install Xray via the Health Check on the Jira Cloud. |
Do you want to learn more about Migrating from Xray Server to Cloud?
To learn more about migration from Xray Server to Xray Cloud you might want to take our dedicated course available for free at Xray Academy: Migration from Xray Server to Xray Cloud
