November 17th, 2023

The Xray team is proud to announce the release of Xray 7.4.0, this update is a game-changer for organisations looking to transition to the cloud, offering a suite of features that dramatically streamline and simplify the migration process.

Our focus in this release has been on enhancing efficiency, providing detailed planning tools, and offering greater control over the migration process. With the introduction of the revamped 'Cloud Migration Pre Flight Checker', users gain unprecedented insights into their project data, enabling precise planning and execution. This tool, along with other key features, is designed to minimize downtime and ensure a smooth transition to the cloud environment.

We've meticulously developed features that not only reduce migration time but also provide comprehensive planning options. These enhancements are designed to cater to the varying scales and complexities of projects our users handle.
By offering detailed insights into attachment sizes at project level and estimated migration times, we enable users to make informed decisions and plan their migrations more effectively.
Moreover, the introduction of selective project migration marks a significant leap in customisation, allowing users to tailor their migration journey according to their specific needs. This update is not just about moving to the cloud; it's about making that transition as smooth and controlled as possible, ensuring minimal disruption to your ongoing projects.


Upgrade Notes

Upgrading Xray to 7


If you are upgrading from a version lower than 3.2, this implies that an upgrade task will run to pre-calculate historical data. This one-time action will run in the background so that Xray remains available during the upgrade. A  re-index operation of your Jira instance is required to make the internal data searchable and usable by Xray.

Please be aware that this upgrade task will run immediately after updating Xray. As this operation can take some time and use a considerable amount of server resources, we suggest scheduling the upgrade of Xray outside of business hours. It is always possible to cancel the recalculation operation in the Xray configuration section → Custom Fields → Maintenance.

If upgrading from v3.2.x or v3.3.x to v7, you must recalculate data in the Xray configuration section → Custom Fields. This recalculation is necessary because of the huge improvement in the amount of data that Xray needs to add to the table and the Lucene indexes.

As this operation can take some time and use a considerable amount of server resources, we suggest scheduling the upgrade of Xray and recalculating the custom fields outside of business hours.

Downgrading from Xray 7


Downgrading from Xray 7.x.x to a previous version may have the following side effects:

After creating some specific data using Test Case Versions, the user may have some glitches when downgrading to a specific version of Xray

  • On a Test Issue, multiple manual test versions with steps, when downgrading the test issue will show all steps from all the versions
  • On a Test Issue, multiple manual test versions with specific datasets, when downgrading the test issue will show the parameters from all the datasets 
  • On a Test issue, having different test versions linked to the same precondition issue when downgrading, the test issue will show an integrity error instead of showing the precondition table


    And the precondition will show the warning of being linked to an archived test

Release highlights 

Cloud Migration Pre Flight Checker overhaul



We understand that migration to the cloud can be a complex and daunting task. Therefore, we have concentrated our efforts on making this process as seamless and user-friendly as possible, ensuring that our users can leverage the full potential of cloud technology with ease and confidence.

This pivotal feature provides users with all the tools required to plan their migration path to the cloud, and to better help our customer we added the following features:

  • Improvements to the project selection - This new approach to project selection by displaying the projects on a grid will greatly optimize the selection of the projects by having more information and better selection process.

  • Filters - Users are now able to quickly filter the results according to project usage and/or categories to quickly define the set of projects to validate.

  • Sorting and enhanced search - Users can now quickly paste a comma separated list with project keys, allowing to quickly select multiple dependent projects and re-run the validation if project selection needs to be changed.

  • Estimated Migration Time - To aid in comprehensive planning, estimated migration times are now displayed at project level. This estimation takes into account various factors such as project size, attachment volume to provide timelines for migration completion.

  • Attachment sizes - With this information we empower users with the ability to check attachment sizes per project, offering detailed insights for more accurate migration planning. This option is crucial in assessing data volume and preparing for a smooth migration process.

  • Project usage - Understanding last time a project has been updated allows planning migration in different phases, and/or not selecting projects that may have become deprecated.

Enhanced Migration Efficiency


The cornerstone of this latest version is our optimised cloud migration framework, which has been meticulously engineered to significantly reduce the time required for migrations.

This enhancement is a result of several key improvements:

  • Optimised Data Transfer - We have implemented advanced algorithms that optimize the way data is packaged and transferred to the cloud. This results in a more efficient use of bandwidth and quicker data upload times.

  • Reduced Downtime - Understanding the importance of continuous operation, the updated framework is designed to minimize downtime. Critical data and functionalities are prioritized, ensuring that the most essential components are migrated first and quickly made operational in the cloud environment.

  • Scalability - The framework is built to handle migrations of varying sizes, from small projects to large-scale enterprise migrations, without a significant impact on performance or speed.

These improvements collectively contribute to a more efficient migration process, allowing users to enjoy the benefits of cloud-based solutions with minimal disruption to their ongoing operations.




Just one more, yet important, thing...

Documentation is always important, and sometimes you may miss it.

Here's a summary of all the relevant articles that we've added and updated recently:



All New Features and Bug Fixes in this release

 

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