What to Expect When You Migrate Off of Atlassian Server
As February 15, 2024, draws nearer, it’s essential to take action and begin the process of migrating from Atlassian Server to Atlassian Data Center or Cloud before losing support.
While an Atlassian Server migration can seem like a daunting task, it doesn’t have to be. To ensure a smooth transition and minimize disruptions to your business, you should start preparing now by familiarizing yourself with the migration process and understanding what steps you need to take.
How long will the Atlassian Server migration take?
The actual migration itself is normally completed over the course of one weekend (or whenever 48-72 hour period would be least disruptive to your business.) However, to make sure that flurry of activity goes smoothly, a lot of other work is required before and after the migration itself.
The length of the migration process varies depending on the complexity of your Atlassian tool stack and the amount of data that needs to be moved. Typically, migrations take between 4-12 weeks, but larger and more complex instances can take as much as 6-9 months.
Allocating sufficient time for preparation, testing, and training ensures that the migration goes as planned and all but eliminates the chances of unexpected delays or post-migration difficulties.
What will the migration entail?
The complete migration process involves a number of steps:
- The Assessment
- The Cleanup
- The Pre-migration Checklist
- The Migration Testing
- The Migration
- The Post-migration Testing and Optimization
- The Follow-up Support
For more information on all seven steps, download our white paper, The Mechanics of an Enterprise Atlassian Cloud Migration.
The Assessment
The Assessment is the first step in the migration process. During this phase, you’ll need to assess your current environment and identify any areas that need improvement or adjustment. This includes understanding your existing data structure, customizations, integrations, and other requirements. You’ll also need to understand the target platform’s capabilities and limitations in order to ensure a successful migration.
The purpose of this initial assessment is to clearly define every aspect of the migration as it pertains to the client’s unique circumstances. As such, it’s easily the most crucial phase of the engagement because it sets the stage for everything to follow.
At the start of each engagement, the migration experts at Cprime perform a Migration Impact Assessment that covers everything we’ve found to be vital in the nearly 20 years we’ve been doing these migrations.
The Cleanup
The Cleanup phase involves removing any unnecessary data from your existing system. This includes deleting unused fields, removing duplicate records, streamlining the user base, and cleaning up any outdated or incorrect data.
This will help reduce the amount of time it takes to migrate your data and ensure that only relevant information is transferred over to the new platform. The smaller and simpler the data set is, the easier it is to guarantee data fidelity after the migration. In some cases, a cleaned-up dataset also saves money, since less data and fewer users translates to lower licensing costs.
The Pre-migration Checklist
A migration has a lot of moving parts, and one oversight can create huge complications down the road. The Pre-migration Checklist is an important part of the migration process that helps mitigate that risk.
It should include all of the necessary steps for a successful migration such as setting up user accounts on the new platform, configuring security settings, creating backups of existing data, and testing connectivity between systems.
This checklist should be reviewed by all stakeholders involved in the migration before proceeding with any further steps.
The Migration Testing
The Migration Testing phase overlaps the actual migration weekend to ensure everything looks right in anticipation of the migration, and that everything works perfectly after the migration is completed.
It involves running tests on both systems to ensure that everything is functioning correctly before going live with the new system. This includes testing user access rights, verifying that all data has been successfully migrated over, and ensuring that all customizations have been properly implemented on the new platform.
The Migration
Migrating from Atlassian Server to a new platform involves a series of steps, including data extraction, data transformation, and data loading. It transfers all of your existing data from your Atlassian Server system to either Data Center or Cloud using specialized tools or scripts designed for this purpose.
Once the data is migrated, it’s important to double-check that all of your data has been successfully transferred over before going live with the new system so that there are no surprises once you’re up and running on it.
As noted earlier, the migration itself should be relatively quick, simple, and painless—assuming all the necessary planning and preparation has been done properly.
The Post-migration Testing and Optimization
The Post-migration Testing and Optimization phase involves making sure everything is working as expected after migrating your data over to the new platform. This includes testing out user access rights again, verifying that all customizations have been properly implemented, and optimizing performance if necessary.
While initial testing will occur on the migration weekend, further testing and optimization should be carried out once the new system is fully operational—especially once users begin using, which can always bring bugs to light that weren’t initially caught.
The Follow-up Support
Finally, The Follow-up Support phase involves providing ongoing support for users who may experience issues while using the new system or require assistance with troubleshooting problems they encounter while using it. Follow-up support can also involve change management to ensure the users can function as well as the system post-migration.
This could include providing training materials or offering technical support when needed so users can get back up and running quickly without having to wait for long periods of time for a response from customer service representatives or IT staff members.
How can you prepare for the migration?
Many of the early stages listed above fall into the “preparation” phase of the migration process. For the migration to be successful, the majority of the time, effort, and investment should be focused on this preliminary stage.
An initial assessment of the current state of the Server instance as well as the goals for the migration will lay the groundwork by outlining everything that will be needed to prepare effectively.
Data cleanup, and creating and completing a pre-migration checklist are also vital. Doing so, you’ll be in the best position to effectively test, perform, and support your migration from Server to Data Center or Cloud.
Many organizations that have successfully migrated their Atlassian tool stack agree that the most important thing they did in preparation was to choose a qualified migration partner. Working with experts who have been there and done that will make the entire process far easier, less time-consuming, and often less expensive.
To speak to a migration specialist, contact Cprime today.
When should you start?
As noted at the beginning, the Atlassian Server applications will no longer be supported as of February 15, 2024. With a migration taking anywhere between one and nine months, depending on the size and complexity, waiting until the last minute could lead to costly disruptions in business processes.
Don’t let that happen!
Start planning your migration today to secure your data and avoid any potential setbacks.
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