Preparing for a Seamless Atlassian Cloud Migration: Essential Tips and Best Practices

Migrating your Atlassian instance to the cloud is a significant undertaking that requires meticulous planning and execution. With end-user productivity and business innovation at stake, it's crucial to ensure a seamless transition. This comprehensive guide outlines essential tips and best practices for preparing and executing a successful Atlassian Cloud migration, ensuring your business continuity and data security.

Planning Your Migration to Atlassian Cloud: A Step-by-Step Checklist

Phase 1: Assess

The first step in your migration journey is to assess your current environment. Identify which Atlassian products you have in both cloud and server instances, and determine who uses them. This includes self-hosted instances or cloud sites that may be under the radar. Additionally, consider any installed apps, as they won't automatically migrate with your server data.

Consult with your procurement or security teams to ensure that Atlassian cloud products meet your requirements. For more information on Atlassian’s compliance and security policies, visit the Atlassian Trust Center.

Evaluate the cost implications of moving to the cloud. While Atlassian doesn’t charge migration fees beyond the cloud subscription costs, you should assess payment options and overall license costs to plan your budget effectively.

Phase 2:  Evaluate Atlassian Access

Establish an organization in Atlassian Cloud to manage all cloud users at your company, set up security features like SAML SSO, and manage user accounts centrally.

Consider whether you need Atlassian Access, an enterprise-wide subscription that offers enhanced security and centralized administration across all Atlassian cloud products.

Assess the size and complexity of your data. Depending on the volume of data you need to migrate, choose the best Atlassian cloud plan to ensure data integrity throughout the migration process.

Phase 3: Strategize Your Migration

Check your anonymous access settings for Jira and Confluence to ensure they align with your security policies. Configure single sign-on (SSO) in advance to maintain seamless user access post-migration.

Verify that your cloud site supports the necessary user tier for all intended users. Audit third-party apps and custom integrations to determine their migration pathways.

Ensure you’re on a supported server or Data Center version suitable for your chosen migration method. Clean up your self-hosted instance by identifying and removing unnecessary data or configurations.

Phase 4: Prepare Your Team and Data

Ensure all necessary apps are installed or migrated to your new cloud environment.

Run user acceptance tests (UAT) by having end users replicate daily tasks on the test site to ensure everything functions correctly.

Develop a detailed migration communication plan. Address critical questions such as migration timelines, expected downtime, the status of the old site, new URLs, and user login procedures.

Regardless of your migration method, always back up your self-hosted instance of Jira or Confluence before starting the migration process.

Conduct a test migration to familiarize yourself with the process and ensure everything works as expected. This step is vital for establishing a clear timeline for your production migration and addressing any potential issues.

Our team is here to guide you through every step, ensuring a smooth transition and robust security for your business.

Ready to make your Atlassian Cloud migration seamless and efficient? Contact Jer-nee Consulting today to learn more about our expert migration services.