How to install, self-host, and Integrate Jira Software and Jira Service Desk in the Cloud

11 minutes

Dwijadas Dey

Jira is a popular software for overseeing projects, developed by Atlassian. It is primarily focused on handling issues and agile project management, making it a strong tool for teams working on software development. However, it is also utilized across different areas for activities like tracking bugs, monitoring tasks, and organizing workflows.

Should you be considering purchasing a Jira server and are interested in discovering possible ways to host a Jira on your own cloud, this guide will assist you in setting it up in your cloud. Jira comes with two types of hosting solutions: Jira Cloud and Jira Data Center.

With Jira Cloud, Atlassian will host and set up your Jira site in the cloud. This is typically the top choice for startups or small enterprises looking to start quickly with minimal effort and speed, as well as for groups that prefer not to handle the technical intricacies of self-hosting.

There is a free plan for Jira Cloud that you can look at to get started with Jira Cloud.

Using Jira Data Center, you have the choice to manage Jira on your hardware or through cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. This option is suitable for large teams that require continuous access to Jira and the ability to handle high volumes of workload and high performance.

The self-hosted Jira Data Center will allow enterprises to control every aspect of Jira deployment from hardware to software.

One caveat, Jira Software and Jira Service Desk run on top of JIRA Core. So there is no need to run two separate installers for Jira Software and Jira Service Desk on the same system. The installer for either of them will install Jira core and on top of that, you can add the left one at a later stage.

In this guide, we will install Jira software(Data Center) in Ubuntu 22.04, and once it is up and running, the integration of the Jira service desk(Data Center), will be done through the Jira software user interface.

Prerequisites

SSH access to the server with sudo privilege.
Atlassian recommends at least 8GB of RAM, dual-core CPU, and high-performance physical hard disks for small-scale deployment.

Step 1: Update System

To start with the procedure, refresh the system package list with the most recent version using the following command.

$ sudo apt update

Step 2: A note on Java

Jira is a web application written entirely in Java and bundled with Tomcat and JRE. The Jira software 7.6.4 is bundled with Apache Tomcat/8.5.6 and Oracle Java 1.8.0_102.

Individuals aiming to manually install Jira from the tar.gz archive must also separately install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or the Java Development Kit (JDK).

This post will cover installation of Jira software from the Linux installer which includes the bundled JRE. As a result, you won't have to install JRE/JDK on your own.

Step 3: Install PostgreSQL

Jira supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Azure SQL, and Amazon Aurora. Nonetheless, in this guide, we will employ PostgreSQL 15 as the database for our Jira software(data center).

Before setting up PostgreSQL 15, install the following prerequisite packages:

$ sudo apt install dirmngr ca-certificates software-properties-common apt-transport-https lsb-release curl -y

To verify the authenticity of installed packages of PostgreSQL, import the GPG key.

$ sudo curl -fSsL https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/postgresql.gpg > /dev/null

Next import the latest stable PostgreSQL 15 repository.

$ echo deb [arch=amd64,arm64,ppc64el signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/postgresql.gpg] http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/ $(lsb_release -cs)-pgdg main | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/postgresql.list

Once you import the PostgreSQL 15 repository into your system, update the repository database.

$ sudo apt update

Now proceed with installing PostgreSQL 15.

$ sudo apt install postgresql-client-15 postgresql-15

Check the status of PostgreSQL service

$ sudo systemctl status postgresql

Enable PostgreSQL service if you find it in a disabled state.

$ sudo systemctl enable postgresql --now

Access PostgreSQL prompt.

$ sudo -i -u postgres
postgres@ip-172-26-5-82:~$ psql
psql (15.7 (Ubuntu 15.7-1.pgdg22.04+1))
Type "help" for help.
postgres=# exit

For the security of your PostgreSQL database, update the default password for user Postgres.

$ sudo -u postgres psql
psql (15.7 (Ubuntu 15.7-1.pgdg22.04+1))
Type "help" for help.
postgres=# ALTER USER postgres PASSWORD  'password';
ALTER ROLE
postgres=# exit

Update two configuration settings for the PostgreSQL server. First, update the value of the parameter listen_address to every interface and then update the value of the parameter password_encryption to md5.

$ sudo vi /etc/postgresql/15/main/postgresql.conf
…
…
listen_addresses = '*' 
password_encryption = md5
…
…

Next, Configure PostgreSQL to let you connect from localhost since PostgreSQL and Jira will be installed in the same system.

$ sudo vi  /etc/postgresql/15/main/pg_hba.conf
# Database administrative login by Unix domain socket
local   all             postgres                                peer
# TYPE  DATABASE        USER            ADDRESS                 METHOD
…
…
# IPv4 local connections:
host    all             all             127.0.0.1/8             md5
host    all             all             172.26.5.82/20          trust
# IPv6 local connections:
host    all             all             ::1/128                 md5
…
…

If you are connecting Jira to a remote PostgreSQL database then update the network/subnet address accordingly in the above file.

Restart PostgreSQL

$ sudo systemctl restart postgresql

Step 4: Configure PostgreSQL for Jira

In this step, create a user account and a database for the Jira software setup. The new user should have permission to create database objects and should also possess "can login" privileges. Nevertheless, we will configure the PostgreSQL user for Jira software as a super user and will have these two permissions assigned automatically. You can configure the same user with these two permissions only for the Jira Software setup.

$ sudo -u postgres createuser --interactive
Enter name of role to add: confluenceuser
Shall the new role be a superuser? (y/n) y

Now update password for the user confluenceuser.

$ sudo -u postgres psql
psql (15.7 (Ubuntu 15.7-1.pgdg22.04+1))
Type "help" for help.
postgres=# ALTER USER confluenceuser PASSWORD  'password';
ALTER ROLE

Next, create a database(jira) and grant access to this database to the user confluenceuser. Make sure the character encoding is set to utf8 encoding. To verify the PostgreSQL server encoding is set to utf8, run the following command from the PostgreSQL prompt.

postgres=# SHOW SERVER_ENCODING;
server_encoding 
-----------------
UTF8
(1 row)

Finally, Create the database and grant access to the database.

$ sudo su - postgres -c "createdb -E UNICODE -l C -T template0 jira"
$ sudo -u postgres psql
psql (15.7 (Ubuntu 15.7-1.pgdg22.04+1))
Type "help" for help.
postgres=# GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE jira TO confluenceuser;
GRANT
postgres=#

Test if you can connect to the PostgreSQL database with the configured user name.

$  psql -h localhost -p 5432 -U confluenceuser -d jira
Password for user confluenceuser: 
psql (15.7 (Ubuntu 15.7-1.pgdg22.04+1))
SSL connection (protocol: TLSv1.3, cipher: TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384, compression: off)
Type "help" for help.
jira=#

Step 5: Download and Install Jira Software(Data Center)

Jira provides a trial subscription to use the complete version of Jira software(Data Center) for 30 days. Once the trial period is over, the Jira software(data center) site will become read-only and you’ll have the option to buy a full license to continue using it.

Download Jira Data Center from download archives.

$ wget https://product-downloads.atlassian.com/software/jira/downloads/atlassian-jira-software-7.6.4-x64.bin

Make the installer executable.

$ chmod u+x atlassian-jira-software-7.6.4-x64.bin

Install Jira software.

$ sudo ./atlassian-jira-software-7.6.4-x64.bin
Unpacking JRE ...
Starting Installer ...
Jul 11, 2024 3:39:37 AM java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences$1 run
INFO: Created user preferences directory.
Jul 11, 2024 3:39:37 AM java.util.prefs.FileSystemPreferences$2 run
INFO: Created system preferences directory in java.home.
This will install JIRA Software 7.6.4 on your computer.
OK [o, Enter], Cancel [c]
o
Choose the appropriate installation or upgrade option.
Please choose one of the following:
Express Install (use default settings) [1], Custom Install (recommended for advanced users) [2, Enter], Upgrade an existing JIRA installation [3]
2
Where should JIRA Software be installed?
[/opt/atlassian/jira]
/opt/atlassian/jira
Default location for JIRA Software data
[/var/atlassian/application-data/jira]
/var/atlassian/application-data/jira
Configure which ports JIRA Software will use.
JIRA requires two TCP ports that are not being used by any other
applications on this machine. The HTTP port is where you will access JIRA
through your browser. The Control port is used to startup and shutdown JIRA.
Use default ports (HTTP: 8080, Control: 8005) - Recommended [1, Enter], Set custom value for HTTP and Control ports [2]
1
JIRA can be run in the background.
You may choose to run JIRA as a service, which means it will start
automatically whenever the computer restarts.
Install JIRA as Service?
Yes [y, Enter], No [n]
y
Details on where JIRA Software will be installed and the settings that will be used.
Installation Directory: /opt/atlassian/jira 
Home Directory: /var/atlassian/application-data/jira 
HTTP Port: 8080 
RMI Port: 8005 
Install as service: Yes 
Install [i, Enter], Exit [e]
i
Extracting files ...
                                                                           
Please wait a few moments while JIRA Software is configured.
Installation of JIRA Software 7.6.4 is complete
Start JIRA Software 7.6.4 now?
Yes [y, Enter], No [n]
y
Please wait a few moments while JIRA Software starts up.
Launching JIRA Software ...
Installation of JIRA Software 7.6.4 is complete
Your installation of JIRA Software 7.6.4 is now ready and can be accessed
via your browser.
JIRA Software 7.6.4 can be accessed at http://localhost:8080
Finishing installation ...

This completes installation of Jira Data Center. In the step 8, we will finish setting up the Jira Data Center.

Step 6: Download and Install PostgreSQL database driver

To connect to the Database, Jira needs a database driver. Since we are using PostgreSQL as a backend for Jira, download the JDBC driver for PostgreSQL and place it in the lib directory of Jira.

$ cd /opt/atlassian/jira/lib
$ wget https://jdbc.postgresql.org/download/postgresql-42.7.3.jar

Step 7: Verify Ownership of Jira application folder

Before launching the configuration wizard for Jira software, check the permission and ownership of Jira application data folder.

$ ls -l  /var/atlassian/application-data
total 4
drwx------ 9 jira root 4096 Jul 11 03:41 jira

If the ownership of this directory is not with the user Jira then revert the ownership to the user jira and assign fresh permissions with the following commands.

$ sudo chown -R jira:jira /var/atlassian/application-data
$ sudo chmod -R u=rwx,o-rwx  /var/atlassian/application-data

Step 8: Setup Jira software(Data Center)

The setup wizard is the last step needed to get Jira up and running. To get started with the setup process, point the web browser to http://JIRA_SERVER_IP:8080 and complete all the steps as described below.

Choose the option "I will set it up mysqlf"

Provide PostgreSQL DB connection details.

Fill up application properties details.

In this page, you will be asked to provide a license key. If you don't have the one then Click "generate a JIRA trial license".

To generate a new trial license for Jira software, choose the Product type as "Jira", License type as Jira Software(Data Center) and server ID. To know your server ID, Click Administrator->System.

In this step, Confirm that you wish to install license key in your server.

If you choose to transmit the License key without encryption, you will receive a notification regarding the potential for a security threat.

The trial license key will be filled in automatically in the textbox.

To set up administrator account, Provide a name, email id, user name and password.

Setup email notification. You can configure it at later stage.

Choose a language.

You have the option to upload a profile picture on this page, but it's not required.

Click 'Create a new project'.

Choose "Scrum software development" and click 'Next'.

Press the button 'Select'.

On this page, you'll need to supply information about your software development project. Enter a project title and a key that you find appropriate.

You will be redirected to home page of Jira. Discover some of Jira's features by checking out the Jira dashboard, Projects, and Issues.

Step 9: Integrate Jira software with Jira service desk

At this stage, you can integrate Jira software with Jira service management (formerly Jira service desk). To start the process, navigate to Administration > Applications > Versions & licenses page and click 'Try it free' under other Jira applications.

Click 'Try it for free' to install Jira Service management.

Hold on for a bit. You're able to check the status of the Jira service management installation.

In this page you will get a confirmation about successful Installation of Jira service management. To generate a license for Jira service management, visit your atlassian account .

To generate a new trial license for Jira service management, choose the Product type as "Jira Service management", License type as Jira Service management(Data Center) and provide your server ID as well. To know your server ID, Click Administrator->System.

In the same page, provide Jira server ID and click 'Generate License'.

Copy the License key.

Insert the License key into the specified text-box.

You will get a confirmation about addition of Jira service desk license.

Step 10: Self-hosted vs. Cloud-hosted

Now that you've got a basic understanding of Jira software installation and Jira service desk setup, isn't it appealing to consider hosting Jira yourself? Wait a minute! There's an additional choice available to you through Jira cloud. Which option are you leaning towards? The choice always hinges on your requirements and your intended use of the product.

Jira Cloud is simpler to set up, and Atlassian handles the infrastructure. You'll get the newest updates often. Jira Cloud doesn't need any upkeep on your end, which is great if you're a small team.

On the flip side, the Jira Server offers extensive flexibility for executing complex scenarios. It simplifies the process of locating applications on the Marketplace, and should you collaborate with a Solution Partner, they can create tailored modifications that ensure the product perfectly aligns with your specific requirements.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Jira by Atlassian offers two hosting solutions: Jira Cloud, which is hosted by Atlassian and ideal for startups and small enterprises, and Jira Data Center, giving larger teams more control over their deployment. Whether you opt for the ease of Jira Cloud or the customization of Jira Data Center, this guide has equipped you with the knowledge to set up Jira software and integrate it with the Jira service desk in your cloud, specifically focusing on Jira Data Center installation on Ubuntu 22.04. By understanding the benefits of each hosting option, you can make an informed decision that best suits your team's needs.

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