Practical JIRA Administration

Book description

If you're familiar with JIRA for issue tracking, bug tracking, and other uses, you know it can sometimes be tricky to set up and manage. In this concise book, software toolsmith Matt Doar clarifies some of the more confusing aspects by answering difficult and frequently asked questions about JIRA administration.

Practical JIRA Administration shows you how JIRA is intended to be used, making it an ideal supplement to the extensive documentation already available. The book’s chapters are loosely connected, so you can go straight to the information that best serves your needs.

  • Understand the difference between JIRA groups and JIRA project roles
  • Discover what JIRA schemes do, and learn how to maintain them
  • Use a consistent configuration approach to help you use JIRA as a platform
  • Create a workflow from scratch
  • Add, modify, and deactivate users
  • Prepare for a JIRA upgrade, and troubleshoot if necessary
  • Get remote access to JIRA via email, SQL, REST, and other methods

Publisher resources

View/Submit Errata

Table of contents

  1. Preface
    1. What This Book Is About
      1. JIRA Versions and System Details
      2. Development Environment
    2. Coauthor
    3. Technical Reviewers
    4. Conventions Used in This Book
    5. Using Code Examples
    6. Safari® Books Online
    7. How to Contact Us
    8. Content Updates
      1. February 29, 2012
      2. June 4th, 2013
      3. October 1st, 2015
    9. Acknowledgments
  2. 1. Groups Versus Roles
    1. Overview
      1. Scaling
      2. Updating
    2. Project Roles
    3. Creating a New Project Role
    4. Not Creating New Project Roles
    5. Summary
    6. Further Reading
  3. 2. Resolved, Resolution, and Resolution Date
    1. Overview
    2. Resolved
    3. Resolution
    4. Resolution Date
    5. Other Approaches
    6. Summary
    7. Further Reading
  4. 3. Understanding Schemes
    1. Overview
    2. Project-Wide Schemes
      1. Adding Users to Schemes
      2. Issue Type Schemes
      3. Notification Schemes
      4. Permission Schemes
      5. Issue Security Schemes
    3. Schemes That Use Issue Types
      1. Workflow Schemes
      2. Field Configuration Schemes
      3. Issue Type Screen Schemes (ITSS)
    4. Working with Schemes
      1. Choosing Schemes
      2. Documenting Schemes
      3. Debugging Schemes
    5. The Future of Schemes
  5. 4. JIRA as a Platform
    1. Overview
    2. What Can Be Configured
      1. What Is Configured System-Wide
    3. Worked Example: Configuring JIRA for a New Department
    4. Basic JIRA Project Setup
      1. Project Lead
      2. Project Category
      3. Project Avatar
      4. Notification Scheme
      5. Permission Scheme
      6. Groups and Roles
      7. Hiding Projects from Users
      8. Issue Security Scheme
    5. Advanced Project Setup
      1. Issue Type Scheme
      2. Workflow Scheme
      3. Field Configuration Scheme
      4. Screen Scheme
      5. Issue Type Screen Scheme (ITSS)
    6. Adding a Custom Field
    7. Names Used in the Example
    8. Summary
  6. 5. Creating a Workflow from Scratch
    1. Overview
    2. Designing a Workflow
      1. JIRA Agile and Workflows
    3. Implementing a Workflow
    4. Deploying and Testing a Workflow
    5. Workflows and Events
    6. Transitions, Sub-Tasks, and Links
    7. Further Reading
  7. 6. Custom Fields
    1. Overview
    2. What’s the Big Deal with Custom Fields?
    3. Choosing Custom Field Types
      1. Standard Text Fields
      2. Validated Free Input Fields
      3. Option Fields
      4. The Labels Field
      5. Date Picker Fields
      6. User & Group Picker Fields
      7. Other Picker Fields
    4. What is a Custom Field Context?
    5. Limiting Contexts
    6. Adding Contexts
    7. Dangers of Custom Field Contexts
      1. Deleting Contexts
      2. Changing Contexts
      3. Adding a New Context
    8. Screens and Field Configurations and Custom Field Contexts, Oh My!
    9. Where Is My Field?
    10. Minimizing the Number of Custom Fields
    11. Reducing the Number of Custom Fields
    12. Dos and Don’ts
      1. Dos
      2. Don’ts
  8. 7. The User Lifecycle
    1. Overview
    2. Adding Users
    3. Adding Third-Party Users
    4. Modifying Users
      1. Changing a Username
    5. Deactivating Users
    6. Monitoring Users
  9. 8. Planning a JIRA Upgrade
    1. Overview
    2. Preparing for an Upgrade
    3. Important JIRA Locations
    4. Upgrade Approaches
    5. Simple Upgrades
    6. A General Upgrade Procedure
    7. Testing an Upgrade
    8. Troubleshooting an Upgrade
    9. Further Reading
  10. 9. Remote Access to JIRA
    1. Overview
    2. Email
    3. SQL
    4. REST
      1. JIRA and Python
      2. Creating Custom REST Resources
      3. The History of JIRA and REST
    5. Webhooks
    6. XML and RSS
    7. CLI (Command Line Interface)
    8. Remote Issue Links
    9. Issue Collectors
    10. Integrating with Other Applications
    11. Further Reading
  11. 10. Migrating Data into JIRA
    1. Overview
    2. Migrating Data from JIRA to JIRA
    3. Migration Steps
      1. Extract the Data
      2. Modify the Data
      3. Import the Data
    4. The JIRA CSV Importer
    5. Cloud Differences
      1. No Staging Instance
      2. Changing CSV Importer Version
      3. No Attachment Imports with a File URL
      4. No Custom Add-ons
    6. Estimating a Migration
    7. Further Reading
  12. 11. Jiraargh! Frustrations
    1. Overview
    2. Add-Ons That Should Be Standard
    3. Frustrations with Fields
    4. Frustrations with Actions
    5. More Information Needed!
    6. Frustrations with Email
    7. Learning JIRA Safely
    8. Too Many Administrators
      1. Better Feedback for Administrators
    9. Automating Your Configuration
    10. Debugging Your Configuration
    11. Managing Custom Fields
    12. Managing Projects
    13. Further Reading
  13. Index

Product information

  • Title: Practical JIRA Administration
  • Author(s): Matthew B. Doar
  • Release date: June 2011
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9781449305413