Atlassian Server reached end of life in February, prompting many customers to explore alternatives like Atlassian Cloud or Data Center. However, enterprises using Atlassian Server are increasingly seeking Agile planning solutions that offer more flexibility, cost-efficiency, and robust DevSecOps integration. They also need to tackle challenges related to data volume, customization, user mapping, performance, and data integrity during migration. This is where GitLab’s Jira2Lab comes into play, offering a seamless solution for large-scale Jira migrations to GitLab, while providing full CI/CD integration.

The problem with large-scale Jira migrations

Migrating from Jira to GitLab can be a significant hurdle, especially for enterprises with complex workflows and thousands of issues to move. Here are the most common challenges faced during such migrations:

• Massive data migration: As the number of issues, attachments, comments, and projects increases, so does the complexity of migrating them without performance issues or data loss.

• Custom fields and workflows: Jira instances often contain custom workflows, fields, and issue types that do not have a one-to-one mapping in GitLab. This gap creates friction during migration, as existing tools often require manual intervention to translate these elements.

• Lack of full DevSecOps integration: While many migration tools handle project management data, they do not integrate GitLab’s full DevSecOps capabilities. As a result, teams are left to manually configure their CI/CD pipelines and source control management systems after the migration.

Introducing Jira2Lab

Jira2Lab was designed from the ground up to solve the specific challenges of migrating from Jira to GitLab at scale. It’s not just about moving data; it’s about enabling teams to seamlessly transition into GitLab’s powerful DevSecOps environment without downtime or data loss.

Key features of Jira2Lab

1. Efficient data handling at scale
   Jira2Lab is optimized to handle thousands of issues, attachments, comments, and custom fields across multiple projects without sacrificing performance. It scales effortlessly to accommodate even the largest enterprise migrations.

2. Custom workflow and field mapping
   One of the standout features of Jira2Lab is its ability to automatically map custom workflows and fields from Jira to GitLab. The tool provides a flexible mapping configuration that eliminates the need for manual intervention during the migration process, making sure everything moves smoothly from Jira to GitLab.

3. CI/CD pipeline integration
   Jira2Lab doesn’t just migrate your issues and projects — it integrates GitLab’s full CI/CD pipeline into the migration process. This ensures that development teams can start using GitLab’s DevSecOps features, such as automated testing and deployment pipelines, immediately after migration.

4. Pilot migrations
   Our tool supports pilot migrations to allow teams to test their configurations and workflows before scaling up. This ensures that any issues can be caught early, preventing disruptions during the full migration.

5. Real-time monitoring
   The tool provides real-time monitoring and logs during migration, giving complete transparency to ensure every step is performed correctly and without errors.

6. Customizable and flexible
   Even if your Jira instance has unique configurations or workflows, Jira2Lab offers the flexibility to customize the migration according to your specific requirements, ensuring nothing is lost in translation.

Feature comparison: Jira vs. GitLab

Migrating from Jira to GitLab helps consolidate workflows and unlock advanced features native to GitLab. Here’s a quick comparison of the core features of both platforms:

With Jira2Lab, we ensure that all critical aspects, from issue tracking to CI/CD pipelines, are transitioned smoothly, taking full advantage of GitLab’s integrated approach to development and operations.

The migration methodology

Jira2Lab follows a structured, five-phase migration methodology, ensuring seamless transition with minimal disruption:

1. Discovery and planning

We start by thoroughly understanding the customer’s Jira setup, identifying all necessary custom workflows, fields, and projects that need to be migrated. This phase also involves a gap analysis to compare Jira and GitLab features and map out the migration process.

2. Setup

In this phase, we configure the migration tool and set up the necessary environments for both Jira and GitLab. This includes verifying all permissions and setting up a backup of Jira data before the migration begins.

3. Pilot migrations

Before migrating the entire dataset, we run pilot migrations on selected projects to test the migration process, workflows, and data integrity. This allows us to identify and resolve any issues early in the process.

4. Scaled migrations

After validating the pilot migration, we scale the migration across all projects, ensuring minimal downtime and smooth transitions for development teams.

5. Wrap-up and post-migration support

Once the migration is complete, we provide ongoing support, ensuring all teams are fully operational in GitLab. This phase also includes user training and the decommissioning of the Jira instance, if required.

Case study: Tackling scale with Jira2Lab

In a recent migration, a large enterprise faced the challenge of migrating over 20,000 issues across 50 projects from Jira to GitLab. The project had highly customized workflows and thousands of comments and attachments that needed to be transferred.

With Jira2Lab, we were able to:

• Migrate all data, including custom fields, without any data loss.
• Set up CI/CD pipelines within GitLab so that teams could immediately continue their work post-migration.
• Conduct a pilot migration of two projects, which allowed us to identify and fix minor workflow discrepancies before scaling up to the entire organization.

The result was a seamless transition to GitLab, with the entire process completed within the planned timeline and no significant downtime.

Get started with Jira2Lab today

Jira2Lab stands out in the market by addressing the limitations that other migration tools cannot handle. It is designed specifically for large-scale migrations and can integrate with GitLab’s full DevSecOps lifecycle, unlike most tools that only handle project management data. The tool’s ability to map custom workflows and integrate CI/CD pipelines makes it the perfect solution for enterprises looking to enhance their development workflows while migrating to GitLab.

Ready to scale your development processes with GitLab? Explore our Professional Services catalog to learn how we can help your team migrate efficiently and effectively. Contact us through the form at the end for a personalized demo of GitLab's Jira2Lab.