Backup and Restore only parts of a configuration

Step-by-Step

Generally speaking, there are four phases of a Backup/Restore process:

I. Creating a backup JSON file

II. Uploading the backup file to your new environment

III. Running the restore process

IV. Import results

We will go into details of the above steps in the following pages.
As much as the first step is optional, we recommend that you create a backup JSON file of your current system to be able to roll back after you are done working with the imported settings.

If you follow this guide correctly, you should be able to import certain Email This Issue settings into your setup.

I. Creating a backup JSON file

To create a backup JSON file in your system (which in this case is optional, but highly recommended), you will need to carry out the following steps:

1. Navigate to Email This Issue - Administration -Backup/Restore.
2. Click on Backup (next to Add file) and optionally fill the "Description of the export" field,  then press the Create button under the description field.
3. Download the JSON file by clicking on the three dots at the end of the row and click on Download. Please note that the backup JSON file is by default stored at <Jira Home Directory>\data\emailissue\.
   
   

The file is displayed on a list in the Backup/Restore menu and can be restored by clicking on Restore.

II. Uploading the backup file back into your environment

In order to upload the backup file into your system, follow the below steps:

1. Navigate to Email This Issue - Administration - Backup/Restore.

2. Click on Add file then click on Browse.

3. Select the JSON file you wish to restore then click Upload (or drag and drop the downloaded file in your browser).

4. The file is now listed in a table below and can be used to restore your settings.

III. Running the restore process

After having the JSON file uploaded in your system you can now start the restore process:

1. Click on the three dots at the end of an uploaded item
2. Click on Restore

The restore configuration has four stages:

1. Entity selection

2. Conflict resolution

3. Overview

4. Import results

1. In the Entity selection, you can select which parts of your configuration you would like to import into your server instance. In this case, we would like to import the mail handler, mail account and templates into an already existing configuration as shown below:
   
   

   

   The entities are presented with drop-down menus and are marked with a grey highlight, while the rows without any highlights are entity items.

   The entity items can be one of the following types:

   • Name of an entity (e.g.: the name of a template)
   • A Project and/or an Issue type can be selected within the entity, in which case it is presented as <Project name>; <IssueType name>
   • A Project and/or an Issue type can be selected within the entity, in which case it is presented as <Project name>; <IssueType name>; <JQL filter>
     
     
2. After selecting the entities to be imported, click on Conflict resolution to proceed with the process.
   
   
   
   

3. During the import, there could be conflicts regarding the items you wish to restore, but in this case, because we are restoring data in your old system  there will be configurations (therefore conflicts) present already.
   If you wish to restore any configuration into an empty setting, please follow our Backup/Restore guide for empty email settings from this point on.
   Otherwise, click on Overwrite existing then select an entity you wish to overwrite (by default the original entity will be offered to you automatically):
   
   
   
   

4. After overwriting the entities, click on Check to see if the resolutions have been successful. Once all the conflicts are resolved, the overview page is displayedand you may proceed with the restore process by clicking on Confirm.
   
   
   
   

   In case of importing Mail Accounts please note that we do not import passwords. They need to be entered again or the account needs to be changed in order for the setup to work.

   

IV. Import results

1. After clicking on Confirm, the import results page displays the log of imported entities and their status. Imported entities can be found on the left pane, while the results of their import are presented on the right pane of the window.

2. Click on Close to exit the import result page.
   
   
   
   
   

   • The import can have four results:
     • Success: all data has been imported successfully.
     • Warning: there were items during the import that could not be identified, therefore no action has been taken on those items.
     • Error: there was an error during the process such as a faulty JSON file. It does not mean that the restore has failed, it can still be successful, however, you need to check the configuration.
     • Failed: a fatal error has occurred, the import is failed, no action has been taken on any of the items.
       • In the case of "New entity", the new entity is NOT created.
       • In the case of "Overwrite existing", the existing entity will not be modified in any way.
   • On the results page a link is displayed next to the entity which takes you to the edit page of the entity.
     
     

   The import log can be found in the browser's console in a JSON format.

   If all the above steps are carried out properly, you should now have all the imported configurations of the backup file in your system.