Starting with Jira 7, Jira is split into three different products, and the term Jira now refers to the common platform that all these products are built on. The three products that make up the Jira family are as follows:

• Jira Core: This is similar to the classic Jira (also known as JIRA), with all the field customizations and workflow capabilities. This is perfect for general-purpose task management.
• Jira Software: This is Jira Core with agile capabilities (previously known as JIRA Agile). This is well-suited for software development teams that want to use agile methodologies, such as Scrum and Kanban.
• Jira Service Desk: This is Jira Core with service desk capabilities. This is designed for running Jira as a support ticketing system, with a simplified user interface for the end users, and a focus on customer satisfaction with SLA...

Installing Jira is simple and straightforward. However, it is important for you to understand the components that make up the overall architecture of Jira and the installation options that are available. This will help you make an informed decision and be better prepared for future maintenance and troubleshooting, as well as establishing some common terminologies that are often used by the user community and Atlassian support representatives.

Atlassian provides a comprehensive overview of the Jira architecture at https://developer.atlassian.com/server/jira/platform/architecture-overview. However, with regards to the day-to-day administration and utilization of Jira, we do not need...

Just like any other software application, a set of base requirements needs to be met before you can install and run Jira. Therefore, it is important for you to be familiar with these requirements so that you can plan out your deployment successfully. Note that these requirements are for a behind-the-firewall deployment, also known as the Jira Server or Jira Data Center. The main difference between the two is that Jira Data Center allows for clustering, so you can have additional benefits such as high availability and better scalability. Atlassian also offers a cloud-based alternative called Jira Cloud, available at https://www.atlassian.com/software#cloud-products.

For evaluation purposes...

Jira comes in two flavors—an executable installer and a TAR.GZ or ZIP archive. The executable installer provides a wizard-driven interface that will walk you through the entire installation process. It even comes with a Java installer to save you some time. The archive flavor contains everything except for a Java installer, which means you will have to install Java yourself. You will also need to perform some post-installation steps manually, such as configure Jira as a service. However, you do get the advantage of learning what really goes on under the hood.

Now that you have a good understanding of the overall architecture of Jira, the basic system requirements, and the various installation options, we are ready to deploy our own Jira instances.

In the following exercise, we will be installing and configuring a fresh Jira instance for a small production team. We will perform our installation on a Windows platform with a MySQL database server. If you are planning to use a different platform or database, refer to the vendor documentation on installing the required software for your platform.

In this exercise, you will do the following:

• Install a fresh instance of Jira Software
• Connect Jira to a MySQL database

We will continue to use this Jira instance in subsequent chapters and exercises as we build our help desk implementation.

For our deployment, we will use the following:

• Jira Software server distribution...

The post-installation configuration steps are optional, depending on your needs and environment. If you set up Jira for evaluation purposes, you probably do not need to perform any of the following steps, but it is always good practice to be familiar with these as a reference.

The default memory setting for Jira is usually sufficient for a small- to medium-sized deployment. As Jira's adoption rate increases, you will find that the amount of memory allocated by default is no longer enough. If Jira is running as a Windows service, as we described in this chapter...

Jira is a powerful, yet simple, application, as reflected in its straightforward installation procedures. You have a wide variety of options available so that you can choose how you would like to install and configure your copy. You can mix-and-match different aspects, such as operating systems and databases, to best suit your requirements. The best part is that you can have a setup that consists entirely of open source software, which will bring down the cost and provide you with a reliable infrastructure at the same time.

In the next chapter, we will start to explore various aspects of Jira. The following chapters, starting with projects, will talk about key concepts in any Jira installation.