Evaluating your options for Atlassian Cloud or Data Center

NB! Please note that Atlassian products are developed rapidly. The product features listed in the article may change over time.

 

In the light of changes on Server platform Atlassian customers ask ''Why and in which case move to Atlassian Cloud or Data Center?''

 

The following post gives a more detailed insight into both platforms in addition to the overall conditions and possibilities introduced earlier here.   

 

Atlassian Cloud

On Atlassian Cloud you can purchase the following products: Jira Core, Jira Software, Confluence, Jira Service Management, Bitbucket, Trello, Statuspage, Opsgenie, Jira Align and Halp.

 

The choice of Cloud platform plans - Free, Standard, Premium and Enterprise is an important aspect when it comes to the complexity of the organization.

 

On Cloud, you can buy the licenses monthly or annually (except Bitbucket that is currently available only as a monthly subscription). Next, we are going to introduce Cloud by its specific features: 

 

 
User Tiers

Flexible conditions for user tiers make Cloud a convenient solution especially for small, growing teams. Cloud Free plan for example, can be a perfect solution for start-ups:  

• Up to 10 users – Jira Software and Confluence; 
• Up to 5 users – Bitbucket; 
• Up to 3 agents – Jira Service Management. 

 
Standard, Premium and Enterprise user tiers are: 

• Up to 10 000 users – Jira Core, Jira Software and Confluence; 
• Up to 5 000 agents – Jira Service Management; 
• Unlimited – Bitbucket. 

 

 

Storage

Cloud free plan offers 2GB data storage for following products: Jira Core, Jira Software, Confluence and 1GB for a large Git file on Bitbucket.

 

Standard, Premium and Enterprise plan data storage limits are: 

• 250GB (Standard) – Jira Core, Jira Software, Confluence and Jira Service Management; 
• Unlimited (Premium and Enterprise) – Jira Software, Confluence and Jira Service Management; 
• 5GB (Standard) and 10GB (Premium) – Bitbucket. 

 

Atlassian Access

As a Cloud product, Atlassian Access acts as a bridge between Atlassian tools and the organization’s existing user management software.

 

Access integrates with industry-leading identity and security products like Okta, Idaptive, Google Cloud Identity, Azure AD, and Onelogin for SAML single sign-on for user management.

 

Management is made easy as users are automatically provisioned and deprovisioned as they are added, moved or removed, according to rules set in external directory. Organization's audit log provides admins with an insight into who, what and when of your Atlassian product activity.

 

Atlassian Access can be purchased monthly or annually and it is priced per user: the higher the overall user tier, the lower the price per user. Atlassian Access is included in Enterprise plan. Free, Standard and Premium also support Access and it can be bought additionally.       

 

Atlassian Data Center

On Data Center platform you can purchase the following Atlassian products – Jira Software, Confluence, Jira Service Management, Bitbucket and Crowd.

 

As user tiers on Data Center are not limited, it is suitable especially for large organizations with over 10 000 users. Organizations with smaller teams should consider that the minimum user tier is 500 (for Jira and Confluence) or 50 agents (for Jira Service Management).

 

Product licenses can be purchased for 12 months minimum. Next, we will look at properties of Data Center which are suitable for organizations with large number of users and/or have complex security requirements: 

 

Project archiving in Jira

Project archiving in Jira improves speed and user experience for your instance. Open projects that haven’t had any new issues created recently can become an undesired visual clutter.

 

Archived projects will be removed from Jira’s index, but are still stored in the database as a read-only format. When a project becomes relevant again, you can easily restore it with few clicks.

 

 

The choice of Infrastructure

 

Iaas solution on AWS or Azure:

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a cloud computing infrastructure that provides computing, network and storage resources over the internet, via a subscription model that can scale. Since it’s offered as a subscription service, it can scale up or down as needed, providing greater flexibility compared to on-premise infrastructures.

 

On-premise cluster or single node solution:

With on-premise solution your organization gains a maximum control over the location and maintenance. A system with several nodes and a load balancer guarantees high availability of the service.

 

If a cluster solution is too complex for your organization and high availability is not yet required, you can use Data Center as a single node solution.

 

Most features and applications typical to Data Center do not require cluster solution. In case your organization grows and high availability becomes required, you can switch to cluster solution with the same license.

 

 In case your organization has different geographical locations (i.e. Tallinn and Riga), it is possible to bring a node closer to your customers' location for faster usage.  

 

 Single node solution.

 

Cluster solution.

 

 

SAML 2.0 and SSO for a convenient switching between Atlassian products

Atlassian provides the SSO 2.0 app that allows the following applications to connect to an IdP to provide SSO for your users: 

• Jira Software Data Center 
• Jira Service Desk Data Center 
• Bitbucket Data Center 
• Confluence Data Center 

 

Supported Identity Providers:   

Once you have installed the SAML SSO 2.0, the solution should work with any identity provider implementing the SAML 2.0 Web Browser SSO Profile, using the HTTP POST binding. Alternatively, this allows you to delegate authentication to Crowd.

 

Atlassian has performed tests with the following identity providers: Microsoft Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Active Directory (using ADFS 3.0), Bitium, Okta, OneLogin, PingIdentity.

 

 

If you hesitate, we will give you a trial license

Our experienced experts are ready to consult you with everything regarding Atlassian products. Atlassian offers free trial licenses so that you could test and ensure the suitability for your organization.

 

If you are an existing server or Data Center customer, Atlassian offers free cloud migration trials that match the remaining duration of your maintenance/subscription (up to 12 months).

 

During the trial you can discover and test Cloud and migrate if it meets your needs. If you are using Atlassian products for the first time, you can test Cloud Standard and Premium products for free for 7 days (can be extended up to 37 days).

 

With a trial license, Data Center can be used for 30 days (can be extended up to 90 days). All Atlassian Marketplace Apps can be tested for free for 30 days on all platforms. 

 

If you are using Atlassian products for the first time and have any additional questions or need help with choosing the right platform, don't hesitate to contact our experienced experts; we provide consultations and can help with everything regarding Atlassian products. More info here.