JSM Data Center End of Life: A DORA Checklist for EU Financial Entities

15 Oct 2026 · By Ruann van der Merwe, Strategic Advisor — Synapse Software
Strategic Advisor at Synapse Software

Jira Service Management Data Center stops being supported on March 28, 2029. For most companies that’s a migration project. For an EU financial entity under DORA, it’s also a line in your ICT asset register that a supervisor can ask about.

The migration team will handle the live platform. This post is about the other half: the years of tickets, approvals and incident history that don’t move, and how you show you’ve handled them.

The dates

  • March 30, 2026: new customers can no longer buy Data Center subscriptions or Marketplace apps. Already passed.
  • March 30, 2028: existing customers can no longer buy new subscriptions, apps or license expansions.
  • March 28, 2029, 23:59 PST: subscriptions and apps expire and go read-only. Technical support and critical security fixes end.

Atlassian may offer extended maintenance to some customers by exception. Treat that as a contingency you negotiate, not a plan.

What DORA actually asks for

DORA’s ICT risk rules are detailed in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1774. Article 4 is the one that matters here. Your ICT asset management policy has to record, where applicable, the end dates of a provider’s regular, extended and custom support for each ICT asset. It also has to keep the records needed to assess risk on legacy ICT systems.

JSM has a published end date, so write it down. Then connect it to the things a supervisor will ask about next: who owns JSM, which business services depend on it, where the replacement plan is and what evidence you’ll hold when it’s retired.

DORA doesn’t tell you what to replace JSM with or how to archive it. That’s your call, and your evidence.

Read-only isn’t a strategy

After March 2029, JSM Data Center goes read-only. That can sound like a free archive. It isn’t.

A read-only instance still needs hosting, patching, backups and someone responsible for it, now without vendor security fixes. It also has product-specific gaps. Atlassian says Assets data can’t be browsed in the JSM interface once the license expires, even though the data stays in the database. Work out which records people will actually need, and test that path before the license changes.

Sort out your test environment now

Since March 30, 2026, customers can’t generate Data Center trial licenses themselves. Existing customers can still request one through Atlassian support or their account rep, and developer licenses remain available to eligible existing license holders. The practical takeaway: plan to validate any archive against a non-production copy of your own JSM database, not a fresh trial.

What to check before you call a JSM archive ready

Test with a copy of your own configuration and note which archive version you tested. Check that:

  • The issue fields, comments, attachments, links and request types in your retention scope all come across.
  • Custom field values match what JSM shows, including values JSM stores separately from the main issue record.
  • Complex fields like cascading selects and Assets references show readable labels, not just stored IDs.
  • Assets objects, their relationships and linked issues come across where they’re part of a retained record.
  • Issue security works: test that users can see what they should and can’t see what they shouldn’t, in records, search results and attachments. Don’t assume it matches JSM’s rules until you’ve proved it.
  • Records with long change histories load in a reasonable time.

Log every gap in the acceptance report. Each one gets fixed or formally accepted by the owner before the archive becomes the way people retrieve records.

Where Cortex Archive for JSM fits in

Cortex Archive for JSM is a self-hosted, read-only interface to your historical JSM data. It reads the source database with read-only credentials and keeps its own configuration in a separate store. Authentication runs through SAML or OpenID Connect. Record-level access still needs to be designed and tested for your setup.

Validate it against your exported database, attachments and configuration on the release you’re deploying. The product overview tells you what it does. Only a test with your data tells you whether it covers your custom fields, Assets model and issue security.

Who owns what

  • Service owner: lists the business services and control evidence that depend on JSM.
  • Records owner: approves what’s kept, for how long, legal holds and disposal rules.
  • Platform owner: records the support end date, the replacement platform and the exit timeline.
  • Data lead: extracts the approved data and attachments, reconciles them and reports exceptions.
  • Security and business users: test allowed and denied access, record context and performance.
  • Accountable owner: accepts the results and gaps, then signs off the handover and retirement.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does Jira Service Management Data Center reach end of life?

March 28, 2029 at 23:59 PST. Subscriptions and Marketplace apps expire and go read-only.

Does a read-only JSM Data Center instance satisfy DORA?

Not on its own. You still have to assess it against your ICT risk framework: support status, availability, integrity, access control and exit plan. Keep that assessment with the asset record.

Can we still get a JSM Data Center trial?

Existing customers can request one through Atlassian. Self-service trials ended in March 2026.

Will an archive keep JSM’s issue security restrictions?

Don’t assume it. Define who can see each retained record and test allowed and denied access, including search and attachments.

How should we validate custom fields and Assets?

Compare values, labels, objects and relationships against the source. Test complex fields and linked Assets explicitly, and document anything that doesn’t map.

Should all our JSM history move to the new platform?

Only what the new platform needs to operate. The rest gets a retention decision: archive it, or dispose of it if it’s no longer required.

Planning your JSM Data Center exit? Look at Cortex Archive for Jira Service Management and test it against your own configuration.