This article explains what Hot Standby is, what it is designed for, and what Jira resources are and aren't supported. It also covers the limitations of this feature and links to dedicated guides for setting up and managing your Hot Standby instance.
Covered in this article:
- Overview
- What is supported and unsupported
- Limitations
- Installation
- Managing your Hot Standby instance
- Common questions
Overview
Hot Standby gives you access to a backup Jira instance that stays continuously synced with your main production instance. If your main instance becomes unavailable for any reason, you can switch over to the Hot Standby instance to maintain business continuity. The Hot Standby instance is always-on from the point of installation and contains data from the previous day, giving you an approximate 24-hour Recovery Point Objective (RPO).
What Hot Standby is designed for
Hot Standby is designed for catastrophic situations when your main Jira instance is inaccessible but your business needs to continue operating. Examples include:
- An AWS region becomes unavailable — you can switch over to the Hot Standby instance, provided it is installed in a different region.
- Your production instance becomes corrupted or unusable for any reason.
Other benefits
- If data was accidentally deleted or modified more than 24 hours ago, you can view and verify it on the Hot Standby instance before deciding whether to restore it.
- Because the Hot Standby instance is always available, it can help you achieve a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of under 6 hours.
What is supported and unsupported
| Category | Supported | Unsupported |
|---|---|---|
| Spaces |
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| Work items |
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| Boards and planning |
|
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| Screens and schemes |
|
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| Workflows |
|
— |
| Users and groups | — |
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| Jira products | — |
|
| Third-party | — |
|
Limitations
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Partial Jira coverage
Hot Standby does not cover all Jira resources or third-party applications. For a full list of what is and isn't supported, see the supported and unsupported section above. -
One-way sync only
This feature syncs data from your main instance to the Hot Standby instance only. Any data created directly on the Hot Standby instance cannot be synced back to the main instance. -
Changes on the Hot Standby instance are not tracked
If you delete an item on the Hot Standby instance but it still exists on the main instance, it will not be deleted from the Hot Standby instance. If you delete and re-create an item on the main instance, it may be synced to the Hot Standby instance as a duplicate. -
Issue layout ordering
The ordering of Issue Layouts may not appear correctly, as the Atlassian API does not support ordering of these fields. -
Storage or configuration changes require a new sync
If you change your storage option — including switching to or from Rewind Storage, BYOK, BYOS, or Data Residency — or re-install Rewind after uninstalling it, a new sync to a new empty destination instance will be required.
Installation
Setting up Hot Standby requires an empty Atlassian Jira instance to use as the destination, and at least one successful backup of your main instance to be completed before the first sync can start. You must be an Organization Administrator, Organization Owner, or Integration Administrator in Rewind to complete the setup.
Setting up Hot Standby for Jira →
Managing your Hot Standby instance
Once Hot Standby is set up, you can manage your instance directly from the Hot Standby tab in Rewind. This includes triggering manual syncs, aborting or turning off sync, or unlinking your Hot Standby instance.
Managing your Hot Standby instance →
Common questions
Can I have more than one Hot Standby instance?
Yes, but each live Jira instance can only sync to one Hot Standby instance at a time. If you have multiple live Jira instances, each one can be connected to its own separate Hot Standby instance.
What happens to my Hot Standby instance during a regional outage?
If your main instance becomes unavailable due to a regional infrastructure failure, you can switch over to your Hot Standby instance to maintain business continuity. For added protection, we recommend setting up your Hot Standby instance in a different data residency region than your main instance so that a regional outage affecting your main instance does not also affect your Hot Standby instance.
How out of date will my Hot Standby data be?
Rewind backups run nightly, so your Hot Standby instance will typically contain data from within the last 24 hours. If there was an issue with your most recent backup, your data may be older — we recommend regularly checking that your backups are completing successfully.
You can also trigger a manual sync at any time from the Hot Standby tab in Rewind to bring your Hot Standby instance up to date outside of the nightly schedule.
Can I use my Hot Standby instance for testing or staging?
Hot Standby is designed specifically for disaster recovery — it is intended to be a read-only environment that stays in sync with your main instance. Making direct changes to the Hot Standby instance will cause it to fall out of sync and may cause errors in future syncs.
If you need a staging or testing environment, we recommend using our Restore to another instance feature instead, which is designed for copying data to a separate environment.
Will my Hot Standby instance count toward my Rewind billing?
Hot Standby is included in the Advanced and Enterprise tiers at no additional cost. You will not be billed by Rewind for the Hot Standby Jira instance, however you may be responsible for any associated Atlassian license fees depending on your Jira plan.
What happens if I change my storage configuration?
If you change your storage option — including switching to or from Rewind Storage, BYOK, BYOS, or Data Residency — or re-install Rewind after uninstalling it, a new sync to a new empty destination instance will be required. Your existing Hot Standby instance cannot be reused for this new sync.
Need help?
If you have questions or need assistance, contact help@rewind.com or submit a request.