Pilot Light for Jira: feature overview

Covered in this article:

• Overview
• Key benefits
• About the Rewind Labs Preview
• How access works
• Backup configuration limits
• What your team can see
• What isn't available in the preview
• Known behaviors
• Set up Pilot Light
• Common questions

Overview

When Jira is down, work in progress usually stops with it. Pilot Light shows your latest successful Jira backup from Rewind, so the people you choose can keep viewing their projects, active sprint boards, and issues. It doesn't depend on Atlassian, so it stays available when Jira isn't. Pilot Light uses the backup configurations you already have and follows your Jira permissions.

Key benefits

• Keep work moving during a Jira outage, with in-progress issues, active sprints, comments, and attachments still in view.
• Keep access when Atlassian is down, because Rewind hosts Pilot Light separately from Atlassian.
• Use the backup configurations you already have, with no new permission model to learn.
• Show each person only the projects they can already see in Jira, because Pilot Light follows your Jira permissions.
• Give your team access without Rewind accounts. Each person signs in with their work email and a one-time code.
• Track every access change in your Rewind audit log.

About the Rewind Labs Preview

Pilot Light for Jira is a Rewind Labs Preview. That means it's an early release we're still building with customers. You get it early, and we learn how it works with real teams and real data.

While Pilot Light is in preview:

• There's no SLA for uptime or support response times. We answer Pilot Light questions as quickly as we can, but we can't commit to a response or resolution time.
• Limits and features may change as the preview goes on.
• Your feedback shapes what we build next. To share it, contact support.

You decide whether to include Pilot Light in a disaster recovery plan, business continuity plan, or audit response. If you do, keep in mind that the preview has no SLA.

In Rewind, you'll see a Labs preview badge next to the Pilot Light title.

How access works

Pilot Light uses your backup configurations to decide which Jira projects to show, and your Jira permissions to decide who sees them:

1. You authorize a backup configuration for Pilot Light.
2. Rewind syncs your Jira users and the projects each person can access.
3. You activate the people who need access.

Each activated person sees the projects in that configuration that they can access in Jira, and nothing else. The Pilot Light tab lists backup configurations as groups.

Backup configuration limits

You turn on Pilot Light for each backup configuration separately.

• Up to three backup configurations per Jira site
  You can authorize up to three backup configurations at a time. If you try to authorize a fourth, Rewind shows a message that you've reached the limit. To authorize a different one, deauthorize one first.
• Up to 25 activated people per backup configuration
  That's up to 75 people across three configurations. The limit applies to the people you activate, not to the user sync. Rewind syncs all your Jira users, and you choose who to activate.
• Include the projects your team needs during an outage
  There's no set limit on projects. The preview is built for the projects your team is actively working on, like the ones in a current sprint, not your full project archive. Smaller configurations load faster and are easier to manage.
• Active configurations are locked
  While Pilot Light is active on a backup configuration, you can't edit it. This keeps the data your team is viewing from changing. To edit it, deactivate its people first. Configurations that are authorized but not active can still be edited.
• Deauthorize before you delete
  You can't delete a backup configuration while it's authorized for Pilot Light.
• Each project can be in one backup configuration
  You can't add a project to a second backup configuration.

What your team can see

• Projects they can access in Jira, within the backup configurations they're activated for
• Active sprint boards
• Issue descriptions, comments, worklogs, attachments, and change history
• Key issue fields: Status, Assignee, Reporter, Labels, Due date, Start date, and Priority
• Data from your latest successful backup

What isn't available in the preview

• Editing
  Pilot Light is read-only. You can't create, edit, move, or comment on issues, and nothing in Pilot Light is sent back to Jira.
• Earlier backups
  Pilot Light shows your latest successful backup. You can't pick an earlier backup or point in time.
• Past sprints
  Completed and archived sprints aren't shown. A board with no active sprint shows No active sprints on this board.
• Kanban boards
  Kanban boards are built from Jira Query Language (JQL) filters, which Rewind doesn't store. You can still find their issues in each project's issue list.
• Search across issues
  The projects list has a filter box, but you can't search across issues.
• Jira Service Management views
  Issues from Jira Service Management projects may show in the issue list, but there's no service desk view and there may be no board view.
• Dark mode
  Pilot Light is available in light mode only.
• Audit log filters
  Rewind records Pilot Light actions in your audit log, but you can't filter by Pilot Light events yet.

Known behaviors

• Removing access takes up to five minutes
  When you deactivate a person or a backup configuration, the change can take up to five minutes. If you deactivate a backup configuration, its projects disappear for everyone who could see them.
• Deactivated people are signed out
  After the change takes effect, the person sees a message that their administrator ended their access. They can't sign in again unless you activate them again.
• Restored projects may show no issues
  If a project was restored with Rewind, Pilot Light may not show its issues.
• Most custom fields aren't shown
  Pilot Light shows a standard set of issue fields. Other custom fields may not show, including renamed fields like Acceptance Criteria.
• Boards may need a full backup
  Rewind backs up boards separately from projects. If a sprint board is missing, it appears after the next full backup of your Jira site.
• Project dates may be out of date
  The Last updated date on the projects list may not match the latest activity in the project.
• Shared links don't sign people in
  If someone opens a link to a Pilot Light page without being signed in, they're asked to sign in from the Pilot Light link their administrator shared. Everyone signs in with their own email address and a one-time code.
• Heavy use can slow things down
  Pilot Light limits how many requests it handles at once to protect your backups. If many people use it at the same time, some may see a message that the service is temporarily degraded. Wait a moment and try again.

Set up Pilot Light

Once you've reviewed the limits above, follow How to set up Pilot Light for Jira to authorize a backup configuration, activate your team, and share access with them.

Common questions

• How to set up Pilot Light for Jira Step-by-step setup for administrators.
• How to create and update Backup Policies for Jira Create the backup configuration Pilot Light uses.
• What is Hot Standby for Jira? A second Jira site that stays in sync with your main one.
• What does Rewind Backup for Jira Cloud? The data included in your Jira backups.
• Pilot Light for Confluence: feature overview The same read-only outage access for your Confluence spaces.