Plan a Self-Hosted Jama Connect® Upgrade Kubernetes-Native & KOTS

Published Date: July 8, 2026
Audience: Everyone
Products and Versions Covered: 

• Jama Connect®: Self-hosted deployments
• Deployment Methods: Replicated KOTS and Kubernetes-Native (applicability pending validation)
• Database and OS: Supported configurations for the target Jama Connect version
• Customer Deployment Services

Summary

Careful planning is essential for a successful self-hosted Jama Connect® upgrade. This article outlines common deployment topologies, upgrade strategies, and best practices to help customers validate upgrades, minimize downtime, and reduce operational risk.

This documentation is intended for customer self-service and provides general planning guidance rather than step-by-step implementation instructions or deployment runbooks. Infrastructure, integrations, authentication, and organizational requirements may influence the most appropriate upgrade strategy.

Upgrade Planning and Additional Assistance

Jama Software recommends scheduling a complimentary Pre-Upgrade Consultation before performing a production upgrade, particularly for major version upgrades or complex environments.

Customers requiring additional assistance can explore the following options:

• Pre-Upgrade Consultation: Review upgrade readiness, discuss potential risks, and receive general planning guidance.
• Jama Software Customer Success Manager (CSM): Discuss upgrade requirements and available options for guided assistance.
• Customer Deployment Services (CDS): Access professional services for complex upgrade planning, hands-on technical guidance, and implementation assistance through Jama Software's Customer Deployment Services team and preferred partners.

For major self-hosted installations, upgrades, or migrations, Jama Software recommends engaging CDS to evaluate your environment, identify risks, and develop an appropriate upgrade strategy.

Resolution

General Upgrade Best Practices

Before upgrading Production, Jama Software recommends:

1. Verify backups: Create and validate a complete backup of the production environment.
2. Test before upgrading: Validate the upgrade in a non-production environment using a recent copy of production data.
3. Synchronize data and assets: Ensure application data, assets, and configuration remain consistent throughout testing.
4. Isolate integrations: Disable or redirect external integrations in cloned environments to prevent unintended production interactions.
5. Confirm compatibility: Verify supported Jama Connect versions, database platforms, operating systems, and other dependencies.
6. Plan recovery: Document the upgrade procedure and rollback strategy before the maintenance window.
7. Allow sufficient time: Account for database upgrades, search indexing, application startup, and post-upgrade validation.
8. Protect production data: Ensure only one Jama Connect application environment connects to the production database during cutover.
9. Maintain environment parity: Keep Test and Production configurations as similar as practical.

Compare Common Upgrade Approaches

These comparisons are illustrative. Actual risk depends on infrastructure, configuration, testing, and recovery readiness.

Common Deployment Topologies

Scenario 1: Separate Production and Test Environments

Configuration

• Dedicated Production application environment
• Dedicated Test application environment
• Separate Production and Test databases

This approach provides isolation between environments and generally offers the lowest operational risk for major upgrades.

Recommended Validation Approach

1. Create a recent copy of production data for the Test environment.
2. Synchronize production assets with the copied data.
3. Upgrade the Test environment.
4. Validate application functionality and performance.
5. Complete User Acceptance Testing (UAT).
6. Document any issues and required remediation before scheduling the production upgrade.

Testing with production-like data helps identify environment-specific, configuration-specific, and data-related issues before upgrading Production.

2:  Separate Application Servers with a Shared Database Server

Configuration

• Separate Production and Test application environments
• Separate Production and Test databases hosted on the same database server

This approach allows organizations to share database infrastructure while maintaining separate databases for upgrade validation.

Provided the database server has sufficient capacity and the environments remain properly isolated, customers can test upgrades without affecting Production.

Follow the validation approach outlined in Scenario 1.

Scenario 3: Single Production Environment

Configuration

• One Production application environment
• One production database
• No dedicated Test environment

This approach presents greater operational risk because:

• Upgrade procedures cannot be rehearsed in a separate environment.
• Production data and configurations cannot be validated against the target version beforehand.
• Recovery depends on available backups and infrastructure recovery procedures.

Recommendation: Establish a temporary or permanent non-production environment whenever practical, particularly for major version upgrades.

Scenario 4: Cutover Deployment Strategy

A cutover strategy allows organizations to prepare and validate an upgraded application environment before the production maintenance window.

Rather than completing all installation and validation activities during downtime, the organization prepares the upgraded environment using production-like data. During the maintenance window, the validated environment is transitioned to Production after completing the required data and asset synchronization.

Implementation requirements vary based on infrastructure, networking, authentication, and operational procedures.

Potential Benefits

• Complete installation and preliminary validation before the maintenance window.
• Rehearse upgrade procedures and complete User Acceptance Testing.
• Reduce activities performed during production downtime.
• Focus the maintenance window on final synchronization, required upgrade activities, cutover, and validation.

Important: Only one Jama Connect application environment should connect to the production database at any given time.

Organizations considering this strategy should engage Customer Deployment Services to evaluate feasibility and develop an implementation and rollback plan appropriate for their environment.

Additional Upgrade Considerations

Assets

Ensure the Jama Connect® assets directory remains synchronized with the database used for upgrade testing.

Outdated or incomplete assets may produce inaccurate validation results or prevent the Test environment from accurately representing Production.

External Integrations

Disable or redirect external integrations in cloned environments to prevent unintended interactions with production users and systems.

Examples include:

• Email notifications
• LDAP or Active Directory
• SAML or Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Webhooks
• REST API integrations
• Scheduled background jobs
• Third-party connectors

Environment Parity

Upgrade validation is most effective when Test closely mirrors Production.

Where practical, maintain comparable:

• Operating system and database versions
• Java versions and other applicable dependencies
• Jama Connect versions
• Memory and infrastructure resources
• Search configuration
• Authentication and integrations

Performance Validation

A successful installation does not guarantee acceptable production performance.

Use your Test environment to evaluate:

• Upgrade duration
• Search indexing time
• Application startup time
• General application responsiveness

Use these results to estimate maintenance requirements and identify potential performance concerns before upgrading Production.

Need Help Planning Your Upgrade?

If you need additional technical guidance, environment-specific recommendations, or hands-on implementation assistance, contact your Jama Software Customer Success Manager or explore available professional services through Customer Deployment Services and preferred partners.

For general upgrade readiness and planning questions, begin with a complimentary Pre-Upgrade Consultation.

Additional Resources 

• Jama Connect® Kubernetes-Native Deployment
• Pre-Upgrade Consultation for Self-Hosted Upgrades 
• Upgrading from Jama Connect KOTS to Kubernetes-Native
• Success Programs
• Success Catalog
• Datasheets
• Request a Solution Offering or Training from the Success Catalog

Feedback:
We welcome your input! Please sign in to leave any comments, suggestions, or ideas for improvement below.