Spira Backup and Migration Tool¶

This application lets you save a copy of a Spira product template, or a whole Spira product together with its template, to a file on your local computer. It also lets you migrate everything you have saved to any Spira instance.

The application runs on either Windows or Mac OS and is available to download. To install it follow the instructions in the application installer on your platform.

What you can save¶

At the start of every backup, you choose to include:

• A Spira Product and its Template - the product's data (requirements, test cases, incidents, etc.), along with the template it is based on. Because product data depends on the template, the template is always included automatically. You do not need to select it separately.
• A Spira Template on its own - the template (workflows, statuses, types, custom properties, and related settings), with no product data.

Both types of backup are saved into a single file with a .spirabackup extension.

Template data that is saved¶

When you back up a template, either on its own or as part of a product backup, the file contains the following template and related data:

• Requirement importance, statuses¹, types, custom properties, workflow steps, and workflow transitions
• Release statuses, types, custom properties, workflow steps, and workflow transitions
• Document statuses, types, custom properties, workflow steps, and workflow transitions
• Test Case priorities, statuses, types, custom properties, workflow steps, and workflow transitions
• Incident priorities, statuses¹, severities, types, custom properties, workflow steps, and workflow transitions
• Task priorities, statuses, types, custom properties, workflow steps, and workflow transitions
• Risk impacts, probabilities, statuses, types, custom properties, workflow steps, and workflow transitions
• Test Step custom properties
• Test Set custom properties
• Test Run custom properties
• Automation Host custom properties
• Custom lists and their values
• User product roles

Product data that is saved¶

When you back up a product, the file contains all of its template data (above) plus the product's actual content:

• Requirements - including their comments, attachments, and associations
• Test Cases - including folders, test steps, test case parameters, comments, attachments, and associations
• Test Sets - including folders, the test cases they contain, parameters, the test configuration set they are linked to, comments, attachments, and associations
• Test Configuration Sets - including their entries and Test Sets
• Test Runs - both manual and automated
• Incidents - including their comments, attachments, and associations
• Releases - including builds, comments, attachments, and associations
• Risks - including mitigations, comments, attachments, and associations
• Tasks - including folders, comments, attachments, and associations
• Documents - including document folders, document details, and the document files themselves
• Components
• Automation Hosts
• Product users and their membership and roles

Welcome screen¶

When you open the application you see the main welcome screen.

From here you have two options (note that you must be a system administrator on the Spira instance to proceed):

• Start New Backup: starts a new process to save a Spira product and/or template to a file

• Open Backup File: continues a previous process based on the state of the file you select. The application automatically decides what is available to you out of the following options:

  • resume an existing backup
  • start a new migration
  • resume an existing migration

These options are discussed in more detail below.

Logging in¶

To begin a backup or migration, connect to your Spira instance using:

• the URL of the Spira instance (for example https://company-name.spiraservice.net)
• your Username
• your RSS/API Key (if you don't have one, use the "How to Get your RSS key?" link on the screen)

Backup¶

To start a new backup:

• select Start New Backup from the welcome screen
• log in to the Spira instance you want to back up from

On the next screen you configure the backup.

• First choose what to back up:

  • Backup a Spira Product and its Template
  • Backup a Spira Template

• Then select the product or template to back up from the list.

• Choose a folder to store the backup, and enter a file name (letters, numbers, spaces, and the symbols _, -, and ; are allowed). The backup is saved with a .spirabackup extension.

Skip options¶

When you back up a product, you can tick either of two Additional Options to reduce the size of the backup:

• Skip Documents - leaves out the document library and all attachments across every artifact type
• Skip Test Runs - leaves out manual and automated test runs

Leaving both unticked creates a full backup.

Next, confirm that all the details are correct on the summary screen, then start the backup by clicking Start Backup.

During the backup you see the progress and details of what has been completed. If you click Stop during the backup, the process pauses so you can resume it later (you can only migrate once the backup has reached 100%). Just in case there are any issues or errors, the application saves a log alongside the backup file.

Once the backup has finished, you have two options:

• Return to Start to go back to the welcome screen. Choose this to make another backup, or to quit the application.
• Migrate to immediately start migrating what you just backed up to a Spira instance.

You can also close the application safely at this time, if you wish.

Migration¶

Once a backup has completed, you can migrate it to a Spira instance. This can be the same instance the backup came from, or any other Spira instance (version 9.4 or above). To start a migration:

• click Migrate straight after a backup finishes, or click Open Backup File from the welcome screen and select the completed .spirabackup file
• log in to the Spira instance you want to upload to

What you are asked for next depends on whether the file is a template-only backup or a product backup.

Migrating a template¶

For a template-only backup, enter a name and description for the new template that will be created on the destination instance.

Press Next to continue.

Migrating a product¶

For a product backup, you provide the details for the new product and its template:

• enter a Product Name and Product Description for the new product
• enter a Template Name and Template Description for the template it will be based on

Press Next to continue.

Default user settings¶

A product includes its users, so the next screen lets you set default user settings that are applied when a user's details in the backup are incomplete:

• Default Password
• Default Password Question
• Default Password Answer

Confirm and start¶

Confirm that all the details are correct on the summary screen, then start the migration by clicking Start Migration.

During the migration you see the progress and details of what has been completed. If you click Stop, the process pauses so you can resume it later (the new template or product will not be fully usable in Spira until the migration reaches 100%). Just in case there are any issues or errors, the application saves a log alongside the backup file.

Once the migration has finished, you can select Return to Start to go back to the welcome screen. Choose this to make another backup, or to quit the application.

You can also close the application safely at this time, if you wish.

Continue an operation¶

If your backup or migration was interrupted before completion, you can continue where it left off without losing any data. To do so:

• click Open Backup File from the welcome screen
• click Select File and select the relevant .spirabackup file

The application reads the file and tells you its status and what will happen next:

• an incomplete backup will resume the backup
• a complete backup will begin the migration
• an in-progress migration will resume the migration
• a completed migration has nothing left to do

Then enter the credentials and any other information required to proceed. When resuming, the URL and username are already filled in for you, so you only need to re-enter the API key.