Multiple instances of JetBrains YouTrack

Question

Now that JetBrains YouTrack has introduced help desk support in 5.1, we would like to run a second instance on the same server (to accommodate a different base URL, different backup policy, etc).

1. Is this a horrible idea?
2. What can be done to avoid doubling resource usage? (i.e., to share common libraries)

We're using CentOS 6.5 and we run YouTrack using a JAR as a service. But we're not afraid of change if necessary.

Answer 1

Is this a horrible idea?

Not realy, but this case is not covered by official documentation at all. So it may be a kind of trial-and-error experience. If your bug tracking service is mission critical and you cannot afford even a single bug to appear, then I would advice to follow the Alex.V's recomendation and create two separate projects within one YouTrack instance.

There is one more thing to consider here: distinct YouTrack installations will have separate user & permission data. Users will be forced to register twice in two different YouTracks, to ban the user you'll need to ban him/her twice and so on.

If you're ready for some risk and fun, here's how to actualy install several YouTracks on the same machine:

Option one: virtualization

A naive, but bullet-proof approach. Just setup a virtual machine on the same server and install the second YouTrack inside in the same way you're setting it up now. There will be no way for YouTracks to interfere with each other, so this almost guaranteed to work as expected. Although relatively safe, this scheme is not very resource efficient.

Option two: separate processes

Start with duplicating your existing installation: one more dedicated OS user, another instance of java service wrapper, another service script. After that you should have two identicaly configured YouTracks installed as two different OS services. Now it's time to configure them in a different way. In wrapper.conf one can set arbitrary Java parameters, so here you can set base url and other necessary settings. Make sure to configure at least different database, backup and log files locations.

Option three: separate web applications within a single server

YouTrack JAR file contains an application itself and a web-server for it. To avoid resource usage doubling you can switch to WAR deployment to share a web server between applications. Install Tomcat, deploy two YouTrack wars under different names. As for configuration, it should be done via web.xml configuration file. All java options set (-D...) will now affect both of the YouTracks. Here is an example of database location configuration via web.xml.

Answer 2

Not sure if it's the best way to answer questions, but let me first ask if you are sure you need another instance. Why I'm asking is that http://youtrack.jetbrains.com has been used as both issue tracker and help desk system (for some projects) for quite some time already. And it seems a working solution.