Loading Jira Data to Azure Cosmos DB Using dlt in Python

tip

We will be using the dlt PostgreSQL destination to connect to Azure Cosmos DB. You can get the connection string for your Azure Cosmos DB database as described in the Azure Cosmos DB Docs.

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dlt is an open-source Python library designed to simplify data loading processes. This documentation covers how to use dlt to load data from Jira into Azure Cosmos DB. Jira, a leading project management tool for agile teams, helps plan, track, and release software efficiently. Azure Cosmos DB is a fully managed NoSQL and relational database service ideal for modern app development. By leveraging dlt, you can seamlessly transfer data from Jira to Azure Cosmos DB, enabling robust data management and analytics. For more details about Jira, visit Atlassian's website.

dlt Key Features

• Pipeline Metadata: dlt pipelines leverage metadata to provide governance capabilities, including load IDs for tracking data loads. Read more
• Schema Enforcement and Curation: Ensure data consistency and quality by enforcing and curating schemas. Read more
• Schema Evolution: Get alerts for schema changes and take necessary actions to maintain data integrity. Read more
• Scaling and Finetuning: Options to run extraction, normalization, and load in parallel, and to finetune memory buffers and compression. Read more
• Advanced Topics: Explore additional features and use cases supported by the constantly growing dlt library. Read more

Getting started with your pipeline locally

0. Prerequisites

dlt requires Python 3.8 or higher. Additionally, you need to have the pip package manager installed, and we recommend using a virtual environment to manage your dependencies. You can learn more about preparing your computer for dlt in our installation reference.

1. Install dlt

First you need to install the dlt library with the correct extras for Azure Cosmos DB:

pip install "dlt[postgres]"

The dlt cli has a useful command to get you started with any combination of source and destination. For this example, we want to load data from Jira to Azure Cosmos DB. You can run the following commands to create a starting point for loading data from Jira to Azure Cosmos DB:

# create a new directory
mkdir jira_pipeline
cd jira_pipeline
# initialize a new pipeline with your source and destination
dlt init jira postgres
# install the required dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

The last command will install the required dependencies for your pipeline. The dependencies are listed in the requirements.txt:

dlt[postgres]>=0.3.25

You now have the following folder structure in your project:

jira_pipeline/
├── .dlt/
│   ├── config.toml          # configs for your pipeline
│   └── secrets.toml         # secrets for your pipeline
├── jira/                   # folder with source specific files
│   └── ...
├── jira_pipeline.py        # your main pipeline script
├── requirements.txt         # dependencies for your pipeline
└── .gitignore               # ignore files for git (not required)

2. Configuring your source and destination credentials

The dlt cli will have created a .dlt directory in your project folder. This directory contains a config.toml file and a secrets.toml file that you can use to configure your pipeline. The automatically created version of these files look like this:

generated config.toml

# put your configuration values here

[runtime]
log_level="WARNING"  # the system log level of dlt
# use the dlthub_telemetry setting to enable/disable anonymous usage data reporting, see https://dlthub.com/docs/telemetry
dlthub_telemetry = true

generated secrets.toml

# put your secret values and credentials here. do not share this file and do not push it to github

[sources.jira]
subdomain = "subdomain" # please set me up!
email = "email" # please set me up!
api_token = "api_token" # please set me up!

[destination.postgres]
dataset_name = "dataset_name" # please set me up!

[destination.postgres.credentials]
database = "database" # please set me up!
password = "password" # please set me up!
username = "username" # please set me up!
host = "host" # please set me up!
port = 5432
connect_timeout = 15

2.1. Adjust the generated code to your usecase

Further help setting up your source and destinations

• Read more about setting up the Jira source in our docs.
• Read more about setting up the Azure Cosmos DB destination in our docs.

3. Running your pipeline for the first time

The dlt cli has also created a main pipeline script for you at jira_pipeline.py, as well as a folder jira that contains additional python files for your source. These files are your local copies which you can modify to fit your needs. In some cases you may find that you only need to do small changes to your pipelines or add some configurations, in other cases these files can serve as a working starting point for your code, but will need to be adjusted to do what you need them to do.

The main pipeline script will look something like this:

from typing import List, Optional

import dlt
from jira import jira, jira_search


def load(endpoints: Optional[List[str]] = None) -> None:
    """
    Load data from specified Jira endpoints into a dataset.

    Args:
        endpoints: A list of Jira endpoints. If not provided, defaults to all resources.
    """
    if not endpoints:
        endpoints = list(jira().resources.keys())

    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="jira_pipeline", destination='postgres', dataset_name="jira"
    )

    load_info = pipeline.run(jira().with_resources(*endpoints))

    print(f"Load Information: {load_info}")


def load_query_data(queries: List[str]) -> None:
    """
    Load issues from specified Jira queries into a dataset.

    Args:
        queries: A list of JQL queries.
    """
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="jira_search_pipeline",
        destination='postgres',
        dataset_name="jira_search",
    )

    load_info = pipeline.run(jira_search().issues(jql_queries=queries))

    print(f"Load Information: {load_info}")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Add your desired endpoints to the list 'endpoints'
    load(endpoints=None)

    queries = [
        "created >= -30d order by created DESC",
        'project = KAN AND status = "In Progress" order by created DESC',
    ]

    load_query_data(queries=queries)

Provided you have set up your credentials, you can run your pipeline like a regular python script with the following command:

python jira_pipeline.py

4. Inspecting your load result

You can now inspect the state of your pipeline with the dlt cli:

dlt pipeline jira_pipeline info

You can also use streamlit to inspect the contents of your Azure Cosmos DB destination for this:

# install streamlit
pip install streamlit
# run the streamlit app for your pipeline with the dlt cli:
dlt pipeline jira_pipeline show

5. Next steps to get your pipeline running in production

One of the beauties of dlt is, that we are just a plain Python library, so you can run your pipeline in any environment that supports Python >= 3.8. We have a couple of helpers and guides in our docs to get you there:

The Deploy section will show you how to deploy your pipeline to

• Deploy with GitHub Actions: Use GitHub Actions to automate your dlt pipeline deployments. It supports scheduling and manual runs.
• Deploy with Airflow: Follow the guide on how to deploy a pipeline with Airflow and Google Composer. This method leverages Google Composer for managed Airflow environments.
• Deploy with Google Cloud Functions: Learn how to deploy your dlt pipeline using Google Cloud Functions for serverless execution.
• Explore other deployment methods: Check out the complete list of deployment options including various cloud services and CI/CD tools.

The running in production section will teach you about:

• How to Monitor your pipeline: Learn how to effectively monitor your dlt pipeline in production to ensure smooth and reliable operations. How to Monitor your pipeline
• Set up alerts: Set up alerts to get notified of any issues or anomalies in your dlt pipeline, ensuring you can respond quickly to any problems. Set up alerts
• Set up tracing: Implement tracing in your dlt pipeline to gain insights into the execution flow and performance metrics, helping you debug and optimize your pipeline. And set up tracing

Available Sources and Resources

For this verified source the following sources and resources are available

Source jira

The Jira source provides data on project management tasks, including details on issues, users, workflows, and projects.

Resource Name	Write Disposition	Description
issues	replace	Individual pieces of work to be completed. Contains various fields such as assignee, comments, created time, reporter, status, summary, updated time, etc.
projects	replace	A collection of tasks that need to be completed to achieve a certain outcome. Contains fields such as avatar URL, description, ID, key, lead, name, etc.
users	replace	Administrator of a given project. Contains fields such as account ID, account type, avatar URL, display name, email address, etc.
workflows	replace	The key aspect of managing and tracking the progress of issues or tasks within a project. Contains fields such as created time, description, ID, updated time, etc.

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