Jira should not remove directory configuration during sync to avoid the possibilty that the configuration isn't properly written back

Problem Experienced

In extremely rare situations one or more of JIRA's remote user directory configurations is lost. This has been seen after a JIRA crash/restart or network/database connectivity problems. The exact cause has not yet been determined.

• JRA-36677
• JIRA drops LDAP configuration - java.naming.provider.url property does not contain a URL.

Existing Behavior:

• During synchronization JIRA will read the directory configuration from the database, delete the configuration, and then write it back. The directory configuration is also retained in JIRA's cache.

Expected Behavior

JIRA should prevent the directory configuration from becoming lost. Currently it is normal for JIRA to delete the entire configuration from the database when synchronizing. This should be changed to prevent rare situations where the configuration can be removed from the database and not written back.

Related - Alerting admin of problems
This kind of corruption, being very rare and unexpected, is very difficult to detect manually. During startup/ access, JIRA should verify if mandatory directory parameters exist and inform the administrator if there are parameters missing - so that it is much more easier for administrators to verify and fix the configuration.

• This would not be if the necessary if JIRA is changed to make it so that the configuration is not changed or removed unless that change is being performed by the admin