This page last changed on Aug 18, 2009 by ggaskell.
These instructions apply to:
  • The Standalone distribution of Confluence. The Standalone distribution includes Apache Tomcat as the standalone application server. If you want to install an EAR/WAR distribution for deployment on your own existing application server, please refer to the Confluence Installation Guide.
  • Windows systems. For other operating systems please refer to the Confluence Installation Guide.
  • Installation via a zipped download file. For a simpler installation procedure for evaluation, please consider the Confluence Installer.

Also, please check the version of Confluence which you are installing. Refer to the documentation home page to verify the latest Confluence version and to find documentation for older versions.

On this page:

1. Before you Start

Please check the following points:

  1. Ensure that your system meets the minimum requirements to run Confluence. For more information, please read the detailed system requirements.
  2. Have your Confluence license key ready. You can obtain a trial, free or commercial license now, or retrieve your existing license key.
  3. You must be able to use a command prompt and install Java to continue. If not, please contact your system administrator to assist you or consider the Confluence Hosted evaluation option.

2. Install the JDK (Java Development Kit)

Confluence requires Java 5 (JDK 1.5) or later

Confluence needs JDK 1.5 or newer to be installed on your computer.

  • A JRE (Java Runtime Environment) is not enough.
  • JDK 6 is the preferred platform, because it is faster and more reliable.
  • JDK 1.5 is fine.
  • JDK 1.4 is not supported in Confluence 2.9 or later.

OpenJDK is currently not supported, jira issue exists already here

  1. If you are not sure whether you have JDK installed correctly, please confirm by doing the following:
    • Open a command prompt.
      • On Windows: Open your 'Start' menu and select 'Run', then type cmd and click 'OK'.
    • Type the following in the command prompt and then press Enter:
      • On Windows: echo %JAVA_HOME%
      • On Unix: echo $JAVA_HOME
    • View the result:
      • If a line is displayed such as C:\Progra~1\Java\jdk1.5.0_06, please check that the letters just before the final numbers are 'jdk'. If you see those letters, the JDK is installed.
      • If nothing is displayed, or you do not see 'jdk' plus some numbers, the JDK is not installed.
  2. If you have installed a non-Sun JDK and you want to use SSL then you need to install the Sun JSSE package.
  3. If you need to install the JDK, follow these instructions:
    • Go to the Java Sun download page.
    • Download the version entitled 'JDK 6 Update XX', where 'XX' stands for some number. (Sun will provide the latest version on that page.)
    • When the download has finished, run the Java installer. At one point, you will be asked to choose a directory to install to. Copy or write this directory down for use later.
  4. On Windows: Please follow these instructions to set your JAVA_HOME environment variable to the directory you where you have just installed the JDK. By default, this directory is under C:\Program Files\Java.

3. Download the Confluence Installation File

  1. If you have not downloaded Confluence already, download the Standalone zip file.
  2. Please check your unzip program before extracting the downloaded zip file. Some archive-extract programs cause errors when unzipping the Confluence zip file. You should use a third-party unzip program like 7Zip or Winzip. If you do not have one, please download and install one before continuing:
    • 7Zip — Recommended. If in doubt, download the '32-bit.exe' version
    • Winzip
  3. Use your unzip program to unzip the installation file to a directory such as c:\confluence.
    • Do not use spaces in your directory path.

The directory into which you unzipped the Confluence installation is called the Confluence Installation directory. Next you will define the Confluence Home directory.

4. Define your Confluence Home Directory

Now you need to define the Confluence Home directory. This is where Confluence will store its configuration information, indexes and attachments.
Tip: Another term for 'Home directory' would be 'data directory'.

We suggest using different paths for your installation and home directories. This will facilitate upgrades.

Examples of Installation and Home Directories

Installation directory: c:\confluence\confluence-2.7.0-std
Home directory: c:\confluence\data

  1. Open your Confluence Installation directory (created when you unzipped Confluence — see above).
  2. Under the Installation directory, find this file: \confluence\WEB-INF\classes\confluence-init.properties
  3. Open the confluence-init.properties file in a text editor such as Notepad.
  4. Scroll to the bottom and find this line:
    # confluence.home=c:/confluence/data
    


  5. Remove the '#' and the space at the beginning of this line, so that Confluence no longer regards the line as a comment. The line should now begin with confluence.home
  6. If you decide to change the Confluence Home directory from the default, please note the following:
    • Avoid spaces in the directory path or file name.
    • Use forward slashes '/' to define the path.
      For example:
      confluence.home=c:/data/confluence-home
      

5. Check the Ports

If you have another application running on your machine which is using the same ports that Confluence uses by default, you may need to change the port which Confluence will use. For example, if you have a Standalone installation of JIRA running on this machine, JIRA might be already using the port which Confluence requests by default.

By default, Confluence listens on port '8080'. If this port is already in use in your installation, follow these instructions to change the ports:

  • To change the ports for Confluence Standalone, open the file conf/server.xml under your Confluence Installation directory. The first four lines of the file look like this:

    Default conf/server.xml
    <Server port="8000" shutdown="SHUTDOWN" debug="0">
        <Service name="Tomcat-Standalone">
            <Connector className="org.apache.coyote.tomcat4.CoyoteConnector" port="8080" minProcessors="5" maxProcessors="75"
                enableLookups="true" redirectPort="8443" acceptCount="10" debug="0" connectionTimeout="20000" useURIValidationHack="false"/>
            ...
    

    You need to modify both the server port (default is 8000) and the connector port (default is 8080) to ports that are free on your machine.
    Hint: You can use netstat to identify free ports on your machine. See more information on using netstat on Windows or on Linux.

    For example, here are the first four lines of a modified server.xml file, using ports '8015' and '8090':

    Modified conf/server.xml using ports 8015 and 8090
    <Server port="8015" shutdown="SHUTDOWN" debug="0">
        <Service name="Tomcat-Standalone">
            <Connector className="org.apache.coyote.tomcat4.CoyoteConnector" port="8090" minProcessors="5" maxProcessors="75"
                enableLookups="true" redirectPort="8443" acceptCount="10" debug="0" connectionTimeout="20000" useURIValidationHack="false"/>
            ...
    

    To access Confluence in this configuration, point your web browser to http://localhost:8090/.

You will find more information on this page.

6. Select an External Database

Atlassian recommends Postgres. See Database Setup for PostgreSQL on Windows for a step-by-step Windows installation with screenshots.

This step is optional for evaluation instances of Confluence. It is mandatory for a production instance.

Select one of the supported external databases and follow the corresponding database setup guide. You can learn more about migration from an existing installation or use of the evaluation database here. You will continue to use the Database Setup Guide during the Confluence Setup Wizard. (See step 8 below.)

7. Start Confluence

  1. Go to your Confluence Installation directory (created when you unzipped Confluence — see above).
  2. Under your Confluence Installation directory, open the bin directory and run the startup script: startup.bat. A command prompt window should appear.
    Please do not close this command prompt window. If you do so, Confluence will stop running.
    Troubleshooting
    If the window closes immediately when started, this means that an error is preventing Confluence from starting. To view this error:
    1. Open a command prompt: Click on your 'Start' menu, then click 'Run'. In the Run box, type cmd and click 'OK'.
    2. From the command prompt, go to your Confluence Installation directory.
    3. Go into the bin subdirectory.
    4. Run catalina.bat run.
      You should not run startup.bat at this point, because that would still produce a popup window that would close straight away.
    5. Read the error message.
    6. Find the solution to that error in the Installation FAQ.
  3. Once Confluence is running, open a web browser and visit http://localhost:8080/.
    If you changed the port earlier, use the port you specified in step 5 above.
    If your web browser window shows an error, try waiting for 30 seconds or so and then refresh the browser page.

8. Next Step is the Confluence Setup Wizard

The Confluence Setup Wizard should appear in your web browser, prompting you to enter your license key. Follow the instructions on the screens, and read more guidelines on the Confluence Setup Wizard.

If the web browser shows an error instead of the Setup Wizard, check the Installation FAQ.

9. Start Confluence automatically on Windows as a Service

Confluence should be run as a service.

RELATED TOPICS

Change listen port for Confluence Standalone
Adding SSL for Secure Logins and Page Security
Confluence Setup Guide
Configuration Guide
Confluence Documentation Home

Document generated by Confluence on Nov 05, 2009 23:27