Configuring Backups
Confluence can automatically back up your data by performing a full site export at a scheduled time each day.
- If you have a Confluence Server license, the scheduled XML backup happens every day at 2:00am by default.
- If you have a Confluence Data Center license, the scheduled backup is disabled, as it is not suitable for large sites.
The zipped XML backup file will be named 'backup-yyyy_MM_dd', and stored in the backups directory of your Confluence Home directory.
On this page:
You'll need System Administrator global permissions to make changes to the scheduled XML backups. You can choose to:
- disable the scheduled backup altogether
- change the naming convention
- include or exclude attachments
- schedule the backup at a different time
- store the backup files in a different location (disabled by default, find out how to enable it below).
We don't recommend relying on these automatic backups in production sites. You should instead back up your database, installation directory and home directory manually. See Production Backup Strategy for more information.
Configuring automated backups
To configure scheduled XML backups:
- Go to
> General Configuration > Backup administration. - Choose Edit to:
- Change the backup file name prefix.
- Use a different date format (uses the syntax described in simple date format).
- Choose whether to include or exclude attachments from backups (attachments are included by default).
- Choose to store backup files in a custom location (this is disabled by default - see Enabling backup path configuration below).
- Save your changes.
Enabling Backup Path Configuration
For security reasons, the ability to change the backup file location Backup administration screen is disabled by default.
To enable custom backup paths:
- Stop Confluence.
- Edit the
<confluence-home>/confluence.cfg.xmlfile. Change the value of the following property to true:
<property name="admin.ui.allow.daily.backup.custom.location">true</property>- Restart Confluence to pick up the change.
- Go to > General Configuration > Backup administration to enter the new path.
The directory must be on either a local drive or a mounted network drive. Make sure the mounted drive is on a physical server and not a Virtual Machine image.
If you migrate Confluence to a new server or change your architecture, you will need to update this path. Changing your home directory location will not automatically update your backup file path if you've enabled a custom path.
Disable automatic backups
If you have an appropriate Production Backup Strategy, you may want to disable automatic backups to save on disk space.
To disable automatic backups entirely:
- Go to > General Configuration > Scheduled jobs.
- Choose Disable next to the Back up Confluence job.
Change the backup schedule
To change the frequency of backups, or to change the time the backup runs each day:
- Go to > General Configuration > Scheduled jobs.
- Choose Edit next to the Back up Confluence job
- Enter the new schedule using a cron expression.
The time zone used for the scheduled job is taken from the server on which Confluence is running. Go to > General Configuration > System Information to look up the System Time.
Performing manual backups
If you need a one-off XML backup, you can manually perform a site export. See Manually Backing Up the Site for more information.
These files are not saved to the same location as the automated backups, they are saved in the temp directory. You can change where the zipped XML files are saved by changing the location of your <Confluence-home>/temp directory. See Confluence Home and other important directories for more information on how to do this.
Scheduled XML backups in Confluence Data Center
The scheduled XML backup is disabled by default in Confluence Data Center, as the job is known to cause outages in sites with a lot of data.
We recommend that your backup strategy includes full backups of your database, local home and shared home directories on a regular basis.
If you do choose to enable the scheduled XML backup (for example on a staging or test site), the default backup path is <shared-home>/backups. You can find the location of your shared home in the confluence.cfg.xml file, look for the confluence.cluster.home property.