New Confluence installation

The Confluence setup wizard will only provide an option to use a datasource if it detects one in your Tomcat configuration.  If you want to use a datasource, follow the steps below. 

1. Stop Confluence

In the Confluence setup wizard, you'll be prompted to choose your database. At this point, you should:

1. Stop Confluence.
2. Back up the following files, in case you need to revert your changes:
   • <installation-directory>/conf/server.xml
   • <installation-directory>/confluence/WEB-INF/web.xml
   • <home-directory>/confluence.cfg.xml

2. Add your database driver

Copy your database driver into the <installation-directory>/lib directory.

Here's where to find the driver for your database:

• PostgreSQL: bundled with Confluence at <installation-directory>/confluence/WEB-INF/lib/postgresql-x.x.x.jar  
• Microsoft SQL Server: bundled with Confluence at  <installation-directory>/confluence/WEB-INF/lib/mssql-jdbc-x.x.x.x.jar   
• MySQL: head to Database JDBC Drivers   to download the driver 
• Oracle: head to Database JDBC Drivers  to download the driver

3. Configure the datasource in Tomcat

Next, add the datasource configuration to Tomcat. 

1. Edit <installation-directory>/conf/server.xml

2. Find the following lines:

   <Context path="" docBase="../confluence" debug="0" reloadable="true">
   <!-- Logger is deprecated in Tomcat 5.5. Logging configuration for Confluence is 
   specified in confluence/WEB-INF/classes/log4j.properties -->

3. Insert the following DataSource   Resource   element for your specific database directly after the lines above (inside the   Context   element, directly after the opening   <Context.../>   line,  before   Manager). 
   
   

   PostgreSQL...

   <Resource name="jdbc/confluence" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource"
       username="<database-user>"
       password="<password>"
       driverClassName="org.postgresql.Driver"
       url="jdbc:postgresql://<host>:5432/<database-name>"
       maxTotal="60"
       maxIdle="20"
       testOnBorrow="true"/>  

   Microsoft SQL Server...

   <Resource name="jdbc/confluence" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource"
       username="<database-user>"
       password="<password>"
      driverClassName="com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver"
       url="jdbc:sqlserver://<host>:1433;database=<database-name>"
       maxTotal="60"
       maxIdle="20"
       testOnBorrow="true"/>

   If you're using Confluence 6.3 or earlier, you'll need to specify the jTDS driver for SQL Server. See Configuring a SQL Server Datasource in Apache Tomcat in our 6.3 documentation for a sample configuration.

   MySQL...

   If you are using the 5.1.x driver (for MySQL 5.7):

   <Resource name="jdbc/confluence" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource"
       username="<database-user>"
       password="<password>"
       driverClassName="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"
       url="jdbc:mysql://<host>:3306/<database-name>?useUnicode=true&amp;characterEncoding=utf8"
       maxTotal="60"
       maxIdle="20"
       defaultTransactionIsolation="READ_COMMITTED"
       testOnBorrow="true"/>

   If you're using the 8.0.x driver (for MySQL 8):

   <Resource name="jdbc/confluence" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource"
       username="<database-user>"
       password="<password>"
       driverClassName="com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver"
       url="jdbc:mysql://<host>:3306/<database-name>?useUnicode=true&amp;characterEncoding=utf8"
       maxTotal="60"
       maxIdle="20"
       defaultTransactionIsolation="READ_COMMITTED"
       testOnBorrow="true"/>

   Oracle...

   <Resource name="jdbc/confluence" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource"
       driverClassName="oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver"
       url="jdbc:oracle:thin:@<host>:1521:<SID>"
       username="<database-user>"
       password="<password>"
       connectionProperties="SetBigStringTryClob=true"
   	accessToUnderlyingConnectionAllowed="true"
       maxTotal="60"
       maxIdle="20"
       maxWaitMillis="10000"
       testOnBorrow="true"/>

   See how to find your Oracle URL. 

   
   Replace <database-user>, <password>, <host> and <database-name> (or <SID> for Oracle) with details of your own database. You may also need to change the port, if your database server is not running on the default port. 

4. Configure the connection pool and other properties. See the Apache Tomcat 9 Datasource documentation for more information. 
   
   

   Configurable properties...

   Here are the configuration properties for Tomcat's standard data source resource factory (org.apache.tomcat.dbcp.dbcp.BasicDataSourceFactory):

   • driverClassName - Fully qualified Java class name of the JDBC driver to be used.
   • maxTotal - The maximum number of active instances that can be allocated from this pool at the same time.
   • maxIdle - The maximum number of connections that can sit idle in this pool at the same time.
   • maxWaitMillis - The maximum number of milliseconds that the pool will wait (when there are no available connections) for a connection to be returned before throwing an exception.
   • password - Database password to be passed to the JDBC driver.
   • url - Connection URL to be passed to the JDBC driver. (For backwards compatibility, the property driverName is also recognized.)
   • user - Database username to be passed to the JDBC driver.
   • validationQuery - We don't recommend you set a validation query explicitly. Instead, we recommend you set testOnBorrow, which will use the validation query defined by your database driver. See Surviving Database Connection Closures for more information.
5. If you plan to use collaborative editing, you'll need to make sure:
   • You're using a supported database driver. Collaborative editing will fail if you're using an unsupported or custom JDBC driver or driverClassName in your datasource. See Database JDBC Drivers for the list of drivers we support.
   • Your database connection pool allows enough connections to support both Confluence and Synchrony (which defaults to a maximum pool size of 15)
   • You're using simple username and password authentication for your database.  

4. Configure the Confluence web application

Configure Confluence to use this datasource:

1. Edit  <CONFLUENCE_INSTALLATION>/confluence/WEB-INF/web.xml.
2. Insert the following element just before </web-app> near the end of the file: 

<resource-ref>
  <description>Connection Pool</description>
  <res-ref-name>jdbc/confluence</res-ref-name>
  <res-type>javax.sql.DataSource</res-type>
  <res-auth>Container</res-auth>
</resource-ref>

5. Restart Confluence and continue setup process

Now that your datasource is configured, you can continue with the setup wizard. 

1. Start Confluence. 
2. Go to http://localhost:8090 to return to the setup wizard. 
3. When prompted choose My own database (datasource).
4. Enter the JNDI name of your datasource, for example,java:comp/env/jdbc/confluence
5. Follow the prompts to finish setting up Confluence. 

6. Update your datasource to turn off auto commit

Once you've confirmed that Confluence is up and running, you'll need to make a final change to your datasource to avoid a known issue with editing pages. See CONFSERVER-59524.

1. Stop Confluence. 
2. Edit <installation-directory>/conf/server.xml

3. Add the following parameter in your datasource Resource element. 

   defaultAutoCommit="false"

4. Start Confluence. 
5. Repeat this for all cluster nodes. 

Existing Confluence installation

If you want to switch from using a direct JDBC connection to a datasource:

• Stop Confluence.
• Back up the following files, in case you need to revert your changes:
  • <installation-directory>/conf/server.xml
  • <installation-directory>/confluence/WEB-INF/web.xml
  • <home-directory>/confluence.cfg.xml
 
• Copy your database driver into the <installation-directory>/lib directory, as described in the steps above. You can find the details of your current database connection in <home-directory>/confluence.cfg.xml .
   

• Edit <installation-directory>/conf/server.xml and insert the following DataSource Resource element for your specific database (inside the Context element, directly after the opening <Context.../> line before Manager)

  PostgreSQL...

  <Resource name="jdbc/confluence" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource"
      username="<database-user>"
      password="<password>"
      driverClassName="org.postgresql.Driver"
      url="jdbc:postgresql://<host>:5432/<database-name>"
      maxTotal="60"
      maxIdle="20"
      testOnBorrow="true"
      defaultAutoCommit="false"/>  

  Microsoft SQL Server...

  <Resource name="jdbc/confluence" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource"
      username="<database-user>"
      password="<password>"
     driverClassName="com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver"
      url="jdbc:sqlserver://<host>:1433;database=<database-name>"
      maxTotal="60"
      maxIdle="20"
      testOnBorrow="true" 
      defaultAutoCommit="false"/>

  
  

  MySQL...

  If you are using the 5.1.x driver (for MySQL 5.7):

  <Resource name="jdbc/confluence" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource"
      username="<database-user>"
      password="<password>"
      driverClassName="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"
      url="jdbc:mysql://<host>:3306/<database-name>?useUnicode=true&amp;characterEncoding=utf8"
      maxTotal="60"
      maxIdle="20"
      defaultTransactionIsolation="READ_COMMITTED"
      testOnBorrow="true"
      defaultAutoCommit="false"/>

  If you're using the 8.0.x driver (for MySQL 8):

  <Resource name="jdbc/confluence" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource"
      username="<database-user>"
      password="<password>"
      driverClassName="com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver"
      url="jdbc:mysql://<host>:3306/<database-name>?useUnicode=true&amp;characterEncoding=utf8"
      maxTotal="60"
      maxIdle="20"
      defaultTransactionIsolation="READ_COMMITTED"
      testOnBorrow="true"
      defaultAutoCommit="false"/>

  Oracle...

  <Resource name="jdbc/confluence" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource"
      driverClassName="oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver"
      url="jdbc:oracle:thin:@<host>:1521:<SID>"
      username="<database-user>"
      password="<password>"
      connectionProperties="SetBigStringTryClob=true"
  	accessToUnderlyingConnectionAllowed="true"
      maxTotal="60"
      maxIdle="20"
      maxWaitMillis="10000"
      testOnBorrow="true"
      defaultAutoCommit="false"/>

  See how to find your Oracle URL.

  Replace <database-user>, <password>, <host> and <database-name> (or <SID> for Oracle) with details of your own database. You may also need to change the port, if your database server is not running on the default port.
   
  

• Edit the  <home-directory>/confluence.cfg.xml file and remove any line that contains a property that begins with hibernate.
   

• Insert the following at the start of the <properties> section.

  PostgreSQL...

  <property name="hibernate.setup"><![CDATA[true]]></property>
  <property name="hibernate.dialect"><![CDATA[net.sf.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDialect]]></property>
  <property name="hibernate.connection.datasource"><![CDATA[java:comp/env/jdbc/confluence]]></property>
  

  Microsoft SQL Server...

  <property name="hibernate.setup"><![CDATA[true]]></property>
  <property name="hibernate.dialect"><![CDATA[net.sf.hibernate.dialect.SQLServerIntlDialect]]></property>
  <property name="hibernate.connection.datasource"><![CDATA[java:comp/env/jdbc/confluence]]></property>
  

  MySQL...

  <property name="hibernate.setup"><![CDATA[true]]></property>
  <property name="hibernate.dialect"><![CDATA[com.atlassian.hibernate.dialect.MySQLDialect]]></property>
  <property name="hibernate.connection.datasource"><![CDATA[java:comp/env/jdbc/confluence]]></property>
  

  Oracle...

  <property name="hibernate.setup"><![CDATA[true]]></property>
  <property name="hibernate.dialect"><![CDATA[com.atlassian.confluence.impl.hibernate.dialect.OracleDialect]]></property>
  <property name="hibernate.connection.datasource"><![CDATA[java:comp/env/jdbc/confluence]]></property>
  

• Start Confluence.

Upgrading Confluence with a datasource

If you're upgrading Confluence (manually or using the installer) you will need to:

• Stop Confluence (if you have attempted to start it).
• Copy your database driver into the <installation-directory>/lib directory.
• Edit <installation-directory>/conf/server.xml and add your datasource resource.
• Edit <installation-directory>/confluence/WEB-INF/web.xml to configure Confluence to use this datasource.

If you forget to do these steps, Confluence will not start up after upgrade and you'll see the following error:

HTTP Status 500 - Confluence is vacant, a call to tenanted [public abstract org.hibernate.Session org.hibernate.SessionFactory.getCurrentSession() throws org.hibernate.HibernateException] is not allowed.

Known issues

• If you experience a lot of ContentUpdatedEvent errors in the logs, you may need to add add  defaultAutoCommit="false"  to the datasource in the server.xml file. See  CONFSERVER-59524 - Getting issue details... STATUS  for more information and full details of the workaround. 
• There's a known issue where Synchrony does not start if Confluence connects to the database using  a datasource. See  CONFSERVER-60120 - Getting issue details... STATUS  for more information and a workaround. 
• There's a known issue when running Oracle with Native Network Encryption that can cause Confluence to become unresponsive. See  CONFSERVER-60152 - Getting issue details... STATUS  for more details and Confluence Unresponsive Due to High Database Connection Latency for some suggested mitigation strategies.