2. Choose your installation type

In this step, you'll choose whether you want a trial or a production installation.

• Trial installation
  Choose this option if you don't have a license, and want to try Confluence for the first time. You'll need an external database.
   
• Production installation
  Set up Confluence with your own external database. This option is recommended for setting up Confluence in a production environment.   

3. Enter your license key 

Follow the prompts to generate an evaluation license, or enter an existing license key. To retrieve an existing license key head to my.atlassian.com, or to purchase a new commercial license go to www.atlassian.com/buy.

If you selected a Trial installation in the previous step, Confluence will generate your license. This will take a few minutes. Once complete, go to step 8 below.    

If you selected a Production installation, go to the next step to set up your external database. 

4. Production installation: database configuration

Next it's time to set up your database. Some things to consider:

• Check the supported platforms list to confirm that your chosen database and version is supported.
• See database configuration for information on setting up your database, including UTF-8 character encoding requirements. 
• If you are using Confluence as a production system you must use an external database. 

Screenshot: Database configuration

Database connection

Confluence will connect to your database with a direct JDBC connection. Connection pooling is handled within Confluence.

• Driver Class Name – The Java class name for the appropriate database driver. This will depend on the JDBC driver, and will be found in the documentation for your database. Note that Confluence bundles some database drivers, but you'll need to install the driver yourself if it is not bundled. See Database JDBC Drivers for details.
• Database URL – The JDBC URL for the database you will be connecting to. This will depend on the JDBC driver, and will be found in the documentation for your database.
• User Name and Password – A valid username and password that Confluence can use to access your database.

You will also need to know:

• • The size of the connection pool Confluence should maintain. If in doubt, just go with the default provided.
  • What kind of database you're connecting to, so you can tell Confluence which dialect it needs to use.

5. Production installation: load content

We can help you get your new Confluence site started with some demonstration content (which you can remove once you're up and running), or you can choose to proceed with an empty site. You'll need to create a space in your new site before you can start adding content. 

If you're migrating from another Confluence installation, you will be able to Restore from backup by import your existing Confluence data. This can only be done after the setup wizard is complete by following the instructions on Restore a Site.

Screenshot: Load content screen

6. Set up user management

You can choose to manage Confluence's users and groups inside Confluence or in a Jira application, such as Jira Software or Jira Service Management.

• If you do not have a Jira application installed, or if you would prefer to set up external user management later, choose Manage users and groups within Confluence.
• If you have a Jira application installed, the setup wizard gives you the opportunity to configure the Jira connection automatically. This is a quick way of setting up your Jira integration with the most common options. It will configure a Jira user directory for Confluence, and set up application links between Jira and Confluence for easy sharing of data. Choose Connect to Jira.

7. Connect to your Jira application

Enter the following information:

• Jira Base URL - the address of your Jira server, such as http://www.example.com:8080/jira/ or http://jira.example.com

• Jira Administrator Login - this is the username and password of a user account that has the Jira System Administrator global permission in your Jira application.
  
  Confluence will also use this username and password to create a local administrator account which will let you access Confluence if Jira is unavailable. Note that this single account is stored in Confluence's internal user directory, so if you change the password in Jira, it will not automatically update in Confluence.

• Confluence Base URL - this is the URL Jira will use to access your Confluence server. The URL you give here overrides the base URL specified in Confluence, for the purposes of connecting to the Jira application.
• User Groups - these are the Jira groups whose members should be allowed to use Confluence. Members of these groups will get the 'Can use' permission for Confluence, and will be counted in your Confluence license. The default user group name differs depending on your Jira version:
  • Jira 6.4 and earlier: jira-users. 
  • Jira Software 7.x and later: jira-software-users
  • Jira Core 7.x and later: jira-core-users
  • Jira Service Management (formerly Jira Service Desk) 3.x and later: jira-servicedesk-users
• Admin Groups – Specify one or more Jira groups whose members should have administrative access to Confluence. The default group is jira-administrators. These groups will get the system administrator and Confluence administrator global permissions in Confluence.

For full details and a troubleshooting guide, see Configuring Jira Integration in the Setup Wizard.

8. Set up system administrator account

The system administrator has full administrative power over your Confluence instance. This person will be able to add more users, create spaces, and set further Confluence options. Please refer to the overview of global permissions for more information.

If you've delegated user management to a Jira application, we'll use the Jira system administrator account you specified as Confluence's system administrator account. 

9. Setup is Complete

That's it, Confluence is ready to go. Click Start to jump straight in to Confluence.

Choose Further Configuration if you want to go directly to the Administration Console and complete administrator's tasks including configuring a mail server, adding users, changing the base URL and more.