This page captures multiple issues which Jira macros can encounter in Confluence. These can be like follows or any other kind.

Unable to render Jira issue macros. Connection to Jira has timed out.

Refresh didn't work. Try again or click an issue to see it in Jira

These error messages in Confluence can be very vague and this guide can help narrow down the root cause of the issue. Some error messages are very straight forward like can't locate Jira server. They suspect more towards total lack of connectivity. Nevertheless, this guide will still be useful to diagnose it.

Diagnosis

Almost always HTTP debug logging will be required from both Confluence and Jira to understand the nature of the issue. This can be enabled by going through the following steps.

1. In Jira, turn on Jira HTTP access and dump logs
2. System > Logging and Profilling
3. Enable HTTP access logs
4. Then, Enable HTTP dump logs
5.  In Confluence, navigate to General Configuration > Logging and Profiling
6.  Under Class/Package Name add org.apache.http and set Level to Debug
7. Reproduce the issue by refreshing the page or repeating the action and capture a HAR file

Confluence will be logging requests to Jira like follows after the above steps.

2019-09-23 09:42:49,764 DEBUG [JIM Marshaller:thread-340] [http.impl.execchain.MainClientExec] execute Executing request GET /sr/jira.issueviews:searchrequest-xml/temp/SearchRequest.xml?tempMax=1000&returnMax=true&jqlQuery=project+in+%28CLS%2C+TRAIN%2C+CTB%2C+OAG%29+AND+assignee+in+%28admin%29+AND+%28resolution+is+EMPTY+OR+%28resolutionDate+%3E+-2w%29%29+AND+%28updatedDate+%3E+-2w%29+ORDER+BY+%22Updated%22+Desc++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++&field=summary&field=type&field=updated&field=assignee&field=status&field=allcustom&field=last+comment&field=link&xoauth_requestor_id=admin HTTP/1.1

This request contains the exact JQL/filter specified on the page of Confluence. The response of this request will help decide the troubleshooting steps required. Some of the most common ones are mentioned below.

HTTP Backend timeout

Confluence by default has an HTTP timeout of 10 seconds. This is how long Confluence will wait for a response from Jira. In case the JQL/filter specified in macro is complex, Jira can take a long time to process and send data back. If it exceeds 10 seconds, we will see the following error.

2019-09-23 09:42:59,777 DEBUG [JIM Marshaller:thread-340] [org.apache.http.wire] wire http-outgoing-34892 << "[read] I/O error: Read timed out"

To resolve this, follow the guide to Resolve timeouts in Jira Issue Macros and increase this backend timeout.

Frontend timeout

In case there are several Jira issue macros/gadgets on the page, there will be multiple requests going to Jira. Confluence front end has a hardcoded limit of 1 minute to wait for all the data to be received. This means that if Jira is transmitting back data but all of it has not been received by Confluence under a minute then the browser will not render it. This behaviour is being discussed in this bug report  CONFSERVER-59016 - Getting issue details... STATUS

There are two ways to verify it,

1. org.apache.http DEBUG logs in Confluence. We will see data being returned by Jira way after a minute

2. HAR file captured in the diagnosis section shows requests to the following endpoint but none of them has a 200 OK response

   <BaseURL>/rest/jiraanywhere/1.0/jira/clientIds/

If HAR file shows at least one 200 OK response, then we shouldn't expect frontend to be timing out.

Data issues

Sometimes data by Jira is not parseable by Confluence. This can happen when Jira is behind a network device (like CDN) or authentication layer (like SSO).

2020-04-30 11:01:15,646 DEBUG [JIM Marshaller:thread-123] [org.apache.http.wire] wire http-outgoing-35921 << "Location: /plugins/servlet/twofactor/public/pinvalidation?target=%2Fsr%2Fjira.issueviews%3Asearchrequest-xml%2Ftemp%2FSearchRequest.xml%3FtempMax%3D1000%26returnMax%3Dtrue%26validateQuery%3Dfalse%26jqlQuery%3DKEY%2BIN%2B%2528IT-1273%2529%26field%3Dtype%26field%3Dsummary%26field%3Dstatus%26field%3Dresolution%26field%3Dstatuscategory%26field%3Dlink%26xoauth_requestor_id%3Dadmin[\r][\n]"

2019-10-30 22:23:09,045 DEBUG [JIM Marshaller:thread-9078] [org.apache.http.wire] wire http-outgoing-108385 << "HTTP/1.1 302 Moved Temporarily[\r][\n]"
.
2019-10-30 22:23:09,046 DEBUG [JIM Marshaller:thread-9078] [org.apache.http.wire] wire http-outgoing-108385 << "Location: https://media123.cdn.com/cdn-cgi/access...
.
2019-10-30 22:23:09,047 DEBUG [JIM Marshaller:thread-9078] [org.apache.http.wire] wire http-outgoing-108385 << "Server: cloudCDN [\r][\n]"

These issues should be dealt by proper configuration of the relevant component. For instance, SSO apps should whitelist requests from Confluence and shouldn't prompt for another authentication. Similarly, for CDN a rule should be set to not intervene incoming requests from Confluence. 

Other Issues

There can be some other issues related to timeouts as well like  CONFSERVER-53469 - Getting issue details... STATUS . If data is being received successfully by Confluence but not displayed on the page, then we can start looking into this. If you encounter any other issues which are not covered in this guide, reach out to Atlassian Support with Support zips from Confluence & Jira, along with the HAR file. Ensure that DEBUG logging is enabled while capturing HAR file.