Managing user directory connection latency in Confluence Data Center

User directory connection latency measures the time taken for Confluence Data Center nodes to establish and maintain connections with your user directory server. This metric is crucial for monitoring the health and performance of user authentication and authorization processes.

How does high local disk latency affect performance?

High connection latency can impact your instance in several ways:

• Users face delayed login processes and slower permission checks throughout their work day.

• Administrators see extended response times for group membership updates and user management tasks. During peak periods, you might encounter authentication timeouts that disrupt user access.

What's the recommendation?

To improve local write latency, focus on these key areas:

Test and improve network connectivity

Before making changes, verify network performance between Confluence and your user directory server:

Run a ping test:

• From each Confluence node, ping the user directory server

• Ideally, ICMP packets should take less than 10 milliseconds to reach the server

• Use the command:

  ping <user_directory_server_hostname>

Conduct a traceroute test:

• Perform a traceroute from each Confluence node to the user directory server

• If Confluence and the server are on the same subnet, there should be minimal network hops (typically 1 or 2)

• Use the command:

  traceroute <user_directory_server_hostname>

Learn more about managing user directory connection latency

Optimize user directory server performance

If network connectivity is good, focus on server performance:

1. Check server resources:

   • Monitor CPU usage

   • Review memory utilization

   • Assess disk I/O performance

2. Review server logs for:

   • Connection timeout errors

   • Authentication delays

   • Resource constraints

3. Adjust server configurations:

   • Optimize connection pool settings

   • Configure appropriate timeouts

   • Enable server-side caching where appropriate

More on interpreting infrustrcture metrics for in product diagnostics

Implement connection pooling

Configure connection pooling to maintain efficient connections:

Navigate to:

• Administration > User Management > User Directories

• Select your directory

• Configure these recommended settings:

  • Connection Timeout: 10 seconds

  • Connection Pool Size: Number of nodes + 1

  • Maximum Results: Adjust based on your user base

These settings help maintain stable connections while optimizing resource usage across your cluster.

Connecting to an LDAP Directory