Troubleshooting Problems & Requesting Technical Support

This document tells you how to troubleshoot problems and obtain technical support.

On this page:

Troubleshooting a Problem

If you have a problem with Confluence, please follow these steps:

1. If you are not a Confluence administrator, report your problem to the person in charge of your Confluence site and ask them to follow up on the issue.
2. Check our Frequently Asked Questions and our [Knowledge Base] for a solution to your problem.
3. Check the appropriate Confluence component in JIRA for known bugs.
4. If you are having problems configuring a feature, please take a look at the appropriate guides:
   • Confluence Installation Guide
   • Confluence Setup Guide
   • Confluence Administrator's Guide
   • Configuration Guide
   • Database Configuration
5. If your issue is related to your database server, please refer to the documentation within the Known Issues For Supported Databases section.
6. If your issue is related to your application server, please refer to the documentation within the Installing the Confluence EAR-WAR Distribution section.
7. If your problem may be related to a plugin, you can enter Plugin Support Mode by briefly disabling the third party plugins.

If the above documentation does not solve your problem, you should create a support request and attach your support zip. If you believe you are experiencing a bug, you may wish to create a bug report instead. Instructions for both are given below.

Raising a Support Request

There are two ways to raise a support request with Atlassian:

• (Recommended) Raise a support ticket directly via our support site on the Internet and then create a support zip using the Support Utility below. The advantage of this method is that it includes all the relevant files confluence support need. You can also be sure that the support case has been created and includes your logs.
• Complete the support request form via your Confluence Administration Console. The disadvantage of this method is that your mail may not be forwarded correctly due to restrictions imposed by your mail server. For example, the zip of your log files might be too large for your mail server to forward them on.

Both of these methods are described below.

Raising a Support Ticket via the Internet

If your Confluence instance is not configured with SMTP mail or your Confluence instance is not running, you can raise a support ticket via the Atlassian Support System:

1. Create a support zip to attach to the ticket. If your instance does not start up, refer to Working with Confluence Logs for information about the log files.
2. If your problem concerns user management or performance, please take a look at the additional requirements in Requesting External User Management Support or Requesting Performance Support.
3. If you do not already have a free Atlassian support account, create one here.
4. Log in to https://support.atlassian.com and select 'Create New Issue'.
5. Lodge a detailed description of your problem in the new support ticket.
6. Fill in all applicable information about your system, such as application server, database, etc.
7. If Confluence is running, go to the 'System Information' screen in your Administration Console and copy the text of your system information into the ticket.
8. Once your ticket is lodged, wait to be notified by email of updates. If your production instance of Confluence is experiencing a critical problem, jump on Live Support and ask to have your issue reviewed immediately.

Support Utility

It is recommended that you add a support zip to every interaction with confluence support. The utility will also dump your system information to the logs before zipping them.

You can also use this method to append system information to an existing support ticket.

1. Log in as a user with System Administrator or Confluence Administrator access.
2. Go to the Administration Console and click 'Support Utility' under 'Administration' in the left-hand panel. Ensure that everything is checked, then click on "Create" button.
3. Attach the created support zip, to the support case you raised.

The Create Support Zip form is shown below:

Raising a Support Ticket via the Confluence Support Request Form

Ensure that SMTP email is set up on your Confluence instance and your mail server allows zip files.

The advantage of this method is that it is convenient, however the disadvantage is that your mail may not be forwarded correctly due to an issue (e.g. zip file too large) or security restriction on your mail server.

You can also use this method to append system information to an existing support ticket.

1. Log in as a user with System Administrator or Confluence Administrator access.
2. Go to the Administration Console and click 'Support Utility' under 'Administration' in the left-hand panel. Then click on "create a support request via the confluence administration" link. The 'Raise Support Request' form will appear. Part of the form is shown below:
   
   
   
   
3. Please provide as much information as possible, following these guidelines:
   • 'To' — This is an email address, named the Site Support Address and configured on the 'General Configuration' screen of your Confluence instance. It points to a JIRA instance (usually the Atlassian Support System) which is configured to receive and handle support requests by email.
   • 'CC' — Any email address(es) entered here will receive a copy of the support request, including all system information. You can enter more than one email address, separated by commas (e.g. joe@mycompany.com, sally@mycompany.com, jane@myothercompany.com).
   • 'Subject' — Enter a short and meaningful description of the problem.
   • 'Description' — Please enter as much information as possible, including any error messages that are appearing and any steps the support team can take to reproduce the problem.
   • 'Existing Support Request' — If you have previously raised a support request for the problem, please type the issue key here (e.g. CSP-12345). The information on this form will be appended to the existing support ticket.
   • 'Contact Name' — This will default to the name of the logged-in user.
   • 'Contact Email' — This will default to the email address of the logged-in user.
     Note: This email address will be used to find your support account on the Atlassian Support System. If no matching account is found, a new account will be created. Confluence will also send all further notifications and updates to this address.
   • 'Contact Phone Number' — Please enter a telephone number where our support staff can reach you. Include international and city codes.
4. Click the 'Send' button.
5. Confluence will submit your request via email to the JIRA instance referenced by the 'To' email address on the form. If you do not already have a support account, Confluence will automatically request one for you. The submitted request will include all the system and environment information which you see on the support request form. It will also include a zipped copy of your Confluence log file. Refer to Working with Confluence Logs for information about the log files. JIRA will create a support ticket including the submitted information.
   Log files can be very big — it is possible that your email server may bounce the message if too large. With the default log4j configuration, the log file could be up to 20Mb in size. If you have customised the log settings, the maximum size could be much larger still. Please check whether the email message has been successfully sent, and consult your email administrator if you need special provisions for this email message.
6. Once you have submitted your support request, you will receive email updates about its progress. These emails will give you the support ticket number.

You can view the status of your support request and add any additional information required by visiting the Atlassian Support System at any time.

Logging a Bug Report

If you have found a bug, the easiest way to report it is to:

• Create numbered instructions on how to reproduce the bug.
• Log them as a support request.

The Atlassian support team will confirm your bug and lodge a bug report. Alternatively, you can log a bug report directly by confirming it according to these instructions:

STEP 1. Check your Bug is Undiscovered

1. Visit the Confluence bug tracker.
2. On the left under 'Text Search', type keywords for your problem into the Query field.
3. Click View and browse the summaries of the unresolved bugs. If any summary appears to describe your problem, check that the bug is not a match. If it is the same, you may wish to set a watch to be notified of updates or apply your vote towards having it resolved. If the problem does not already appear to have been logged, the next step is to confirm that the problem is a bug.

STEP 2. Confirm the Bug

Check the headings below. If one of the headings matches your problem, follow the instructions. If the problem does not fall under any category, follow the general instructions instead.
 

Bug Affects Page Rendering or Content

If you are having issues with Wiki Markup or page content not being shown as expected:

1. Create a new page and try to duplicate the issue.
2. If the problem recurs, log the new bug here. Include the process you used to duplicate the problem.
3. If the issue does not occur, this is may not be a bug and you should log the problem as a support request instead.

Bug Prevents Confluence from Starting

Please lodge a support request with your configuration information and numbered instructions on how to reproduce the issue.

Bug in External User Management

Please lodge a support request with your user management configuration and numbered instructions on how to reproduce the bug.

General Bug Confirmation

1. If Confluence will not run, please log the problem as a support request instead.
2. Attempt to replicate the bug:
   • Download the latest version of Confluence Standalone.
   • Install the Standalone with the appropriate database and the demonstration site.
   • Try to duplicate your problem on the default setup with the demonstration data.
3. If the issue does not occur, you should open a support ticket.
4. If the issue does occur, log the new bug here along with the information you used to duplicate it.
5. Once your issue is lodged, wait to be notified by email of updates. If your production instance of Confluence is experiencing a critical problem, jump on Live Support and ask to have your issue reviewed immediately.

500 page

Sometimes it may be useful to include the result of the 500page.jsp

https://<domain><host>:<port>/500page.jsp

RELATED TOPICS

General Support Enquiries
Requesting External User Management Support
Requesting Performance Support
[Feature Requests]
Configuring the Site Support Address
Site Configuration