Below are some important notes on upgrading to Confluence 5.1. For details of the new features and improvements in this release, please read the Confluence 5.1 Release Notes.

On this page:

Preparing your team for Confluence 5

Confluence 5.0 introduced a number of significant changes to the user experience: a new way of creating content, a redesigned header, a new sidebar, and other changes to the look and feel of your site. People in your organisation will need to be aware of the coming changes, so that they can plan and prepare for them. We have written a guide to help you: Planning for Confluence 5.

In addition, if you are upgrading from Confluence 3.5 or earlier please note that the change to the Confluence editing experience is significant. See the guide to Planning for Confluence 4.

Upgrade notes

MySQL driver no longer bundled with Confluence

The MySQL driver is no longer included in the Confluence installation. In prior versions of Confluence, we shipped the MySQL driver under a commercial license from MySQL Americas, Inc. Oracle Corporation has acquired MySQL Americas, Inc. as part of Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Oracle no longer offers a commercial license for the MySQL driver on a standalone basis as part of a partner program.

Please note the following if you use Confluence with MySQL:

• New installation. If you are installing Confluence, the Confluence Setup Wizard will display a message when you select MySQL as the database. You must download the MySQL driver and copy it into the lib folder of your Confluence installation, as described in Database Setup For MySQL. You will also need to restart Confluence and the Confluence service. You will be able to complete the setup wizard when you next access Confluence in your browser.
• Upgrade. If you are upgrading Confluence:
  • If you are not using the recommended MySQL driver (JDBC Connector/J 5.1), you must back up the driver from your existing Confluence installation before the upgrade. After the upgrade, you will need to copy the driver into the lib folder of your Confluence installation, as described in Database Setup For MySQL. If you try to upgrade Confluence without doing this, Confluence will fail to start after the upgrade. You will see MySQL driver-related errors in the logs.
  • If you are using the recommended MySQL driver (JDBC Connector/J 5.1), the driver will be automatically copied over during the upgrade process.

Upgrade procedure

Note: Upgrade to a test environment first. Test your upgrades in your test environment before rolling them into production.

If you are already running a version of Confluence, please follow these instructions to upgrade to the latest version:

1. Before you upgrade, we strongly recommend that you back up your Confluence Home Directory and database. See the documentation on backing up your Confluence site. If you are using an external database, perform a database backup.
2. If your version of Confluence is earlier than 5.0, read the release notes and upgrade guides for all releases between your version and the latest version.
3. Download the latest version of Confluence.
4. Follow the instructions in the Upgrade Guide.

Checking for known issues and troubleshooting the Confluence upgrade

• If you encounter a problem during the upgrade and cannot solve it, please create a support ticket and one of our support engineers will help you.