This page last changed on Nov 11, 2008 by smaddox.
These instructions apply to:
  • The Standalone edition of Confluence. The Standalone edition includes Apache Tomcat as the standalone application server. If you want to install an EAR/WAR edition for deployment on your own existing application server, please refer to the Confluence Installation Guide.
  • Mac OS X systems. For other operating systems please refer to the Confluence Installation Guide.
  • Installation via a zipped download file. For a simpler installation procedure for evaluation purposes, please consider the Confluence Installer.
  • Preparation for a production instance of Confluence.

Also, please check the version of Confluence which you are installing. Refer to the documentation home page to verify the latest Confluence version and to find documentation for older versions.

On this page:

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1. Before you Start

Please check the following points:

  1. Make sure that your system meets the minimum requirements to run Confluence:
    • If you are installing Confluence for evaluation purposes, it should be pretty easy. You will need a web browser — we recommend Firefox, or Internet Explorer 6 or later.
    • For production installations, please read the detailed system requirements.
  2. Have your Confluence license key ready. You can obtain a trial, free or commercial license now, or retrieve your existing license key.
  3. You must be able to use a command prompt and install Java to continue. If not, please contact your system administrator to assist you or consider the Hosted online evaluation option.
  4. We recommend that you run Software Update to ensure that your operating system is up to date.

2. Check for the JDK (Java Development Kit)

The jdk is installed on OS X by default. From Applications > Utilities open Terminal. Run <<java -version>> to see if its installed.

3. Download and Unzip the Confluence Installation File

  1. If you have not downloaded Confluence already, download the Standalone tar.gz file for Macs.
  2. Create a folder in your user's home folder called 'confluence'. The Confluence application and data will live in two separate folder underneath this folder once you are done.
    • Ensure that there are no spaces in the folder name, or in the names of any of its parent folders.
  3. Find the downloaded tar.gz file in the Finder. Drag it to the confluence directory in your home folder. Double-click on the file to extract it to a directory called confluence-2.7.0-std or something similar.
  4. Set up an environment variable which tells Confluence where your Java Virtual Machine is installed.
    • Inside the Confluence Installation directory, find the bin/setenv.sh file.
    • Open the setenv.sh file with TextEdit.
    • Add the following line as the first line of the file:
      export JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/Home
      
    • Save the file.
  5. Create a new folder named data inside the 'confluence' folder in your user's home folder. This new folder is called the Confluence Home directory.
    • Do not put your Confluence Home directory inside the Confluence Installation folder ('confluence-2.7.0-std') or your installation will have problems with upgrades.

4. Define your Confluence Home Directory

Now you need to define the Confluence Home directory. This is where Confluence will store its configuration information, indexes and attachments.
Tip: Another term for 'Home directory' would be 'data directory'.

We suggest using different paths for your installation and home directories. This will facilitate upgrades.

Examples of Installation and Home Directories

Installation directory: /Users/example/confluence/confluence-2.7.0-std
Home directory: /Users/example/confluence/data

  1. Open your Confluence Installation directory (created when you unzipped Confluence — see above).
  2. Under the Installation directory, find this file: /confluence/WEB-INF/classes/confluence-init.properties
  3. Open the confluence-init.properties file in a text editor such as Textedit.
  4. Scroll to the bottom and find this line:
    # confluence.home=c:/confluence/data
    

  5. Remove the '#' and the space at the beginning of this line, so that Confluence no longer regards the line as a comment. The line should now begin with confluence.home
  6. Change the Confluence Home directory to the Confluence Home directory you have just created:
    • Place the cursor after the '=' sign.
    • Find the the Confluence Home directory which you created earlier and drag it to TextEdit. This will insert the full path of the folder into the file.
    • Make sure that you did delete the leading '#' character, and that the path after the '=' sign starts with a '/' character. The line should now look something like this:
      confluence.home=/Users/example/confluence/data
      

5. Check the Ports

If you have another application running on your machine which is using the same ports that Confluence uses by default, you may need to change the port which Confluence will use. For example, if you have a Standalone installation of JIRA running on this machine, JIRA might be already using the port which Confluence requests by default.

By default, Confluence listens on port '8080'. If this port is already in use in your installation, follow these instructions to change the ports:

  • To change the ports for Confluence Standalone, open the file conf/server.xml under your Confluence Installation directory. The first four lines of the file look like this:

    Default conf/server.xml
    <Server port="8000" shutdown="SHUTDOWN" debug="0">
        <Service name="Tomcat-Standalone">
            <Connector className="org.apache.coyote.tomcat4.CoyoteConnector" port="8080" minProcessors="5" maxProcessors="75"
                enableLookups="true" redirectPort="8443" acceptCount="10" debug="0" connectionTimeout="20000" useURIValidationHack="false"/>
            ...
    

    You need to modify both the server port (default is 8000) and the connector port (default is 8080) to ports that are free on your machine.
    Hint: You can use netstat to identify free ports on your machine. See more information on using netstat on Windows or on Linux.

    For example, here are the first four lines of a modified server.xml file, using ports '8015' and '8090':

    Modified conf/server.xml using ports 8015 and 8090
    <Server port="8015" shutdown="SHUTDOWN" debug="0">
        <Service name="Tomcat-Standalone">
            <Connector className="org.apache.coyote.tomcat4.CoyoteConnector" port="8090" minProcessors="5" maxProcessors="75"
                enableLookups="true" redirectPort="8443" acceptCount="10" debug="0" connectionTimeout="20000" useURIValidationHack="false"/>
            ...
    

    To access Confluence in this configuration, point your web browser to http://localhost:8090/.

You will find more information on this page.

6. Select an External Database

This step is optional for evaluation instances of Confluence. It is mandatory for a production instance.

Select one of the supported external databases and follow the corresponding database setup guide. You can learn more about migration from an existing installation or use of the evaluation database here. You will continue to use the Database Setup Guide during the Confluence Setup Wizard. (See step 8 below.)

7. Start Confluence

  1. Go to your Confluence Installation directory (created when you unzipped Confluence — see above).
  2. Open the bin folder and run OS X - Run Confluence In Background.
  3. Once Confluence is running, open a web browser and visit http://localhost:8080/.
    Hint: If you changed the port earlier, use the port you specified in step 5 above.

8. Next Step is the Confluence Setup Wizard

The Confluence Setup Wizard should appear in your web browser, prompting you to enter your license key. Follow the instructions on the screens, and read more guidelines on the Confluence Setup Wizard.

If the web browser shows an error instead of the Setup Wizard, check the Troubleshooting section.

RELATED TOPICS

Change listen port for Confluence Standalone
Adding SSL on Confluence 2.1.5a and earlier
Confluence Setup Guide
Configuration Guide
Documentation Home

Document generated by Confluence on Dec 03, 2008 15:05