Confluence Docs 3.0 : Confluence Cluster Installation This page last changed on Sep 06, 2009 by ggaskell. ### Overview There are two methods of installing Confluence in a cluster, depending on whether you have existing data. This page describes a fresh installation with no existing data. See also Confluence Cluster Installation with Existing Data.
| Oracle Coherence Licensing Change: Due to a license agreement change between Atlassian and Oracle over the Coherence technology, from September 2009, Confluence will be made available in two editions: Standard Edition — Confluence with Ehcache's caching technology (available to customers with non-clustered Confluence licenses). If you are currently running a clustered installation of Confluence, please do not upgrade it with a standard edition of Confluence. Clustered Edition — Confluence with Oracle's Coherence clustering and distributed caching technology (available to customers with Confluence clustered licenses only). For more information about these changes, please refer to the Coherence License Changes document. If you have a Confluence clustered license, are running a clustered installation of Confluence and wish to upgrade to Confluence version 2.6 or later after late September 2009, please ensure that you download only a clustered edition of Confluence and please refer to the Confluence 3.0.1 Upgrade Notes for additional upgrade information.
### Installation with no existing data To get Confluence running in a two-node cluster, you must do the following: Ensure you meet the clustering requirements, including obtaining a clustered license key from Atlassian for each node Install Confluence on a single node, configuring an external database and a cluster name Load test the single node installation, see whether clustering is required Shut down the first node, copy the Confluence application and Confluence home directory to the second node Start the first node, wait until it is running, then bring up the second node and it will automatically join the cluster Test the cluster is working correctly Configure a load balancer in front of the two clustered nodes. Each of these steps will be described in detail below. ### 1. Clustering requirements Your Confluence cluster installation must meet all the following criteria for clustering: you must be running Confluence 2.3 or later you must have a clustered license you must use an external database you must use a load balancer with session affinity in front of the cluster. Clustered commercial licenses may be purchased through Confluence website. Clustered evaluation licenses may be obtained by emailing sales@atlassian.com. A cluster can run using two copies of Confluence Standalone. However, cluster administrators must understand how to configure an application server and web server with load balancing, so we recommend you are comfortable installing Confluence as a EAR/WAR in your application server before proceeding with a clustered installation. ### 2. Installation on first node Cluster administrators should already be comfortable with the normal installation method, so it won't be repeated here. There are two differences in the Confluence Setup Wizard from a normal installation: you must use an external database you must enter a cluster name. Enter a cluster name to create a new cluster
| Technical note The cluster name will be converted into a unique multicast IP address and port for your Confluence cluster. UDP multicast traffic is used for Confluence to automatically discover other nodes in the cluster when they start up.
5. ### 3. Load test the single node Most Confluence installations do not need to be clustered. Ensure you have tested your single node installation with the number of users you expect to host before going ahead with the additional complexity of clustering. Check out our performance tuning tips for ways to improve the performance of a single instance of Confluence. You can upgrade your single node to a multi-node cluster at any time by resuming this guide from step 4 below. ### 4. Copy Confluence to second node Confluence clusters must use the same JDK, application server and application. The easiest way to ensure this is to shut down Confluence on the first node, then copy its web application and home directory to the second node: Shut down Confluence on node #1. Shut down your application server on node #2, or stop it automatically loading web applications. Copy the Confluence web application from node #1 to node #2. Copy the Confluence home directory from node #1 to node #2. Copying the web application ensures any modifications you have made to the application itself, custom LDAP settings (`atlassian-user.xml`), and any other advanced configuration are copied to node #2. Copying the home directory ensures the Confluence search index (the `index/` directory), the database and cluster configuration (`confluence.cfg.xml`), and any other home directory settings are copied to node #2. ### 5. Start Confluence on the first node, wait, then start Confluence on second node For the most stable start-up process, it is important to start Confluence one server at a time. Start Confluence on node #1. Wait for Confluence to become available on node #1. Start Confluence on node #2. Wait for Confluence to become available on node #2. ### 6. Test cluster connectivity The Cluster Administration page (Administration, Cluster Configuration) includes information about the active cluster. When the cluster is running properly, this page displays: a correct count of the nodes in the cluster a status display for each node in the cluster an uptime for each node that is accurate. Cluster Administration page A simple process to ensure your cluster is working correctly is: Create a new document on node #1 Ensure the new document is visible by accessing it directly on node #2 Wait one minute (Confluence does batch indexing once per minute) Search for the new document on node #1, ensure it appears Search for the new document on node #2, ensure it appears.
   | Technical note If Confluence detects more than one instance accessing the database but not in a working cluster, it will shut itself down in a cluster panic. This can be fixed by troubleshooting the network connectivity of the cluster.
### 7. Configure load balancer For the moment, configuring the load balancer is outside the scope of this document. However, a simple Apache and Tomcat load-balancing configuration is available, which includes sample configuration for the Apache Tomcat and the Apache web server, using its load-balancing JK connector. ### Troubleshooting If you have problems with the above procedure, please see our Cluster Troubleshooting guide. ### Upgrading a cluster It is important that upgrades follow the procedure for Upgrading a Confluence Cluster. ### Related documentation Overview of Confluence Clusters Clustering in Confluence Confluence Cluster Installation with Existing Data Confluence Installation Guide Upgrading a Confluence Cluster Cluster Administration page Attachments: setupClusterName.jpg (image/jpeg) setupClusterName.jpg (image/jpeg)

Document generated by Confluence on Nov 05, 2009 23:27