Setting Up High Availability in Confluence
Introduction
High Availability (HA) is essential for ensuring that your Confluence instance remains accessible and operational even in the face of failures. This tutorial will guide you through the process of setting up HA for Confluence, covering the necessary components, configurations, and best practices.
Prerequisites
Before setting up High Availability for Confluence, ensure that you have the following:
- At least two Confluence application servers.
- A shared database that supports HA (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL).
- A load balancer to distribute traffic to application servers.
- Shared file storage (e.g., NFS) for attachments and configuration files.
Step 1: Setting Up the Database
Your Confluence instance will need a database that supports High Availability. Follow these steps to set up a PostgreSQL HA Cluster:
1. Install PostgreSQL on your database servers.
2. Configure streaming replication between the primary and standby servers.
3. Create a database for Confluence.
CREATE DATABASE confluence;
Step 2: Configuring Confluence Nodes
Each Confluence node needs to be configured to connect to the shared database. Modify the confluence.cfg.xml file on each node:
<database-type>postgresql</database-type>
<jdbc-connection-url>jdbc:postgresql://DB_HOST:5432/confluence</jdbc-connection-url>
<username>confluence_user</username>
<password>confluence_password</password>
Step 3: Setting Up Shared File Storage
Configure a shared file storage system (like NFS) where all Confluence nodes can read and write attachments. Mount the shared storage on each node:
sudo mount -t nfs nfs_server:/path/to/shared/storage /path/to/confluence/home
Step 4: Load Balancer Configuration
A load balancer is critical for distributing incoming requests to the active Confluence nodes. Here’s a basic example of using NGINX as a load balancer:
http {
upstream confluence {
server node1_ip;
server node2_ip;
}
server {
location / {
proxy_pass http://confluence;
}
}
}
Step 5: Testing the Setup
Once everything is configured, test your setup by accessing the load balancer’s IP address. Ensure that you can reach Confluence and that you can switch off one application server to verify that the other server takes over without downtime.
Best Practices
To maintain a robust High Availability setup, consider the following best practices:
- Regularly back up your database and shared storage.
- Monitor the health of your application servers and database.
- Implement an automated failover mechanism if possible.
- Keep all software components updated to the latest stable versions.
Conclusion
Setting up High Availability for Confluence ensures that your users have uninterrupted access to vital information. By following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you can create a resilient Confluence environment that can withstand failures and continue to provide service.