HOw do I upgrade Confluence 4.0.5 to 4.3.7?
Asked by Jeffrey Frost:

I recently attempted to upgrade Confluence version 4.0.5 to 4.3.7. I thought that everything was complete. There were no errors/crashes/aborting of the installation. I went through the whole process. However, when I started Confluence, I am still running my old version. I can check the date modified in my directory, and many files/folders have the recent upgrade date.

This is my first upgrade and I am very green when it comes all things related to the back end of Confluence. Any help would be appreciated.


Answers:
author: Jeffrey Frost
body: I did not have success in installing via the zip file. There was never a point in the process where the old version was detected and new that a new installation was taking place as was pointed out. Additionally, the installation steps became unclear around step 6. In this case the database was already in existence and the documenation pointed me to the Database Setup Guide ([](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Installing+Confluence+on+Windows+from+Zip+File)<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Installing+Confluence+on+Windows+from+Zip+File>), which describes setting a new install, not an upgrade.

In the end I was unable to migrate from 4.0.5 to 4.3.7. I was able, however to migrate up to 4.2.13 incrementally, even though the Atlassian documentation ([](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Upgrading+Confluence)<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Upgrading+Confluence>) states that, that would be unneccessary. This was accomplished using the Windows Installer download for each incremental version.   

I appreciate the efforts of both Ann and Jing, but in the end their solutions did not work out.


author: jing_hwa_cheok
body: Hi Jeffery,

<br />

The data directory (AKA home directory) is the directory contain various configuration and data which are used by Confluecne. The content is ussually created after the installation. In this case, if you point a .zip installer confluence-init.properties to an existing data directory, the Confluence will detect the build number (used to identify the confluence version) and perform an upgrade automatically if the detected build number is for a lower Confluence version.

If you install your previous Confluence using EXE, by default the location of you data directory is *"C:\\Program Files\\Atlassian\\Application Data\\Confluence* ".   

Running the upgrade using the .zip installer is ussually more stable and reliable because it consume less resource therefore it is recomended for big instance (less chances of running into OutOfMemory other performance related error).

<br />

Right now, you will need to rollback your instance before proceeding with the upgrading process again. If the issue persist, please check the generated ERROR in the data-directory/logs/atlassian-confluence.log.

Before proceeding with the upgrade again, I would suggest you to run a run a [Plugin compatibility check](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONF43/Checking+Plugin+Compatibility+for+Confluence+Upgrades) and remove or update any detected uncompatible plugin.

<br />

<br />

Regards,

Jing Hwa

comments: author: Jeffrey Frost
body: Hi Jing,

Thanks for your response. Once I get my system back to the way it was, then I will proceed with your recommendations. You are describing installing via [](https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Installing+Confluence+on+Windows+from+Zip+File)<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Installing+Confluence+on+Windows+from+Zip+File>correct? Is this the preferred method for installing confluence when upgrading?

Thanks,

Jeff


author: jing_hwa_cheok
body: Yes, that is correct!


author: Jeffrey Frost
body: Hi Jing,

Just finished the backup. So back to the beginning. I just did the plug in check as recommended. I only have 4 user-installed plugins, 3 of which have an unknown compatibility, yet are all Atlassian plugins.

![](../../upfiles/Confluence_Upgrade_6.jpg)

From searching on Atlassian's help I've found what I think are the compatible versions for Hipchat Team Calenders, and Wiki Markup.

1.4, 3.0.1, and 1.2.2 respectively.

<br />

I cannot find the version information for System Web Panels though. Currently, version 1.0.0 is installed.

In my previous attempts I did not disable the plugins. I will definitely do that first.

Do I need to worry about the Upgrades tab? Will those items automatically be upgraded when performing the 4.3.7 upgrade? Or are those also manual processes?

![](../../upfiles/Confluence_Upgrade_7.jpg)

I want to ensure that I follow the steps correctly this time. Below is what I think I should do.

1. Disable plugins

2. Follow instructions above for zip file installation

3. Install plugin updates.

Is this correct, or am I missing any steps.


author: Jeffrey Frost
body: Hi Ann,

Yes a backup was done first. No this is not a test instance. I do not know how to do that and at this point, it probably would have been a good idea to have done so.

Upon performing a search for the confluence-init.properties file, I did the file.

![](../../upfiles/Confluence_Upgrade_5.jpg)

In any case, before your last post, I tried reinstalling again. This time selecting the C:Program Files\\Atlassian\\Confluence directory as my installation folder. After finding the confluence-init.properties file, it seams like choosing that location was a mistake. I should have chosen C:\\Program Files\\Atlassian\\Application Data\\Confluence as my installation directory. Right?

The installation failed this time, with a failure notice. I know it was in the process of installing the upgrade.

![](../../upfiles/Confluence_Upgrade_2.jpg)

![](../../upfiles/Confluence_Upgrade_4_1.jpg)

I had downloaded the Windows-32 bit EXE previously. I will try with the .zip installer. This next time around, it seems like I do NOT need to actually run any installer. Is that correct? I should simply be pointing the confluence-init.properties file to the correct location. If so, what is that location? What is the data directory?

Basec upon the message in the above screen shot, I will probably have to go back to my snapshot done before the installation proceedure before doing anything else.


author: AnnWorley
body: Hi Robert,

I trust that all this is taking place on a test instance and is being backed up prior to upgrading. The Confluence Home directory and the database should be backed up to ensure a restore in case of problems.

There is a Confluence home directory with all your data and a Confluence installation directory with all your install files. There are logs subdirectories in both.

The \<confluence_home\> directory is the path defined in the following file: \<confluence_install\>/confluence/WEB-INF/classes/confluence-init.properties

You can do a file system search for confluence-init.properties if there is some doubt as to where the Confluence Installation directory is.

Did the installer prompt for an upgrade? If not it may have just installed another instance and that would be why your old instance is not upgraded.

One way to upgrade is:

1-Download the .zip version of 4.3.7 and expand it - this is your new Confluence Install directory

2-change the path to Confluence home in the new 4.3.7 \<confluence_install\>/confluence/WEB-INF/classes/confluence-init.properties to point to your current 4.0.5 Confluence data directory

3-start Confluence from the file start-confluence.bat in the new Confluence Install/bin directory of the newly downloaded 4.3.7

Let me know whether this makes sense.

Cheers,

Ann Worley

Support Engineer

Atlassian


author: Robert Cornwell
body: Hi Ann,  

I do have a bunch of log files in my Atlassian\\Confluence\\Logs folder. However, none of them are named atlassian-confluence.log.  

No I did not start my upgrade from the bin folder. I followed the instructions for installing to Windows from the Upgrade Guide. [](https://owa.bloomy.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=1b19bc8b03e1431298d2fce0c0171c50&URL=https%3a%2f%2fconfluence.atlassian.com%2fdisplay%2fDOC%2fUpgrading%2bConfluence)<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Upgrading+Confluence>I downloaded the 4.3.7 for Windows 32-bit and pretty much kept selecting next through the installation wizard.  

The system is running WIndows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise SP1. One bit of confusion for me during the installation process was in locating the installation directory. [](https://owa.bloomy.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=1b19bc8b03e1431298d2fce0c0171c50&URL=https%3a%2f%2fconfluence.atlassian.com%2fdisplay%2fDOC%2fConfluence%2bInstallation%2bDirectory)<https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Confluence+Installation+Directory>  

There were identical folders in both C:\\Atlassian\\Confluence and C:\\Program Files\\Atlassian Confluence. I chose C:\\Atlassian\\Confluence as the directory.  

Thanks,  

Jeff


author: AnnWorley
body: Hi Jeffrey,

There should be a bunch of upgrade tasks visible in the atlassian-confluence.log in the logs sub-directory of the confluence home directory. If the upgrade tasks aren't there the upgrade didn't run.

I am assuming that you ran the upgrade by starting Confluence from the bin directory of the newly downloaded version 4.3.7? Are you on Windows or Linux?

Looking forward to your reply.

Cheers,

Ann Worley

Support Engineer

Atlassian


Tags: confluence-administration

upgrade