Confluence Server migration + switching from MySQL to Postgres DB

[Henrik Schöpel]

Hello,

we plan to move our current Confluence Server. The guides regarding Confluence migration weren’t really sufficient. Too bad that our colleague who managed Confluence and Jira left the company… Maybe one of the experts here could help.

I performed a fresh install of the latest Confluence version on the new Server and comes up just fine with fresh new created Postgres DB . On the old one are 2 folder.

/data/atlassian/confluence
/data/atlassian/application-data/confluence

The question is, how can i now import all the documentation and attachments created by the colleagues ? ( i guess they are all stored in the application-data folder ? ). On the new server is not such a folder. And what would be the best solution to export all the data which are stored in MySQL (mysqldump) so i can import them in Postgres ? Management don’t want that we continue to use MySQL but if it’s too complicated to migrate we get green light to install it on the new box as well.

Installed Software:
CentOS 7.8
Postgres 10
Confluence 7.6.0
adoptopenjdk 11

Thank You very much for any help.
Henrik

[Italo Qualisoni [e-Core]]

Hi @Henrik Schöpel ,

Welcome to the community!

We don't recommend to migrate data using the database export/import approach as you mentioned (use mysqldump and import in postgresql) since Atlassian doesn't support this approach and you are at your own risk. There are a few exceptions due large instances.

You can rely on this Article that describe the steps required to do the database migration using Confluence builtin XML export, below is a summary activities that you will need to do:

1. Create an XML backup of your Confluence instance
   • I suggest to check if you have enough JVM memory allocated to your Confluence instance to run this process, this will use a large amount of RAM and it can crash the application due OutOfMemoryError Exception
   • If you have a large volume of attachment you should check the second method and manually copy the attachment folder to your new Confluence instance.
2. Copy the XML Backup file into your new Confluence instance
3. Install the same Confluence version you want to switch database
4. Proceed with the Confluence installation Wizard
5. Restore the XML backup using the 
   • You can face some known issues after the first attempt, this is a common one https://confluence.atlassian.com/confkb/incorrect-string-value-error-thrown-when-restoring-xml-backup-in-confluence-777009599.html
   • OutOfMemoryError Exception, increase JVM memory to restore the XML

This is still a complex task and you can get in touch with an Atlassian Partner to assist/guide you through this task. This will provide you a qualified team with the expertise to assist you on this task.