Upgrading Confluence 5.2 to 5.8 using XML backup

Question

I have a Confluence 5.2.5 installation running on MS SQL Server 2012 that I want to upgrade to 5.8.x. Can I do this via an XML backup/restore?

Reason I ask, is that I have been unsuccessful with a regular upgrade because of problems with collation changes required in 5.5.3.

In my test environment I did this with the installer/standalone zip upto 5.5.2 and then went from 5.5.2 to 5.5.4 with an XML backup after a clean 5.5.4 install and then used the installer or standalone zips to get to 5.8. Rather than roll back my test environment and attempt this I thought i'd ask if its possible to go the direct route with XML backups.

Steve Rhodes · Answer

I'm actually worried that I've already lost the watchers that I had when I upgraded to 5.2.5 (see CONF-33769) I think i'll install a parallel new version of Confluence 5.2.5 with an empty database with collation CS_AS and then XML backup restore to it. After that I should be able to just run the 5.8.14 installer from there.

Marco Friedmann · Answer

As far as I know, the page ID will change with an XML backup/ restore. This is probably not what you want. We also evaluated this method during an upgrade.