Confluence 6.8 install on Windows Server 2016 IE enhanced security

[Dave Makoski]

I am installing Confluence 6.8 install on Windows Server 2016 and noticed that during the install there are many IE warnings that a site cannot be reached. The reason they cannot be reached is that our server require that IE enhanced security be enabled.

An example of a site is: https://a1096093.cdn.optimizely.com

There were many more, that came up within the install process. I stopped right after verify my SQL connection for other reasons.

And now my question, what happens if we skip all these internet connections during the install?   Why are they needed?

Thanks

[AnnWorley · Accepted solution]

Hi Dave,

I just installed Confluence on a machine with no internet access and the setup wizard ran locally in a browser without incident. So in answer to the basic question, you don't have to connect to https://a1096093.cdn.optimizely.com to set up Confluence. You may skip the internet connections during the setup.

I am not sure why your browser is making requests to https://a1096093.cdn.optimizely.com during the setup wizard. The only internet connectivity I am aware of is for the universal plugin manager (UPM). From Configuring Marketplace Connectivity:

To allow UPM to perform online functions behind a firewall, you need to set up firewall whitelist rules that enable UPM to connect on port 443 to these servers:

• *.atlassian.com: UPM connects to several servers in the atlassian.com domain, including marketplace.atlassian.com, marketplace-cdn.atlassian.com, id.atlassian.com, maven.atlassian.com, and others.
• *.cloudfront.net: certain Marketplace assets (screenshots, logos etc) are hosted on cloudfront. Calls to that domain are expected. 

To disable the UPM connection to the Marketplace:

As a user with administrator privileges, open the 'Manage Add-ons' or 'Find New Add-ons' page from the application's administration console.
Click the Settings link at the bottom of the page.
Clear the Connect to the Atlassian Marketplace checkbox. This option is enabled by default.
Click Apply.
The change takes effect immediately and the Manage Add-ons page appears.

My understanding is that the application server makes the connections independent of whether there are any browser sessions, so I am a bit baffled by what you are reporting. 

I am curious whether the same connections are triggered in IE if you use a URL like http://localhost:port during the setup, which would bypass any DNS or proxy.

Another workaround would be to run the setup wizard from your workstation instead of the server, as I wager your desktop IE isn't running with enhanced security. To do that you could use http://<host_IP>:port from your desktop browser.

Thanks,

Ann

[Dave Makoski]

Thanks

I agree odd if the installer does not need these connections but never the less they are occurring.

To recap, I am running the installer executable (.exe) and when it gets to the setup using a browser these reach-outs to the internet occur.

Right now as I await my load balance point for SQL I am testing my direct SQL connection and going no further.

I use (on server (Windows 2016 )) IE http://localhost:8090 which resumes my install process and am present right away with an IE pop-up stating it is trying to reach: about.internet

I select close and continue onto Set up your data base. Seconds later another IE pop-up for, image inserted above.

I'm sure if I ran remotely these would not occur but trying to document (and understand why). From the executable one is launched into setup where this occurs.

Thanks

[AnnWorley]

Hi Dave,

While I was testing the setup wizard on Windows I noticed you have a support request open for this issue. When it is resolved we can circle back to this thread to let the Community know what the solution is.

By the way, during testing, I saw the same behavior you describe: there were about 5 blocked requests during the setup wizard whether I launched the browser after the installer or if I launched the browser independent of the installer.

I clicked "close" on each blocked site notice and was able to complete the setup and log into Confluence with IE in enhanced security mode.

I also still saw the blocked sites when I started Confluence with the Marketplace and Analytics connections disabled via system properties as described in Disabling analytics information sharing and Problems Connecting to the Atlassian Plugin Exchange.

Thanks,

Ann

[Dave Makoski]

Thank you for taking the time to look into. I'll simply close these warnings as they do not appear to affect the install.