Confluence DB Migration to MSSQL

[David Ra]

Greetings,

Our development team is running Confluence 6.0.6 on a Windows Server 2012 R2, utilizing the H2 database.  The plan is to move the database to an existing MS SQL Server 2012, but keep the application on the current server and point to the external MS SQL server. 

From everything I read so far, moving to the external MS SQL Server requires installing the same version of Confluence on the target server, then importing the data.  Is there any possibility that the installation of Confluence on the target server can be avoided?  Our IT Manager is adamant about not installing any applications on the SQL Server, as it hosts multiple databases for other applications.

A link to a knowledgebase article stating that the installation of the application on the external database server is a must would really helpful, so that we have a definitive answer and can look into other options for the database.

Thanks.

David Ra

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

I'm not sure what you're reading, but you've not got it right.

You don't need a new installation, although it might be easier if you did install new, and certainly not one on the SQL server.

You need to export the data to XML with the standard backup, stop Confluence, and take a full backup of it, just in case.

Then either create a new server pointed to the new database, or reconfigure the old one to point to the new database (that's a bit of a faff, because you'll want to move the home directory out, while retaining bits of it).

Once the new one is running, import the XML backup.

[David Ra]

Nic,

Thanks for the reply.  I think I may have misread the instructions about installing Confluence to a new location.  I assumed the new location was the location of the new database server, but it really meant a location other than the current installation.  I'll give this a go and see what happens.