Quite often lately we have been asked to set up a Java based wiki, or customers have asked specifically for Confluence® (made by Atlassian® ) by name.

Confluence is a powerful and sometimes complex piece of software, so to make the setup for that easier I created an install script. In a very short time it is now easy to get up and running with minimal fuss.

If you are just looking to check Confluence over before taking the time to do an actual setup, you may want to review the Atlassian Evaluators Page. However if you are ready to dive in…

The script is available in our repository for general use now. It can also be directly downloaded. I’ve tested it on all the install options we offer so that should work, but if you see any bugs please do let us know.

Some of the customization options the script can provide are visible in the output below…

root@test:~# wget -q http://proj.ri.mu/installconfluence.sh
root@test:~# bash installconfluence.sh --help

installconfluence.sh
Copyright RimuHosting.com
Pre-installs and secures the confluence wiki packages provided by Atlasian

 Usage: installconfluence.sh [--help] | [--user ] [--appname ]
    [--installtarget ] [--datadir ] [--portprefix ] [--runonstartup]
    [--nojava] [--nomysql|[--dbname ] [--dbuser ] ]
    [--noprompt] [--debug] 

Option:         Description:
--dbname        optional name of confluence mysql database (default is )
--dbuser        optional name of confluence mysql user (default is )
--dbpass        optional password for confluence database (default is randomised)
--datadir       absolute folder location for data files (default is /usr/local/confluence-data)
--debug         enables debugging output to /root/cms_install.log
--installtarget top level location to install files (default is /usr/local/confluence)
--noprompt      run script without user interaction (not yet implemented)
--nojava        dont install java
--nomysql       dont install/setup mysql
--portprefix    initial three digit network port (default is 99 eg for http on 9980)
--runonstartup  set confluence to run on server boot (not enabled by default)
--user          user (and group) service will run as (default is confluence)

By default (ie just running the script with no paramaters) the install script will insure a recent version of Java and MySQL are both setup ready for use with the software. That will also come complete with an init script that can be used to manage the service, and have the application set to start on boot!

Once the install script completes there are still a few things you need to do to get Confluence ready for play. You should see something like the following (note the database credentials is unique for each install)…

* Confluence is now installed and should be visible on http://:9980
  You will need to complete the web based setup wizard there.
  Select 'Production Installation' and pass in the below details if you want Confluence to use a
  direct connection to the MySQL database. Or see the URL to learn how to configure a datasource
  ref http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Configuring+a+MySQL+Datasource+in+Apache+Tomcat
  mysql database name = confdb, user = confadmin, password = FnX2EGKh

Go to the URL shown. You should see something similar as shown in Step 2 on the confluence documentation.

You will need to grab an appropriate license key from Atlassian using the link on your setup page. Add that in. For most users you will also want to have a MySQL database running the back-end, so then select the “Production Site” option. And when you get to the database selection screen choose MySQL and click “External Database”. You can then use the information given at the end of your install run to complete the “Standard Database Connection” option.

 

Follow your nose from there, or you can refer to the excellent documentation linked above. Which has a complete rundown on Confluence options and setup. Confluence has a lot of options, so its easy to spend a lot of time tweaking things to get it just right, although that is generally well worth it.

You may prefer to have your confluence site running on a normal URL, without the port number showing. Thats easy enough to do using mod_proxy and Apache, or you can pop in a ticket for us to set that up for you. Meanwhile, time to get started adding some content!

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