Install Confluence on RHEL 9 | CentOS 9

 

Introduction

Confluence is a powerful collaboration tool developed by Atlassian, designed to help teams manage projects and share knowledge efficiently. Installing Confluence on RHEL 9 or CentOS 9 ensures optimal performance and seamless integration with enterprise environments. This guide will walk you through the process of installing Confluence on RHEL 9 or CentOS 9, including prerequisites, installation steps, and tips for best practices.

Prerequisites

Before installing Confluence, ensure the following:

Requirement	Details
OS	RHEL 9 (64-bit)
Java	OpenJDK 11 or Oracle JDK 11
Database	PostgreSQL 12+ (preferred)
Hardware Requirements	4 GB+ RAM, 2 CPU cores, and 20 GB+ free disk space
Firewall	Port 8090 open for incoming traffic

For this demonstration, we’ve configured our RHEL 9 server as follows:

Hostname	RAM (GB)	Cores	IP Address/OS
confluence.dev.naijalabs.net	8	2	192.168.1.213 / Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 9.5 (Plow)

Install Confluence on RHEL 9 or CentOS 9

Step 1: Prepare the system

Update and reboot the system:

sudo dnf update -y && sudo systemctl reboot

Ensure the hostname is set correctly:

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname confluence-server

Replace confluence-server with the actual fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) of your RHEL 9 server.

Photo by admingeek from Infotechys

Step 2: Installing Dependencies

Install Java

Confluence requires Java 11. Install OpenJDK 11 with:

sudo dnf install java-11-openjdk -y

Photo by admingeek from Infotechys

Verify the installation:

java -version

openjdk version "11.0.25" 2024-10-15 LTS
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (Red_Hat-11.0.25.0.9-1) (build 11.0.25+9-LTS)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (Red_Hat-11.0.25.0.9-1) (build 11.0.25+9-LTS, mixed mode, sharing)

Install PostgreSQL

Add the PostgreSQL repository and install PostgreSQL:

sudo dnf install -y https://download.postgresql.org/pub/repos/yum/reporpms/EL-9-x86_64/pgdg-redhat-repo-latest.noarch.rpm

sudo dnf install -y postgresql15-server

Photo by admingeek from Infotechys

Initialize and start the PostgreSQL service:

sudo /usr/pgsql-15/bin/postgresql-15-setup initdb

Initializing database ... OK

sudo systemctl enable --now postgresql-15

Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/postgresql-15.service → /usr/lib/systemd/system/postgresql-15.service.

Install Additional Tools

Install tools like wget and tar if they are not installed:

sudo dnf install wget tar -y

Install Confluence on RHEL 9 or CentOS 9: Downloading and Configuring Confluence

Step 3: Download the Confluence Installation File

Visit the Atlassian Downloads page to get the latest version link. Use wget to download:

wget https://product-downloads.atlassian.com/software/confluence/downloads/atlassian-confluence-X.X.X-x64.bin

Replace X.X.X with the version number. As of the date of this publication, the latest version Confluence version is 9.1.1.

wget https://product-downloads.atlassian.com/software/confluence/downloads/atlassian-confluence-9.1.1-x64.bin

--2024-11-29 17:49:28--  https://product-downloads.atlassian.com/software/confluence/downloads/atlassian-confluence-9.1.1-x64.bin
Resolving product-downloads.atlassian.com (product-downloads.atlassian.com)... 3.162.95.144, 2600:9000:26c1:7c00:1f:ab86:b54:f861, 2600:9000:26c1:a00:1f:ab86:b54:f861, ...
Connecting to product-downloads.atlassian.com (product-downloads.atlassian.com)|3.162.95.144|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 981676694 (936M) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘atlassian-confluence-9.1.1-x64.bin’

atlassian-confluence-9.1.1-x64.bin     100%[=========================================================================>] 936.20M   111MB/s    in 8.5s

2024-11-29 17:49:37 (110 MB/s) - ‘atlassian-confluence-9.1.1-x64.bin’ saved [981676694/981676694]

Set File Permissions

Ensure the installer is executable:

chmod +x atlassian-confluence-9.1.1-x64.bin

Open Firewall

Open ports 8090, 5432, 8443, 443 using the following commands:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8090/tcp --add-port=5432/tcp --add-port=8443/tcp --add-port=443/tcp && sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Opening these ports ensures secure access to your Confluence server and the PostgreSQL database during the frontend installation.

Run the Installer

Start the installation process:

sudo ./atlassian-confluence-9.1.1-x64.bin

Complete!
Regenerating the font cache
Fonts and fontconfig have been installed
Unpacking JRE ...
Starting Installer ...

This will install Confluence 9.1.1 on your computer.
OK [o, Enter], Cancel [c]

Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation.

Start Confluence now?
Yes [y, Enter], No [n]
y

Please wait a few moments while Confluence starts up.
Launching Confluence ...

SLF4J: No SLF4J providers were found.
SLF4J: Defaulting to no-operation (NOP) logger implementation
SLF4J: See https://www.slf4j.org/codes.html#noProviders for further details.
Your installation of Confluence 9.1.1 is now ready and can be accessed via
your browser.
Confluence 9.1.1 can be accessed at http://localhost:8090
Finishing installation ...

Now, you can access the frontend from your preferred browser using the IP address or FQDN or your Confluence server.

Photo by admingeek from Infotechys

We are choosing the Trial Installation option, which requires that we set up a database (next section).

Setting up the database

Step 4: Create a Database for Confluence

Log into PostgreSQL:

sudo -i -u postgres psql

psql (15.10)
Type "help" for help.

postgres=#

Create a new database and user:

CREATE DATABASE confluence WITH ENCODING 'UTF8';
CREATE USER confluenceuser WITH PASSWORD 'yourpassword';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE confluence TO confluenceuser;
\q

CREATE DATABASE
CREATE ROLE
GRANT

Step 5: Configure PostgreSQL

Edit the pg_hba.conf file to allow Confluence to connect:

sudo vim /var/lib/pgsql/15/data/pg_hba.conf

Add the following line (then, save and exit the file):

host    confluence      confluenceuser  127.0.0.1/32            md5

Restart PostgreSQL:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql-15

While you can set up Confluence without SSL/TLS, it is not recommended for security reasons. The next section covers how to enable SSL/TLS on your Confluence server.

Step 6: Configuring Reverse Proxy

To serve Confluence over a domain or secure it with HTTPS, configure a reverse proxy with Nginx:

Install Nginx

sudo dnf install nginx -y

Create Nginx Configuration

Edit the Nginx configuration file:

sudo vim /etc/nginx/conf.d/confluence.conf

Add the following:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name confluence.dev.naijalabs.net;
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name confluence.dev.naijalabs.net;

    ssl_certificate /path/to/your_ssl_cert/confluence.dev.naijalabs.net/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /path/to/your_ssl_cert_key/confluence.dev.naijalabs.net/privkey.pem;

    location / {
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        proxy_pass http://localhost:8090;
        proxy_redirect off;
    }
}

Enable and Restart Nginx

sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

Starting Confluence

Step 7: Start the Confluence Service

Use the following command to start Confluence:

sudo /opt/atlassian/confluence/bin/start-confluence.sh

Verify it is running by checking the logs:

tail -f /opt/atlassian/confluence/logs/catalina.out

Access Confluence

Open a browser and navigate to:

Photo by admingeek from Infotechys

You can now proceed with the setup wizard to configure your instance.

Photo by admingeek from Infotechys

Troubleshooting Tips

Issue	Solution
Java not found	Ensure java-11-openjdk is installed correctly.
Database connection error	Check pg_hba.conf and ensure proper credentials.
Confluence not accessible on 8090	Verify firewall settings or proxy configuration.

Additional Resources

Here are some helpful links to help you along your journey to mastering Confluence!

Atlassian Community	Initiate discussions or get answers to questions from experts in the community.
Running Confluence over SSL or HTTPS	Reference Confluence SSL/HTTPS Documentation
Official Confluence Documentation	Confluence Data Center Documentation