Install Confluence Using Docker Compose

This article is for those looking for a detailed and straightforward guide on installing Confluence using Docker Compose.

Confluence is a web-based corporate wiki developed by Australian software company Atlassian.

💾 You can find the repository used in this guide on GitHub.

NOTE

We’ll use Traefik as our reverse proxy. It’ll handle obtaining cryptographic certificates from Let’s Encrypt for your domain names and route requests to the corresponding services based on those domains.

CAUTION

To obtain cryptographic certificates, you will need A-type records in the external DNS zone, which point to the IP address of your server where Traefik is installed. If you have created these records recently, you should wait before starting the installation of the services. Full replication of these records between DNS servers can take from a few minutes to 48 hours or even longer in rare cases.

For a step-by-step guide on installing Docker Engine on Ubuntu Server, see Install Docker Engine and Docker Compose on Ubuntu Server

IMPORTANT

OpenSSH must be installed on the server, and port 22 must be open in order to be able to connect to the server using the SSH protocol.

To install OpenSSH on the server you can use the command:

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sudo apt install openssh-server

NOTE

To connect to the server from a Windows system, you can use tools like PuTTY or MobaXterm.

NOTE

This guide walks you through connecting to a server with the iTerm2 terminal emulator on macOS.

CAUTION

You will need to open the following TCP ports for access to the services:

• TCP port 80 - to obtain a free cryptographic certificate through the Let’s Encrypt certification center.
• TCP port 443 - to access the Confluence web interface.
• TCP port 8091 - for Synchrony communication.

We connect to the server on which Confluence is planned to be installed.

Now it is necessary to create networks for your services.

We create a network for Traefik using the command:

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docker network create traefik-network

We create a network for Confluence using the command:

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docker network create confluence-network

Next, you need to clone the repository that contains the configuration files, which include all the necessary conditions for Confluence to work.

You can clone the repository using the command:

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git clone https://github.com/heyvaldemar/confluence-traefik-letsencrypt-docker-compose.git

Navigate to the directory with the repository using the command:

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cd confluence-traefik-letsencrypt-docker-compose

Next, you need to change the variables in the .env file according to your requirements.

IMPORTANT

The .env file should be in the same directory as confluence-traefik-letsencrypt-docker-compose.yml.

Now let’s start Confluence with the command:

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docker compose -f confluence-traefik-letsencrypt-docker-compose.yml -p confluence up -d

To access the Confluence management panel, go to https://confluence.heyvaldemar.net from your workstation, where confluence.heyvaldemar.net is the domain name of my service. Accordingly, you need to specify your domain name that points to the IP address of your server with the installed Traefik service, which will redirect the request to Confluence.

NOTE

You need to specify the domain name of the service, previously defined in the .env file.

You’ll now need to enter a license key for Confluence.

If you don’t have one, you can obtain a temporary key to test out Confluence.

Click “Get an evaluation license” to proceed.

If you possess an Atlassian account, input the email address linked to that account in the “Enter email” field, then click the “Continue” button.

Enter the password for your Atlassian account and click the “Log in” button.

For the next step, indicate the product you need a temporary license key for and enter your organization’s name.

Click the “Generate License” button to secure a temporary license for Confluence.

Next, you’ll need to confirm the installation of the temporary Confluence license key on your server.

Click the “Yes” button to proceed.

In the “Confluence” field, enter the temporary license key you received earlier and then click the “Next” button.

Choose the “Non-clustered (single node)” option and then click the “Next” button.

For the upcoming step, you can either begin with an example site or choose to add content yourself.

Click the “Example Site” button to continue.

Click the “Manage users and groups within Confluence” button to proceed.

For the next step, please enter your username, name, email address, and password to set up a Confluence administrator account.

Click the “Next” button to continue.

Confluence is all set and ready to use.

Click the “Start” button to begin.

You can now establish a dedicated space for your team, allowing them to work on their projects.

To access the Traefik control panel, go to https://traefik.confluence.heyvaldemar.net from your workstation, where confluence.zabbix.heyvaldemar.net is the domain name of my service. Accordingly, you need to specify your domain name that points to the IP address of your server with the installed Traefik.

NOTE

You need to specify the domain name of the service, previously defined in the .env file.

Enter the username and password previously set in the .env file, and click the “OK” button.

Welcome to the Traefik control panel.