Collaborative editing does not work on Windows Service with modified server.xml
Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Summary
Problem
When starting Confluence as a Windows Service, the Collaborative Editing feature does not work. Editing a page returns the error:
This page is taking longer to load than usual. Give it a few moments, then try refreshing. Still having issues? Contact your Confluence admin.
Diagnosis
The Tomcat
<confluence_install>/conf/server.xmlfile has modified values for thedefaultHostin theEnginetag andnamefor theHosttag:1 2<Engine name="Standalone" defaultHost="www.myconfluence.com" debug="0"> <Host name="www.myconfluence.com" debug="0" appBase="webapps" unpackWARs="true" autoDeploy="false" startStopThreads="4">The default values for both these fields are normally
defaultHost="localhost"andname="localhost"for Engine and Host respectively.The Synchrony java Service appears to be running. Assuming Synchrony is configured on the default 8091 port:
Loading http://<synchrony server IP>:8091/synchrony/heartbeat in a Browser returns OK
Loading <Confluence Base URL>/synchrony-proxy/heartbeat in a Browser returns a HTTP 404 Not Found response
When running the exact same Confluence instance using
<confluence_install>/bin/start-confluence.batinstead of as a Windows Service, Collaborative Editing works fine!
Cause
The Engine/defaultHost and Host/name entries are used for Virtual Hosting within Tomcat. Both these entries should be left as the default localhost and is not related to the Base URL that Confluence is being served on.
By changing these from the default localhost values, it appears that Tomcat has not deployed the /sychrony-proxy off the Base URL of Tomcat when running as a Windows service. Hence, <Confluence Base URL>/synchrony-proxy/heartbeat is returning the HTTP 404 Not Found
Resolution
Edit the Tomcat <confluence_install>/conf/server.xml file
Revert the Engine/defaultHost to localhost and Host/name to localhost which are the defaults. These values should not be changed and has no relation to the Base URL that Confluence is being served on.
1 2<Engine name="Standalone" defaultHost="localhost" debug="0"> <Host name="localhost" debug="0" appBase="webapps" unpackWARs="true" autoDeploy="false" startStopThreads="4">
Restart the Confluence Windows Service
Check that Collaborative Editing now works
Solution
Additional Resources
To configure Confluence behind a Reverse Proxy, refer to these articles:
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