Confluence will not start using MySQL 5.1.5+ with STATEMENT binary logging

Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian apps 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

Confluence installation will not start properly when it's using MySQL 5.1.5+ with InnoDB and the default binary logging format - i.e. 'STATEMENT'

Diagnosis

The following appears in the atlassian-confluence.log:

Binary logging not possible. Message: Transaction level 'READ-COMMITTED' in InnoDB is not safe for binlog mode 'STATEMENT'

or:

2012-07-26 04:28:24,589 ERROR [http-80-1] [sf.hibernate.util.JDBCExceptionReporter] logExceptions Cannot execute statement: impossible to write to binary log since BINLOG_FORMAT = STATEMENT and at least one table uses a storage engine limited to row-based logging. InnoDB is limited to row-logging when transaction isolation level is READ COMMITTED or READ UNCOMMITTED.

Cause

Confluence uses the 'READ-COMMITTED' transaction isolation level with MySQL, which currently only supports row-based binary logging. For more information about this, please refer to MySQL Bug #40360.

Solution

Resolution

To fix this problem, you must configure MySQL's binary logging format to use 'row-based' binary logging:

  1. Shutdown Confluence and your MySQL database

  2. Open the MySQL configuration file (my.cnf) in a text editor

    ℹ️ On UNIX-based systems, this file may be located in the /etc directory

  3. Locate the binlog_format property in this file in the [mysqld] section and ensure that its value is row, such that you end up with:

    binlog_format=row

  4. Save your changes to this file

  5. Restart Confluence and your MySQL database

Updated on April 21, 2026
Platform
Data Center only
App
Confluence Data Center
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