Disabling automatic index snapshots in Confluence Data Center
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
This article covers how to disable automatic index snapshots.
How index snapshots work
Each day, when the scheduled job Clean Journal Entries executes, Confluence Data Center automatically creates a new Lucene index snapshot and stages it to the shared home for rapid recovery from index corruption. While this greatly speeds recovery, snapshot creation temporarily doubles on-disk index footprint on the node performing the snapshot (existing active index + snapshot copy), which can create significant storage pressure.
Storage impact – During snapshot creation, the node may require free disk space roughly equal to the current index size. If the index is 80 GB, you will need at least an additional ~80 GB free space on the local filesystem used by home folder temp directory.
Problem
You may need to temporarily disable automatic index snapshot creation to mitigate low disk space, reduce I/O pressure during peak windows, or while performing maintenance that would make snapshot creation undesirable.
Solution
Disable index snapshots
Disabling index snapshots reduces recoverability. Use only as a short-term measure and re-enable snapshots as soon as feasible.
Set the following system property in the Confluence application JVM to disable automatic snapshots:
# In <Confluence_Install>/bin/setenv.sh (Linux) or setenv.bat (Windows)
# Add to CATALINA_OPTS (Linux) or setenv options (Windows)
CATALINA_OPTS="-Dcreate.index.backups=false ${CATALINA_OPTS}"Apply the change by restarting the Confluence service on each node.
Verification
Check atlassian-confluence.log after restart for the effective JVM args to confirm the property is present.
Monitor the scheduled job execution and confirm no new index snapshot directories are produced under the shared home snapshot location or you can check the job history in the database by running the following query:
SELECT *
FROM scheduler_run_details
WHERE job_id LIKE 'JournalCleaner%'
ORDER BY start_time DESC
LIMIT 10;ℹ️ This query is for PostgreSQL; you might need to tune it for other DBMS
The last column, “message,” will tell you if the snapshot was created or not with a value containing "Snapshot = false".
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