Synchrony will not Start after Upgrading Confluence

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

Synchrony will not start after upgrading Confluence and the Synchrony process is not running.

Environment

Confluence Server or Data Center
Recently upgraded

Diagnosis

Check <confluence-home>/logs/atlassian-synchrony.log for the following error when starting synchrony:

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2020-10-07 13:22:22,715 DEBUG [172:StdErrHandler [/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/java]]
2020-10-07 13:22:22,716 DEBUG [172:StdErrHandler [/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/java]] Exception: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException thrown from the UncaughtExceptionHandler in thread "async-dispatch-1"
2020-10-07 13:22:22,873 DEBUG [173:StdOutHandler [/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/java]] Synchrony server started.

Download a tar.gz or zip archive from the Confluence Download Archives, expand the file, and then compare the expanded directory against an existing install directory using a command like the following, if using Linux for example:

diff -qwirb atlassian-confluence-7.3.5 <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5 > difference.txt

The difference.txt file should show that many JAR files differ:

Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/bin/bootstrap.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/bin/bootstrap.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/bin/commons-daemon.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/bin/commons-daemon.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/bin/confluence-context-path-extractor.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/bin/confluence-context-path-extractor.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/bin/setenv.sh and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/bin/setenv.sh differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/bin/synchrony-proxy-watchdog.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/bin/synchrony-proxy-watchdog.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/bin/tomcat-juli.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/bin/tomcat-juli.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/conf/server.xml and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/conf/server.xml differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/confluence/META-INF/maven/com.atlassian.confluence/confluence-webapp/pom.properties and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/confluence/META-INF/maven/com.atlassian.confluence/confluence-webapp/pom.properties differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/confluence/WEB-INF/atlassian-bundled-plugins/ImageEffectsPlugin-3.0.2.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/confluence/WEB-INF/atlassian-bundled-plugins/ImageEffectsPlugin-3.0.2.jar differ
...
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/commons-configuration2-2.5.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/commons-configuration2-2.5.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/commons-lang3-3.9.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/commons-lang3-3.9.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/commons-logging-1.2.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/commons-logging-1.2.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/commons-text-1.6.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/commons-text-1.6.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jackson-annotations-2.10.0.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jackson-annotations-2.10.0.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jackson-core-2.10.0.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jackson-core-2.10.0.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jackson-databind-2.10.0.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jackson-databind-2.10.0.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jetty-client-9.4.19.v20190610.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jetty-client-9.4.19.v20190610.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jetty-http-9.4.19.v20190610.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jetty-http-9.4.19.v20190610.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jetty-io-9.4.19.v20190610.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jetty-io-9.4.19.v20190610.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jetty-proxy-9.4.19.v20190610.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jetty-proxy-9.4.19.v20190610.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jetty-util-9.4.19.v20190610.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/jetty-util-9.4.19.v20190610.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/slf4j-api-1.7.25.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/slf4j-api-1.7.25.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-aop-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-aop-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-beans-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-beans-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-context-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-context-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-core-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-core-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-expression-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-expression-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-jcl-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-jcl-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-test-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-test-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-web-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-web-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-webmvc-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-webmvc-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar differ
Files atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-websocket-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar and <test-directory>-atlassian-confluence-7.3.5/synchrony-proxy/WEB-INF/lib/spring-websocket-5.1.8.RELEASE.jar differ

Cause

When copying over the install directory following the Upgrading Confluence Manually process, the JAR files have been altered either through an automation tool or compression.

Solution

Retry the upgrade with a fresh archive from Confluence Download Archives or replace the existing install directories' JAR files with the default JAR files before restarting Confluence.

Updated on March 14, 2025

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