XML export of a Confluence Space fails with "Error creating temp file in folder"

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

When performing an XML Export of a Confluence Space, the export may fail with the following error in the UI:

There was an error in the export. Please check your log files.
:Error creating temp file in folder: 
<confluence-home>/temp/xmlexport-<date>/attachments/<pageid>/<attachmentid>

See an example of the error below:

(Auto-migrated image: description temporarily unavailable)

Environment

Confluence Server or Data Center running on Linux.

Confluence Home folder mounted on an ext3 or ext4 file system.

Diagnosis

Any export trial of the target Space fails with the same error message in the UI.

The following entries can be found in the atlassian-confluence.log.

2020-06-17 21:02:37,069 ERROR [Long running task: Export Space] [confluence.importexport.actions.ExportSpaceLongRunningTask] doInTransactionWithoutResult Error during export
 -- url: /spaces/doexportspace.action | referer: http://10.125.91.230:8090/spaces/exportspacexml.action?key=SO | traceId: bfffe08bb52b53d2 | userName: admin | action: doexportspace
java.lang.RuntimeException: Error creating temp file in folder: /home/ubuntu/deployments/conf741/confluence-home/temp/xmlexport-20200617-201632-1/attachments/1342429/1342433
    at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.persistence.dao.filesystem.FileSystemAttachmentDataUtil.createTempFile(FileSystemAttachmentDataUtil.java:66)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.persistence.dao.filesystem.FileSystemAttachmentDataUtil.writeStreamToFile(FileSystemAttachmentDataUtil.java:37)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.persistence.dao.FileSystemAttachmentDataDao.writeStreamToFile(FileSystemAttachmentDataDao.java:253)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.persistence.dao.FileSystemAttachmentDataDao.saveDataForAttachment(FileSystemAttachmentDataDao.java:240)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.persistence.dao.FileSystemAttachmentDataDao.saveDataForAttachment(FileSystemAttachmentDataDao.java:205)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.persistence.dao.hibernate.AbstractHibernateAttachmentDao$IntraHibernateAttachmentCopier.saveAttachmentData(AbstractHibernateAttachmentDao.java:869)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.persistence.dao.hibernate.AbstractHibernateAttachmentDao$IntraHibernateAttachmentCopier.copy(AbstractHibernateAttachmentDao.java:840)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.importexport.impl.FileXmlExporter.backupAttachments(FileXmlExporter.java:160)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.importexport.impl.FileXmlExporter.backupEverything(FileXmlExporter.java:99)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.importexport.impl.AbstractXmlExporter.doExport(AbstractXmlExporter.java:94)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.importexport.impl.FileXmlExporter.doExportInternal(FileXmlExporter.java:60)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.importexport.impl.FileXmlExporter.doExport(FileXmlExporter.java:54)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.importexport.impl.XmlExporter.doExport(XmlExporter.java:52)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.importexport.DefaultImportExportManager.doExport(DefaultImportExportManager.java:212)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.importexport.DefaultImportExportManager.exportAs(DefaultImportExportManager.java:178)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
    at org.springframework.aop.support.AopUtils.invokeJoinpointUsingReflection(AopUtils.java:343)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.invokeJoinpoint(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:198)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.proceed(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:163)
    at org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.TransactionAspectSupport.invokeWithinTransaction(TransactionAspectSupport.java:295)
    at org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.TransactionInterceptor.invoke(TransactionInterceptor.java:98)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.proceed(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:186)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.JdkDynamicAopProxy.invoke(JdkDynamicAopProxy.java:212)
    at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy291.exportAs(Unknown Source)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.importexport.actions.ExportSpaceLongRunningTask$1.doInTransactionWithoutResult(ExportSpaceLongRunningTask.java:95)
    at org.springframework.transaction.support.TransactionCallbackWithoutResult.doInTransaction(TransactionCallbackWithoutResult.java:36)
    at org.springframework.transaction.support.TransactionTemplate.execute(TransactionTemplate.java:140)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.importexport.actions.ExportSpaceLongRunningTask.runInternal(ExportSpaceLongRunningTask.java:68)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.util.longrunning.ConfluenceAbstractLongRunningTask.run(ConfluenceAbstractLongRunningTask.java:26)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.util.longrunning.ManagedTask.run(ManagedTask.java:39)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.impl.util.concurrent.ConfluenceExecutors$ThreadLocalContextTaskWrapper.lambda$wrap$1(ConfluenceExecutors.java:90)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.vcache.VCacheRequestContextOperations.lambda$doInRequestContext$0(VCacheRequestContextOperations.java:50)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.impl.vcache.VCacheRequestContextManager.doInRequestContextInternal(VCacheRequestContextManager.java:84)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.impl.vcache.VCacheRequestContextManager.doInRequestContext(VCacheRequestContextManager.java:68)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.vcache.VCacheRequestContextOperations.doInRequestContext(VCacheRequestContextOperations.java:49)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.vcache.VCacheRequestContextOperations.lambda$withRequestContext$2(VCacheRequestContextOperations.java:66)
    at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
Caused by: java.io.IOException: No such file or directory
    at java.io.UnixFileSystem.createFileExclusively(Native Method)
    at java.io.File.createTempFile(File.java:2024)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.pages.persistence.dao.filesystem.FileSystemAttachmentDataUtil.createTempFile(FileSystemAttachmentDataUtil.java:64)
    ... 43 more
2020-06-17 21:02:37,070 WARN [Long running task: Export Space] [confluence.impl.hibernate.ConfluenceHibernateTransactionManager] doRollback Performing rollback. Transactions:
  ->[null]: PROPAGATION_REQUIRED,ISOLATION_DEFAULT (Session #1534451944)
        Showing 10 last transactions at this level out of 223 in total:
        [com.atlassian.confluence.upgrade.upgradetask.AttachmentRemoveFileStoreIDsUpgradeTask.getShortDescription]: PROPAGATION_REQUIRES_NEW,ISOLATION_DEFAULT,readOnly (Session #2128848446)
        [com.atlassian.confluence.upgrade.upgradetask.ContentIndexUpgradeTask.runOnSpaceImport]: PROPAGATION_REQUIRES_NEW,ISOLATION_DEFAULT (Session #1535240739)
        [com.atlassian.confluence.upgrade.upgradetask.ContentIndexUpgradeTask.getBuildNumber]: PROPAGATION_REQUIRES_NEW,ISOLATION_DEFAULT,readOnly (Session #1147113303)
        [com.atlassian.confluence.upgrade.upgradetask.ContentIndexUpgradeTask.getShortDescription]: PROPAGATION_REQUIRES_NEW,ISOLATION_DEFAULT,readOnly (Session #1174478194)
        [com.atlassian.confluence.upgrade.upgradetask.attachmentceo.AttachmentContentStatusUpgradeTask.runOnSpaceImport]: PROPAGATION_REQUIRES_NEW,ISOLATION_DEFAULT (Session #3935704)
        [com.atlassian.confluence.upgrade.upgradetask.attachmentceo.AttachmentContentStatusUpgradeTask.getBuildNumber]: PROPAGATION_REQUIRES_NEW,ISOLATION_DEFAULT,readOnly (Session #1260967714)
        [com.atlassian.confluence.upgrade.upgradetask.attachmentceo.AttachmentContentStatusUpgradeTask.getShortDescription]: PROPAGATION_REQUIRES_NEW,ISOLATION_DEFAULT,readOnly (Session #1183342420)
        [com.atlassian.confluence.upgrade.upgradetask.EmbeddedCrowdMembershipAggregationUpgradeTask.runOnSpaceImport]: PROPAGATION_REQUIRES_NEW,ISOLATION_DEFAULT (Session #472699016)
        [com.atlassian.confluence.upgrade.upgradetask.EmbeddedCrowdMembershipAggregationUpgradeTask.getBuildNumber]: PROPAGATION_REQUIRES_NEW,ISOLATION_DEFAULT,readOnly (Session #734477673)
        [com.atlassian.confluence.upgrade.upgradetask.EmbeddedCrowdMembershipAggregationUpgradeTask.getShortDescription]: PROPAGATION_REQUIRES_NEW,ISOLATION_DEFAULT,readOnly (Session #440486754)
 -- url: /spaces/doexportspace.action | referer: http://10.125.91.230:8090/spaces/exportspacexml.action?key=SO | traceId: bfffe08bb52b53d2 | userName: admin | action: doexportspace
2020-06-17 21:02:37,072 ERROR [Long running task: Export Space] [confluence.util.longrunning.ConfluenceAbstractLongRunningTask] run Long running task "Export Space" failed to run.
 -- url: /spaces/doexportspace.action | referer: http://10.125.91.230:8090/spaces/exportspacexml.action?key=SO | traceId: bfffe08bb52b53d2 | userName: admin | action: doexportspace
org.springframework.transaction.UnexpectedRollbackException: Transaction rolled back because it has been marked as rollback-only
    at org.springframework.transaction.support.AbstractPlatformTransactionManager.processRollback(AbstractPlatformTransactionManager.java:873)
    at org.springframework.transaction.support.AbstractPlatformTransactionManager.commit(AbstractPlatformTransactionManager.java:710)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor162.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
    at org.springframework.aop.support.AopUtils.invokeJoinpointUsingReflection(AopUtils.java:343)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.JdkDynamicAopProxy.invoke(JdkDynamicAopProxy.java:205)
    at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy213.commit(Unknown Source)
    at org.springframework.transaction.support.TransactionTemplate.execute(TransactionTemplate.java:152)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.importexport.actions.ExportSpaceLongRunningTask.runInternal(ExportSpaceLongRunningTask.java:68)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.util.longrunning.ConfluenceAbstractLongRunningTask.run(ConfluenceAbstractLongRunningTask.java:26)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.util.longrunning.ManagedTask.run(ManagedTask.java:39)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.impl.util.concurrent.ConfluenceExecutors$ThreadLocalContextTaskWrapper.lambda$wrap$1(ConfluenceExecutors.java:90)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.vcache.VCacheRequestContextOperations.lambda$doInRequestContext$0(VCacheRequestContextOperations.java:50)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.impl.vcache.VCacheRequestContextManager.doInRequestContextInternal(VCacheRequestContextManager.java:84)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.impl.vcache.VCacheRequestContextManager.doInRequestContext(VCacheRequestContextManager.java:68)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.vcache.VCacheRequestContextOperations.doInRequestContext(VCacheRequestContextOperations.java:49)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.vcache.VCacheRequestContextOperations.lambda$withRequestContext$2(VCacheRequestContextOperations.java:66)
    at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
2020-06-17 21:02:37,072 WARN [Long running task: Export Space] [confluence.util.profiling.DefaultActivityMonitor] close Exceeded the threshold of 60000 ms: ActivitySnapshot{startTime=1592424992867, threadId=2116, threadName='Long running task: Export Space', userId='', type='long-running-task', summary='Export Space'}
 -- url: /spaces/doexportspace.action | referer: http://10.125.91.230:8090/spaces/exportspacexml.action?key=SO | traceId: bfffe08bb52b53d2 | userName: admin | action: doexportspace

Adding DEBUG to the following classes don't unveil anything different that could be causing an issue.

com.atlassian.confluence.importexport
com.atlassian.confluence.pages.persistence.dao
com.atlassian.hibernate.extras.XMLDatabinder

Confluence Home directory is part of an ext3 File System, or ext4 without dir_index and dir_nlink features enabled.

blkid command may be helpful to identify the file system type.
tune2fs command may be helpful to identify features enabled on a file system.

If you are reaching the problem described in this KB, there won't be any other meaningful message in the application logs because of CONFSERVER-59957 - When exporting a Space to XML Confluence doesn't check if temporary attachment folder was properly created

Cause

Some file system types has a limitation on the number of subdirectories as detailed in the below table.

File system	ext3	ext4	GFS	GFS2	XFS
Maximum subdirectories	32,000	65,000/unlimited*	unlimited	unlimited	unlimited

*ext4 is unlimited when dir_index and dir_nlink features are enabled.

When exporting a Space, Confluence will copy the attachments from the <confluence-home>/attachments/ver003/directory structure to <confluence-home>/temp/xmlexport-<date>/attachments/, which is a temporary directory used to store the exported content before compressing in a zip file.

Depending on the number of pages with at least one attachment, Confluence may surpass the maximum number of subdirectories in <confluence-home>/temp/xmlexport-<date>/attachments/.

For example, when <confluence-home> is mounted with an ext3 file system, this limitation is surpassed if the Space has more than 32,000 pages with an attachment each.

Solution

If <confluence-home> is mounted on an ext3 File System, work with internal teams to migrate it to a File System with unlimited support for subdirectories.

If using ext4, make sure dir_index and dir_nlink features are enabled.

If still facing issues while exporting the Space, please contact the support team.

Atlassian Support