Problem Definition

There will be an issue creating Pages or Spaces in Confluence if the confluence.server.installation.date Bandana entry is null and the entry is visible in the build information:

--------------------------
Build Information
--------------------------
installationDate = null

This can also happen when Confluence cannot parse the installation date because it is using a timezone that is no longer valid:

2015-03-30 13:46:47,543 WARN [http-nio-8090-exec-6] [confluence.setup.bandana.ConfluenceDaoBandanaPersister] getObjectFromValue Configuration could not be loaded because class could not be found (context: _GLOBAL, key: confluence.server.installation.date).
com.thoughtworks.xstream.converters.ConversionException: Cannot parse date 2014-08-19 10:55:33.956 WST

Suggested Solution

• Additional logging that hints the issue will be very convenient for Confluence administrator to identify the issue.
• Create a healthcheck that alerts administrators when this happens

Workaround

Follow the steps from this guide: Create Page/Space Loads Forever Due To WST Timezone Set In Server Installation Date

Notes

This is a very small configuration that prevents users from creating pages completely, and it can cause L1 production issues. So Confluence should be able to use an alternate timezone or at least alert the administrator, rather than it breaking content functionality.