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Configure GEOSERVER_DATA_DIRECTORY to point to an external folder.

The data directory where GeoServer stores the its data is configured by default to a folder within the installation webapps folder. For a production server, you must define a different folder located outside of that, in a different location within your file system.

The data directory is defined using an context parameters named GEOSERVER_DATA_DIRECTORY. Follow this steps to add it.

  1. Under your GeoServer installation folder, find the WEB-INF/web.xml file.

  2. Open it and add the following block to define the context parameter (replace var/lib/geoserver_data with your data folder path)

    <web-app>
     ...
    <context-param>
    <param-name>GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR</param-name>
    <param-value>/var/lib/geoserver_data</param-value>
    </context-param>
    ...
</web-app>

  3. Restart your GeoServer instance for the new configuration to take effect.