Setting the Data Directory

Setting up a GeoServer data directory is dependent on the type of GeoServer installation. Follow the instructions below specific to the target platform.

Windows

On Windows platforms the location of the GeoServer data directory is controlled by the GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR environment variable.

Note

When the GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR environment variable is not set, the directory data_dir under the root of the GeoServer installation is used.

To set the GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR:

On Windows XP systems:

  1. From the Desktop or Start Menu right-click the My Computer icon and select Properties.

  2. On the resulting dialog select the Advanced tab and click the Environment Variables button.

  3. Click the New button and create a environment variable called GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR and set it to the desired location.

    ../_images/geoserver_data_dir.png

On Windows Vista systems:

Linux

On Linux platforms the location of the GeoServer data directory is controlled by the GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR environment variable. Setting the variable can be achieved with the following command (in a bash shell):

% export GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=/var/lib/geoserver_data

Place the command in the .bash_profile or .bashrc file (again assuming a bash shell). Ensure that this done for the user GeoServer will be run by.

Mac OS X

If running the binary version of GeoServer on Mac OS X then the data directory is set in the exact same way as linux.

If using the Mac OS X binary, then set the GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR environment variable to the file location. See this page for details on how to set an environment variable in Mac OS X

Web Archive

When running GeoServer inside of a servlet container the data directory can be specified in a number of ways. The recommended method is to set a servlet context parameter. An alternative is to set a Java System Property.

Servlet context parameter

Servlet context parameter’s are specified in the WEB-INF/web.xml file for the GeoServer application:

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

Java system property

Depending on the servlet container used it is also possible to specify the data directory location with a Java System Property. This method can be useful during upgrades, as it prevents the need to set the data directory on every single upgrade.

Warning

Using a system property will typically set the property for all applications running in the servlet container, not just GeoServer.

Setting the Java System Property is dependent on the servlet container.

In Tomcat:

Edit the file bin/setclasspath.sh under the root of the Tomcat installation. Specify the GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR system property by setting the CATALINA_OPTS variable:

CATALINA_OPTS="-DGEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=/var/lib/geoserver_data"

In Glassfish:

Edit the file domains/<<domain>>/config/domain.xml under the root of the Glassfish installation, where <<domain>> refers to the domain that the GeoServer web application is deployed under. Add a <jvm-options> inside of the <java-config> element:

...
<java-config>
   ...
  <jvm-options>-DGEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=/var/lib/geoserver_data</jvm-options>
</java-config>
...
Previous: Creating a New Data Directory
Next: Structure of the Data Directory