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>

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