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Application Properties

While many configuration and setup options are available through the Web Administration application Server > Global Settings page, more fundamental (and security minded) changes to how the application operates are made using "Application Properties" defined by (in order of priority):

  1. Java System Properties
  2. Web Application context parameters
  3. System Environmental Variables

As part of the operating environment GeoServer application properties, unlike settings, cannot be changed at runtime.

For more information see Configuration Considerations.

GeoServer Property Reference

Application Property System Property Context Param Env Variable
GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR
/datadirectory/setting		 x x x
GEOSERVER_MODULE_SYSTEM_ENVIRONMENT_STATUS_ENABLED
Showing Environment Variables and Java System Properties		 x
GEOSERVER_MODULE_SYSTEM_PROPERTY_STATUS_ENABLED
Showing Environment Variables and Java System Properties		 x
GEOWEBCACHE_CACHE_DIR
/geowebcache/config		 x x x
GEOSERVER_NODE_OPTS
/production/identify		 x x x
serviceStrategy
/production/config, default PARTIAL-BUFFER2		 x x x
GEOSERVER_CONSOLE_DISABLED
/production/config		 x
GWC_DISKQUOTA_DISABLED x x x
GWC_SEEDER_CORE_POOL_SIZE
Core thread pool size for seeding tasks (default 16). See Seeding.		 x x
GWC_SEEDER_MAX_POOL_SIZE
Maximum thread pool size for seeding tasks (default 32). See Seeding.		 x x
geoserver.login.autocomplete
/production/config, default on.		 x x
CONFIGURATION_TRYLOCK_TIMEOUT
Delay for REST API and Web Administration configuration changes (default 30000 MS)		 x x x
COMPARISON_TOLERANCE
Referencing tolerance when matching PRJ to EPSG code (default 0.00000001)		 x x x
GEOSERVER_CSRF_DISABLED
/security/webadmin/csrf		 x x x
GEOSERVER_CSRF_WHITELIST
/security/webadmin/csrf		 x x x
GEOSERVER_REMEMBERME_KEY
Shared key that signs remember-me cookies across a cluster. See /security/webadmin/auth.		 x x x
org.geoserver.web.csp.strict
User interface non-responsive, default true.		 x
org.geotools.renderer.style.maxRasterizationSize
Size in pixels above which graphic fills and icons are painted as vectors (default 512). See GraphicFill.		 x
org.geoserver.catalog.loadingThreads
Number of threads used to load catalogue (Default 4).		 x x x
CAPABILITIES_CACHE_CONTROL_ENABLED
Use false to disable, defaults to true.		 x x x
GEOSERVER_FILEBROWSER_HIDEFS
When set to true only GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR available to browse.		 x x x
GEOSERVER_XSTREAM_WHITELIST
Used to restrict catalogue persistence.		 x x x
ENTITY_RESOLUTION_UNRESTRICTED
/production/config, default false.		 x x x
ENTITY_RESOLUTION_UNRESTRICTED_INTERNAL
/production/config, default false.		 x x x
ENTITY_RESOLUTION_ALLOWLIST
/production/config.		 x x x
geoserver.xframe.shouldSetPolicy
/production/config, default true.		 x x x
geoserver.xframe.policy
/production/config, default SAMEORIGIN		 x x x
geoserver.xContentType.shouldSetPolicy
/production/config, default true		 x x x
geoserver.xXssProtection.shouldSetPolicy
/production/config, default false		 x x x
geoserver.xXssProtection.policy
/production/config, default 0		 x x x
geoserver.hsts.shouldSetPolicy
/production/config, default false		 x x x
geoserver.hsts.policy
/production/config, default max-age=31536000 ; includeSubDomains		 x x x
geoserver.csp.remoteResources
/security/csp		 x x x
geoserver.csp.frameAncestors
/security/csp		 x x x
geoserver.csp.fallbackDirectives
/security/csp, default base-uri 'none'; form-action 'none'; default-src 'none'; frame-ancestors 'none';		 x x x
GEOSERVER_DISABLE_STATIC_WEB_FILES
Static Web Files, default false		 x x x
GEOSERVER_STATIC_WEB_FILES_SCRIPT
/tutorials/staticfiles, default UNSAFE		 x x x
GEOSERVER_FEATUREINFO_HTML_SCRIPT
WFS GetFeatureInfo CSP Policy, default SELF		 x x x
GEOSERVER_FORCE_FREEMARKER_ESCAPING
/production/config, default true		 x x x
GEOSERVER_FREEMARKER_ALLOW_LIST
/tutorials/GetFeatureInfo/html		 x x x
GEOSERVER_FREEMARKER_BLOCK_LIST
/tutorials/GetFeatureInfo/html		 x x x
GEOSERVER_FREEMARKER_API_EXPOSED
/tutorials/GetFeatureInfo/html, default false		 x x x
GS_FILETYPES_UNRESTRICTED
If true, do not validate uploaded file type.
default false		 x
ows10.exception.xml.responsetype
/production/config		 x
ows11.exception.xml.responsetype
/production/config		 x
ENABLE_MAP_WRAPPING
Default if setting unavailable (true)		 x x x
ENABLE_ADVANCED_PROJECTION
Default if setting unavailable (true)		 x x x
OPTIMIZE_LINE_WIDTH
/services/wms/global, default true (can be set false.)		 x x x
MAX_FILTER_RULES
/services/wms/global, default 20		 x x x
USE_GLOBAL_RENDERING_POOL
Default is true, can be set false		 x x x
org.geoserver.render.raster.direct.disable
Used to bypass direct raster rendering		 x
wms.raster.disableGutter
Disable gutter used to request larger area when reprojecting raster content.		 x
wms.raster.enableRasterChainDebug
Trouble shoot raster rendering		 x
GEOSERVER_GLOBAL_LAYER_GROUP_INHERIT
Should workspaces include layer groups from the global workspace, default true.		 x x x
PROXY_BASE_URL
Supply PROXY_BASE_URL, overriding settings.		 x x x
PROXY_BASE_URL_HEADER
Enables PROXY_BASE_URL to use headers variables if set to true, overriding GeoServer datadir settings. Default false.		 x x x
GEOSERVER_TRUSTED_PROXIES
Comma separated list of reverse proxy IP addresses or CIDR blocks. GeoServer reads the client address from the X-Forwarded-For header only for requests arriving from one of these proxies, otherwise it uses the direct connection address. The default is loopback only (127.0.0.0/8, ::1), so a reverse proxy on another host must be listed, otherwise every request appears to come from the proxy address.		 x x x
org.geoserver.service.disabled
Layer service default comma separated list of disabled services.		 x x x
GEOSERVER_DEFAULT_CACHE_PROVIDER
Request custom cache implementation for catalog.		 x x x
org.geoserver.wfs.xml.WFSURIHandler.disabled
Flag to disable internal handling of references to GeoServer. Force reflective references such as DescribeFeatureType to be handled as separate request.		 x
org.geoserver.wfs.xml.WFSURIHandler.additionalHostnames
default localhost.		 x
force200
Use true to force the http return code to always be 200. Required for WCS2.0, breaks OWS2 and WCS2 standards.		 x
GS_SHAPEFILE_CHARSET
Supply default for shapefile datastore		 x x x
GEOSERVER_GEOJSON_LEGACY_CRS
true to enable legacy GeoJSON output.		 x x x
ENABLE_JSONP
/services/wms/global		 x x x
XML_LOOKAHEAD
Number of bytes read to determine XML POST request (default 8192).		 x x x
org.geoserver.wfs.getfeature.cachelimit
/production/config, default 0 (disabled)		 x
org.geoserver.wfs.xml.entityExpansionLimit
Default 100.		 x x x
org.geoserver.htmlTemplates.staticMemberAccess
/tutorials/GetFeatureInfo/html		 x x x
ENABLE_OL3
Default true.		 x x x
GEOSERVER_LOG_LOCATION
/configuration/logging		 x x x
GEOSERVER_PRINT_CONFIG_DIR
Printing Installation		 x x
RELINQUISH_LOG4J_CONTROL
/configuration/logging		 x x x
GT2_LOGGING_REDIRECTION
/configuration/logging		 x x x
wicket.configuration
Wicket RuntimeConfigurationType (DEPLOYMENT or DEVELOPMENT)		 x x x
GEOSERVER_FILESYSTEM_SANDBOX
/security/sandbox		 x x x
GEOSERVER_ROOT_LOGIN_ENABLED
Root account		 x x x
GEOSERVER_JDBC_EXTRA_PARAMETERS
Extra connection URL parameters accepted for JDBC user/group services, role services and authentication providers. GeoServer accepts only a known list of parameters for each driver. Format is driverClass:param1,param2;driverClass2:param3, for example com.ibm.db2.jcc.DB2Driver:currentSchema. Use it to allow a parameter, or a driver, that is not known. A legacy driver class name, such as org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver, shares the parameters of its current name. Each parameter added this way is passed to the driver unchecked, so add only parameters that cannot read or write files or load classes.		 x x x
ALLOW_ENV_PARAMETRIZATION
/datadirectory/configtemplate		 x
ENV_PROPERTIES
/datadirectory/configtemplate		 x x x
WORKSPACE_ADMIN_SERVICE_ACCESS
 x x x
GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR_LOADER_ENABLED
/datadirectory/setting		 x x
GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR_LOADER_THREADS
/datadirectory/setting		 x x
TRACK_USER
Flag to enable user tracking in GeoServer. Allows to store the username of user that performed creation/modification of layer, layergroup, store, style, workspace. Has precedence over "Display the user who performed last modification" option in global settings.		 x
UPDATES_CHECKER_FEED_URL
Check for Updates community module, https URL of the version feed to use instead of the default.		 x x x
UPDATES_CHECKER_SUPPRESSED_CVES
Check for Updates community module, CVE or GHSA ids, separated by commas, semicolons or spaces, of security advisories that have been mitigated and should not be reported.		 x x x

Setting Application property

Application properties are determined using the first value obtained from: Java System Properties, Web Application context parameters, or System Environmental Variable.

Using GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR as an example:

  1. Java System Properties: Supplied to the java virtual machine as part of your application server configuration.

    -DGEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=/var/lib/geoserver_data
    • For Tomcat on Linux edit setenv.sh to append additional java system properties:
    # Append system properties
CATALINA_OPTS="${CATALINA_OPTS} -DGEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=/var/lib/geoserver_data"
    • For Tomcat on Windows use Apache Tomcat Properties application, navigating to the Java tab to edit Java Options:
    -DGEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=C:\ProgramData\GeoServer\data

    While not commonly used for GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR, this approach is a popular way to enable/disable optional GeoServer functionality.

  2. Web Application context parameter:

    • Tomcat: Use your application server to configure the GeoServer web application via conf/Catalina/localhost/geoserver.xml file:
    <Context docBase="geoserver.war">
  <Parameter name="GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR"
             value="/var/opt/geoserver/data" override="false"/>
</Context>

    Note

    Tomcat management of application properties as using override="false" is not the most straight forward to understand. This setting prevents parameter defined in WEB-INF/web.xml (from the geoserver.war ) to override the provided file location.

    Other application servers provide a user interface to manage web application properties and are more intuitive.

    • Not recommended: Hand editing the webapps/geoserver/WEB-INF/web.xml file:
    <context-param>
  <param-name>GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR</param-name>
  <param-value>/var/lib/geoserver_data</param-value>
</context-param>

    Note

    This file is part of the GeoServer application and will be replaced when updating the application.

    As a result this approach is error prone making updates more difficult and is not recommended.

  3. System environmental variable:

    export GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=/var/lib/geoserver_data

    This approach can be useful for GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR when running GeoServer in a docker container, traditionally managed with environmental variables.

Additional system properties

Cascading WFS and WMS services where GeoServer acts as a client for another web service make use of the Apache Http Components HTTP client library.

The HTTP client library respects the following java system properties:

ssl.TrustManagerFactory.algorithm
javax.net.ssl.trustStoreType
javax.net.ssl.trustStore
javax.net.ssl.trustStoreProvider
javax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword
ssl.KeyManagerFactory.algorithm
javax.net.ssl.keyStoreType
javax.net.ssl.keyStore
javax.net.ssl.keyStoreProvider
javax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword
https.protocols
https.cipherSuites
http.proxyHost
http.proxyPort
https.proxyHost
https.proxyPort
http.nonProxyHosts
http.keepAlive
http.maxConnections
http.agent

Reference: