Manage Configuration Files

You can use the following details to manage the configuration files.

Default Data Directory

/var/lib/clickhouse

This further includes:


/var/lib/clickhouse/data/	Actual table data files
/var/lib/clickhouse/metadata/	Table metadata definitions (like schema)
/var/lib/clickhouse/store/	(For Atomic DB engine) Table parts stored using UUIDs
/var/lib/clickhouse/tmp/	Temporary files during merges/queries
/var/lib/clickhouse/flags/	State flags for startup/shutdown
/var/lib/clickhouse/access/	RBAC and user data (if enabled)

You can view this mapping via:

SELECT database, name, uuid, data_paths FROM system.tables WHERE name = 'table_name';

Set up Configuration Files

All ClickHouse configurations are stored in the following directory.

/etc/clickhouse/conf

Additional subdirectories exist under this parent directory based on the configured services.

#All Server + WebServer service configuration files /etc/clickhouse/conf/server #All Keeper service configuration files /etc/clickhouse/conf/keeper #All Client required configuration files /etc/clickhouse/conf/client

ClickHouse Server

ls -l /etc/clickhouse/conf/server/ #Template for default config.xml -rw-r--r--. 1 clickhouse clickhouse 75497 Jul 6 07:57 config.xml #Directory to override configurations in config.xml drwxr-xr-x. 2 clickhouse clickhouse 103 Jul 6 07:23 config.d #Template for default as initial user -rw-r--r--. 1 clickhouse clickhouse 7065 Jul 6 07:57 users.xml ls -l /etc/clickhouse/conf/server/config.d/ # Containing shard and replica mapping for the present host -rw-r--r--. 1 clickhouse clickhouse 152 Jul 6 07:26 macros.xml #Containing network and logging configurable values -rw-r--r--. 1 clickhouse clickhouse 493 Jul 6 07:26 network-and-logging.xml #Containing cluster shard and replica mapping details with secrets and cluster names -rw-r--r--. 1 clickhouse clickhouse 432 Jul 6 07:26 remote-servers.xml #Containing details of Keeper quorum and reference to hostnames -rw-r--r--. 1 clickhouse clickhouse 190 Jul 6 07:26 use-keeper.xml

ClickHouse WebServer

ls -l /etc/clickhouse/conf/server/ #Application properties containing configuration for ClickHouse WEB UI -rw-r--r--. 1 clickhouse clickhouse 395 Jul 6 07:57 application.properties

ClickHouse Keeper

ls -l /etc/clickhouse/conf/keeper/ #Template for keeper related configurations -rw-r--r--. 1 clickhouse clickhouse 3485 Jul 6 07:23 keeper_config.xml #Directory to override configurations in keeper_config.xml drwxr-xr-x. 2 clickhouse clickhouse 62 Jul 6 07:21 keeper_config.d #Auto created files containg merged configurations from default and overriden -rw-r-----. 1 clickhouse clickhouse 4403 Jul 6 07:23 keeper_config-preprocessed.xml ls -l /etc/clickhouse/conf/keeper/keeper_config.d/ #Containing Keeper related server and connection details with advanced settings -rw-r--r--. 1 clickhouse clickhouse 838 Jul 6 07:23 enable-keeper.xml #Containing network and logging configurable values (same as server) -rw-r--r--. 1 clickhouse clickhouse 493 Jul 6 07:23 network-and-logging.xml

ClickHouse Client

ls -l /etc/clickhouse/conf/client/config.xml #Template for client config.xml -rw-r--r--. 1 clickhouse clickhouse 4859 Jul 6 07:20 /etc/clickhouse/conf/client/config.xml

For more information about the ClickHouse configuration files, see Configuration Files.

Last updated on Nov 7, 2025

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