Manage Configuration Files

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

Default Data Directory

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/var/lib/clickhouse
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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:

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SELECT database, name, uuid, data_paths FROM system.tables WHERE name = 'table_name';
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Set up Configuration Files

All ClickHouse configurations are stored in the following directory.

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/etc/clickhouse/conf
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Additional subdirectories exist under this parent directory based on the configured services.

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​x
 
#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
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ClickHouse Server

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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.xmldrwxr-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
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ClickHouse WebServer

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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
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ClickHouse Keeper

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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.xmldrwxr-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
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ClickHouse Client

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

Last updated on Nov 7, 2025

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