Delete shared-home directory
Asked by andrea schneider:

Hi

Can you please tell me what happens when I delete the shared-home folder from a   
Confluence Server installation? Is it something like a cash that gets rebuild with usage or is it not used at all on a server installation (Version 6.15.5)?

I have removed the folder on a TEST installation and couldn't see any side effects. What is it used for?

Thanks for your help


Answers:
author: Johan Soetens _Dumblefy_
body: Hello Andrea,

the *shared-home* folder in Server caches files for features as Office document and PDF previews.

When you move to Data Center, you'll really make it *shared for all nodes* and it will contain your attachments.

This folder is not listed in the [Confluence clear plugins cache KB](https://confluence.atlassian.com/confkb/how-to-clear-confluence-plugins-cache-297664846.html)

comments: author: andrea schneider
body: Hi Johan

Thanks for your reply.

I still do not understand for what exactly it is used. We do have seperate directories where the attachments and thumbnails are stored. So what is stored in the shared-home then? Wer're not having a Data Center installation, only a normal Server with no cluster.

Could you may give me an example where I could see the negative impact of missing content in the shared-home directory?

Sorry for this for you silly question, but I would like to understand it properly.

Thanks a lot in advance  
Andrea


author: Johan Soetens _Dumblefy_
body: Andrea,

have a look at the [official documentation about the Confluence folders](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/confluence-home-and-other-important-directories-590259707.html) but here's the summary about *shared-home*.

"This sub-directory is created in your home directory when you install **Confluence Server** . If you choose [move to Data Center](https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/moving-to-confluence-data-center-203651.html), you'll move the contents of this directory to a seperate shared home directory, that is accessible to all nodes.

Cache files for some features, including Office document and PDF previews are also stored in this directory (in both Server and Data Center)."

Hope this helps.


author: andrea schneider
body: Hi Johan

I'm still confused what it is used for. I have installed a complete new version of the latest Confluence server and got the **shared-home** directory, but the only content I have there is a version of a **confluence.cfg.xml** and a **config** directory with a file **cache-settings-overrides.properties**.

There aren't any other files. If I have a look into our current installation, this directory has a size of about 10GB.


author: andrea schneider
body: Hi Johan

It's me again. I have just seen, once I upload attachments to a page the shared-home directory becomes the directory **dcl-thumbnail** . When I delete the directory, I'm losing the PDF thumbnail preview of my page, but after a reload the directory **dcl-thumbnail** and its content gets added again.

So to me it looks as it is really "kind of some cached content" and can be recreated with clicking on the pages having attachments. So I'm wondering, for doing an upgrade to a newer version on a new server if it wouldn't make sense to delete all the extra folders **dcl-xxxx** within the shared-home to get rid of maybe some very old data on pages never used again. And as soon as someone is accessing a page it gets recreated again.

Is this idea wrong?

Thanks a lot for your help  
Andrea


author: Johan Soetens _Dumblefy_
body: Hello Andrea,

unless you're running into storage issues and need to keep this *shared-home* folder to an absolute minimum, I wouldn't worry too much about it as you need it for caching purposes - after all, caching is truly important for your end users. If needed you should consult with Atlassian Support before starting to delete internal folders.

There are quite a few issues about that folder, [CONFSERVER-54836](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFSERVER-54836) basically has your question, you could add a comment to that one.

There's another one about the specific files you mentioned: [CONFSERVER-53660](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFSERVER-53660)


author: robert_egan_305
body: A little late to the party, ***but***I know of at least ONE instance where deleting this folder will have negative effects.

The Smart Courses LMS plugin uses this folder to permanently store it's SCORM files. If you have created courses that contain SCORM content, they will no longer play. You will just get an infinite wait until you reach your Confluence time out.


author: sara
body: Hi andrea,

Shared home comes only for datacenter installation.

For standalone there is home directory and installation directories.There are no other folders.


Tags: confluence-server

server