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Registry Properties File

Overview

Most of the information that the Registry requires for operation, such as the Structural Metadata and configuration information, is stored in a database. The Registry Properties file contains the connection details for that database. When the Registry starts, one of its initial tasks is to load the Properties file and establish the database connection.

The Registry automatically generates the Properties file the first time it runs. Unless an environment variable specifies a different name, the file name is fmr.properties.

Note

The properties file is generated and maintained by FMR but can be edited either manually or by deployment automation if needed.

Loading the Properties File

The Properties file is read, only during Registry start‑up. Any changes made while the Registry is running will not take effect until the next restart.

  • In FMR version 11, the default location was: <user home>\MetadataTechnology\FusionRegistry
  • In FMR version 12, the default location is: <user home>\SDMX_IO\FMR

Alternative locations can be used if required. When locating the Properties file, the FMR checks several locations in sequence. Initially it checks for the RegistryProperties system property that may specify an absolute file path. If this is not set, it then checks the WEB-INF/classes directory.

The search order is:

  • Check the RegistryProperties system property
  • Check the WEB-INF/lib folder
  • Check the "Registry Home" location

If no properties file is found, a new file will automatically be created in the "Registry Home" location.

Determining which Properties file is being used

The FMR log file provides valuable information about precisely what properties has been loaded on startup: 

2026-06-09 15:01:43.755 INFO main io.sdmx.core.fmr.manager.settings.RegistryPropertiesFileManagerImpl - Read properties file from: /home/tomcat/SDMX_IO/FMR/fmr.properties

Setting the Properties File using the RegistryProperties system property

SET JAVA_OPTS=-DRegistryProperties=file:///c:/dir/AFile.txt (For Windows systems)

export JAVA_OPTS=-DRegistryProperties=file:///dir/AFile.txt (For Unix systems)

It is important to note that FMR will NOT start if this value is incorrect or if this file cannot be created.

To check that this value is being used by the system, check the Registry log during Registry startup and look for a line similar to the following:

Property RegistryProperties has been specified as
file:///c:/dir/AFile.txt

File Contents

Example: 

database.driver=org.mariadb.jdbc.Driver
database.jndicontext=java\:/comp/env
database.jndiname=database
encrypt.password=ed118183-258e-4998-a715-d0761f821c4c
encrypt.salt=961317af-704e-4c37-a882-a1b49c0e092a
registry.url=http\://localhost\:8080
security.password=$2a$10$xVKaBmoUWPGVmcPtbJikdevrVTxj8hC3WmtCEuLt5oQypKkwj23Ny
security.username=root

Passwords are encrypted using AES-256 encryption.