diff --git a/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/README.md b/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/README.md
index cc52dc7f1a..1de85df0b1 100644
--- a/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/README.md
+++ b/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/README.md
@@ -26,6 +26,13 @@ This script should **NOT** be run as user root.
 Set the environment variable `OC_VERSION` to the version you want
 to download. If not set, there is a reasonable default. 
 
+## Data Location
+
+Set the environment variable `OC_BASE_DIR` to a directory where the
+`data` and `config` subdirectories shall be located. Per default,
+both configuration and storage data are within a sandbox subdirectory
+in the current working directory.
+
 # Example
 
 Call
diff --git a/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/install.sh b/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/install.sh
index e0cd69c865..ab8aeff09b 100755
--- a/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/install.sh
+++ b/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/install.sh
@@ -71,8 +71,9 @@ chmod 755 ${dlfile}
 
 mkdir data config
 
-export OC_CONFIG_DIR="$(pwd)/config"
-export OC_BASE_DATA_PATH="$(pwd)/data"
+basedir="${OC_BASE_DIR:-$(pwd)}"
+export OC_CONFIG_DIR="$basedir/config"
+export OC_BASE_DATA_PATH="$basedir/data"
 
 # It is bound to localhost for now to deal with non existing routes
 # to certain host names for example in WSL