diff --git a/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/README.md b/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/README.md
index cc52dc7f1..c27c224fe 100644
--- a/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/README.md
+++ b/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/README.md
@@ -26,6 +26,18 @@ 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.
+
+## Server Address
+
+Set the environment variable `OC_HOST` to the fully qualified hostname
+of this server to allow remote accesse. Default: `localhost`.
+
 # Example
 
 Call
diff --git a/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/install.sh b/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/install.sh
index e0cd69c86..71e7ce843 100755
--- a/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/install.sh
+++ b/deployments/examples/bare-metal-simple/install.sh
@@ -69,14 +69,14 @@ echo "Downloading ${dlurl}/${dlfile}"
 curl -L -o "${dlfile}" --progress-bar "${dlurl}/${dlfile}"
 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"
+mkdir -p "$OC_CONFIG_DIR" "$OC_BASE_DATA_PATH"
 
 # It is bound to localhost for now to deal with non existing routes
 # to certain host names for example in WSL
-host="localhost"
+host="${OC_HOST:-localhost}"
 
 ./${dlfile} init --insecure yes --ap admin