diff --git a/components/playground/main.go b/components/playground/main.go
index 87df748b30..ed30625421 100644
--- a/components/playground/main.go
+++ b/components/playground/main.go
@@ -115,12 +115,17 @@ Examples:
 				opt.version = args[0]
 			}
 
+			dataDir := os.Getenv(localdata.EnvNameInstanceDataDir)
+			if dataDir == "" {
+				return errors.Errorf("cannot read environment variable %s", localdata.EnvNameInstanceDataDir)
+			}
+
 			port, err := utils.GetFreePort("0.0.0.0", 9527)
 			if err != nil {
 				return errors.AddStack(err)
 			}
-			err = dumpPort(port)
-			p := NewPlayground(port)
+			err = dumpPort(filepath.Join(dataDir, "port"), port)
+			p := NewPlayground(dataDir, port)
 			if err != nil {
 				return errors.AddStack(err)
 			}
@@ -321,8 +326,8 @@ func getAbsolutePath(path string) (string, error) {
 	return absPath, nil
 }
 
-func dumpPort(port int) error {
-	return ioutil.WriteFile("port", []byte(strconv.Itoa(port)), 0644)
+func dumpPort(fname string, port int) error {
+	return ioutil.WriteFile(fname, []byte(strconv.Itoa(port)), 0644)
 }
 
 func loadPort(dir string) (port int, err error) {
@@ -335,12 +340,12 @@ func loadPort(dir string) (port int, err error) {
 	return
 }
 
-func dumpDSN(dbs []*instance.TiDBInstance) {
+func dumpDSN(fname string, dbs []*instance.TiDBInstance) {
 	var dsn []string
 	for _, db := range dbs {
 		dsn = append(dsn, fmt.Sprintf("mysql://root@%s", db.Addr()))
 	}
-	_ = ioutil.WriteFile("dsn", []byte(strings.Join(dsn, "\n")), 0644)
+	_ = ioutil.WriteFile(fname, []byte(strings.Join(dsn, "\n")), 0644)
 }
 
 func newEtcdClient(endpoint string) (*clientv3.Client, error) {
diff --git a/components/playground/playground.go b/components/playground/playground.go
index cb34cd7b83..0a49701d11 100755
--- a/components/playground/playground.go
+++ b/components/playground/playground.go
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/pingcap/tiup/pkg/cliutil/progress"
 	"github.com/pingcap/tiup/pkg/cluster/api"
 	"github.com/pingcap/tiup/pkg/environment"
-	"github.com/pingcap/tiup/pkg/localdata"
 	"github.com/pingcap/tiup/pkg/repository/v0manifest"
 	"github.com/pingcap/tiup/pkg/utils"
 	"golang.org/x/mod/semver"
@@ -50,7 +49,8 @@ const forceKillAfterDuration = time.Second * 10
 
 // Playground represent the playground of a cluster.
 type Playground struct {
-	booted bool
+	dataDir string
+	booted  bool
 	// the latest receive signal
 	curSig      int32
 	bootOptions *bootOptions
@@ -82,8 +82,9 @@ type MonitorInfo struct {
 }
 
 // NewPlayground create a Playground instance.
-func NewPlayground(port int) *Playground {
+func NewPlayground(dataDir string, port int) *Playground {
 	return &Playground{
+		dataDir: dataDir,
 		port:    port,
 		idAlloc: make(map[string]int),
 	}
@@ -582,10 +583,7 @@ func (p *Playground) addInstance(componentID string, cfg instance.Config) (ins i
 		}
 	}
 
-	dataDir := os.Getenv(localdata.EnvNameInstanceDataDir)
-	if dataDir == "" {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot read environment variable %s", localdata.EnvNameInstanceDataDir)
-	}
+	dataDir := p.dataDir
 
 	id := p.allocID(componentID)
 	dir := filepath.Join(dataDir, fmt.Sprintf("%s-%d", componentID, id))
@@ -873,7 +871,7 @@ func (p *Playground) bootCluster(ctx context.Context, env *environment.Environme
 		}
 	}
 
-	dumpDSN(p.tidbs)
+	dumpDSN(filepath.Join(p.dataDir, "dsn"), p.tidbs)
 
 	go func() {
 		// fmt.Printf("serve at :%d\n", p.port)
@@ -980,7 +978,7 @@ func (p *Playground) bootMonitor(ctx context.Context, env *environment.Environme
 	options := p.bootOptions
 	monitorInfo := &MonitorInfo{}
 
-	dataDir := os.Getenv(localdata.EnvNameInstanceDataDir)
+	dataDir := p.dataDir
 	promDir := filepath.Join(dataDir, "prometheus")
 
 	monitor, err := newMonitor(ctx, options.version, options.host, promDir)
@@ -1021,7 +1019,7 @@ func (p *Playground) bootGrafana(ctx context.Context, env *environment.Environme
 		return nil, errors.AddStack(err)
 	}
 
-	dataDir := os.Getenv(localdata.EnvNameInstanceDataDir)
+	dataDir := p.dataDir
 	grafanaDir := filepath.Join(dataDir, "grafana")
 
 	cmd := exec.Command("cp", "-r", installPath, grafanaDir)
diff --git a/tests/tiup-playground/test_playground.sh b/tests/tiup-playground/test_playground.sh
index 74340027bc..d22500f98d 100755
--- a/tests/tiup-playground/test_playground.sh
+++ b/tests/tiup-playground/test_playground.sh
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ curl https://tiup-mirrors.pingcap.com/root.json -o $TMP_DIR/home/bin/root.json
 rm -rf $TIUP_HOME/data
 mkdir -p $TIUP_HOME/data
 export TIUP_INSTANCE_DATA_DIR=$TIUP_HOME/data/test_play
+mkdir $TIUP_INSTANCE_DATA_DIR
 
 mkdir -p $TEST_DIR/cover
 
@@ -56,10 +57,6 @@ trap "kill_all > /dev/null 2>&1" EXIT
 
 # wait start cluster successfully
 timeout 300 grep -q "CLUSTER START SUCCESSFULLY" <(tail -f $outfile)
-# playground dump this at the wd
-sleep 3
-mv ./dsn $TIUP_INSTANCE_DATA_DIR/
-mv ./port $TIUP_INSTANCE_DATA_DIR/
 
 tiup-playground display | grep -qv "exit"
 tiup-playground scale-out --db 2