General availability (GA) Open source Grafana Cloud

remotecfg

remotecfg is an optional configuration block that enables Alloy to fetch and load the configuration from a remote endpoint. You specify remotecfg without a label and can only include it once per configuration file.

The API definition for managing and fetching configuration that the remotecfg block uses is available under the Apache 2.0 license.

Note

The remotecfg block requires a compatible remote configuration management server that implements the [alloy-remote-config API][API definition]. The server dynamically decides which configuration to serve based on the collector’s id and attributes.

If you want to load a static configuration file from an HTTP server, use import.http instead. Refer to Load configuration from remote sources for more information.

Usage

Alloy
remotecfg {

}

Arguments

You can use the following arguments with remotecfg:

NameTypeDescriptionDefaultRequired
attributesmap(string)A set of self-reported attributes.{}no
bearer_token_filestringFile containing a bearer token to authenticate with.no
bearer_tokensecretBearer token to authenticate with.no
enable_http2boolWhether to enable HTTP2 for requests.trueno
follow_redirectsboolWhether to follow redirects returned by the server.trueno
http_headersmap(list(secret))Custom HTTP headers to send with each request. The map key is the header name.no
idstringA self-reported ID.see belowno
namestringA human-readable name for the collector.""no
no_proxystringComma-separated list of IP addresses, CIDR notations, and domain names to exclude from proxying.""no
poll_frequencydurationHow often to poll the API for configuration updates."1m"no
proxy_connect_headermap(list(secret))Specifies headers to send to proxies during CONNECT requests.no
proxy_from_environmentboolUse the proxy URL indicated by environment variables.falseno
proxy_urlstringHTTP proxy to send requests through.""no
urlstringThe address of the API to poll for configuration.""no

If you don’t set the url, the remotecfg block has no effect.

If you don’t set id, Alloy generates a random, anonymous unique ID (UUID) and stores it in an alloy_seed.json file in the Alloy storage path. This allows the ID to persist across restarts. You can use the name field to set a human-friendly identifier for the Alloy instance.

Alloy includes the id and attributes fields in periodic requests to the remote endpoint so the API can decide what configuration to serve.

The attributes map keys can include any custom value except the reserved prefix collector.. The reserved label prefix is for automatic system attributes. You can’t override this prefix.

  • collector.os: The operating system where Alloy is running.
  • collector.version: The version of Alloy.

You must set poll_frequency to at least "10s".

You can provide at most one of the following:

no_proxy can contain IPs, CIDR notations, and domain names. IP and domain names can contain port numbers. proxy_url must be configured if no_proxy is configured.

proxy_from_environment uses the environment variables HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, and NO_PROXY (or the lowercase versions thereof). Requests use the proxy from the environment variable matching their scheme, unless excluded by NO_PROXY. proxy_url and no_proxy must not be configured if proxy_from_environment is configured.

proxy_connect_header should only be configured if proxy_url or proxy_from_environment are configured.

Blocks

You can use the following blocks with remotecfg:

BlockDescriptionRequired
authorizationConfigure generic authorization to the endpoint.no
basic_authConfigure basic_auth for authenticating to the endpoint.no
oauth2Configure OAuth 2.0 for authenticating to the endpoint.no
oauth2 > tls_configConfigure TLS settings for connecting to the endpoint.no
tls_configConfigure TLS settings for connecting to the endpoint.no

The > symbol indicates deeper levels of nesting. For example, oauth2 > tls_config refers to a tls_config block defined inside an oauth2 block.

authorization

NameTypeDescriptionDefaultRequired
credentials_filestringFile containing the secret value.no
credentialssecretSecret value.no
typestringAuthorization type, for example, “Bearer”.no

credential and credentials_file are mutually exclusive, and only one can be provided inside an authorization block.

Warning

Using credentials_file causes the file to be read on every outgoing request. Use the local.file component with the credentials attribute instead to avoid unnecessary reads.

basic_auth

NameTypeDescriptionDefaultRequired
password_filestringFile containing the basic auth password.no
passwordsecretBasic auth password.no
usernamestringBasic auth username.no

password and password_file are mutually exclusive, and only one can be provided inside a basic_auth block.

Warning

Using password_file causes the file to be read on every outgoing request. Use the local.file component with the password attribute instead to avoid unnecessary reads.

oauth2

NameTypeDescriptionDefaultRequired
client_idstringOAuth2 client ID.no
client_secret_filestringFile containing the OAuth2 client secret.no
client_secretsecretOAuth2 client secret.no
endpoint_paramsmap(string)Optional parameters to append to the token URL.no
no_proxystringComma-separated list of IP addresses, CIDR notations, and domain names to exclude from proxying.no
proxy_connect_headermap(list(secret))Specifies headers to send to proxies during CONNECT requests.no
proxy_from_environmentboolUse the proxy URL indicated by environment variables.falseno
proxy_urlstringHTTP proxy to send requests through.no
scopeslist(string)List of scopes to authenticate with.no
token_urlstringURL to fetch the token from.no

client_secret and client_secret_file are mutually exclusive, and only one can be provided inside an oauth2 block.

Warning

Using client_secret_file causes the file to be read on every outgoing request. Use the local.file component with the client_secret attribute instead to avoid unnecessary reads.

The oauth2 block may also contain a separate tls_config sub-block.

no_proxy can contain IPs, CIDR notations, and domain names. IP and domain names can contain port numbers. proxy_url must be configured if no_proxy is configured.

proxy_from_environment uses the environment variables HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, and NO_PROXY (or the lowercase versions thereof). Requests use the proxy from the environment variable matching their scheme, unless excluded by NO_PROXY. proxy_url and no_proxy must not be configured if proxy_from_environment is configured.

proxy_connect_header should only be configured if proxy_url or proxy_from_environment are configured.

tls_config

NameTypeDescriptionDefaultRequired
ca_pemstringCA PEM-encoded text to validate the server with.no
ca_filestringCA certificate to validate the server with.no
cert_pemstringCertificate PEM-encoded text for client authentication.no
cert_filestringCertificate file for client authentication.no
insecure_skip_verifyboolDisables validation of the server certificate.no
key_filestringKey file for client authentication.no
key_pemsecretKey PEM-encoded text for client authentication.no
min_versionstringMinimum acceptable TLS version.no
server_namestringServerName extension to indicate the name of the server.no

The following pairs of arguments are mutually exclusive and can’t both be set simultaneously:

  • ca_pem and ca_file
  • cert_pem and cert_file
  • key_pem and key_file

When configuring client authentication, both the client certificate (using cert_pem or cert_file) and the client key (using key_pem or key_file) must be provided.

When min_version isn’t provided, the minimum acceptable TLS version is inherited from Go’s default minimum version, TLS 1.2. If min_version is provided, it must be set to one of the following strings:

  • "TLS10" (TLS 1.0)
  • "TLS11" (TLS 1.1)
  • "TLS12" (TLS 1.2)
  • "TLS13" (TLS 1.3)

Example

Alloy
remotecfg {
    url = "<SERVICE_URL>"
    basic_auth {
        username      = "<USERNAME>"
        password_file = "<PASSWORD_FILE>"
    }

    id             = constants.hostname
    attributes     = {"cluster" = "dev", "namespace" = "otlp-dev"}
    poll_frequency = "5m"
}

Troubleshooting

If Alloy fails to load configuration using remotecfg, check the following:

  • 401 or 403 errors: Verify that authentication settings are correct, such as basic_auth, authorization, OAuth2, or bearer token.
  • 404 errors: Confirm that the configured url points to a server implementing the alloy-remote-config API. Static HTTP servers can’t serve configuration for remotecfg.
  • 415 Unsupported Media Type errors: Ensure the server implements the [alloy-remote-config API][API definition] and returns the expected response format.
  • Connection timeouts: Check network connectivity, proxy settings, and firewall rules between the collector and the remote server.

If you only want to load a static configuration file from an HTTP server, use import.http instead.