--- title: "Onboard standalone collectors to Fleet Management | Grafana Cloud documentation" description: "Learn how to onboard standalone collectors to Grafana Fleet Management" --- > For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt). # Onboard standalone collectors to Fleet Management Learn how to register your existing collectors in Grafana Fleet Management when they are installed outside of containers and directly on a host or virtual machine. If you’d like to use Fleet Management for self-managed collectors, refer to the [set up instructions](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/fleet-management/set-up/connectivity-options/self-managed/). ## Before you begin To onboard collectors to Fleet Management, you must: - Have a Grafana Cloud account. To create an account, refer to [Grafana Cloud](/signup/cloud/connect-account). - Have Grafana Cloud administrator privileges and the ability to create and edit access policies. - Have access to the host or machine where Alloy is installed. - Know how to set environment variables on the machine where Alloy is running. - Update Grafana Alloy to the most [current version](https://hub.docker.com/r/grafana/alloy). Fleet Management must be used with Alloy collectors and is recommended for use with Alloy v1.7.2 or later. If you’re using an earlier version, make sure to include the `--stability.level=public-preview` flag when running Alloy. - Understand the [key terms and concepts](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/fleet-management/introduction/glossary/) of Fleet Management and [how the service works](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/fleet-management/introduction/architecture/). ## Create an access token To begin the onboarding process, you must authorize Fleet Management to access your collectors. 1. In your Grafana Cloud instance, navigate to **Connections** > **Collector Setup**. 2. Use the tool on this page to create a new token. Give the token a name and click the **Create token** button. You don’t need to complete the rest of the installation instructions if you’re not installing a new Alloy instance. The generated token comes with the predefined scope `set:alloy-data-write`, which includes scopes for reading remote configurations in Fleet Management and writing telemetry to Grafana Cloud databases. You can see the defined scopes by hovering over `set:alloy-data-write`: [](/media/docs/fleet-management/screenshot-fleet-management-access-token-scopes.png) 3. Copy the token and save it in a secure password file. You’ll need the token for the next step, but you won’t be able to view it again once you leave the page. For more information on creating access policies, refer to [Grafana Cloud access policies](/docs/grafana-cloud/account-management/authentication-and-permissions/access-policies/). > Note > > If you create a policy using a different workflow or if you’re modifying an existing access policy, make sure to add the `set:alloy-data-write` scope. ## Add `remotecfg` to local configurations Enroll your collectors in Fleet Management by adding the [remotecfg](/docs/alloy/next/reference/config-blocks/remotecfg/) code block to their local configuration files. Fleet Management does not support use of the `remotecfg` block in configuration modules. The block must be added to the root configuration. For help, refer to the [Alloy configuration documentation](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/alloy/configure/). Here is an example of a `remotecfg` code block: Alloy ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```alloy remotecfg { url = "" basic_auth { username = "" password = "" } id = constants.hostname attributes = {"cluster" = "dev", "namespace" = "otlp-dev"} poll_frequency = "5m" } ``` None of the arguments in this `remotecfg` are required for Alloy to load and run the configuration. But if you want to register a collector with Fleet Management, you must include the `url`, `username`, `password`, and `id` arguments. - `url`: Set this value to the base URL of the Fleet Management service. If `url` is unset, the service is non-operational. You can find the base URL in the Grafana Cloud Fleet Management interface. In your Grafana Cloud stack, click **Connections** > **Fleet Management** in the left-side menu and switch to the API tab. Find the `remotecfg` URL in the **Base URL** section. It looks like one of the following URLs, depending on the region where your Grafana Cloud stack is hosted. Flat format, where `` is the production cluster of your stack: ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```none https://fleet-management-.grafana.net/ ``` Nested format, where `` is the cloud provider, `` is the cloud provider’s region identifier, and `` distinguishes multiple Grafana Cloud regions hosted in the same cloud provider region: ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```none https://fleet-management-.--.grafana.net/ ``` > Caution > > Always copy the exact URL from your Fleet Management interface instead of constructing it by hand. For details on the URL differences, refer to [Determine Grafana Cloud URLs based on region](/docs/grafana-cloud/security-and-account-management/region-url-formats/). - `basic_auth`: Use this block to authenticate to the service. - The `username` is the same as your instance ID, which can also be found on the **API** tab in the Fleet Management application. - The `password` is the token you added to your access policy in the previous section. If you prefer to save your token in a secure file, use `password_file = ""` instead. - `id`: Set this value to a unique identifier for the collector. If the collector is deployed with persistent storage, `id` is reused across restarts. - If unset, `id` defaults to a universally unique identifier (UUID) that is stored on the collector’s data path. By default this path is `data-alloy/alloy_seed.json`. - If overridden, `id` must be set to some uniquely identifiable value, such as a unique hostname or a `${cluster}_${namespace}_${podname}` value. If the value of `id` is not unique, collectors might be assigned different configurations than expected and be indistinguishable in the Fleet Management interface. - `attributes`: Use this argument to assign a set of key-value pairs that meaningfully characterize the collector. The collector’s `id` and `attributes` are used to determine which [configuration pipelines](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/fleet-management/introduction/glossary/#configuration-pipeline) to include in the remote configuration. - Attributes defined in `remotecfg` are [local attributes](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/fleet-management/introduction/glossary/#attribute-local). Fleet Management automatically includes `collector.os`, `collector.version`, and `collector.ID` as attributes. These reserved attributes cannot be overwritten. In addition to these 3 reserved attributes, you can assign up to 22 more local attributes to each collector, for a maximum of 25 attributes in a [`GetConfig` API request](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/fleet-management/api-reference/collector-api/#getconfigrequest). Attribute keys are limited to 100 characters, while attribute values are limited to 150 characters. When used as matchers, attributes are limited to 200 characters, including key, value, and operator. - Use the Fleet Management interface to [add remote attributes](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/fleet-management/set-up/onboard-collectors/standalone-installations/#add-remote-attributes). You can assign up to 100 remote attributes per collector. Character limits are the same as for local attributes. Remote attributes take precedence over local attributes. - Both attribute sets are merged together and used for configuration assignment and filtering. - `poll_frequency`: Use this argument to define how often to poll the API for new configurations. For the full list of supported arguments, refer to the [`remotecfg` reference documentation](/docs/alloy/next/reference/config-blocks/remotecfg/). ## Set environment variables Fleet Management comes with a set of autogenerated configuration pipelines that provide self-monitoring telemetry. The [self-monitoring pipelines](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/fleet-management/set-up/configuration-pipelines/self-monitoring-pipelines/) use environment variables to authenticate to the service and correlate the data with the correct collector. To see self-monitoring logs and metrics in the application, make sure you have set these environment variables wherever each collector is running: - `GCLOUD_RW_API_KEY`. This variable should match the Grafana Cloud access token you created for Fleet Management. - `GCLOUD_FM_LOG_PATH`. If collecting logs on macOS, set this variable to the log file location. > Note > > If you regenerate or change your Fleet Management access policy token, make sure to update the `GCLOUD_RW_API_KEY` environment variable to match the new token value. ## Run your collectors Follow the [instructions](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/alloy/set-up/run/) to start running your Alloy collectors. If your collectors are already running, restart them so the new configuration takes effect. Check that you’re running the [latest version](https://hub.docker.com/r/grafana/alloy) of Alloy. Test that the `remotecfg` block is working by pinging the collector’s root `/metrics` endpoint and looking for `remotecfg_*` metrics, such as `remotecfg_load_attempts_total`. ## Add remote attributes Collectors are configured remotely in Fleet Management when their attributes match the [matching attributes](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/fleet-management/introduction/glossary/#attribute-matching) of a configuration pipeline. If you haven’t specified [local attributes](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/fleet-management/introduction/glossary/#attribute-local) in the `remotecfg` blocks of your collector configuration files, or if additional attributes are needed, you can add [remote attributes](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/fleet-management/introduction/glossary/#attribute-remote) directly through the Fleet Management interface. You have greater control over configurations when your collectors are well categorized with meaningful attributes. Here’s how to add remote attributes to your collectors: 1. In your Grafana Cloud stack, click **Connections** > **Fleet Management**. 2. From the **Inventory** tab, select a group of collectors. 3. Click the Edit icon. The bulk edit tool appears on screen. 4. Click **Add remote attributes**. 5. Follow the instructions to add remote attributes to the selected group of collectors. Check the **Attributes** column on the Inventory tab to see that your new attribute is assigned to the collectors you chose. Continue assigning remote attributes based on your configuration needs. ## Next steps You have registered your collectors with Fleet Management and assigned attributes to them. Learn how to [configure them remotely](/docs/grafana-cloud/send-data/fleet-management/set-up/configuration-pipelines/).