Configuration strategies

Fleet Management gives you flexibility in how you balance local and remote configuration. You don’t have to go all-in on either approach. Choose the strategy that fits your situation.

Remote-first

Minimal local config, everything else managed remotely. Best when a dedicated team manages observability and you want maximum central control over the fleet.

Alloy Copy

remotecfg {
    url = "https://..."
    // ... auth config
    id = constants.hostname
    attributes = {"env" = "prod"}
}

// Everything else comes from Fleet Management

Local-first

Primary config stays local, Fleet Management for self-monitoring. Best when your main configuration is already managed through an existing deployment process and you want Fleet Management mainly for collector health.

Alloy Copy

// Local config: full configuration
remotecfg {
    url = "https://..."
    id = constants.hostname
    attributes = {"env" = "prod"}
}

// All your standard collection is here
prometheus.scrape "node" { /* ... */ }
prometheus.scrape "app" { /* ... */ }
loki.source.file "logs" { /* ... */ }

// Fleet Management used only for collector self-monitoring

Hybrid

Top-level config blocks stay local. Everything else is remote. Best when some configuration must stay local but your needs vary by environment, so the rest is easier to manage remotely.

Alloy Copy

// Local config: top-level blocks
logging { level = "info" }

livedebugging { enabled = true }

remotecfg {
    url = "https://..."
    id = constants.hostname
    attributes = {"env" = "prod"}
}

// All other config managed remotely in Fleet Management