Create a fleet

A fleet is a named group of collectors managed together. There are three fleet types, chosen when you create the fleet:

• A server fleet for collectors on hosts and in containers. Each collector connects to Telflo itself and belongs to a deploy group.
• A Kubernetes bridge fleet for operator-managed collectors in a Kubernetes cluster. One bridge connects to Telflo and manages the cluster's collectors. See Kubernetes fleets.
• A Kubernetes supervisor fleet for supervisor-managed collectors in a Kubernetes cluster, without the Operator. It is available in private preview. See Kubernetes fleets.

This page covers creating a server fleet. Creating one issues the fleet's install token and a deploy group named Default; you then assign a published configuration version to the group and install collectors from it.

Before you start

Have a configuration with a published version, unless you adopt collectors you already run. Only published versions can be assigned to a deploy group. See Versions & publishing.

Create a fleet

1. Go to Fleet and select New Fleet. The Create a new fleet dialog asks where the collectors will run, in two groups: Hosts & VMs and Kubernetes.
2. Select Linux servers & VMs. The New server fleet dialog opens.
3. Name. Enter a name for the fleet. The name must be unique within your organization.
4. Token expiry. Select how long the fleet's token stays valid: Never, 180 days, 1 year, or 2 years.
5. Select Create fleet.

The fleet opens on its detail page with a Set up this fleet checklist: assign a configuration, install a collector, and wait for the first collector to connect. The checklist tracks each step from the fleet's actual state and disappears once the first collector connects; reopen it later with the Setup guide button in the fleet header.

The fleet starts with one empty deploy group, named Default. A fleet has no configuration of its own: each deploy group holds its assigned configuration version.

Assign a configuration

Deploy groups are managed on the fleet's Deploy Groups tab, where each group appears as a row with Name, Configuration, and Variable Group columns; More opens the group's details, including its collector group ID.

1. Open the fleet and select the Deploy Groups tab.
2. Select Assign on the Default group. The Assign a configuration to Default dialog opens. The checklist's Assign step opens the same dialog.
3. Choose the published configuration and version the group serves.
4. Optionally choose an Assigned variable group. The default is None (org defaults only). See Vault.
5. Select Assign.

Once a group has a configuration, its Assign button becomes Edit, which changes the assigned version, and the row's Install button generates install commands for the group. To run different configurations for different subsets of the fleet, select New deploy group and create more groups. Collectors join a group by name at install time, so a group cannot be renamed after creation. A collector joins the group it was deployed from and keeps that group.

To adopt collectors you already run instead of assigning a configuration, leave the Default group's configuration empty and install with the Server: Import Configuration target: Telflo imports the YAML the first collector reports when it connects. Only the Default group can adopt an existing collector's configuration; any other group must have a configuration assigned before its Install button is enabled.

Install token

Each fleet has an install token that authenticates its collectors. The token is delivered with the fleet's install commands: the container run command and the Quick Deploy command carry it, and for a downloaded bundle you set it on the host as the OPAMP_TOKEN environment variable. The token identifies a collector as belonging to the fleet. It is not affected by token rotation; if it is ever revoked or expires, re-create the fleet. The fleet token collectors use at runtime carries the expiry you chose and can be rotated and revoked from the fleet's Tokens tab. See Tokens & security.

Next steps

Install collectors from a deploy group's Install button. See Install collectors.