Configuring WarehousePG Enterprise Manager

After the initial installation of WarehousePG Enterprise Manager (WEM), use these configuration methods to fine-tune your settings or enable optional observability features.

Modifying settings using the WEM console

Administrators can modify operational parameters directly through the web interface. It's the most convenient way to change settings without editing files on the WEM host.

Navigate to Management > Settings and select Edit Settings.
Update the required fields, such as ClickHouse URL or OTel collector metrics collection interval.
Select Save to apply the changes.
Restart WEM for the changes to take effect:
```
systemctl restart wem
```

Note

Some system parameters are only accessible via the configuration file.

Modifying settings manually

Edit the configuration file directly on the WEM host to edit parameters not exposed in the browser.

Open /etc/wem/wem.conf and update the required parameters. See the Configuration parameters reference for a full list of supported parameters.
Restart the WEM service for the changes to take effect:
```
systemctl restart wem
```

Configuration precedence and overrides

WEM prioritizes settings defined in the host environment over those in the WEM console.

If you define a parameter in the wem.conf file, that value takes precedence. Changes made in the WEM console don't override values set in the configuration file. If a change you made through the WEM console does not take effect, check the host configuration file for an existing entry.

Changing OTel Collector settings

WEM writes /etc/edb/otelcol/config.yaml on every cluster node through the host agent. It updates the file when WEM starts, when a host agent restarts, and when a setting WEM manages changes. Don't edit this file directly, because WEM overwrites your changes.

Some values in /etc/edb/otelcol/config.yaml come from WEM settings, and you change them in WEM. All other values come from the host agent's template, and you change them with an override file. The OTel Collector configuration reference lists the values in each group.

Changing settings that WEM manages

Use this method for the values that WEM sets. For example, OTEL_COLLECTION_INTERVAL sets receivers.host_metrics.collection_interval.

Update the setting in the WEM console or in /etc/wem/wem.conf.
If you edited wem.conf, restart WEM:
```
sudo systemctl restart wem
```

WEM regenerates the collector configuration and sends it to the nodes whose configuration changed. You don't need to restart the host agents.

Overriding other collector settings

Use this method for every other value in /etc/edb/otelcol/config.yaml, such as batch sizes (processors.batch) or where the collector starts reading logs (receivers.file_log.start_at). Put your overrides in a separate file and add it to the collector's startup options. The collector merges this file on top of the generated configuration, so WEM doesn't overwrite your changes.

Perform these steps on each node where you want to override settings:

Create /etc/edb/otelcol/config_local.yml and add only the values you want to override. For example, to change batch processing:
```
processors:
  batch:
    send_batch_size: 8192
    send_batch_max_size: 16384
    timeout: 5s
```
Use the component names from the generated /etc/edb/otelcol/config.yaml. Larger batches can reduce CPU usage, but they can also need more memory, increase delivery latency, and lose more data if the collector crashes or restarts.

Set the owner of the file to the edb-otelcol user:

sudo chown edb-otelcol:edb-otelcol /etc/edb/otelcol/config_local.yml

Validate the merged configuration:

sudo /usr/edb/otelcol/bin/edb-otelcol validate \
  --config=file:/etc/edb/otelcol/config.yaml \
  --config=file:/etc/edb/otelcol/config_local.yml

Print the merged configuration to verify the result:

sudo /usr/edb/otelcol/bin/edb-otelcol print-config \
  --config=file:/etc/edb/otelcol/config.yaml \
  --config=file:/etc/edb/otelcol/config_local.yml

Open /etc/edb/otelcol/edb-otelcol.conf and add your file to OTELCOL_OPTIONS:

OTELCOL_OPTIONS="--config /etc/edb/otelcol/config.yaml --config /etc/edb/otelcol/config_local.yml"

Restart the collector service. Restart only edb-otelcol, not the host agent:
```
sudo systemctl restart edb-otelcol
```