> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.chronosphere.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Standalone Collector installation to retrieve metrics

export const ApiTokenList = () => <>
    <em><code>API_TOKEN</code></em>: The API token generated from your <a href="/administer/accounts-teams/service-accounts">service account</a>. Chronosphere recommends storing your API token in a separate file or Kubernetes Secret and calling it using an environment variable, such as <code>$API_TOKEN</code>.
  </>;

export const MyTenantList = () => <>
    <em><code>TENANT</code></em>: The name of your Observability Platform tenant.
  </>;

export const MyTenant = () => <>
    Replace <em><code>TENANT</code></em> with the name of your Observability Platform tenant.
  </>;

If you don't use Kubernetes, or want to gather metrics from services not managed by
Kubernetes, you can run the Collector as a standalone binary.

## Create an API token

To interact with the Collector, you must
[create a service account](/administer/accounts-teams/service-accounts#create-a-restricted-service-account).
You must be a member of a team with the SysAdmin role to create a new service account.
Chronosphere recommends creating a restricted service account with a write-only
scope. Use the generated API token in your Kubernetes `Secret` to authenticate
with the Collector.

<Warning>
  Store your API token in a secure location. If you lose your token, you must create
  a new service account.
</Warning>

## Download the Collector binary and make it executable

Chronosphere supports Chronosphere Collector versions for a year from release. You
can find a full list of versions and release dates in the Collector release notes
located in the Chronosphere Observability Platform. To view the release notes, in the
navigation menu select
**<Icon icon="info" /> More information <span aria-label="and then">></span> Release notes**,
and then click the **Collector** tab.

1. Download one of the platform-specific binaries:

   * [Linux amd64](https://storage.googleapis.com/chronosphere-release/latest/chronocollector-linux-amd64)
   * [Linux arm64](https://storage.googleapis.com/chronosphere-release/latest/chronocollector-linux-arm64)
   * [Windows x86-64](https://storage.googleapis.com/chronosphere-release/latest/chronocollector-windows-amd64.exe)
   * [macOS](https://storage.googleapis.com/chronosphere-release/latest/chronocollector-darwin-amd64)

2. Modify the permissions on the binary to make it executable. For example,
   to change permissions on the `linux-amd64` version of the binary:

   ```shell theme={null}
   chmod +x chronocollector-linux-amd64
   ```

## Define the Collector configuration file

Download the [example configuration file](https://storage.googleapis.com/chronosphere-release/latest/standalone/config.yml)
and modify any configuration values based on your needs.

For applicable fields, you can set environment variables instead of specifying them
in the configuration file. For example, to specify the `listenAddress`, set an
environment variable named `${LISTEN_ADDRESS}` with the value you want to use, such
as:

```yaml theme={null}
listenAddress: "${LISTEN_ADDRESS:0.0.0.0:3029}"
```

The following list includes key fields for which you can specify values:

* **Backend**: You must add a `gateway` backend to specify your Chronosphere
  instance.

  ```yaml theme={null}
  backend:
     type: gateway
     gateway:
        address: TENANT:443
        insecure: false
        cert: ""
        certSkipVerify: false
  ```

  <MyTenant />

* **Global Labels**: If you don't need to apply global labels to all metrics, remove
  the `labels` key. If you need global labels and are scraping metrics from a
  Prometheus endpoint, you can apply labels to each scrape target.

  For example, to add `host` and `rack` to each metric:

  ```yaml theme={null}
  static_configs:
     - targets: ['0.0.0.0:9100']
        labels:
           host: 'prod-server'
           rack: '14'
  ```

  <Note>
    Each Prometheus scrape configuration type has a different way of specifying global
    labels. Refer to the Prometheus
    [scrape configuration documentation](https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#scrape_config)
    for more details.
  </Note>

* **Discovery**: To scrape a static Prometheus endpoint, configure a scrape setting.
  Refer to the Prometheus
  [service discovery documentation](/ingest/metrics-traces/collector/discover)
  for more details.

## Run the Collector

You can run the Collector standalone with a binary, with Docker, or as a Systemd
service. To run the Collector, pass the configuration file and generated API token.

Replace the following values before running the startup commands:

* <MyTenantList />
* <ApiTokenList />
* *`VERSION`*: Version of the Collector that you want to run, prefixed with `v`.

### Run standalone with a binary

```shell theme={null}
GATEWAY_ADDRESS=TENANT:443 API_TOKEN=API_TOKEN PATH_TO_FILE/COLLECTOR_BINARY -f PATH_TO_FILE/config.yml
```

### Run standalone with Docker

```shell theme={null}
docker run -v $(pwd)/PATH_TO_FILE/config.yml:/etc/chronocollector/config.yml -e "GATEWAY_ADDRESS=TENANT:443" -e "API_TOKEN=API_TOKEN" gcr.io/chronosphereio/chronocollector:vVERSION
```

### Run standalone as a service

You can install the Collector as a Systemd service on Linux systems:

1. Create a `chronocollector` user and group:

   ```shell theme={null}
   sudo groupadd -f chronocollector
   sudo useradd -g chronocollector --no-create-home --shell /bin/false chronocollector
   ```

2. Change the ownership of the directory containing the Collector configuration file.
   The following command expects the Collector `config.yml` file in the
   `/etc/chronocollector` directory:

   ```shell theme={null}
   sudo chown -R chronocollector:chronocollector /etc/chronocollector
   ```

3. Copy the Collector binary to the `/usr/bin` directory and modify the permissions:

   ```shell theme={null}
   sudo cp ./chronocollector /usr/bin/
   sudo chown chronocollector:chronocollector /usr/bin/chronocollector
   ```

4. In the `/usr/lib/systemd/system` directory, create and define a script such as
   `chronocollector.service` for the Collector service:

   ```text theme={null}
   [Unit]
   Description=Chronocollector
   Documentation=https://docs.chronosphere.io/ingest/metrics-traces/collector
   Wants=network-online.target
   After=network-online.target

   [Service]
   User=chronocollector
   Group=chronocollector
   Type=simple
   Restart=on-failure

   Environment="GATEWAY_ADDRESS=MY_COMPANY.chronosphere.io:443"
   Environment="API_TOKEN=API_TOKEN"

   ExecStart=/usr/bin/chronocollector -f /etc/chronocollector/config.yml

   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target
   ```

5. Change the permissions of the `chronocollector.service` script you created:

   ```shell theme={null}
   sudo chmod 664 /usr/lib/systemd/system/chronocollector.service
   ```

6. Enable and verify the `chronocollector` service:

   ```shell theme={null}
   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl start chronocollector
   sudo systemctl status chronocollector
   sudo systemctl enable chronocollector.service
   ```