pulse/docs/CONFIGURATION.md

⚙️ Configuration Guide

Pulse uses a split-configuration model to ensure security and flexibility.

File	Purpose	Security Level
.env	Authentication & Secrets	🔒 Critical (Read-only by owner)
system.json	General Settings	📝 Standard
nodes.enc	Node Credentials	🔒 Encrypted (AES-256-GCM)
alerts.json	Alert Rules	📝 Standard
email.enc	SMTP settings	🔒 Encrypted
webhooks.enc	Webhook URLs + headers	🔒 Encrypted
apprise.enc	Apprise notification config	🔒 Encrypted
oidc.enc	OIDC provider config	🔒 Encrypted
api_tokens.json	API token records (hashed)	🔒 Sensitive
ai.enc	AI settings and credentials	🔒 Encrypted
metrics.db	Persistent metrics history (SQLite)	📝 Standard

All files are located in /etc/pulse/ (Systemd) or /data/ (Docker/Kubernetes) by default.

Path overrides:

• PULSE_DATA_DIR sets the base directory for system.json, encrypted files, and the bootstrap token.
• PULSE_AUTH_CONFIG_DIR sets the directory for .env (auth-only) if you need auth on a separate volume.

---

🔐 Authentication (.env)

This file controls access to Pulse. It is never exposed to the UI.

# /etc/pulse/.env

# Admin Credentials (bcrypt hashed)
PULSE_AUTH_USER='admin'
PULSE_AUTH_PASS='$2a$12$...' 

# Legacy API tokens (deprecated, auto-migrated to api_tokens.json)
API_TOKEN='token1'
API_TOKENS='token2,token3'

Advanced: Automated Setup (Skip UI)

You can pre-configure Pulse by setting environment variables. Plain text credentials are automatically hashed on startup.

# Docker Example
docker run -d \
  -e PULSE_AUTH_USER=admin \
  -e PULSE_AUTH_PASS=secret123 \
  -e API_TOKENS=ci-token,agent-token \
  rcourtman/pulse:latest

Advanced: OIDC / SSO

Configure Single Sign-On in Settings → Security → Single Sign-On, or use environment variables to lock the configuration.

See OIDC Documentation and Proxy Auth for details.

Note

: API_TOKEN / API_TOKENS are legacy and will be migrated into api_tokens.json on startup. Manage API tokens in the UI for long-term support.

---

🖥️ System Settings (system.json)

Controls runtime behavior like ports, logging, and polling intervals. Most of these can be changed in Settings → System.

Full Configuration Reference

{
  "pvePollingInterval": 10,       // Seconds
  "backendPort": 3000,            // Internal port (default: 3000)
  "frontendPort": 7655,           // Public port
  "logLevel": "info",             // debug, info, warn, error
  "autoUpdateEnabled": false,     // Enable auto-update checks
  "adaptivePollingEnabled": false // Smart polling for large clusters
}

Note

: logFormat is only configurable via the LOG_FORMAT environment variable, not in system.json.

Common Overrides (Environment Variables)

Environment variables take precedence over system.json.

Variable	Description	Default
FRONTEND_PORT	Public listening port	7655
LOG_LEVEL	Log verbosity (see below)	info
LOG_FORMAT	Log output format (auto, json, console)	auto

Log Levels

Level	Description
error	Only errors and critical issues
warn	Errors + warnings (recommended for minimal logging)
info	Standard operational messages (startup, connections, alerts)
debug	Verbose output including per-guest/storage polling details

Tip

: If your syslog is being flooded with Pulse messages, set LOG_LEVEL=warn to significantly reduce log volume while still capturing important events.

Variable	Description	Default
PULSE_PUBLIC_URL	URL for UI links, notifications, and OIDC. Reverse proxy setups: set this to the direct/internal Pulse URL (e.g., http://192.168.1.10:7655) so agents connect directly instead of via the proxy.	Auto-detected
PULSE_AGENT_CONNECT_URL	Dedicated direct URL for agents (overrides PULSE_PUBLIC_URL for agent install commands). Alias: PULSE_AGENT_URL.	(unset)
ALLOWED_ORIGINS	CORS allowed domains	*
IFRAME_EMBEDDING_ALLOW	Iframe embedding policy (SAMEORIGIN, ALLOWALL, etc.)	SAMEORIGIN
DISCOVERY_ENABLED	Auto-discover nodes	false
DISCOVERY_SUBNET	CIDR or auto	auto
PULSE_ENABLE_SENSOR_PROXY	Enable legacy pulse-sensor-proxy endpoints (deprecated, unsupported)	false
PULSE_AUTH_HIDE_LOCAL_LOGIN	Hide username/password form	false
DEMO_MODE	Enable read-only demo mode	false
PULSE_TRUSTED_PROXY_CIDRS	Comma-separated IPs/CIDRs trusted to supply X-Forwarded-For/X-Real-IP	(unset)
PULSE_TRUSTED_NETWORKS	Comma-separated CIDRs treated as trusted local networks	(unset)

Monitoring Overrides

Variable	Description	Default
PVE_POLLING_INTERVAL	PVE metrics polling frequency	10s
PBS_POLLING_INTERVAL	PBS metrics polling frequency	60s
PMG_POLLING_INTERVAL	PMG metrics polling frequency	60s
CONCURRENT_POLLING	Enable concurrent polling for multi-node clusters	true
CONNECTION_TIMEOUT	API connection timeout	45s
BACKUP_POLLING_CYCLES	Poll cycles between backup checks	10
ENABLE_BACKUP_POLLING	Enable backup job monitoring	true
BACKUP_POLLING_INTERVAL	Backup polling frequency	0 (Auto)
ENABLE_TEMPERATURE_MONITORING	Enable temperature monitoring (where supported)	true
SSH_PORT	SSH port for legacy SSH-based temperature collection	22
ADAPTIVE_POLLING_ENABLED	Enable smart polling for large clusters	false
ADAPTIVE_POLLING_BASE_INTERVAL	Base interval for adaptive polling	10s
ADAPTIVE_POLLING_MIN_INTERVAL	Minimum adaptive polling interval	5s
ADAPTIVE_POLLING_MAX_INTERVAL	Maximum adaptive polling interval	5m
GUEST_METADATA_MIN_REFRESH_INTERVAL	Minimum refresh for guest metadata	2m
GUEST_METADATA_REFRESH_JITTER	Jitter for guest metadata refresh	45s
GUEST_METADATA_RETRY_BACKOFF	Retry backoff for guest metadata	30s
GUEST_METADATA_MAX_CONCURRENT	Max concurrent guest metadata fetches	4
DNS_CACHE_TIMEOUT	Cache TTL for DNS lookups	5m
MAX_POLL_TIMEOUT	Maximum time per polling cycle	3m
WEBHOOK_BATCH_DELAY	Delay before sending batched webhooks	10s
PULSE_DISABLE_DOCKER_UPDATE_ACTIONS	Hide Docker update buttons (read-only mode)	false

Logging Overrides

Variable	Description	Default
LOG_FILE	Log file path (empty = stdout)	(unset)
LOG_MAX_SIZE	Log file max size (MB)	100
LOG_MAX_AGE	Log file retention (days)	30
LOG_COMPRESS	Compress rotated logs	true

Update Settings

Variable	Description	Default
UPDATE_CHANNEL	Update channel (stable or rc)	stable
AUTO_UPDATE_ENABLED	Allow one-click updates	false
AUTO_UPDATE_CHECK_INTERVAL	Auto-check interval	24h
AUTO_UPDATE_TIME	Scheduled check time (HH:MM)	03:00

Metrics Retention (Tiered)

Persistent metrics history uses tiered retention windows. These values are stored in system.json and can be adjusted for storage vs history depth:

• metricsRetentionRawHours
• metricsRetentionMinuteHours
• metricsRetentionHourlyDays
• metricsRetentionDailyDays

See METRICS_HISTORY.md for details.

---

🔔 Alerts (alerts.json)

Pulse uses a powerful alerting engine with hysteresis (separate trigger/clear thresholds) to prevent flapping.

Managed via UI: Settings → Alerts → Thresholds

Manual Configuration (JSON)

{
  "guestDefaults": {
    "cpu": { "trigger": 90, "clear": 80 },
    "memory": { "trigger": 85, "clear": 72.5 }
  },
  "schedule": {
    "quietHours": {
      "enabled": true,
      "start": "22:00",
      "end": "06:00"
    }
  }
}

---

🔒 HTTPS / TLS

Enable HTTPS by providing certificate files via environment variables.

# Systemd
HTTPS_ENABLED=true
TLS_CERT_FILE=/etc/pulse/cert.pem
TLS_KEY_FILE=/etc/pulse/key.pem

# Docker
docker run -e HTTPS_ENABLED=true \
  -v /path/to/certs:/certs \
  -e TLS_CERT_FILE=/certs/cert.pem \
  -e TLS_KEY_FILE=/certs/key.pem ...

---

🛡️ Security Best Practices

1. Permissions: Ensure .env and nodes.enc are 600 (read/write by owner only).
2. Backups: Back up .env separately from system.json.
3. Tokens: Use scoped API tokens for agents instead of the admin password.