[[configuration-general-options]]
== Specify general settings

You can specify settings in the +{beatname_lc}.yml+ config file to control the
general behavior of {beatname_uc}. This includes:

* <<configuration-global-options,Global options>> that control things like
the maximum random delay to apply to the startup of a metricset.

* <<configuration-general,General options>> that are supported by all Elastic
Beats.

[float]
[[configuration-global-options]]
=== Global Metricbeat configuration options

These options are in the `metricbeat` namespace.

[float]
==== `metricbeat.max_start_delay`

The maximum random delay to apply to the startup of a metricset. Random delays
ranging from [0, _max_start_delay_) are applied to reduce the thundering herd
effect that can occur if a fleet of machines running Metricbeat are restarted at
the same time. Specifying a value of 0 disables the startup delay. The default
is 10s.

[source,yaml]
----
metricbeat.max_start_delay: 10s
----


include::../../libbeat/docs/generalconfig.asciidoc[]