---
title: Set up the experimental alerting system
description: What you need before using the experimental alerting system in Kibana: license requirements, connectors, data, and space selection. Also covers how to turn the system on and off using the alerting:v2:enabled advanced setting.
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/6522/explore-analyze/alerting/kibana-alerting-experimental/get-started/setup
products:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless
  - Kibana
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Experimental
  - Elastic Stack: Planned
---

# Set up the experimental alerting system
This page covers what you need before using the experimental alerting system, and how to turn it on and off in your space.

## Requirements

- **Data in Elasticsearch**: Rules can only detect conditions in data that already exists. Make sure the indices or data streams your rules will query are populated before creating rules. Refer to [Ingest your data](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/6522/manage-data/ingest) for options.
- **A space selected**: Rules, action policies, and the privileges that control them are all space-scoped. Decide which space you'll work in before setting things up. Refer to [Manage spaces](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/6522/deploy-manage/manage-spaces) to create or switch spaces.
- **Connectors configured** (required for notifications): Action policies send notifications through workflows, which require at least one [connector](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/6522/deploy-manage/manage-connectors), for example, Slack, email, or PagerDuty.
- **Enterprise license** (Stack deployments only, required for notifications): Workflows-based notifications require an Enterprise license. Refer to the subscription page for [Elastic Cloud](https://www.elastic.co/subscriptions/cloud) and [Elastic Stack/self-managed](https://www.elastic.co/subscriptions) for the breakdown of available features and their associated subscription tiers. <applies-to>Elastic Stack: Planned</applies-to>


## Turn on the system

The experimental alerting system is controlled by the `alerting:v2:enabled` advanced setting in Kibana, which is turned off by default. Turn it on to make the experimental alerting system available in your space.
<applies-switch>
  <applies-item title="stack: experimental 9.5+" applies-to="Elastic Stack: Planned">
    **Role requirements**You must have the `kibana_admin` role or equivalent Stack Management access to turn on the `alerting:v2:enabled` advanced setting.**Steps**
    1. Go to the **Advanced Settings** menu using the navigation menu or the [global search field](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/6522/explore-analyze/find-and-organize/find-apps-and-objects).
    2. Under **Global settings**, toggle on **alerting:v2:enabled**.
  </applies-item>

  <applies-item title="serverless:" applies-to="Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available">
    **Role requirements**You must have the `admin` project role to turn on the `alerting:v2:enabled` advanced setting.**Step**Serverless has no Global Advanced Settings UI, so use Dev Tools to call the global settings API:
    ```json
    POST kbn:/internal/kibana/global_settings
    {
      "changes": {
        "alerting:v2:enabled": true
      }
    }
    ```

    <note>
      The `/internal/kibana/global_settings` endpoint is an internal API and might change without notice. There is currently no public equivalent.
    </note>
  </applies-item>
</applies-switch>


### Confirm the UI is accessible

After turning on the setting, verify the experimental alerting system is accessible in your space:
1. Use the [global search field](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/6522/explore-analyze/find-and-organize/find-apps-and-objects) and enter `Alerting v2 preview`.
2. Select the menu item from the results.

If the menu item doesn't appear immediately, refresh the page and search again. It might take a moment for the UI to reflect the updated setting.

## Turn off the system

To turn off the experimental alerting system, set `alerting:v2:enabled` to `false`.
<applies-switch>
  <applies-item title="stack: experimental 9.5+" applies-to="Elastic Stack: Planned">
    Go to the **Advanced Settings** page and toggle off **alerting:v2:enabled**.
  </applies-item>

  <applies-item title="serverless:" applies-to="Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available">
    Use Dev Tools to call the global settings API:
    ```json
    POST kbn:/internal/kibana/global_settings
    {
      "changes": {
        "alerting:v2:enabled": false
      }
    }
    ```
  </applies-item>
</applies-switch>

Turning off the setting does not delete any data. Kibana retains your rules and action policies as saved objects, and keeps existing documents in `.rule-events` and `.alert-actions`. Turning the setting back on restores the experimental alerting system UI.
<important>
  Turning off `alerting:v2:enabled` hides the experimental alerting system UI but does not stop rules and action policies from running. To stop both entirely:
  - **Elastic Stack** - Set `xpack.alerting_v2.enabled: false` in [`kibana.yml`](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/6522/deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed/configure-kibana)
  - **Serverless** - On Serverless, the experimental alerting system is managed by Elastic. [Contact Elastic support](https://www.elastic.co/docs/troubleshoot) to turn it off.
</important>


## Next steps

After turning on the system, [configure access](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/6522/explore-analyze/alerting/kibana-alerting-experimental/get-started/configure-access) to create or update a role with access to the experimental alerting system features and the data streams they write to.