---
title: Set up the experimental alerting system
description: Requirements for using the experimental alerting system in Kibana, including license, connectors, data, and space selection, plus how to turn the system on and off.
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/8483/explore-analyze/alerting/experimental-alerting-system/get-started/setup
products:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless
  - Elastic Documentation
  - Kibana
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Experimental
  - Elastic Stack: Experimental since 9.5
---

# 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.

## Before you use the system

You'll need the following to create rules and send notifications.
- **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/8483/manage-data/ingest) for options.
- **A space selected**: Rules, [action policies](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/8483/explore-analyze/alerting/experimental-alerting-system/action-policies/about-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/8483/deploy-manage/manage-spaces) to create or switch spaces.
- **Connectors configured** (required for notifications): [Workflows](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/8483/explore-analyze/alerting/experimental-alerting-system/workflows-alerting) send notifications and require at least one [connector](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/8483/deploy-manage/manage-connectors), for example, Slack, email, or PagerDuty. [Action policies](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/8483/explore-analyze/alerting/experimental-alerting-system/action-policies/about-action-policies) invoke those workflows.
- **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.


## Turn on the system

The experimental alerting system is controlled by the [`alerting:v2:enabled`](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/kibana/tree/main/reference/advanced-settings#alerting-v2-enabled) advanced setting in Kibana. This is a global setting, so turning it on makes the experimental alerting system available in every space, even though the rules and action policies you create in it are space-scoped.
1. Go to the **Advanced Settings** page using the navigation menu or the [global search field](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/8483/explore-analyze/find-and-organize/find-apps-and-objects).
2. Select the **Global Settings** tab, then turn on **Alerting V2**.
3. Go to **Alerting V2 Preview** in the navigation menu or [global search](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/8483/explore-analyze/find-and-organize/find-apps-and-objects) to confirm the experimental alerting system is accessible in your space.

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, go to the **Advanced Settings** page, select the **Global Settings** tab, and turn off **Alerting V2**.
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/8483/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/8483/explore-analyze/alerting/experimental-alerting-system/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.
- [Create your first rule](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/8483/explore-analyze/alerting/experimental-alerting-system/get-started/create-your-first-rule) to load sample data, write a detection query, and observe the alert lifecycle.