# Inquiry about elastic agents

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inquiry-about-elastic-agents/359298>\
**Category:** Elastic Agent\
**Created:** [May 11, 2024, 6:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inquiry-about-elastic-agents/359298 "2024-05-11T06:51:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![wwwryuwww](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/wwwryuwww/32/74674_2.png) [@wwwryuwww](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/wwwryuwww)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2024, 6:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inquiry-about-elastic-agents/359298/1 "2024-05-11T06:51:44Z")

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Hi, everybody.

I am very new to elastic agent and I'm trying to get used to it.  
Once I install elastic agent to a server, I see many instances are running.

1. Are the default instances always running statically regardless of what data I configure to collect?
2. Is it possible to limit it to running only certain instances using fleet server or something?
3. How to configure heap memory size of the whole elastic agents or each of the instances?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![leandrojmp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/leandrojmp/32/107231_2.png) [@leandrojmp](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/leandrojmp)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2024, 2:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inquiry-about-elastic-agents/359298/2 "2024-05-11T14:03:03Z")

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Hello,

> [@wwwryuwww](#):
>
> Are the default instances always running statically regardless of what data I configure to collect?

It is not clear what you are referring to here, which instances? You can have only one instance Elastic Agent running on a machine, it will then start multiple processes depending of what integrations it has configured.

Can you provide a little more context? Like, show some samples of what you are seeing in your server.

> [@wwwryuwww](#):
>
> Is it possible to limit it to running only certain instances using fleet server or something?

Same thing as the previous one, the Agent will start multiple processes depending on what it is configured in the integrations.

> [@wwwryuwww](#):
>
> How to configure heap memory size of the whole elastic agents or each of the instances?

The Agent is written in Go, there is no Heap memory like Elasticsearch or Logstash.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wwwryuwww](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/wwwryuwww/32/74674_2.png) [@wwwryuwww](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/wwwryuwww)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 6:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/inquiry-about-elastic-agents/359298/3 "2024-05-13T06:15:22Z")

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> [@leandrojmp](#):
>
> It is not clear what you are referring to here, which instances? You can have only one instance Elastic Agent running on a machine, it will then start multiple processes depending of what integrations it has configured.
> 
> Can you provide a little more context? Like, show some samples of what you are seeing in your server.

I was confused with the concept of the instances and processes. What I'm referring to is the "processes". My memories may not be clear because I already reset my test elastic cluster, but once I installed the elastic agent provided by fleet, I could see several processes including filebeat, auditbeat and metricbeat. Are those processes the default processes that run before setting up integration?

> [@leandrojmp](#):
>
> The Agent is written in Go, there is no Heap memory like Elasticsearch or Logstash.

Does that mean that processes related to the elastic agent can use memory of the OS without limitation?