In a computer-implemented method for configuring a distributed computer system comprising a plurality of nodes of a plurality of node classes, configuration files for a plurality of nodes of each of the plurality of node classes are stored in a central repository. The configuration files include information representing a desired system state of the distributed computer system, and the distributed computer system operates to keep an actual system state of the distributed computer system consistent with the desired system state. The plurality of node classes includes forwarder nodes for receiving data from an input source, indexer nodes for indexing the data, and search head nodes for searching the data. Responsive to receiving changes to the configuration files, the changes are propagated to nodes of the plurality of nodes impacted by the changes based on a node class of the nodes impacted by the changes.