Which is best practice, enable the metrics inputs in UF local or windows/nix add on local?

[DeputyDawg]

We want to use ITSI with universal forwarders (windows and nix).  Which is best practice, enable the metrics inputs in UF local or windows/nix add on local? 

[richgalloway]

Enable the inputs in an app.  Inputs in etc/system/local cannot be changed by the Deployment Server (DS).  Using a DS is another best practice.

[DeputyDawg]

Thank you, @richgalloway.  I have been tasked with taking over our Splunk instance that a former employee started and never finished.

I will transition the inputs to apps so that I can use a DS.  One other thing. I see that the perfmon stanzas have "_meta = OS, OS version, IP, etc that are host specific.   When using a DS, how can I populate that data?