diff --git a/tivan.toml b/tivan.toml
index 7cf8042fe2078..cba4f13afbbef 100644
--- a/tivan.toml
+++ b/tivan.toml
@@ -1,35 +1,54 @@
 # Tivan configuration
 
+# If this file is missing an [agent] section, you must first generate a
+# valid config with `tivan -sample-config > tivan.toml`
+
 # Tivan is entirely plugin driven. All metrics are gathered from the
 # declared plugins.
 
 # Even if a plugin has no configuration, it must be declared in here
 # to be active. Declaring a plugin means just specifying the name
-# as a section with no variables.
+# as a section with no variables. To deactivate a plugin, comment 
+# out the name and any variables.
 
 # Use 'tivan -config tivan.toml -test' to see what metrics a config
 # file would generate.
 
-# One rule that plugins conform is wherever a connection string
+# One rule that plugins conform to is wherever a connection string
 # can be passed, the values '' and 'localhost' are treated specially.
 # They indicate to the plugin to use their own builtin configuration to
 # connect to the local system.
 
-# Configuration for influxdb server to send metrics to
-# [influxdb]
-# url = "http://10.20.2.4"
+## Configure target InfluxDB database (required)
+
+# Configuration for influxdb server to which to send metrics
+ [influxdb]
+# The full HTTP endpoint URL for your InfluxDB instance
+ url = "http://localhost:8086"
+# The target database for metrics. This database must already exist
+ database = "tivan"
+# Enter valid InfluxDB authentication credentials, if relevant
 # username = "tivan"
 # password = "metricsmetricsmetricsmetrics"
-# database = "tivan"
-# user_agent = "tivan"
-# tags = { "dc": "us-east-1" }
+# Set the user agent for the POSTs (can be useful for log differentiation)
+ user_agent = "tivan"
+# set any tags that should be applied to all points written by Tivan
+# tags = { "dc": "us-east-1", "app", "nginx" }
 
 # Tags can also be specified via a normal map, but only one form at a time:
-
 # [influxdb.tags]
 # dc = "us-east-1"
+# app = "nginx"
+
+## PLUGINS
 
-# PLUGINS
+## system stats
+
+# By default, tivan gathers stats from any up interface (excluding loopback)
+# Setting interfaces will tell it to gather these explicit interfaces,
+# regardless of status.
+#
+# interfaces = ["eth0", ... ]
 
 # Read metrics about cpu usage
 [cpu]
@@ -39,10 +58,6 @@
 [disk]
   # no configuration
 
-# Read metrics about docker containers
-[docker]
-  # no configuration
-
 # Read metrics about disk IO by device
 [io]
   # no configuration
@@ -51,30 +66,37 @@
 [mem]
   # no configuration
 
+# Read metrics about network interface usage
+[net]
+
+# Read metrics about swap memory usage
+[swap]
+  # no configuration
+
+# Read metrics about system load
+[system]
+  # no configuration
+
+## Application stats
+
+# Read metrics about docker containers
+[docker]
+  # no configuration
+
+
 # Read metrics from one or many mysql servers
 [mysql]
-
 # specify servers via a url matching:
 #  [username[:password]@][protocol[(address)]]/[?tls=[true|false|skip-verify]]
-#
+#  e.g. root:root@http://10.0.0.18/?tls=false
 # If no servers are specified, then localhost is used as the host.
 servers = ["localhost"]
 
-# Read metrics about network interface usage
-[net]
-
-# By default, tivan gathers stats from any up interface (excluding loopback)
-# Setting interfaces will tell it to gather these explicit interfaces,
-# regardless of status.
-#
-# interfaces = ["eth0", ... ]
 
 # Read metrics from one or many postgresql servers
 [postgresql]
-
 # specify servers via an array of tables
-[[postgresql.servers]]
-
+ [[postgresql.servers]]
 # specify address via a url matching:
 #   postgres://[pqgotest[:password]]@localhost?sslmode=[disable|verify-ca|verify-full]
 # or a simple string:
@@ -83,8 +105,6 @@ servers = ["localhost"]
 # All connection parameters are optional. By default, the host is localhost
 # and the user is the currently running user. For localhost, we default
 # to sslmode=disable as well.
-# 
-
 address = "sslmode=disable"
 
 # A list of databases to pull metrics about. If not specified, metrics for all
@@ -92,23 +112,15 @@ address = "sslmode=disable"
 
 # databases = ["app_production", "blah_testing"]
 
-# [[postgresql.servers]]
+ [[postgresql.servers]]
 # address = "influx@remoteserver"
 
+
 # Read metrics from one or many redis servers
 [redis]
-
 # An array of address to gather stats about. Specify an ip on hostname
 # with optional port. ie localhost, 10.10.3.33:18832, etc.
 #
 # If no servers are specified, then localhost is used as the host.
 servers = ["localhost"]
 
-# Read metrics about swap memory usage
-[swap]
-  # no configuration
-
-# Read metrics about system load
-[system]
-  # no configuration
-