diff --git a/control/control_test.go b/control/control_test.go
index cda9d59fc..5b27216f1 100644
--- a/control/control_test.go
+++ b/control/control_test.go
@@ -807,7 +807,7 @@ func TestMetricConfig(t *testing.T) {
 		c.Start()
 		lpe := newListenToPluginEvent()
 		c.eventManager.RegisterHandler("Control.PluginLoaded", lpe)
-		_, err := load(c, JSONRPCPluginPath)
+		_, err := load(c, PluginPath)
 		So(err, ShouldBeNil)
 		<-lpe.done
 		cd := cdata.NewNode()
@@ -838,6 +838,32 @@ func TestMetricConfig(t *testing.T) {
 		time.Sleep(100 * time.Millisecond)
 	})
 
+	Convey("config provided by defaults", t, func() {
+		c := New(GetDefaultConfig())
+		c.Start()
+		lpe := newListenToPluginEvent()
+		c.eventManager.RegisterHandler("Control.PluginLoaded", lpe)
+		_, err := load(c, JSONRPCPluginPath)
+		So(err, ShouldBeNil)
+		<-lpe.done
+		cd := cdata.NewNode()
+		m1 := MockMetricType{
+			namespace: core.NewNamespace("intel", "mock", "foo"),
+		}
+
+		Convey("So metric should be valid with config", func() {
+			errs := c.validateMetricTypeSubscription(m1, cd)
+			So(errs, ShouldBeNil)
+		})
+		c.Config.Plugins.All.AddItem("name", ctypes.ConfigValueStr{Value: "jane"})
+		Convey("So mock should have name: bob config from defaults", func() {
+			So(c.Config.Plugins.pluginCache["0:mock:1"].Table()["name"], ShouldResemble, ctypes.ConfigValueStr{Value: "bob"})
+		})
+
+		c.Stop()
+		time.Sleep(100 * time.Millisecond)
+	})
+
 	Convey("nil config provided by task", t, func() {
 		config := GetDefaultConfig()
 		config.Plugins.All.AddItem("password", ctypes.ConfigValueStr{Value: "testval"})
@@ -1284,6 +1310,8 @@ func TestCollectMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 					for i := range cr {
 						So(cr[i].Data(), ShouldContainSubstring, "The mock collected data!")
 						So(cr[i].Data(), ShouldContainSubstring, "test=true")
+						So(cr[i].Data(), ShouldContainSubstring, "name={bob}")
+						So(cr[i].Data(), ShouldContainSubstring, "password={testval}")
 					}
 				}
 				ap := c.AvailablePlugins()
@@ -1510,7 +1538,7 @@ func TestPublishMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 
 		Convey("Subscribe to file publisher with good config", func() {
 			n := cdata.NewNode()
-			c.Config.Plugins.Publisher.Plugins[lp.Name()] = newPluginConfigItem(optAddPluginConfigItem("file", ctypes.ConfigValueStr{Value: "/tmp/snap-TestPublishMetrics.out"}))
+			c.Config.Plugins.Publisher.Plugins["file"] = newPluginConfigItem(optAddPluginConfigItem("file", ctypes.ConfigValueStr{Value: "/tmp/snap-TestPublishMetrics.out"}))
 			pool, errp := c.pluginRunner.AvailablePlugins().getOrCreatePool("publisher:file:3")
 			So(errp, ShouldBeNil)
 			pool.Subscribe("1", strategy.UnboundSubscriptionType)
@@ -1527,7 +1555,7 @@ func TestPublishMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 				enc.Encode(metrics)
 				contentType := plugin.SnapGOBContentType
 				errs := c.PublishMetrics(contentType, buf.Bytes(), "file", 3, n.Table(), uuid.New())
-				So(errs, ShouldBeNil)
+				So(errs, ShouldBeEmpty)
 				ap := c.AvailablePlugins()
 				So(ap, ShouldNotBeEmpty)
 			})
diff --git a/control/plugin_manager.go b/control/plugin_manager.go
index ceab224d7..53e3fc099 100644
--- a/control/plugin_manager.go
+++ b/control/plugin_manager.go
@@ -355,10 +355,45 @@ func (p *pluginManager) LoadPlugin(details *pluginDetails, emitter gomit.Emitter
 	lPlugin.ConfigPolicy = cp
 
 	if resp.Type == plugin.CollectorPluginType {
+		cfgNode := p.pluginConfig.getPluginConfigDataNode(core.PluginType(resp.Type), resp.Meta.Name, resp.Meta.Version)
+
+		if lPlugin.ConfigPolicy != nil {
+			// Get config policy from root/plugin defaults
+			ncd := lPlugin.ConfigPolicy.Get([]string{""})
+			_, errs := ncd.Process(cfgNode.Table())
+			if errs != nil && errs.HasErrors() {
+				fields := make(map[string]interface{})
+				se := serror.New(fmt.Errorf("ConfigPolicy processing failed. Not loading collector:%v:%v", resp.Meta.Name, resp.Meta.Version))
+				for i, e := range errs.Errors() {
+					idx := fmt.Sprintf("%d", i)
+					fields[idx] = e.Error()
+				}
+				fields["name"] = resp.Meta.Name
+				fields["version"] = resp.Meta.Version
+				se.SetFields(fields)
+				return nil, se
+			}
+
+			// Update config policy with defaults
+			cp, err = c.GetConfigPolicy()
+			if err != nil {
+				pmLogger.WithFields(log.Fields{
+					"_block":         "load-plugin",
+					"plugin-type":    "collector",
+					"error":          err.Error(),
+					"plugin-name":    ap.Name(),
+					"plugin-version": ap.Version(),
+					"plugin-id":      ap.ID(),
+				}).Error("error in getting config policy")
+				return nil, serror.New(err)
+			}
+			lPlugin.ConfigPolicy = cp
+		}
+
 		colClient := ap.client.(client.PluginCollectorClient)
 
 		cfg := plugin.ConfigType{
-			ConfigDataNode: p.pluginConfig.getPluginConfigDataNode(core.PluginType(resp.Type), resp.Meta.Name, resp.Meta.Version),
+			ConfigDataNode: cfgNode,
 		}
 
 		metricTypes, err := colClient.GetMetricTypes(cfg)
diff --git a/docs/PLUGIN_AUTHORING.md b/docs/PLUGIN_AUTHORING.md
index e6392c0a0..827a7995b 100644
--- a/docs/PLUGIN_AUTHORING.md
+++ b/docs/PLUGIN_AUTHORING.md
@@ -95,20 +95,22 @@ github.com/intelsdi-x/snap/control/plugin/cpolicy
 github.com/intelsdi-x/snap/core/ctypes  
 ```
 ### Writing a collector plugin
-A Snap collector plugin collects telemetry data by communicating with the Snap daemon. To confine to collector plugin interfaces and metric types defined in Snap,  a collector plugin must implement the following methods:
+A Snap collector plugin collects telemetry data by communicating with the Snap daemon. To confine to collector plugin interfaces and metric types defined in Snap, a collector plugin must implement the following methods:
 ```
 GetConfigPolicy() (*cpolicy.ConfigPolicy, error)
 CollectMetrics([]MetricType) ([]MetricType, error)
 GetMetricTypes(ConfigType) ([]MetricType, error)
 ```
+For creating a default plugin level config policy, the rule needs to be added at the root, i.e. at `[]string{""}`. This will make it so a config file doesn't need to be passed in for these rules. An example use case would be for the URL the Apache Collector collects from.
+
 ### Writing a processor plugin
-A Snap processor plugin allows filtering, aggregation, transformation, etc of collected telemetry data. To complaint with processor plugin interfaces defined in Snap,  a processor plugin must implement the following methods:
+A Snap processor plugin allows filtering, aggregation, transformation, etc of collected telemetry data. To complaint with processor plugin interfaces defined in Snap, a processor plugin must implement the following methods:
 ```
 GetConfigPolicy() (*cpolicy.ConfigPolicy, error)
 Process(contentType string, content []byte, config map[string]ctypes.ConfigValue) (string, []byte, error)
 ```
 ### Writing a publisher plugin
-A Snap publisher plugin allows publishing processed telemetry data into a variety of systems, databases, and monitors through Snap metrics. To compliant with metric types and plugin interfaces defined in Snap,  a publisher plugin must implement the following methods:
+A Snap publisher plugin allows publishing processed telemetry data into a variety of systems, databases, and monitors through Snap metrics. To compliant with metric types and plugin interfaces defined in Snap, a publisher plugin must implement the following methods:
 ```
 GetConfigPolicy() (*cpolicy.ConfigPolicy, error)
 Publish(contentType string, content []byte, config map[string]ctypes.ConfigValue) error
diff --git a/plugin/collector/snap-collector-mock1/mock/mock.go b/plugin/collector/snap-collector-mock1/mock/mock.go
index 8bcb77c6b..6ee48bb15 100644
--- a/plugin/collector/snap-collector-mock1/mock/mock.go
+++ b/plugin/collector/snap-collector-mock1/mock/mock.go
@@ -67,9 +67,9 @@ func (f *Mock) CollectMetrics(mts []plugin.MetricType) ([]plugin.MetricType, err
 			}
 		} else {
 			if cv, ok := p.Config().Table()["test"]; ok {
-				p.Data_ = fmt.Sprintf("The mock collected data! config data: user=%s password=%s test=%v", p.Config().Table()["user"], p.Config().Table()["password"], cv.(ctypes.ConfigValueBool).Value)
+				p.Data_ = fmt.Sprintf("The mock collected data! config data: name=%s password=%s test=%v", p.Config().Table()["name"], p.Config().Table()["password"], cv.(ctypes.ConfigValueBool).Value)
 			} else {
-				p.Data_ = fmt.Sprintf("The mock collected data! config data: user=%s password=%s", p.Config().Table()["user"], p.Config().Table()["password"])
+				p.Data_ = fmt.Sprintf("The mock collected data! config data: name=%s password=%s", p.Config().Table()["name"], p.Config().Table()["password"])
 			}
 			p.Timestamp_ = time.Now()
 			metrics = append(metrics, p)
@@ -99,11 +99,9 @@ func (f *Mock) GetMetricTypes(cfg plugin.ConfigType) ([]plugin.MetricType, error
 func (f *Mock) GetConfigPolicy() (*cpolicy.ConfigPolicy, error) {
 	c := cpolicy.New()
 	rule, _ := cpolicy.NewStringRule("name", false, "bob")
-	rule2, _ := cpolicy.NewStringRule("password", true)
 	p := cpolicy.NewPolicyNode()
 	p.Add(rule)
-	p.Add(rule2)
-	c.Add([]string{"intel", "mock", "foo"}, p)
+	c.Add([]string{""}, p)
 	return c, nil
 }