diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 8b71fdd..6d463cb 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
         elasticsearch_host: 172.16.10.253
         elasticsearch_port: 9200
         enabled: true
+        metric_collector_host: 127.0.0.1
+        metric_collector_port: 5567
         poolsize: 100
 
 Default values:
@@ -25,6 +27,8 @@
 * ``automatic_starting: true``
 * ``elastisearch_port: 9200``
 * ``enabled: false``
+* ``metric_collector_host: 127.0.0.1``
+* ``metric_collector_port: 5567``
 * ``poolsize: 100``
 
 Local Metric collector service
diff --git a/heka/files/lua/decoders/generic_syslog.lua b/heka/files/lua/decoders/generic_syslog.lua
index 48e5262..1307e01 100644
--- a/heka/files/lua/decoders/generic_syslog.lua
+++ b/heka/files/lua/decoders/generic_syslog.lua
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
     Payload     = nil,
     Pid         = nil,
     Fields      = nil,
-    Severity    = nil,
+    Severity    = 6, -- INFO
 }
 
 local syslog_pattern = read_config("syslog_pattern") or error("syslog_pattern configuration must be specified")
diff --git a/heka/map.jinja b/heka/map.jinja
index c5aca5d..2e47090 100644
--- a/heka/map.jinja
+++ b/heka/map.jinja
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@
     'elasticsearch_port': default_elasticsearch_port,
     'poolsize': 100,
     'automatic_starting': default_automatic_starting,
+    'metric_collector_host': '127.0.0.1',
+    'metric_collector_port': 5567,
   }
 }, merge=salt['pillar.get']('heka:log_collector')) %}
 
diff --git a/heka/meta/heka.yml b/heka/meta/heka.yml
index a017cb2..d6d73bd 100644
--- a/heka/meta/heka.yml
+++ b/heka/meta/heka.yml
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@
   output:
     metric_collector:
       engine: tcp
-      host: 127.0.0.1
-      port: 5567
+      host: {{ log_collector.metric_collector_host }}
+      port: {{ log_collector.metric_collector_port }}
       message_matcher: "(Type == 'metric' || Type == 'heka.sandbox.metric' || Type == 'heka.sandbox.bulk_metric')"
     log_dashboard:
       engine: dashboard