diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index a0b09d3..5473cf8 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.1.25
+2.1.26-dev
diff --git a/docs/SUMMARY.md b/docs/SUMMARY.md
index d88aa17..353863f 100644
--- a/docs/SUMMARY.md
+++ b/docs/SUMMARY.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 * [Installing XOS](install.md)
     * [Download Source Code](repo.md)
     * [XOS Containers](xos_internals.md)
+    * [XOS Configuration](modules/xosconfig.md)
 * [Using XOS](use.md)
     * [XOS Modeling Framework](dev/xproto.md)
         * [XOS Tool Chain (Internals)](dev/xosgenx.md)
diff --git a/docs/book.json b/docs/book.json
index 1312ebb..b9ce15e 100644
--- a/docs/book.json
+++ b/docs/book.json
@@ -9,7 +9,13 @@
   },
   "plugins": [
     "anchorjs",
+    "custom-favicon",
     "smart-nav-collapse",
     "versions-select"
-  ]
+  ],
+  "pluginsConfig": {
+    "favicon": "static/xos.ico"
+  }
 }
+
+
diff --git a/docs/dev/workflow_pod.md b/docs/dev/workflow_pod.md
index 6b659b8..51cdf91 100644
--- a/docs/dev/workflow_pod.md
+++ b/docs/dev/workflow_pod.md
@@ -24,29 +24,29 @@
 2. Teardown the existing XOS installation and clean up OpenStack to
    remove any leftover instances or networks:
 
-    ```
-    cd ~/cord/build
-    make xos-teardown
-    make clean-openstack
-    ```
+```shell
+cd ~/cord/build
+make xos-teardown
+make clean-openstack
+```
 
 3. Optional: Teardown ONOS. Sometimes we find it helpful to reinstall the
    onos-cord and onos-fabric containers, to ensure that all state is wiped
    clean from ONOS.
 
-    ```
-    cd ~/cord/build
-    make clean-onos
-    ```
+```shell
+cd ~/cord/build
+make clean-onos
+```
 
 4. Build the new XOS container images and deploy to the pod.
 
-    ```
-    cd ~/cord/build
-    make -j4 build
-    make compute-node-refresh
-    make pod-test
-    ```
+```shell
+cd ~/cord/build
+make -j4 build
+make compute-node-refresh
+make pod-test
+```
 
 5. Test and verify your changes.
 
diff --git a/docs/install.md b/docs/install.md
index 85b77c3..bc3bc24 100644
--- a/docs/install.md
+++ b/docs/install.md
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@
 Helm client-side tool. If you are new to Kubernetes, we recommend this [tutorial](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tutorials/) as a good place to start.
 
 Although you are free to set up Kubernetes and Helm in whatever way
-makes sense to you, the following walks you through an
-example installation sequence on  MacOS. It was tested on version 10.12.6.
+makes sense to you, the following walks through an example
+installation sequence on  MacOS. It was tested on version 10.12.6.
 
 ## Prerequisites
 
@@ -101,84 +101,124 @@
 [XOS tutorial](tutorials/basic_synchronizer.md). The easiest way to do
 this uses the `repo` tool, as described [here](repo.md).
 
-## Bring Up XOS
+## Bring Up XOS 
 
-To deploy `xos-core` (plus affiliated micro-services) into your
+To deploy `xos-core` (plus affiliated micro-services) into your 
 Kubernetes cluster, execute the following from the `$SRC_DIR/helm-charts`
 directory:
 
-```shell
-helm dep update xos-core
-helm install xos-core -n xos-core
+```shell 
+helm dep update xos-core 
+helm install xos-core -n xos-core 
 ```
 
-Use `kubectl get pods` to verify that all containers that implement XOS
-are successfully running. You should see output that looks something
-like this:
+You also need to start the Kafka message bus to catch event 
+notifications send by the various components:
 
-```shell
-NAME                                           READY     STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
-xos-chameleon-6f49b67f68-pdf6n                 1/1       Running   0          2m
-xos-core-57fd788db-8b97d                       1/1       Running   0          2m
-xos-db-f9ddc6589-rtrml                         1/1       Running   0          2m
-xos-gui-7fcfcd4474-prhfb                       1/1       Running   0          2m
-xos-redis-74c5cdc969-ppd7z                     1/1       Running   0          2m
-xos-tosca-7c665f97b6-krp5k                     1/1       Running   0          2m
-xos-ws-55d676c696-pxsqk                        1/1       Running   0          2m
+```shell 
+helm repo add incubator http://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-charts-incubator 
+helm install -f examples/kafka-single.yaml --version 0.8.8 -n cord-kafka incubator/kafka 
 ```
 
-## Bring Up a Service
+Use `kubectl get pods` to verify that all containers that implement XOS 
+(and Kafka) are successfully running. You should see output that looks 
+something like this:
 
-Optionally, you can bring up a simple service to be managed by XOS.
+```shell 
+NAME                             READY     STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE 
+cord-kafka-0                     1/1       Running   0          3m  
+cord-kafka-zookeeper-0           1/1       Running   0          3m  
+xos-chameleon-58c5b847d6-48jvf   1/1       Running   0          11m 
+xos-core-7dc45f677b-pzhm6        1/1       Running   0          11m 
+xos-db-c49549b7f-mzs4n           1/1       Running   0          11m 
+xos-gui-7c96669d8c-8zkhq         1/1       Running   0          11m 
+xos-tosca-7f6cf85657-gzddq       1/1       Running   0          11m 
+xos-ws-5f47ff7d94-xg9f5          1/1       Running   0          11m 
+```
+
+## Bring Up Monitoring and Logging 
+
+Although not required, we recommend that you also bring up two 
+auxilary services to capture and display monitoring and logging 
+information. This is done by executing the following Helm charts. 
+
+Monitoring (once running, access [Grafana](http://docs.grafana.org/) 
+Dashboard at port 31300):
+
+
+```shell 
+helm dep update nem-monitoring 
+helm install -n nem-monitoring nem-monitoring 
+```
+
+Logging (once running, access 
+[Kabana](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/kibana/current/index.html) 
+Dashboard at port 30601):
+
+```shell 
+helm dep up logging 
+helm install -f examples/logging-single.yaml -n logging logging 
+```
+
+> **Note:** The `-f examples/logging-single.yaml` option says to 
+> not use persistent storage, which is fine for development or demo 
+> purposes, but not for operational deployments. 
+
+## Bring Up a Service 
+
+Optionally, you can bring up a simple service to be managed by XOS. 
 This involves deploying two additional helm charts: `base-kubernetes`
 and `demo-simpleexampleservice`. Again from the `$SRC_DIR/helm-charts`
 directory, execute the following:
 
-```shell
-helm dep update xos-profiles/base-kubernetes
-helm install xos-profiles/base-kubernetes -n base-kubernetes
-helm dep update xos-profiles/demo-simpleexampleservice
-helm install xos-profiles/demo-simpleexampleservice -n demo-simpleexampleservice
+```shell 
+helm dep update xos-profiles/base-kubernetes 
+helm install xos-profiles/base-kubernetes -n base-kubernetes 
+helm dep update xos-profiles/demo-simpleexampleservice 
+helm install xos-profiles/demo-simpleexampleservice -n demo-simpleexampleservice 
 ```
 
-> **Note:** It will take some time for the various helm charts to
-> deploy and the containers to come online. The `tosca-loader`
-> container may error and retry several times as it waits for
-> services to be dynamically loaded. This is normal, and eventually
-> the `tosca-loader` will enter the completed state.
+When all the containers are successfully up and running, `kubectl get 
+pod` will return output that looks something like this:
 
-As before, when all the containers are successfully up and running,
-`kubectl get pod` will return output that looks something like this:
 
-```shell
-NAME                                           READY     STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
-base-kubernetes-kubernetes-55c55bd897-rn9ln    1/1       Running   0          2m
-base-kubernetes-tosca-loader-vs6pv             1/1       Running   1          2m
-demo-simpleexampleservice-787454b84b-ckpn2     1/1       Running   0          1m
-demo-simpleexampleservice-tosca-loader-4q7zg   1/1       Running   0          1m
-xos-chameleon-6f49b67f68-pdf6n                 1/1       Running   0          12m
-xos-core-57fd788db-8b97d                       1/1       Running   0          12m
-xos-db-f9ddc6589-rtrml                         1/1       Running   0          12m
-xos-gui-7fcfcd4474-prhfb                       1/1       Running   0          12m
-xos-redis-74c5cdc969-ppd7z                     1/1       Running   0          12m
-xos-tosca-7c665f97b6-krp5k                     1/1       Running   0          12m 
-xos-ws-55d676c696-pxsqk                        1/1       Running   0          12m 
+```shell 
+NAME                                           READY     STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE 
+base-kubernetes-kubernetes-75d68b65bc-h594m    1/1       Running     0          6m 
+base-kubernetes-tosca-loader-ltdzg             0/1       Completed   4          6m 
+cord-kafka-0                                   1/1       Running     1          15m 
+cord-kafka-zookeeper-0                         1/1       Running     0          15m 
+demo-simpleexampleservice-cc8fbfb7-s4r68       1/1       Running     0          5m 
+demo-simpleexampleservice-tosca-loader-46qtg   0/1       Completed   4          5m 
+xos-chameleon-58c5b847d6-rcqff                 1/1       Running     0          16m 
+xos-core-7dc45f677b-27vc9                      1/1       Running     0          16m 
+xos-db-c49549b7f-589n6                         1/1       Running     0          16m 
+xos-gui-7c96669d8c-gcwsv                       1/1       Running     0          16m 
+xos-tosca-7f6cf85657-bf276                     1/1       Running     0          16m 
+xos-ws-5f47ff7d94-mpn7g                        1/1       Running     0          16m 
 ```
 
-## Visit XOS Dashboard
+The two `tosca-loader` items with `Completed` status are jobs, as 
+opposed to pods. Their job is to load TOSCA-based provisioning and 
+configuration information into XOS, and so they run to complettion and 
+then terminate. It is not uncommon to see them in an `Error` state as 
+they retry while waiting for the corresponding services to come 
+on-line. 
+
+## Visit XOS Dashboard 
 
 Finally, to view the XOS dashboard, run the following:
 
-```shell
-minikube service xos-gui
+```shell 
+minikube service xos-gui 
 ```
 
-This will launch a window in your default browser. Administrator login
-and password are defined in `$SRC_DIR/helm-charts/xos-core/values.yaml`.
+This will launch a window in your default browser. Administrator login 
+and password are defined in `$SRC_DIR/helm-charts/xos-core/values.yaml`. 
 
-## Next Steps
+## Next Steps 
 
-This completes the installation process. At this point, you can either
-drill down on the internals of
+This completes the installation process. At this point, you can either 
+drill down on the internals of 
 [Simple Example Service](simpleexampleservice/simple-example-service.md),
 or you can work through the [XOS tutorial](tutorials/basic_synchronizer.md).
diff --git a/docs/static/xos.ico b/docs/static/xos.ico
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a05b6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/static/xos.ico
Binary files differ
diff --git a/docs/static/xos_components.jpg b/docs/static/xos_components.jpg
index 81464a3..3c7f2c1 100644
--- a/docs/static/xos_components.jpg
+++ b/docs/static/xos_components.jpg
Binary files differ
diff --git a/docs/tutorials/basic_synchronizer.md b/docs/tutorials/basic_synchronizer.md
index 3e38d39..c8bc6f5 100644
--- a/docs/tutorials/basic_synchronizer.md
+++ b/docs/tutorials/basic_synchronizer.md
@@ -314,6 +314,7 @@
 You can use that (and the `HelloWorldServiceInstance` model definition
 too) to create an instance of both models. For your convenience, save
 the following content to a file called `hello-world-tosca.yaml`
+
 ```yaml
 tosca_definitions_version: tosca_simple_yaml_1_0
 imports:
diff --git a/docs/xos_internals.md b/docs/xos_internals.md
index 8293ace..2541eb8 100644
--- a/docs/xos_internals.md
+++ b/docs/xos_internals.md
@@ -8,19 +8,15 @@
 | ---- | ----------- | ----- |
 | xos-core | The core of the platform; responsible for maintaining the data model | 50051, 500515 |
 | xos-db | A Postgres instance; used to persist the data model | 5432 |
-| xos-redis | A Redis instance; used as pub/sub channel for internal notifications | 5432 |
 | xos-tosca | Northbound TOSCA interface; accessible via REST | 9102|
 | xos-gui | Northbound GUI dashboard| 4000|
-| xos-ws | Listens to `redis` events and propagates them over web-sockets | 3000|
+| xos-ws | Listens to `kafka` events and propagates them over web-sockets | 3000|
 | xos-chameleon | Northbound REST interface; accessible at `/xosapi/v1/..` (`swagger` is published at `/apidocs/`| 3000|
-| kafka | A Kafka bus; used by some backend components to send event notifications | 9092|
+| kafka | A Kafka bus; used to send event notifications | 9092|
 
 All the communication between containers happen over `gRPC` except for
 `xos-gui`, which uses a combination of REST and web-socket.
 
-> **Note:** The dotted lines identify optional components that are
-> required only in certain configurations.
-
 ![xos-containers](./static/xos_components.jpg)