diff --git a/distributed/batched.py b/distributed/batched.py
index 9050516783..c47836716d 100644
--- a/distributed/batched.py
+++ b/distributed/batched.py
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ def __init__(self, interval, loop=None, serializers=None):
         self.byte_count = 0
         self.next_deadline = None
         self.recent_message_log = deque(
-            maxlen=dask.config.get("distributed.comm.recent-messages-log-length")
+            maxlen=dask.config.get("distributed.admin.low-level-log-length")
         )
         self.serializers = serializers
         self._consecutive_failures = 0
diff --git a/distributed/config.py b/distributed/config.py
index f9153bf2d1..b6e5f3d0d3 100644
--- a/distributed/config.py
+++ b/distributed/config.py
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
     "allowed-failures": "distributed.scheduler.allowed-failures",
     "bandwidth": "distributed.scheduler.bandwidth",
     "default-data-size": "distributed.scheduler.default-data-size",
-    "transition-log-length": "distributed.scheduler.transition-log-length",
     "work-stealing": "distributed.scheduler.work-stealing",
     "worker-ttl": "distributed.scheduler.worker-ttl",
     "multiprocessing-method": "distributed.worker.multiprocessing-method",
@@ -43,7 +42,6 @@
     "tcp-timeout": "distributed.comm.timeouts.tcp",
     "default-scheme": "distributed.comm.default-scheme",
     "socket-backlog": "distributed.comm.socket-backlog",
-    "recent-messages-log-length": "distributed.comm.recent-messages-log-length",
     "diagnostics-link": "distributed.dashboard.link",
     "bokeh-export-tool": "distributed.dashboard.export-tool",
     "tick-time": "distributed.admin.tick.interval",
@@ -53,6 +51,12 @@
     "pdb-on-err": "distributed.admin.pdb-on-err",
     "ucx": "distributed.comm.ucx",
     "rmm": "distributed.rmm",
+    # low-level-log-length aliases
+    "transition-log-length": "distributed.admin.low-level-log-length",
+    "distributed.scheduler.transition-log-length": "distributed.admin.low-level-log-length",
+    "distributed.scheduler.events-log-length": "distributed.admin.low-level-log-length",
+    "recent-messages-log-length": "distributed.admin.low-level-log-length",
+    "distributed.comm.recent-messages-log-length": "distributed.admin.low-level-log-length",
 }
 
 # Affects yaml and env variables configs, as well as calls to dask.config.set()
diff --git a/distributed/deploy/adaptive_core.py b/distributed/deploy/adaptive_core.py
index 1dc127d775..0543e117b6 100644
--- a/distributed/deploy/adaptive_core.py
+++ b/distributed/deploy/adaptive_core.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 import tlz as toolz
 from tornado.ioloop import IOLoop
 
+import dask.config
 from dask.utils import parse_timedelta
 
 from distributed.compatibility import PeriodicCallback
@@ -135,7 +136,9 @@ async def _adapt():
         # internal state
         self.close_counts = defaultdict(int)
         self._adapting = False
-        self.log = deque(maxlen=10000)
+        self.log = deque(
+            maxlen=dask.config.get("distributed.admin.low-level-log-length")
+        )
 
     def stop(self) -> None:
         logger.info("Adaptive stop")
diff --git a/distributed/distributed-schema.yaml b/distributed/distributed-schema.yaml
index 6114f46687..510db30123 100644
--- a/distributed/distributed-schema.yaml
+++ b/distributed/distributed-schema.yaml
@@ -78,31 +78,6 @@ properties:
 
               This can be helpful to reduce costs and stop zombie processes from roaming the earth.
 
-          transition-log-length:
-            type: integer
-            minimum: 0
-            description: |
-              How long should we keep the transition log
-
-              Every time a task transitions states (like "waiting", "processing", "memory", "released")
-              we record that transition in a log.
-
-              To make sure that we don't run out of memory
-              we will clear out old entries after a certain length.
-              This is that length.
-
-          events-log-length:
-            type: integer
-            minimum: 0
-            description: |
-              How long should we keep the events log
-
-              All events (e.g. worker heartbeat) are stored in the events log.
-
-              To make sure that we don't run out of memory
-              we will clear out old entries after a certain length.
-              This is that length.
-
           work-stealing:
             type: boolean
             description: |
@@ -860,11 +835,6 @@ properties:
             type: string
             description: The default protocol to use, like tcp or tls
 
-          recent-messages-log-length:
-            type: integer
-            minimum: 0
-            description: number of messages to keep for debugging
-
           tls:
             type: object
             properties:
@@ -1126,12 +1096,12 @@ properties:
               If the traceback is larger than this size (in bytes) then we truncate it.
 
           log-length:
-            type: integer
+            type: [integer, 'null']
             minimum: 0
             description: |
-              Default length of logs to keep in memory
-
-              The scheduler and workers keep the last 10000 or so log entries in memory.
+              Maximum length of worker/scheduler logs to keep in memory.
+              They can be retrieved with get_scheduler_logs() / get_worker_logs().
+              Set to null for unlimited.
 
           log-format:
             type: string
@@ -1139,6 +1109,14 @@ properties:
               The log format to emit.
 
               See https://docs.python.org/3/library/logging.html#logrecord-attributes
+
+          low-level-log-length:
+            type: [integer, 'null']
+            minimum: 0
+            description: |
+              Maximum length of various event logs for developers.
+              Set to null for unlimited.
+
           event-loop:
             type: string
             description: |
@@ -1158,6 +1136,13 @@ properties:
               interval:
                 type: string
                 description: Polling time to query cpu/memory statistics default 500ms
+              log-length:
+                type: [ integer, 'null' ]
+                minimum: 0
+                description: |
+                  Maximum number of samples to keep in memory.
+                  Multiply by `interval` to obtain log duration.
+                  Set to null for unlimited.
               disk:
                 type: boolean
                 description: Should we include disk metrics?  (they can cause issues in some systems)
diff --git a/distributed/distributed.yaml b/distributed/distributed.yaml
index 6ea2a603f5..594ee22532 100644
--- a/distributed/distributed.yaml
+++ b/distributed/distributed.yaml
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@ distributed:
     # after they have been removed from the scheduler
     events-cleanup-delay: 1h
     idle-timeout: null      # Shut down after this duration, like "1h" or "30 minutes"
-    transition-log-length: 100000
-    events-log-length: 100000
     work-stealing: True     # workers should steal tasks from each other
     work-stealing-interval: 100ms  # Callback time for work stealing
     worker-saturation: 1.1 # Send this fraction of nthreads root tasks to workers
@@ -224,7 +222,6 @@ distributed:
     offload: 10MiB # Size after which we choose to offload serialization to another thread
     default-scheme: tcp
     socket-backlog: 2048
-    recent-messages-log-length: 0  # number of messages to keep for debugging
     ucx:
       cuda-copy: null  # enable cuda-copy
       tcp: null  # enable tcp
@@ -310,11 +307,13 @@ distributed:
       cycle: 1s       # time between checking event loop speed
 
     max-error-length: 10000 # Maximum size traceback after error to return
-    log-length: 10000  # default length of logs to keep in memory
+    log-length: 10000  # Maximum length of worker/scheduler logs to keep in memory
     log-format: '%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s'
+    low-level-log-length: 1000  # Maximum length of various logs for developers
     pdb-on-err: False       # enter debug mode on scheduling error
     system-monitor:
       interval: 500ms
+      log-length: 7200  # Maximum number of samples to keep in memory
       disk: true  # Monitor host-wide disk I/O
       host-cpu: false  # Monitor host-wide CPU usage, with very granular breakdown
       gil:
diff --git a/distributed/profile.py b/distributed/profile.py
index 0dac6f614b..e88c80b890 100644
--- a/distributed/profile.py
+++ b/distributed/profile.py
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@
 
 import tlz as toolz
 
+import dask.config
+from dask.typing import NoDefault, no_default
 from dask.utils import format_time, parse_timedelta
 
 from distributed.metrics import time
@@ -353,7 +355,7 @@ def watch(
     thread_id: int | None = None,
     interval: str = "20ms",
     cycle: str = "2s",
-    maxlen: int = 1000,
+    maxlen: int | None | NoDefault = no_default,
     omit: Collection[str] = (),
     stop: Callable[[], bool] = lambda: False,
 ) -> deque[tuple[float, dict[str, Any]]]:
@@ -386,6 +388,9 @@ def watch(
     - timestamp
     - dict[str, Any] (output of ``create()``)
     """
+    if maxlen is no_default:
+        maxlen = dask.config.get("distributed.admin.low-level-log-length")
+        assert isinstance(maxlen, int) or maxlen is None
     log: deque[tuple[float, dict[str, Any]]] = deque(maxlen=maxlen)
 
     thread = threading.Thread(
diff --git a/distributed/scheduler.py b/distributed/scheduler.py
index 63f5092b86..cb5338da05 100644
--- a/distributed/scheduler.py
+++ b/distributed/scheduler.py
@@ -1629,7 +1629,7 @@ class SchedulerState:
 
     #: History of task state transitions.
     #: The length can be tweaked through
-    #: distributed.scheduler.transition-log-length
+    #: distributed.admin.low-level-log-length
     transition_log: deque[Transition]
 
     #: Total number of transitions since the cluster was started
@@ -1721,7 +1721,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.plugins = {} if not plugins else {_get_plugin_name(p): p for p in plugins}
 
         self.transition_log = deque(
-            maxlen=dask.config.get("distributed.scheduler.transition-log-length")
+            maxlen=dask.config.get("distributed.admin.low-level-log-length")
         )
         self.transition_counter = 0
         self._idle_transition_counter = 0
@@ -3656,11 +3656,8 @@ def __init__(
             aliases,
         ]
 
-        self.events = defaultdict(
-            partial(
-                deque, maxlen=dask.config.get("distributed.scheduler.events-log-length")
-            )
-        )
+        maxlen = dask.config.get("distributed.admin.low-level-log-length")
+        self.events = defaultdict(partial(deque, maxlen=maxlen))
         self.event_counts = defaultdict(int)
         self.event_subscriber = defaultdict(set)
         self.worker_plugins = {}
diff --git a/distributed/stealing.py b/distributed/stealing.py
index 45b26101a7..226e17f368 100644
--- a/distributed/stealing.py
+++ b/distributed/stealing.py
@@ -105,7 +105,8 @@ def __init__(self, scheduler: Scheduler):
         )
         # `callback_time` is in milliseconds
         self.scheduler.add_plugin(self)
-        self.scheduler.events["stealing"] = deque(maxlen=100000)
+        maxlen = dask.config.get("distributed.admin.low-level-log-length")
+        self.scheduler.events["stealing"] = deque(maxlen=maxlen)
         self.count = 0
         self.in_flight = {}
         self.in_flight_occupancy = defaultdict(lambda: 0)
diff --git a/distributed/system_monitor.py b/distributed/system_monitor.py
index 09d639ca91..193fcdcc72 100644
--- a/distributed/system_monitor.py
+++ b/distributed/system_monitor.py
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@
 
 import psutil
 
-import dask
+import dask.config
+from dask.typing import NoDefault, no_default
+from dask.utils import parse_timedelta
 
 from distributed.compatibility import WINDOWS
 from distributed.diagnostics import nvml
@@ -34,18 +36,24 @@ class SystemMonitor:
     gpu_name: str | None
     gpu_memory_total: int
 
-    # Defaults to 1h capture time assuming the default
-    # distributed.admin.system_monitor.interval = 500ms
     def __init__(
         self,
-        maxlen: int | None = 7200,
+        maxlen: int | None | NoDefault = no_default,
         monitor_disk_io: bool | None = None,
         monitor_host_cpu: bool | None = None,
         monitor_gil_contention: bool | None = None,
     ):
         self.proc = psutil.Process()
         self.count = 0
+
+        if maxlen is no_default:
+            maxlen = dask.config.get("distributed.admin.system-monitor.log-length")
+        if isinstance(maxlen, int):
+            maxlen = max(1, maxlen)
+        elif maxlen is not None:  # pragma: nocover
+            raise TypeError(f"maxlen must be int or None; got {maxlen!r}")
         self.maxlen = maxlen
+
         self.last_time = monotonic()
 
         self.quantities = {
@@ -110,7 +118,7 @@ def __init__(
                 raw_interval = dask.config.get(
                     "distributed.admin.system-monitor.gil.interval",
                 )
-                interval = dask.utils.parse_timedelta(raw_interval, default="us") * 1e6
+                interval = parse_timedelta(raw_interval, default="us") * 1e6
 
                 self._gilknocker = KnockKnock(polling_interval_micros=int(interval))
                 self._gilknocker.start()
diff --git a/distributed/tests/test_scheduler.py b/distributed/tests/test_scheduler.py
index 8d5f68f4b0..b1e9fcba94 100644
--- a/distributed/tests/test_scheduler.py
+++ b/distributed/tests/test_scheduler.py
@@ -3012,7 +3012,7 @@ async def test_retire_state_change(c, s, a, b):
     await asyncio.gather(*coros)
 
 
-@gen_cluster(client=True, config={"distributed.scheduler.events-log-length": 3})
+@gen_cluster(client=True, config={"distributed.admin.low-level-log-length": 3})
 async def test_configurable_events_log_length(c, s, a, b):
     s.log_event("test", "dummy message 1")
     assert len(s.events["test"]) == 1
@@ -3020,7 +3020,7 @@ async def test_configurable_events_log_length(c, s, a, b):
     s.log_event("test", "dummy message 3")
     assert len(s.events["test"]) == 3
 
-    # adding a forth message will drop the first one and length stays at 3
+    # adding a fourth message will drop the first one and length stays at 3
     s.log_event("test", "dummy message 4")
     assert len(s.events["test"]) == 3
     assert s.events["test"][0][1] == "dummy message 2"
diff --git a/distributed/tests/test_system_monitor.py b/distributed/tests/test_system_monitor.py
index 912267e1d3..62d0b1f035 100644
--- a/distributed/tests/test_system_monitor.py
+++ b/distributed/tests/test_system_monitor.py
@@ -34,6 +34,15 @@ def test_SystemMonitor():
     assert "cpu" in repr(sm)
 
 
+def test_maxlen_zero():
+    """maxlen is floored to 1 otherwise recent() would not work"""
+    sm = SystemMonitor(maxlen=0)
+    sm.update()
+    sm.update()
+    assert len(sm.quantities["memory"]) == 1
+    assert sm.recent()["memory"] == sm.quantities["memory"][-1]
+
+
 def test_count():
     sm = SystemMonitor(maxlen=5)
     assert sm.count == 1
diff --git a/distributed/tests/test_worker.py b/distributed/tests/test_worker.py
index 5daa7cc69a..834abb36ad 100644
--- a/distributed/tests/test_worker.py
+++ b/distributed/tests/test_worker.py
@@ -3296,11 +3296,7 @@ async def test_gather_dep_do_not_handle_response_of_not_requested_tasks(c, s, a)
         assert not any("missing-dep" in msg for msg in f2_story)
 
 
-@gen_cluster(
-    client=True,
-    nthreads=[("", 1)],
-    config={"distributed.comm.recent-messages-log-length": 1000},
-)
+@gen_cluster(client=True, nthreads=[("", 1)])
 async def test_gather_dep_no_longer_in_flight_tasks(c, s, a):
     async with BlockedGatherDep(s.address) as b:
         fut1 = c.submit(inc, 1, workers=[a.address], key="f1")
diff --git a/distributed/utils_test.py b/distributed/utils_test.py
index 69e4d11346..152a82dff4 100644
--- a/distributed/utils_test.py
+++ b/distributed/utils_test.py
@@ -1796,6 +1796,8 @@ def config_for_cluster_tests(**extra_config):
         {
             "local_directory": tempfile.gettempdir(),
             "distributed.admin.tick.interval": "500 ms",
+            "distributed.admin.log-length": None,
+            "distributed.admin.low-level-log-length": None,
             "distributed.scheduler.validate": True,
             "distributed.worker.validate": True,
             "distributed.worker.profile.enabled": False,
@@ -2452,10 +2454,11 @@ async def wait_for_stimulus(
 @pytest.fixture
 def ws():
     """An empty WorkerState"""
-    state = WorkerState(address="127.0.0.1:1", transition_counter_max=50_000)
-    yield state
-    if state.validate:
-        state.validate_state()
+    with dask.config.set({"distributed.admin.low-level-log-length": None}):
+        state = WorkerState(address="127.0.0.1:1", transition_counter_max=50_000)
+        yield state
+        if state.validate:
+            state.validate_state()
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(params=["executing", "long-running"])
diff --git a/distributed/worker.py b/distributed/worker.py
index e08014cab9..2aab1ad963 100644
--- a/distributed/worker.py
+++ b/distributed/worker.py
@@ -567,15 +567,16 @@ def __init__(
         self.active_threads = {}
         self.active_keys = set()
         self.profile_keys = defaultdict(profile.create)
-        self.profile_keys_history = deque(maxlen=3600)
+        maxlen = dask.config.get("distributed.admin.low-level-log-length")
+        self.profile_keys_history = deque(maxlen=maxlen)
+        self.profile_history = deque(maxlen=maxlen)
         self.profile_recent = profile.create()
-        self.profile_history = deque(maxlen=3600)
 
         if validate is None:
             validate = dask.config.get("distributed.worker.validate")
 
-        self.transfer_incoming_log = deque(maxlen=100000)
-        self.transfer_outgoing_log = deque(maxlen=100000)
+        self.transfer_incoming_log = deque(maxlen=maxlen)
+        self.transfer_outgoing_log = deque(maxlen=maxlen)
         self.transfer_outgoing_count_total = 0
         self.transfer_outgoing_bytes_total = 0
         self.transfer_outgoing_bytes = 0
diff --git a/distributed/worker_state_machine.py b/distributed/worker_state_machine.py
index d1f86556fe..c25a52508e 100644
--- a/distributed/worker_state_machine.py
+++ b/distributed/worker_state_machine.py
@@ -1316,8 +1316,9 @@ def __init__(
         self.executed_count = 0
         self.long_running = set()
         self.transfer_message_bytes_limit = transfer_message_bytes_limit
-        self.log = deque(maxlen=100_000)
-        self.stimulus_log = deque(maxlen=10_000)
+        maxlen = dask.config.get("distributed.admin.low-level-log-length")
+        self.log = deque(maxlen=maxlen)
+        self.stimulus_log = deque(maxlen=maxlen)
         self.task_counter = TaskCounter()
         self.transition_counter = 0
         self.transition_counter_max = transition_counter_max