diff --git a/notification/notification.go b/notification/notification.go
index bad3fa8f2..21c513d88 100644
--- a/notification/notification.go
+++ b/notification/notification.go
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ package notification
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
-	"flag"
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/http"
@@ -42,10 +41,6 @@ const (
 	subsystem = "notifications"
 )
 
-var (
-	deadline = flag.Duration("alertmanager.http-deadline", 10*time.Second, "Alert manager HTTP API timeout.")
-)
-
 // NotificationReq is a request for sending a notification to the alert manager
 // for a single alert vector element.
 type NotificationReq struct {
@@ -93,13 +88,20 @@ type NotificationHandler struct {
 	stopped chan struct{}
 }
 
+// NotificationHandlerOptions are the configurable parameters of a NotificationHandler.
+type NotificationHandlerOptions struct {
+	AlertmanagerURL string
+	QueueCapacity   int
+	Deadline        time.Duration
+}
+
 // NewNotificationHandler constructs a new NotificationHandler.
-func NewNotificationHandler(alertmanagerURL string, notificationQueueCapacity int) *NotificationHandler {
+func NewNotificationHandler(o *NotificationHandlerOptions) *NotificationHandler {
 	return &NotificationHandler{
-		alertmanagerURL:      strings.TrimRight(alertmanagerURL, "/"),
-		pendingNotifications: make(chan NotificationReqs, notificationQueueCapacity),
+		alertmanagerURL:      strings.TrimRight(o.AlertmanagerURL, "/"),
+		pendingNotifications: make(chan NotificationReqs, o.QueueCapacity),
 
-		httpClient: httputil.NewDeadlineClient(*deadline),
+		httpClient: httputil.NewDeadlineClient(o.Deadline),
 
 		notificationLatency: prometheus.NewSummary(prometheus.SummaryOpts{
 			Namespace: namespace,
@@ -132,7 +134,7 @@ func NewNotificationHandler(alertmanagerURL string, notificationQueueCapacity in
 				nil, nil,
 			),
 			prometheus.GaugeValue,
-			float64(notificationQueueCapacity),
+			float64(o.QueueCapacity),
 		),
 		stopped: make(chan struct{}),
 	}
diff --git a/notification/notification_test.go b/notification/notification_test.go
index b13038729..f188c806d 100644
--- a/notification/notification_test.go
+++ b/notification/notification_test.go
@@ -46,7 +46,11 @@ type testNotificationScenario struct {
 }
 
 func (s *testNotificationScenario) test(i int, t *testing.T) {
-	h := NewNotificationHandler("alertmanager_url", 0)
+	h := NewNotificationHandler(&NotificationHandlerOptions{
+		AlertmanagerURL: "alertmanager_url",
+		QueueCapacity:   0,
+		Deadline:        10 * time.Second,
+	})
 	defer h.Stop()
 
 	receivedPost := make(chan bool, 1)