diff --git a/retrieval/target.go b/retrieval/target.go
index 3fc758a00..6cdfedf07 100644
--- a/retrieval/target.go
+++ b/retrieval/target.go
@@ -126,6 +126,9 @@ type Target interface {
 	GlobalURL() string
 	// Return the target's base labels.
 	BaseLabels() clientmodel.LabelSet
+	// Return the target's base labels without job and instance label. That's
+	// useful for display purposes.
+	BaseLabelsWithoutJobAndInstance() clientmodel.LabelSet
 	// SetBaseLabelsFrom queues a replacement of the current base labels by
 	// the labels of the given target. The method returns immediately after
 	// queuing. The actual replacement of the base labels happens
@@ -183,11 +186,10 @@ func NewTarget(url string, deadline time.Duration, baseLabels clientmodel.LabelS
 		scraperStopped:  make(chan struct{}),
 		newBaseLabels:   make(chan clientmodel.LabelSet, 1),
 	}
-	labels := clientmodel.LabelSet{InstanceLabel: clientmodel.LabelValue(t.InstanceIdentifier())}
+	t.baseLabels = clientmodel.LabelSet{InstanceLabel: clientmodel.LabelValue(t.InstanceIdentifier())}
 	for baseLabel, baseValue := range baseLabels {
-		labels[baseLabel] = baseValue
+		t.baseLabels[baseLabel] = baseValue
 	}
-	t.baseLabels = labels
 	return t
 }
 
@@ -409,6 +411,17 @@ func (t *target) BaseLabels() clientmodel.LabelSet {
 	return t.baseLabels
 }
 
+// BaseLabelsWithoutJobAndInstance implements Target.
+func (t *target) BaseLabelsWithoutJobAndInstance() clientmodel.LabelSet {
+	ls := clientmodel.LabelSet{}
+	for ln, lv := range t.BaseLabels() {
+		if ln != clientmodel.JobLabel && ln != InstanceLabel {
+			ls[ln] = lv
+		}
+	}
+	return ls
+}
+
 // SetBaseLabelsFrom implements Target.
 func (t *target) SetBaseLabelsFrom(newTarget Target) {
 	if t.URL() != newTarget.URL() {
diff --git a/retrieval/target_test.go b/retrieval/target_test.go
index 5b96b4cc3..427f63036 100644
--- a/retrieval/target_test.go
+++ b/retrieval/target_test.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
+	"reflect"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -26,6 +27,21 @@ import (
 	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/utility"
 )
 
+func TestBaseLabels(t *testing.T) {
+	target := NewTarget("http://example.com/metrics", 0, clientmodel.LabelSet{"job": "some_job", "foo": "bar"})
+	want := clientmodel.LabelSet{"job": "some_job", "foo": "bar", "instance": "example.com:80"}
+	got := target.BaseLabels()
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(want, got) {
+		t.Errorf("want base labels %v, got %v", want, got)
+	}
+	delete(want, "job")
+	delete(want, "instance")
+	got = target.BaseLabelsWithoutJobAndInstance()
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(want, got) {
+		t.Errorf("want base labels %v, got %v", want, got)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestTargetHidesURLAuth(t *testing.T) {
 	testVectors := []string{"http://secret:data@host.com/query?args#fragment", "https://example.net/foo", "http://foo.com:31337/bar"}
 	testResults := []string{"host.com:80", "example.net:443", "foo.com:31337"}
diff --git a/retrieval/targetmanager_test.go b/retrieval/targetmanager_test.go
index 683386f8c..981fa3a3b 100644
--- a/retrieval/targetmanager_test.go
+++ b/retrieval/targetmanager_test.go
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ func (t fakeTarget) BaseLabels() clientmodel.LabelSet {
 	return clientmodel.LabelSet{}
 }
 
+func (t fakeTarget) BaseLabelsWithoutJobAndInstance() clientmodel.LabelSet {
+	return clientmodel.LabelSet{}
+}
+
 func (t fakeTarget) Interval() time.Duration {
 	return t.interval
 }
diff --git a/web/api/api.go b/web/api/api.go
index 4599edf07..90bb06627 100644
--- a/web/api/api.go
+++ b/web/api/api.go
@@ -49,7 +49,4 @@ func (msrv *MetricsService) RegisterHandler() {
 	http.Handle("/api/metrics", prometheus.InstrumentHandler(
 		"/api/metrics", handler(msrv.Metrics),
 	))
-	http.Handle("/api/targets", prometheus.InstrumentHandler(
-		"/api/targets", handler(msrv.SetTargets),
-	))
 }
diff --git a/web/api/targets.go b/web/api/targets.go
deleted file mode 100644
index d864fe405..000000000
--- a/web/api/targets.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,72 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2013 The Prometheus Authors
-// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-// You may obtain a copy of the License at
-//
-// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-//
-// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-// limitations under the License.
-
-package api
-
-import (
-	"encoding/json"
-	"net/http"
-
-	clientmodel "github.com/prometheus/client_golang/model"
-
-	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/retrieval"
-	"github.com/prometheus/prometheus/web/httputils"
-)
-
-// TargetGroup bundles endpoints and base labels with appropriate JSON
-// annotations.
-type TargetGroup struct {
-	Endpoints  []string          `json:"endpoints"`
-	BaseLabels map[string]string `json:"baseLabels"`
-}
-
-// SetTargets handles the /api/targets endpoint.
-func (serv MetricsService) SetTargets(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
-	params := httputils.GetQueryParams(r)
-	jobName := params.Get("job")
-
-	decoder := json.NewDecoder(r.Body)
-	var targetGroups []TargetGroup
-	err := decoder.Decode(&targetGroups)
-	if err != nil {
-		http.Error(w, err.Error(), http.StatusBadRequest)
-		return
-	}
-
-	job := serv.Config.GetJobByName(jobName)
-	if job == nil {
-		http.Error(w, "job not found", http.StatusNotFound)
-		return
-	}
-
-	newTargets := []retrieval.Target{}
-
-	for _, targetGroup := range targetGroups {
-		// Do mandatory map type conversion due to Go shortcomings.
-		baseLabels := clientmodel.LabelSet{
-			clientmodel.JobLabel: clientmodel.LabelValue(job.GetName()),
-		}
-		for label, value := range targetGroup.BaseLabels {
-			baseLabels[clientmodel.LabelName(label)] = clientmodel.LabelValue(value)
-		}
-
-		for _, endpoint := range targetGroup.Endpoints {
-			newTarget := retrieval.NewTarget(endpoint, job.ScrapeTimeout(), baseLabels)
-			newTargets = append(newTargets, newTarget)
-		}
-	}
-
-	// BUG(julius): Validate that this ScrapeInterval is in fact the proper one
-	// for the job.
-	serv.TargetManager.ReplaceTargets(*job, newTargets)
-}
diff --git a/web/status.go b/web/status.go
index a0175fa89..af82d52ec 100644
--- a/web/status.go
+++ b/web/status.go
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ type PrometheusStatusHandler struct {
 	Birth time.Time
 }
 
+// TargetStateToClass returns a map of TargetState to the name of a Bootstrap CSS class.
 func (h *PrometheusStatusHandler) TargetStateToClass() map[retrieval.TargetState]string {
 	return map[retrieval.TargetState]string{
 		retrieval.Unknown:   "warning",
diff --git a/web/templates/status.html b/web/templates/status.html
index cf3586d7d..91332c601 100644
--- a/web/templates/status.html
+++ b/web/templates/status.html
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
                 </span>
               </td>
               <td>
-                {{.BaseLabels}}
+                {{.BaseLabelsWithoutJobAndInstance}}
               </td>
               <td>
                 {{if .LastScrape.IsZero}}Never{{else}}{{since .LastScrape}} ago{{end}}