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+<!--
+title: "Collecting metrics"
+custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/collectors/README.md
+id: "collectors-ref"
+-->
+
+# Collecting metrics
+
+Netdata can collect metrics from hundreds of different sources, be they internal data created by the system itself, or
+external data created by services or applications. To see _all_ of the sources Netdata collects from, view our [list of
+supported collectors](/collectors/COLLECTORS.md).
+
+There are two essential points to understand about how collecting metrics works in Netdata:
+
+-   All collectors are **installed by default** with every installation of Netdata. You do not need to install
+    collectors manually to collect metrics from new sources.
+-   Upon startup, Netdata will **auto-detect** any application or service that has a
+    [collector](/collectors/COLLECTORS.md), as long as both the collector and the app/service are configured correctly.
+
+Most users will want to enable a new Netdata collector for their app/service. For those details, see
+our [collectors' configuration reference](/collectors/REFERENCE.md).
+
+## Take your next steps with collectors
+
+[Supported collectors list](/collectors/COLLECTORS.md)
+
+[Collectors configuration reference](/collectors/REFERENCE.md)
+
+## Guides
+
+[Monitor Nginx or Apache web server log files with Netdata](/docs/guides/collect-apache-nginx-web-logs.md)
+
+[Monitor CockroachDB metrics with Netdata](/docs/guides/monitor-cockroachdb.md)
+
+[Monitor Unbound DNS servers with Netdata](/docs/guides/collect-unbound-metrics.md)
+
+[Monitor a Hadoop cluster with Netdata](/docs/guides/monitor-hadoop-cluster.md)
+
+## Related features
+
+**[Dashboards](/web/README.md)**: Visualize your newly-collect metrics in real-time using Netdata's [built-in
+dashboard](/web/gui/README.md). 
+
+**[Exporting](/exporting/README.md)**: Extend our built-in [database engine](/database/engine/README.md), which supports
+long-term metrics storage, by archiving metrics to external databases like Graphite, Prometheus, MongoDB, TimescaleDB, and more.
+It can export metrics to multiple databases simultaneously.
+
+