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authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-27 11:08:07 +0000
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+<!--
+title: "Anonymous statistics"
+description: "The Netdata Agent collects anonymous usage information by default and sends it to Google Analytics for quality assurance and product decisions."
+custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/docs/anonymous-statistics.md
+-->
+
+# Anonymous statistics
+
+Starting with v1.12, Netdata collects anonymous usage information by default and sends it to Google Analytics. We use
+the statistics gathered from this information for two purposes:
+
+1. **Quality assurance**, to help us understand if Netdata behaves as expected, and to help us classify repeated
+ issues with certain distributions or environments.
+
+2. **Usage statistics**, to help us interpret how people use the Netdata agent in real-world environments, and to help
+ us identify how our development/design decisions influence the community.
+
+Netdata sends information to Google Analytics via two different channels:
+
+- Google Tag Manager fires when you access an agent's dashboard.
+- The Netdata daemon executes the [`anonymous-statistics.sh`
+ script](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/6469cf92724644f5facf343e4bdd76ac0551a418/daemon/anonymous-statistics.sh.in)
+ when Netdata starts, stops cleanly, or fails.
+
+You can opt-out from sending anonymous statistics to Netdata through three different [opt-out mechanisms](#opt-out).
+
+## Google tag manager
+
+Google tag manager (GTM) is the recommended way of collecting statistics for new implementations using GA. Unlike the
+older API, the logic of when to send information to GA and what information to send is controlled centrally.
+
+We have configured GTM to trigger the tag only when the variable `anonymous_statistics` is true. The value of this
+variable is controlled via the [opt-out mechanism](#opt-out).
+
+To ensure anonymity of the stored information, we have configured GTM's GA variable "Fields to set" as follows:
+
+| Field name | Value |
+| -------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
+| page | netdata-dashboard |
+| hostname | dashboard.my-netdata.io |
+| anonymizeIp | true |
+| title | Netdata dashboard |
+| campaignSource | {{machine_guid}} |
+| campaignMedium | web |
+| referrer | <http://dashboard.my-netdata.io> |
+| Page URL | <http://dashboard.my-netdata.io/netdata-dashboard> |
+| Page Hostname | <http://dashboard.my-netdata.io> |
+| Page Path | /netdata-dashboard |
+| location | <http://dashboard.my-netdata.io> |
+
+In addition, the Netdata-generated unique machine guid is sent to GA via a custom dimension.
+You can verify the effect of these settings by examining the GA `collect` request parameters.
+
+The only thing that's impossible for us to prevent from being **sent** is the URL in the "Referrer" Header of the
+browser request to GA. However, the settings above ensure that all **stored** URLs and host names are anonymized.
+
+## Anonymous Statistics Script
+
+Every time the daemon is started or stopped and every time a fatal condition is encountered, Netdata uses the anonymous
+statistics script to collect system information and send it to GA via an http call. The information collected for all
+events is:
+
+- Netdata version
+- OS name, version, id, id_like
+- Kernel name, version, architecture
+- Virtualization technology
+- Containerization technology
+
+Furthermore, the FATAL event sends the Netdata process & thread name, along with the source code function, source code
+filename and source code line number of the fatal error.
+
+Starting with v1.21, we additionally collect information about:
+
+- Failures to build the dependencies required to use Cloud features.
+- Unavailability of Cloud features in an agent.
+- Failures to connect to the Cloud in case the agent has been [claimed](/claim/README.md). This includes error codes
+ to inform the Netdata team about the reason why the connection failed.
+
+To see exactly what and how is collected, you can review the script template `daemon/anonymous-statistics.sh.in`. The
+template is converted to a bash script called `anonymous-statistics.sh`, installed under the Netdata `plugins
+directory`, which is usually `/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d`.
+
+## Opt-out
+
+You can opt-out from sending anonymous statistics to Netdata through three different opt-out mechanisms:
+
+**Create a file called `.opt-out-from-anonymous-statistics`.** This empty file, stored in your Netdata configuration
+directory (usually `/etc/netdata`), immediately stops the statistics script from running, and works with any type of
+installation, including manual, offline, and macOS installations. Create the file by running `touch
+.opt-out-from-anonymous-statistics` from your Netdata configuration directory.
+
+**Pass the option `--disable-telemetry` to any of the installer scripts in the [installation
+docs](/packaging/installer/README.md).** You can append this option during the initial installation or a manual
+update. You can also export the environment variable `DO_NOT_TRACK` with a non-zero or non-empty value
+(e.g: `export DO_NOT_TRACK=1`).
+
+When using Docker, **set your `DO_NOT_TRACK` environment variable to `1`.** You can set this variable with the following
+command: `export DO_NOT_TRACK=1`. When creating a container using Netdata's [Docker
+image](/packaging/docker/README.md#run-the-agent-with-the-docker-command) for the first time, this variable will disable
+the anonymous statistics script inside of the container.
+
+Each of these opt-out processes does the following:
+
+- Prevents the daemon from executing the anonymous statistics script.
+- Forces the anonymous statistics script to exit immediately.
+- Stops the Google Tag Manager Javascript snippet, which remains on the dashboard, from firing and sending any data to
+ Google Analytics.
+
+[![analytics](https://www.google-analytics.com/collect?v=1&aip=1&t=pageview&_s=1&ds=github&dr=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnetdata%2Fnetdata&dl=https%3A%2F%2Fmy-netdata.io%2Fgithub%2Fdocs%2Fanonymous-statistics&_u=MAC~&cid=5792dfd7-8dc4-476b-af31-da2fdb9f93d2&tid=UA-64295674-3)]()