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Diffstat (limited to 'docs/collect/how-collectors-work.md')
| -rw-r--r-- | docs/collect/how-collectors-work.md | 34 |
1 files changed, 19 insertions, 15 deletions
diff --git a/docs/collect/how-collectors-work.md b/docs/collect/how-collectors-work.md index 07e34858f..382d4ccc6 100644 --- a/docs/collect/how-collectors-work.md +++ b/docs/collect/how-collectors-work.md @@ -1,7 +1,11 @@ <!-- title: "How Netdata's metrics collectors work" description: "When Netdata starts, and with zero configuration, it auto-detects thousands of data sources and immediately collects per-second metrics." -custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/docs/collect/how-collectors-work.md +custom_edit_url: "https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/docs/collect/how-collectors-work.md" +sidebar_label: "How Netdata's metrics collectors work" +learn_status: "Published" +learn_topic_type: "Concepts" +learn_rel_path: "Concepts" --> # How Netdata's metrics collectors work @@ -10,7 +14,7 @@ When Netdata starts, and with zero configuration, it auto-detects thousands of d per-second metrics. Netdata can immediately collect metrics from these endpoints thanks to 300+ **collectors**, which all come pre-installed -when you [install Netdata](/docs/get-started.mdx). +when you [install Netdata](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/get-started.mdx). Every collector has two primary jobs: @@ -19,15 +23,15 @@ Every collector has two primary jobs: If the collector finds compatible metrics exposed on the configured endpoint, it begins a per-second collection job. The Netdata Agent gathers these metrics, sends them to the [database engine for -storage](/docs/store/change-metrics-storage.md), and immediately [visualizes them -meaningfully](/docs/visualize/interact-dashboards-charts.md) on dashboards. +storage](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/store/change-metrics-storage.md), and immediately [visualizes them +meaningfully](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/visualize/interact-dashboards-charts.md) on dashboards. Each collector comes with a pre-defined configuration that matches the default setup for that application. This endpoint can be a URL and port, a socket, a file, a web page, and more. -For example, the [Nginx collector](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/agent/collectors/go.d.plugin/modules/nginx) searches +For example, the [Nginx collector](https://github.com/netdata/go.d.plugin/blob/master/modules/nginx/README.md) searches at `http://127.0.0.1/stub_status`, which is the default endpoint for exposing Nginx metrics. The [web log collector for -Nginx or Apache](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/agent/collectors/go.d.plugin/modules/weblog) searches at +Nginx or Apache](https://github.com/netdata/go.d.plugin/blob/master/README.mdmodules/weblog) searches at `/var/log/nginx/access.log` and `/var/log/apache2/access.log`, respectively, both of which are standard locations for access log files on Linux systems. @@ -35,15 +39,15 @@ The endpoint is user-configurable, as are many other specifics of what a given c ## What can Netdata collect? -To quickly find your answer, see our [list of supported collectors](/collectors/COLLECTORS.md). +To quickly find your answer, see our [list of supported collectors](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/collectors/COLLECTORS.md). Generally, Netdata's collectors can be grouped into three types: -- [Systems](/docs/collect/system-metrics.md): Monitor CPU, memory, disk, networking, systemd, eBPF, and much more. +- [Systems](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/collect/system-metrics.md): Monitor CPU, memory, disk, networking, systemd, eBPF, and much more. Every metric exposed by `/proc`, `/sys`, and other Linux kernel sources. -- [Containers](/docs/collect/container-metrics.md): Gather metrics from container agents, like `dockerd` or `kubectl`, +- [Containers](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/collect/container-metrics.md): Gather metrics from container agents, like `dockerd` or `kubectl`, along with the resource usage of containers and the applications they run. -- [Applications](/docs/collect/application-metrics.md): Collect per-second metrics from web servers, databases, logs, +- [Applications](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/collect/application-metrics.md): Collect per-second metrics from web servers, databases, logs, message brokers, APM tools, email servers, and much more. ## Collector architecture and terminology @@ -56,11 +60,11 @@ terms related to collecting metrics. - **Modules** are a type of collector. - **Orchestrators** are external plugins that run and manage one or more modules. They run as independent processes. The Go orchestrator is in active development. - - [go.d.plugin](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/agent/collectors/go.d.plugin/): An orchestrator for data + - [go.d.plugin](https://github.com/netdata/go.d.plugin/blob/master/README.md): An orchestrator for data collection modules written in `go`. - - [python.d.plugin](/collectors/python.d.plugin/README.md): An orchestrator for data collection modules written in + - [python.d.plugin](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/collectors/python.d.plugin/README.md): An orchestrator for data collection modules written in `python` v2/v3. - - [charts.d.plugin](/collectors/charts.d.plugin/README.md): An orchestrator for data collection modules written in + - [charts.d.plugin](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/collectors/charts.d.plugin/README.md): An orchestrator for data collection modules written in `bash` v4+. - **External plugins** gather metrics from external processes, such as a webserver or database, and run as independent processes that communicate with the Netdata daemon via pipes. @@ -69,10 +73,10 @@ terms related to collecting metrics. ## What's next? -[Enable or configure a collector](/docs/collect/enable-configure.md) if the default settings are not compatible with +[Enable or configure a collector](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/docs/collect/enable-configure.md) if the default settings are not compatible with your infrastructure. -See our [collectors reference](/collectors/REFERENCE.md) for detailed information on Netdata's collector architecture, +See our [collectors reference](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/collectors/REFERENCE.md) for detailed information on Netdata's collector architecture, troubleshooting a collector, developing a custom collector, and more. |