# How Netdata's metrics collectors work When Netdata starts, and with zero configuration, it auto-detects thousands of data sources and immediately collects 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). Every collector has two primary jobs: - Look for exposed metrics at a pre- or user-defined endpoint. - Gather exposed metrics and use additional logic to build meaningful, interactive visualizations. 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. 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 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 `/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. The endpoint is user-configurable, as are many other specifics of what a given collector does. ## What can Netdata collect? To quickly find your answer, see our [list of supported collectors](/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. 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`, 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, message brokers, APM tools, email servers, and much more. ## Collector architecture and terminology **Collector** is a catch-all term for any Netdata process that gathers metrics from an endpoint. While we use _collector_ most often in documentation, release notes, and educational content, you may encounter other 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 collection modules written in `go`. - [python.d.plugin](/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 `bash` v4+. - [node.d.plugin](/collectors/node.d.plugin/README.md): An orchestrator for data collection modules written in `node.js`. - **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. - **Internal plugins** gather metrics from `/proc`, `/sys`, and other Linux kernel sources. They are written in `C`, and run as threads within the Netdata daemon. ## What's next? [Enable or configure a collector](/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, troubleshooting a collector, developing a custom collector, and more. [](<>)