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OpenTelemetry collector: What it is, when you need it, and when you don't
A practical, no-fluff guide to understanding the OpenTelemetry Collector - what it does, how it works, real architecture patterns (with and without it), and how to decide if/when you should deploy one for performance, control, security, and cost efficiency.
Clean the data (remove sensitive fields, add context) Batch sends and retry automatically when exports fail Sample smartly (keep errors & rare slow traces, trim noisy success traffic) Smooth out differences between frameworks / SDK versions Route traces, metrics, and logs to different backends Act as a safety barrier between app nodes and the public internet Cut cost early by dropping low‑value or redundant telemetry Each service handles retries, auth, backpressure Hard to change exporters later (coupling) No central sampling / scrubbing / routing Higher risk of SDK or network misconfig hurting reliability Increased egress cost if sending duplicate data to multiple vendors )ProcessorsTransform / batch / sample / tail filter / memory limitExportersSend to destinations (OTLP, Kafka, S3, logging, load balancers)ExtensionsAuth, health check, zpages, pprof, headers, feature add-onsPipelinesDeclarative graphs binding receiver → processors → exporter
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