What Is a Collector Pipeline?
A collector pipeline is the configured path that telemetry takes within a collector: it enters through receivers, passes through ordered processors, and leaves through exporters. Each signal type can have its own pipeline. Assembling these stages lets a single collector ingest, transform, and route traces, metrics, and logs.
Why it matters
Sending raw telemetry straight to a backend offers no chance to batch, filter, or enrich it. A pipeline gives a central place to process signals consistently before they are stored.
Related guides
What Is an OpenTelemetry Receiver?A receiver is the pipeline stage that accepts incoming telemetry into a collector, supporting protocols by wh…
What Is an OpenTelemetry Processor?A processor is a pipeline stage that transforms telemetry inside a collector, doing work like batching, filte…
What Is an OpenTelemetry Exporter?An exporter is the pipeline stage that sends processed telemetry out of a collector to a destination backend,…