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# Collecting metrics
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](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/packaging/installer/README.md).
All collectors are **installed by default** with every installation of Netdata. You do not need to install
collectors manually to collect metrics from new sources. See our
[list of supported collectors](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/collectors/COLLECTORS.md).
Upon startup, Netdata will **auto-detect** any application or service that has a collector, as long as both the collector
and the app/service are configured correctly. If you don't see charts for your application, see
our [collectors' configuration reference](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/collectors/REFERENCE.md).
## How Netdata's metrics collectors work
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](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. The endpoint is user-configurable, as are many other
specifics of what a given collector does.
## Collector architecture and terminology
- **Collectors** are the processes/programs that actually gather metrics from various sources.
- **Plugins** help manage all the independent data collection processes in a variety of programming languages, based on
their purpose and performance requirements. There are three types of plugins:
- **Internal** plugins organize collectors that gather metrics from `/proc`, `/sys` and other Linux kernel sources.
They are written in `C`, and run as threads within the Netdata daemon.
- **External** plugins organize collectors that gather metrics from external processes, such as a MySQL database or
Nginx web server. They can be written in any language, and the `netdata` daemon spawns them as long-running
independent processes. They communicate with the daemon via pipes. All external plugins are managed by
[plugins.d](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/collectors/plugins.d/README.md), which provides additional management options.
- **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://github.com/netdata/go.d.plugin/blob/master/README.md): An orchestrator for data
collection modules written in `go`.
- [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](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/collectors/charts.d.plugin/README.md):
An orchestrator for data collection modules written in`bash` v4+.
- **Modules** are the individual programs controlled by an orchestrator to collect data from a specific application, or type of endpoint.
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