I am trying to understand if there is any significant difference between the two. While looking at the example, I have noticed that it uses exactly the same binary and args (https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector/blob/main/examples/demo/docker-compose.yaml). The only difference is the config files which have some difference in exporters/recivers. So the difference only is what endpoint is used to collect/send traces?
1 Answers
No, although the binary is same there is a difference in terms of deployment. The agent is collector instance running on the same host as application that emits the telemetry data. Agent then forwards this data to a Gateway (One or more instances of collectors which receive data from multiple agents). And then data is send to configured backends (Jaeger, Zipkin, Private vendors etc...)
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