> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.chronosphere.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Ingest telemetry data

Before you can use Chronosphere Observability Platform to view and manage your
telemetry data (of whatever type), you need to get that data into Observability
Platform.

```mermaid actions={false} theme={null}
flowchart LR
  accTitle: Chronosphere Observability Platform architecture diagram
  accDescr: Architecture diagram that shows the flow of data from a customer's environment into the Control Plane in the Chronosphere Observability Platform, and then out to third party incident management and alerting software.
  subgraph "Chronosphere"
    cp((Chronosphere<br>Observability Platform))
  end
  subgraph "Your environment"
    inf(Infrastructure<br>applications) -- Metrics and<br>traces --> coll(Chronosphere<br>Collector)
    inf -- Logs and<br>change events --> cp
    inf -- Logs --> pipe(Chronosphere<br>Telemetry Pipeline<br>or existing pipeline)
    inf -- Logs, metrics,<br>and traces --> otel(OpenTelemetry<br>Collector)
    pipe --> cp
    coll --> cp
    otel --> cp
  end

  click coll "/ingest/metrics-traces/collector"
  click pipe "/ingest/pipeline/v2"
  click otel "/ingest/otel-ingestion"

  classDef platform fill:#2fbf71,stroke-width:2px,stroke:#2fbf71,color:#FFFFFF;
  class cp,coll,pipe,otel platform
```

## Supported ingestion methods

Observability Platform supports multiple methods to ingest telemetry data, which
depend on which type of data you want to ingest:

| Ingestion method                                           |                Change events               |                    Logs                    |                   Metrics                  |                   Traces                   |
| ---------------------------------------------------------- | :----------------------------------------: | :----------------------------------------: | :----------------------------------------: | :----------------------------------------: |
| [Chronosphere Collector](/ingest/metrics-traces/collector) |       <Icon icon="ban" color="red" />      |       <Icon icon="ban" color="red" />      | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> |
| [OpenTelemetry](/ingest/otel-ingestion)                    |       <Icon icon="ban" color="red" />      | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> |
| [Telemetry Pipeline](/ingest/pipeline/v2)                  |       <Icon icon="ban" color="red" />      | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> |       <Icon icon="ban" color="red" />      |       <Icon icon="ban" color="red" />      |
| [Existing pipeline](/ingest/logs)                          |       <Icon icon="ban" color="red" />      | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> |       <Icon icon="ban" color="red" />      |       <Icon icon="ban" color="red" />      |
| [Direct to Observability Platform](/ingest/third-party)    | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> |       <Icon icon="ban" color="red" />      |       <Icon icon="ban" color="red" />      |

After ingesting telemetry data, you can use the control mechanisms that Observability
Platform provides to [control costs](/control) and ensure you're ingesting only the
data you care about.

### OpenTelemetry support

For more information about using OpenTelemetry to ingest logs, metrics, and traces,
see [OpenTelemetry support in Observability Platform](/ingest/otel-ingestion).

## Ingestion models

Chronosphere utilizes *push* and *pull* models of ingestion, depending on the data
collected and the method of ingestion.

| Telemetry type |                    Push                    |                    Pull                    |
| -------------- | :----------------------------------------: | :----------------------------------------: |
| Metrics        | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> |
| Traces         | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> |       <Icon icon="ban" color="red" />      |
| Logs           | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> | <Icon icon="circle-check" color="green" /> |

*Pull* models, like the Chronosphere Collector, scrape telemetry data from external
sources and pull it in. These metrics have consistent reporting intervals.

*Push* models, like tracing, send telemetry data to Chronosphere, which is then
processed. These metrics can have a broad spectrum of reporting frequency, from large
bursts of data to long periods with no data reporting.

The ingestion model depends on the telemetry data source. Metrics pushed to
Observability Platform can have [latency delays](/ingest/metrics-traces/gcp#metrics-availability)
or [sparse time series](/investigate/querying/metrics/troubleshooting#sparse-time-series),
which can result in unexpected query results.