Dynatrace needs data to work. Before you can analyze performance, detect anomalies, trace requests, or trigger automation, your environment needs to send telemetry to Dynatrace. That process is ingestion: getting your data from wherever it originates into the platform.
This section covers every supported ingestion approach: which one fits your environment, how to set it up, and what happens to your data once it arrives.
Data doesn't go directly from your environment into dashboards: it passes through a processing layer that shapes how it lands in storage and becomes available for analysis and action. Ingestion is the first step in a sequence.
| Stage | What happens | Where to learn more |
|---|---|---|
Ingest | Data leaves your environment via agents, SDKs, or API integrations and arrives at Dynatrace | This section |
Process | OpenPipeline routes, filters, enriches, and transforms your data before it reaches storage | |
Store | Processed data lands in Dynatrace for querying, alerting, and analysis | Automatic: no configuration required to get started |
Analyze and act | Data becomes insights, alerts, dashboards, and automated responses | Dynatrace platform |
You don't need to configure every stage before you start. Default pipelines handle your data automatically once it's flowing. Configure OpenPipeline later, after ingestion is working, when you need to shape how your data lands.
Several factors determine the right data ingestion approach for your environment, including:
| Section | Best for |
|---|---|
Linux, Windows, AIX, Solaris, z/OS: physical or virtual machines you manage | |
Orchestrated containers on a K8s cluster, any cloud provider or self-managed | |
Docker on a host, Cloud Foundry, Heroku, Azure App Service: non-K8s containers and PaaS platforms | |
AWS serverless functions: monitored using the Dynatrace Lambda extension or OpenTelemetry | |
Azure serverless functions: monitored using OpenTelemetry SDKs | |
Azure managed services: Azure SQL, Blob Storage, and Azure Monitor metrics | |
GCP managed services: Cloud SQL, Cloud Storage, and GCP Operations metrics | |
Existing OTel instrumentation, or a preference for open-standard SDK-based instrumentation regardless of environment | |
Custom data sources, unsupported technologies, or direct API ingestion |
Some ingestion setups require connectivity infrastructure before data can flow, such as proxies, routing components, or network configuration for environments that can't reach Dynatrace directly. If a setup guide in this section tells you that you need an ActiveGate or specific network configuration, ActiveGate covers what to deploy and how.