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Setting up a Collector

Alexander Dean edited this page Jul 29, 2013 · 12 revisions

HOME > SNOWPLOW SETUP GUIDE > Step 1: setup a Collector

The Snowplow collector receives data from Snowplow trackers and logs that data to S3 for storage and further processing. Setting up a collector is the first step in the Snowplow setup process.

  1. Choose a Collector
  2. Setup a Collector
## 1. Choose a Collector

There are currently three collectors available:

Collector Description Status
[Cloudfront Collector] cloudfront-collector A simple, robust and scalable collector powered by AWS Cloudfront Production-ready
[Clojure Collector] clojure-collector A Clojure-based collector that enables user tracking across domains. Powered by Amazon Elastic Beanstalk Production-ready
[SnowCannon (node.js)] snowcannon A real-time, node.js based collector that enables user tracking across domains Unsupported

Are you setting up Snowplow to track users across a single domain, or multiple domains?

If you are tracking users across a single domain, we recommend setting up the [Cloudfront collector] cloudfront-collector.

If you are tracking users across multiple domains, we recommending setting up the [Clojure collector] clojure-collector. This sets user_ids server side, so you can reliably track user journeys across multiple domains. (In contrast, the [Cloudfront collector] cloudfront-collector sets them client side, so users get assigned different user_ids on different domains.)

Like the [Clojure Collector] clojure-collector, SnowCannon snowcannon supports user tracking across multiple domains. It also generates logs in real-time. Currently, however, the log file format is not supported by the EmrEtlRunner emretlrunner, making integrating SnowCannon snowcannon with our Enrichment phase currently impossible.

## 2. Setup your Collector
  1. [Setup the Cloudfront Collector now!] cloudfront-collector
  2. [Setup the Clojure Collector now!] clojure-collector
  3. [Setup SnowCannon now!] snowcannon (not recommended)

Setup your collector? Then proceed to [step 2: setup a tracker] tracker-setup.

[Return to the setup guide] setup-guide.

HOME > SNOWPLOW SETUP GUIDE > Step 1: Setup a Collector

Setup Snowplow

  • [Step 1: Setup a Collector] (setting-up-a-collector)
  • [Step 2: Setup a Tracker] (setting-up-a-tracker)
  • [Step 3: Setup EmrEtlRunner] (setting-up-EmrEtlRunner)
  • [Step 4: Setup alternative data stores] (setting-up-alternative-data-stores)
  • [Step 5: Analyze your data!] (Getting started analyzing Snowplow data)

Useful resources

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