# Overview

Let's get started with **Fluentd**! **Fluentd** is a fully free and fully open-source log collector that instantly enables you to have a '**Log Everything**' architecture with [125+ types of systems](https://www.fluentd.org/plugins).

![Fluentd Architecture](https://1982584918-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-LR7OsqPORtP86IQxs6E-694727794%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-2080cbf519d11ff536876a1e02ea0081f8c2fa35%2Ffluentd-architecture%20\(1\)%20\(2\)%20\(2\)%20\(2\).png?alt=media)

Fluentd treats logs as JSON, a popular machine-readable format. It is written primarily in C with a thin-Ruby wrapper that gives users flexibility.

Fluentd's scalability has been proven in the field: its largest user currently collects logs from **50,000+ servers**.

## Step 1: Installing Fluentd

You can install Fluentd as a package, Ruby gem, or from source.

Please see the following article for details.

* [Installation](https://docs.fluentd.org/installation)

## Step 2: Use Cases

The following articles cover the typical use cases of Fluentd:

* Use Cases
  * [Data Search like Splunk](https://docs.fluentd.org/how-to-guides/free-alternative-to-splunk-by-fluentd)
  * [Data Filtering and Alerting](https://docs.fluentd.org/how-to-guides/splunk-like-grep-and-alert-email)
  * [Data Analytics with Treasure Data](https://docs.fluentd.org/how-to-guides/http-to-td)
  * [Data Collection to MongoDB](https://docs.fluentd.org/how-to-guides/apache-to-mongodb)
  * [Data Collection to HDFS](https://docs.fluentd.org/how-to-guides/http-to-hdfs)
  * [Data Archiving to Amazon S3](https://docs.fluentd.org/how-to-guides/apache-to-s3)
* Basic Configuration
  * [Config File](https://docs.fluentd.org/configuration/config-file)
* Application Logs
  * [Ruby](https://docs.fluentd.org/language-bindings/ruby), [Java](https://docs.fluentd.org/language-bindings/java), [Python](https://docs.fluentd.org/language-bindings/python), [PHP](https://docs.fluentd.org/language-bindings/php),

    [Perl](https://docs.fluentd.org/language-bindings/perl), [Node.js](https://docs.fluentd.org/language-bindings/nodejs), [Scala](https://docs.fluentd.org/language-bindings/scala)
* Happy Users :)
  * [Users](https://www.fluentd.org/testimonials)

## Step 3: Learn More

The following articles will provide detailed information about Fluentd:

* [Architecture Overview](https://www.fluentd.org/architecture)
* [Lifecycle of a Fluentd Event](https://docs.fluentd.org/quickstart/life-of-a-fluentd-event)
* Plugin Overview
  * [Input Plugins](https://docs.fluentd.org/input)
  * [Output Plugins](https://docs.fluentd.org/output)
  * [Buffer Plugins](https://docs.fluentd.org/buffer)
  * [Filter Plugins](https://docs.fluentd.org/filter)
  * [Parser Plugins](https://docs.fluentd.org/parser)
  * [Formatter Plugins](https://docs.fluentd.org/formatter)
* [High Availability Configuration](https://docs.fluentd.org/deployment/high-availability)
* [FAQ](https://docs.fluentd.org/quickstart/faq)

If this article is incorrect or outdated, or omits critical information, please [let us know](https://github.com/fluent/fluentd-docs-gitbook/issues?state=open). [Fluentd](http://www.fluentd.org/) is an open-source project under [Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)](https://cncf.io/). All components are available under [the Apache License 2.0.](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)