A storage administrator logs into their NetApp BlueXP observability environment and wants to install an infrastructure data collector to begin…

In the NetApp BlueXP observability architecture, the Acquisition Unit is the fundamental component required for on-premises data collection. It is a virtual appliance or software package that must be installed and configured within the user's data center before any specific data collectors can be added. The Acquisition Unit acts as the platform that hosts and manages the individual data collectors (like those for ONTAP, VMware, or host agents). Therefore, deploying the Acquisition Unit is the mandatory first step to establish the data collection infrastructure.

A. Data Collector: This is a generic term. You cannot configure a specific data collector until the Acquisition Unit, the platform it runs on, is installed and operational.

B. Agent: An Agent is a type of data collector that runs on a host. Its installation is a secondary step that occurs after the primary Acquisition Unit is configured.

D. NetApp ONTAP SVM Data Collector: This is a specific data collector for ONTAP systems. It can only be configured and enabled on an already-deployed Acquisition Unit.

1. NetApp BlueXP observability documentation, "Data collection in BlueXP observability": This document outlines the architecture for data collection. It states, "To collect data from your on-premises resources, you must install one or more Acquisition Units in your data centers. The Acquisition Unit is a lightweight virtual machine that runs in your data center and collects the data from your resources." This establishes the Acquisition Unit as the primary on-premises component.

2. NetApp BlueXP observability documentation, "Install an Acquisition Unit": The installation workflow detailed in this section confirms that setting up the Acquisition Unit is the prerequisite step. The guide's first major section is titled "Install an Acquisition Unit," which precedes any instructions for configuring specific data collectors. It explicitly notes, "The first step in setting up data collection is to install an Acquisition Unit."