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

# Architecture

> Architecture of ClickHouse Observability — Self-managed

> [!NOTE]
>
> This page covers **self-managed ClickHouse Observability**. For the recommended fully managed experience, see the documentation [here](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/observability/architecture.md).

ClickHouse Observability — Self-managed runs entirely within **ClickHouse Cloud**, providing a fully managed observability backend while preserving the same ClickStack data model and user experience.

In this model, **ClickHouse and the ClickStack UI** are hosted, operated, and secured by ClickHouse Cloud. Users are responsible only for running an **OpenTelemetry (OTel) collector** to send telemetry data into the managed service.

![Self-managed OpenTelemetry collector sending telemetry to ClickHouse and ClickStack UI hosted in ClickHouse Cloud](https://mintcdn.com/private-7c7dfe99/RGhcmZvoJO57c5Gc/images/use-cases/observability/clickstack-self-managed-architecture.svg?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=RGhcmZvoJO57c5Gc\&q=85\&s=b3d2198352d1e799280d2d7ba1202376)

### ClickHouse Cloud: the engine

At the heart of ClickHouse Observability — Self-managed is ClickHouse Cloud, a serverless version of ClickHouse - a column-oriented database designed for real-time analytics at scale. It powers the ingestion and querying of observability data, enabling:

* Sub-second search across terabytes of events
* Ingestion of billions of high-cardinality records per day
* High compression rates of at least 10x on observability data
* Native support for semi-structured JSON data, allowing dynamic schema evolution
* A powerful SQL engine with hundreds of built-in analytical functions

ClickHouse Cloud handles observability data as wide events, allowing for deep correlation across logs, metrics, and traces in a single unified structure.

In addition to ClickHouse Open Source, it provides a number of benefits for observability:

* Automatic scaling of compute independent of storage
* Low-cost and effectively unlimited retention based on object storage
* The ability to [independently isolate read and write workloads](https://clickhouse.com/docs/clickstack/self-configured/managing/isolating-read-write.md) with Warehouses.
* Integrated authentication
* Automated backups
* Security and compliance features
* Seamless upgrades

### OpenTelemetry collector: data ingestion

ClickHouse Observability — Self-managed includes a pre-configured OpenTelemetry (OTel) collector to ingest telemetry in an open, standardized way. You can send data using the OTLP protocol via:

* gRPC (port `4317`)
* HTTP (port `4318`)

The collector exports telemetry to ClickHouse Cloud in efficient batches. It supports optimized table schemas per data source, ensuring scalable performance across all signal types.

**This component of the architecture is managed by the user**

### ClickStack UI: the interface

ClickStack UI is the user interface for ClickStack. It offers:

* Natural language and Lucene-style search
* Live tailing for real-time debugging
* Unified views of logs, metrics, and traces
* Session replay for frontend observability
* Dashboard creation and alert configuration
* SQL query interface for advanced analysis

Designed specifically for ClickHouse, ClickStack UI combines powerful search with intuitive workflows, enabling you to spot anomalies, investigate issues, and gain insights fast.

In ClickHouse Observability — Self-managed, the UI is integrated into the ClickHouse Cloud console authentication system.