embodiments of a classification pipeline disclosed herein have the ability to both collect data as it occurs and dynamically redact it , allowing ongoing statistics to be gathered and maintained while simultaneously constraining the total amount of storage capacity that must be dedicated to such a purpose . various types of information can be extracted from or obtained on the object through the classification pipeline . in one embodiment , the classification pipeline comprises a plurality of layers implemented as a set of services available to network clients through a web interface or an applications programming interface . each client can subscribe to one or more layers of the classification pipeline at their leisure and tailor their classification pipeline configuration through the interface . the classification pipeline can be configured to collaborate with other software to provide a consistent snapshot of the state of a network environment based on data collected at the time .