Hi willemdh,
the RedHat distro and operator integrates natively with the OpenShift security controls / context constraints and platform. It's a recommended choice to use it. The EDOT collector is supported on OpenShift but is not specialized to it.
For Central Ingest / Gateway the EDOT collector or an EDOT-like custom collector is recommended here. Just make sure you have all necessary components in the collector if you build your own.
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Is this hybrid model (in-cluster collectors + central gateway tier) considered a recommended / supported reference architecture by Elastic?
Yes. It's described in the Kubernetes reference architecture.
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Is EDOT intended to run in both layers, or primarily at the gateway tier?
You can run it on both layers.
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For OpenShift specifically, is Elastic Agent expected to replace the in-cluster OTel collectors over time, or should OTel Operator remain the preferred approach?
No. Only if you need a feature that is only provided by the Elastic Agent (e.g. Fleet Management).
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Are there any known limitations or support boundaries for this model (e.g. Fleet-managed collectors, SCC constraints, buffering expectations)?
If you run the RedHat distro in the OpenShift cluster and the EDOT Collector on the central ingest / gateway we would provide support for the ingest tier and thereafter.
I hope it helps you and provides the validation you are looking for.