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For those who use Spiceworks remote collectors, you know that the remote collector does all scanning for devices on the remote network and reports the data back to the central server. The remote collector is also where you setup your scan ranges and credentials. The scheduling of scans is controlled by the central server.

I recently noticed that similar to the central server, you can visit http://remotecollectorip:port/scan and see the same options to re-scan a device / range, find more devices, or fix errors. I don’t there is a direct link to it, but you can get there. In addition to this, you can visit http://remotecollectorip:port/ inventory to see all devices that have been inventoried by the remote collector.

Here are my questions:

  1. In the inventory view on a remote collector, you can manually add devices, make edits to device settings and information, and even delete devices. If you delete or edit an inventoried device from the inventory view of the remote collector, does it sync back to the central server? I would think it would sync back since devices get scanned in from the remote collector side and sent back to the central server, but I wasn’t 100% certain if that would somehow throw off the sync. Think back to what happens when you manually change the name of a device in Spiceworks inventory only for its name to never be changed by a future scan.

  2. Once you scan a device using a remote collector, does it show up in the local remote collector’s inventory view before it gets sent to the central server’s inventory view or is it added for viewing only after the information has been sent to the central server? I feel like I have had instances where something would show in the central server’s inventory but not be seen from within the inventory of the remote collector and vice versa.

  3. If someone were giving a presentation at a Spicecorps about the ins and outs of remote collectors, what nerdy details would you want to know that you don’t now?

3 Spice ups
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Hi,

Here’s the way it is supposed to work. Once a site is on remote mode, it will stop storing any information locally. If you had information on your inventory prior to connecting the site to the central site, that information will remain there, but will not be updated. Any changes you make to those devices will not be sent to central site. If you want to edit a device going forward, you need to do it from the central site.

The biggest takeaway is that once the site is set up as a remote site, you shouldn’t be able to access the inventory on that site anymore as everything is pushed out to the central site. If you started out with a blank inventory page prior to connecting the sites, then that page should stay blank. If you had device there prior to connecting the sites, the devices will remain there, but will not be touched going forward.

One major tip to include in the presentation is how scan schedule are handled. Discovery scans (IP Ranges) are still set up on each remote site and need to be tweaked on the remote sites. Any schedule scans (the scans that update devices) are controlled from the Central Site.

1 Spice up
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The interesting thing is on these remote collectors, there was never an inventory before they were put into remote site mode.

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That’s interesting. Everything else still applies though, any changes made to the remote site’s inventory wont be sent over. Only scan results are sent over.

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I’m wondering if those inventory objects you can see locally are from removing a site from the central server and then adding it back again (which we have had to do here and there to solve some small problems). I assume it is safe to blow away everything in any specific remote collector’s inventory based on what you have said since it is not doing us any good.

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Yeah, that would make sense. Any time that site was left unattached can cause the Inventory to fill up. However, once it is connected again, it will stop looking or updating anything locally. You can delete them without causing any issues, or just leave them there. The inventory page on the remote collector isn’t easy to access, unless you have the direct link.