...
The collector is essentially a full install of Open-AudIT in ‘collector’ mode. This mode would reduce visible functionality in an effort to simplify and focus the application. It is designed to collect information about networks. The collector is designed to run discovery upon the network it is situated in. It is not restricted to only that network, but ideally it would essentially be “one collector per subnet”. The collector is driven on a schedule by the server and runs discovery upon the network or ip address as specified. It can run all functions that a full Open-AudIT installation can run.
Detailed information on collectors can be found here - Open-AudIT agent, collector, server
Create a collector
A collector is created similarly to setting up a regular Open-AudIT server. Credentials would be created on the server for each collector. Upon login to Open-AudIT Enterprise on the collector, an option can be chosen to turn the server into a collector. The server ip along with the username and password is provided by the user. The collector registers itself with the server and changes the user interface to read only or hidden for various items. The server associates the user account with the collector’s ip address and only accepts requests using that account, from that address.
...