The Auvik collector is responsible for discovering devices, monitoring network activity, collecting configuration backups, gathering performance statistics, and maintaining topology information for your network. The collector securely sends this information to the Auvik cloud over an encrypted connection.
If a collector is powered down, loses connectivity to the Auvik cloud, or is rejected from the Auvik dashboard, Auvik can no longer collect new information from the networks assigned to that collector.
What Happens When a Collector Disconnects?
When a collector disconnects:
- Discovery scans stop running.
- Device status information is no longer updated.
- Performance metrics stop being collected.
- Configuration backups stop running.
- Syslog, TrafficInsights, NetFlow, sFlow, and other collector-based services stop receiving new data.
- Newly added devices are not discovered.
Information already collected by Auvik remains visible in the dashboard, but it represents the last known state of the network.
For example, if a switch was online when the collector disconnected, it may continue to appear online until the collector reconnects and updates its status.
What Happens When the Collector Reconnects?
Once the collector is powered on, reapproved, or regains connectivity:
- Discovery resumes automatically.
- Device status is refreshed.
- Monitoring data collection resumes.
- Configuration backups continue according to their normal schedule.
- Network maps and inventory information are updated.
- Newly discovered devices and changes are synchronized with the Auvik cloud.
No manual rescan is typically required. The collector automatically resumes normal operation after reconnecting.
What If I Have Multiple Collectors?
In environments with multiple collectors, a collector disconnect does not always result in a loss of monitoring.
Depending on how collectors are assigned:
- A standby collector may automatically take over monitoring responsibilities.
- Networks configured for automatic collector selection may be reassigned to another available collector that can communicate with the affected subnet.
- If no alternate collector has access to the network, monitoring for that network stops until the original collector reconnects.
For business-critical environments, consider deploying secondary or standby collectors to provide redundancy and minimize monitoring interruptions.
When Should a Collector Be Powered Down or Rejected?
Collectors should generally remain running at all times to ensure continuous monitoring and data collection.
Common reasons to intentionally power down or reject a collector include:
- Migrating the collector to new hardware or a new virtual machine
- Replacing a collector with a newer deployment
- Removing an unused collector from a site
- Reconfiguring collector assignments in a multi-collector environment
- Troubleshooting collector-related issues with guidance from Auvik Support
Before decommissioning a collector, verify that another collector is available to monitor any required networks.
Monitoring Collector Health
Auvik includes a built-in Collector Disconnected alert that can notify you when a collector loses connectivity to the Auvik cloud.
If you receive this alert:
- Verify that the collector host is powered on.
- Confirm network connectivity and Internet access.
- Check DNS, proxy, and firewall settings.
- Verify that the collector can communicate with the Auvik cloud.
- Review the collector status in Auvik Collectors.
For troubleshooting assistance, see Troubleshooting the Auvik Collector.
Best Practices
To ensure reliable monitoring:
- Deploy collectors on stable infrastructure.
- Use a static IP address or DHCP reservation.
- Protect collector hosts with UPS-backed power where possible.
- Maintain supported operating systems and collector versions.
- Consider deploying standby collectors for critical environments.
- Monitor and respond to collector disconnect alerts promptly.
Following these practices helps ensure continuous discovery, monitoring, and alerting across your managed networks.