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Install the collector

MeterBeam Docs · Updated September 2026

The collector (also called the agent, or generically a DCA) is the small service that lives on each site's network, discovers printers, polls them over SNMP, and reports to MeterBeam. One collector per site. It's outbound-only: nothing needs to be opened inbound on the customer's firewall.

Requirements

Host	Any always-on machine on the same LAN as the printers. Windows 10/11 or Windows Server 2016+, or a 64-bit Linux box. A workstation that sleeps at night is a bad choice — the site will show as offline every evening.
Footprint	Single executable, ~7 MB, negligible CPU. Runs as a service (LocalSystem on Windows).
Outbound network	HTTPS (TCP 443) to app.meterbeam.com. That's the only external connection it makes.
Local network	SNMP v1/v2c to the printers (UDP 161). The collector scans the subnets of the interfaces it's attached to; printers on other VLANs must be reachable from the host and are picked up if routing allows.
Inbound	None. No port forwarding, no VPN, no firewall exceptions on the customer side.

Windows (MSI)

1. In the portal, open the site (Sites → click the site name) and, under Collector agents, click Download site installer (MSI). The file is signed and already tied to that site — the enrollment is baked in, which is why each site has its own installer.
2. Copy it to the host machine and run it as an administrator. There are no options to choose; accept the defaults.
3. Done. The service starts immediately and registers with the portal on first check-in.

After installation you'll find:

Service name	MeterBeamAgent — Startup type Automatic, with recovery set to restart on failure.
Program	C:\Program Files\MeterBeam\MeterBeamAgent.exe
Log	C:\Program Files\MeterBeam\agent.log — plain text, rotated automatically.
State	C:\Program Files\MeterBeam\state.json — the collector's identity and its list of known devices. Don't edit it; deleting it makes the collector re-register as a new agent.

Upgrades are automatic: the collector checks for a newer signed build on check-in and updates itself. You never need to redistribute the MSI to an existing site.

Linux

The Linux collector is the same program shipped as a static binary with a systemd unit. From the site page, use the Linux option next to the MSI download; it gives you a one-line install command that's specific to that site. In outline it:

# installs to /opt/meterbeam, enrolls with the site's token, enables the service
sudo systemctl status meterbeam-agent     # should be active (running)
sudo journalctl -u meterbeam-agent -f     # live log

Requirements are the same as Windows: outbound 443 to app.meterbeam.com, UDP 161 to the printers. Debian/Ubuntu and RHEL-family are supported; it also runs fine on a Raspberry Pi.

What healthy looks like

On the site page, a healthy collector shows LIVE, its hostname, its version, and "checked in n min ago". On the dashboard the Sites tile counts it as healthy. The log tells the same story:

MeterBeam agent v0.6.2 starting
service recovery actions configured (auto-restart on failure)
discovery: scanning [192.168.10.0/24]
discovery: found 6 printers
poll: 6/6 devices answered
poll: 6/6 devices answered

If you see found 0 printers, or fewer than you expected, go to Device discovery & troubleshooting.

Letting a customer install it

You don't have to be on site. Click Customer download link… on the site page to create a share link. It expires on its own, lets the recipient download only that site's installer, and requires no portal account. Active links are listed on the site page and can be revoked at any time. Send it with a sentence like: "Please run this on a computer that stays on — it takes about a minute and doesn't need any configuration."

Moving, re-installing, or revoking a collector

• Moving to a new machine: install the same site's MSI on the new host, confirm it shows LIVE, then click revoke on the old collector row. Devices and history stay with the site, not the collector.
• Re-installing on the same machine: just run the MSI again. It picks up the existing identity from state.json and keeps reporting as the same collector.
• Revoking: a revoked collector can no longer check in, even if the service is still running somewhere. Use it when a customer decommissions a host or when you have stale duplicates — the portal flags any collector silent for 30+ days as stale.
• Uninstalling: Windows Apps & Features → MeterBeam → Uninstall, or sudo systemctl disable --now meterbeam-agent on Linux. Then revoke it in the portal so it doesn't count against the site's health.