Getting Started with Kollect

Kollect is a powerful multi-cloud infrastructure discovery tool that helps you inventory and analyze resources across AWS, Azure, GCP, VMware vSphere, Docker, and Kubernetes environments.

Installation

Download Binary

Download the latest release for your platform:

Linux

curl -L -o kollect https://github.com/MichaelCade/kollect-web/releases/latest/download/kollect-linux-amd64
chmod +x kollect

macOS

curl -L -o kollect https://github.com/MichaelCade/kollect-web/releases/latest/download/kollect-darwin
chmod +x kollect

Windows

# Download kollect-windows.exe from releases page
# Run in PowerShell or Command Prompt

Quick Start

1. Run Basic Discovery

Start Kollect without any configuration to discover local resources:

./kollect --browser

This will start the web interface on http://localhost:8080 and begin discovering:

Local Docker containers and images
Kubernetes clusters (if kubectl is configured)
Local file systems

2. Configure Cloud Credentials

To discover cloud resources, you'll need to configure credentials for your cloud providers.

Note: Kollect reads credentials from your existing cloud CLI configurations by default.

AWS Configuration

# Using AWS CLI
aws configure

# Or set environment variables
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your-access-key"
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your-secret-key"
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION="us-east-1"

Azure Configuration

# Using Azure CLI
az login

# Or set environment variables
export AZURE_CLIENT_ID="your-client-id"
export AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET="your-client-secret"
export AZURE_TENANT_ID="your-tenant-id"
export AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID="your-subscription-id"

Google Cloud Configuration

# Using gcloud CLI
gcloud auth application-default login

# Or set service account key
export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="path/to/service-account-key.json"

3. Access the Web Interface

Once Kollect is running, open your browser and navigate to:

http://localhost:8080

The web interface provides:

Dashboard: Overview of discovered resources
Cloud Tabs: Detailed views for each cloud provider
Search: Find specific resources across all environments
Export: Download discovery results as JSON

Command Line Options

./kollect [options]

Options:
  -port int
        Port to run the web server on (default 8080)
  -config string
        Path to configuration file
  -output string
        Output format: web, json, csv (default "web")
  -help
        Show help information

Understanding the Output

Kollect organizes discovered resources by provider and type:

AWS: EC2 instances, S3 buckets, RDS databases, DynamoDB tables, VPCs, EFS file systems
Azure: Virtual machines, storage accounts, blob containers, virtual networks, resource groups
GCP: Compute instances, Cloud Storage buckets, Cloud SQL instances, Cloud Functions
vSphere: Virtual machines, datastores, clusters, resource pools
Docker: Containers, images, volumes, networks
Kubernetes: Nodes, pods, services, deployments, persistent volumes

Next Steps

Now that you have Kollect running:

Configure advanced settings
Explore the REST API
Set up automated discovery schedules
Export data for reporting and analysis

Security Note: Kollect requires read-only access to your cloud environments. Ensure you're using appropriate least-privilege credentials.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues:

Check that your cloud credentials are properly configured
Verify network connectivity to cloud APIs
Review the console output for error messages
Consult the troubleshooting guide

For additional help, visit our GitHub issues page.