Documentation forNetwork Performance Monitor
Monitoring network performance is a key capability of SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted (formerly Hybrid Cloud Observability) and is available in the Essentials edition. Network Performance Monitor (NPM) is also available in a standalone module.

Monitor Azure V-Nets, V-Net Gateways and Site-to-Site Connections with NPM

Starting with NPM 2020.2, you can monitor traffic on Azure Network Gateways on monitored Microsoft Azure cloud accounts.

Supported gateways: Displayed on the Virtual Network Gateways view.

  • VPN gateways
  • ExpressRoute gateways (only ExpressRoute gateways, no metrics for ExpressRoute connections are supported)

Supported connections to Azure Network gateways: Displayed on Site-to-Site Connections view.

  • Site-to-Site connections

    ExpressRoute connections are not supported and you will not be able to see them in NPM.

Set up and monitor Azure Nets

Add an Azure cloud account for monitoring

Before you begin

  • Ensure that you have configured your Microsoft Azure cloud account to allow integration with the SolarWinds Platform.
  • Prepare credentials necessary for configuring the SolarWinds Platform to access your Azure cloud.
  • Check that Virtual Network Gateways to monitor are connected to Virtual Networks directly. Connections via Virtual WAN are not supported.
  • To monitor the Azure cloud, you must use the main polling engine.

For more details, see Monitor cloud instances and VMs in the SolarWinds Platform documentation.

Use the Add Cloud Account to add an Azure account to NPM for monitoring. The wizard displays steps relevant for installed SolarWinds Platform products. See Add the first cloud account for details.

  1. In the SolarWinds Platform Web Console, click My Dashboards > Home > Cloud.

  2. On the Getting Started widget, click Monitor My Cloud instances and complete the wizard.

  3. On Cloud Service Provider, select Microsoft Azure, and click Monitor Azure.

  4. Provide credentials for the Azure Cloud and click Continue.

  5. On API Polling Options, click Continue.

  6. On Virtual Network Gateways, enable Virtual Network Gateways polling and click Finish.

    Click My Dashboards > Home > Cloud. On the Could - Cloud Summary view, you will see two new subviews relevant for NPM - Virtual Network Gateways and Site-to-Site Connections. If you don't have NPM installed, the subviews are empty.

Display the overview of monitored cloud environment

Click My Dashboards > Home > Cloud.

The Cloud Summary view displays summary widgets that give you an overview of monitored cloud accounts.

By default, the Cloud Summary view displays the following widgets:

  • The In/Out Gateway Traffic by Region widget lists regions with in and out traffic. Click a region to go to the list of gateways in the selected region.
  • The Last 25 Cloud Events widget lists the last 25 events that occurred on monitored cloud entities. Hover over the event to display a popup with more information or click the Event message to go to the cloud entity details view.

If you have multiple SolarWinds Platform products installed, the Cloud Summary can include additional widgets and additional subviews. See Explore cloud instances and VMs on the Cloud Summary page in the SolarWinds Platform documentation.

Monitor Virtual Network Gateways on Microsoft Azure clouds

Click My Dashboards > Home > Cloud, and then click Virtual Network Gateways subview.

The Azure Network Gateways view lists gateways available on monitored Azure cloud accounts, with the following details:

  • Gateway name, status, type, and location
  • Provision state and status
  • Name of the related virtual network,
  • IP address of the gateway
  • Incoming and outgoing tunnel traffic (last polled values)
  • Number of site-to-site (S2S) connections on the gateway

Use the search and filtering options to find a gateway.

Click a gateway name to open the gateway in PerfStack and display In, out, and average availability.

You can select up to three gateways and click Open in PerfStack to compare their availability.

Click S2S connections to see site-to-site connections for the gateway on the Site-to-Site Connections view.

Monitor Site-to-Site Connections on Microsoft Azure clouds

Click My Dashboards > Home > Cloud, and then click the Site-to-Site Connections subview.

Use the search and filter options to find a connection.

Click a connection name to open it in PerfStack and display average in and out bps.

You can select up to three connections and click Open in PerfStack do display average in and out bps for the connections in PerfStack.

Configure Azure settings relevant for NPM

Edit your Azure cloud details, such as account credentials, or API polling options.

Review the number of API requests you have already used this month to get cloud details to NPM.

  1. Click Settings > All Settings, and then click Cloud Infrastructure Monitoring Settings in the Product Specific Settings section.

  2. Click Manage Cloud Accounts.

  3. Select your cloud account and click Edit Properties.

    • On the General tab, you can adjust your cloud credentials, or enable/disable adding cloud resources on the account added in the future.

    • On the API Polling Options tab, you can enable/disable API polling, change the polling frequency, or review an estimation how many requests all accounts in your cloud subscription used up to get polling details to NPM.

      The SolarWinds Platform measures requests initiated by your Orion deployment. The number covers requests by all accounts in your subscription.

  4. Save your changes.

Disable Virtual Network Gateways Polling

To stop collecting data from your Azure account, disable polling from Virtual Network Gateways. Disable this polling to limit the number of API requests and thus decrease your Azure subscription costs.

  1. Click Settings > All Settings, and then click Cloud Infrastructure Monitoring Settings in the Product Specific Settings section.
  2. Click Manage Cloud Accounts.
  3. Select your cloud account and click Virtual Network Gateway Settings.
  4. Click the green slider to disable polling and thus top sending API requests to your Azure account. The slider turns grey and you do not poll Virtual Network Gateways anymore.