Documentation forServer & Application Monitor
Monitoring your applications and environment is a key capability of SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted (formerly Hybrid Cloud Observability) and is available in the Essentials edition. Server & Application Monitor (SAM) is also available in a standalone module.

Use the Credentials Library for SAM component monitor credentials

Many SAM component monitors require credentials so they can retrieve data from target servers and services. Some component monitors need to run in the context of a user account, while other component monitors need credentials to access information on target servers.

The Credentials Library described here differs from the Certificate Credentials Library that stores SSH keys for Linux and Unix script monitors, and the Manage Credentials page where you can work with credentials for API Pollers and AppOptics integrations.

For example, to use a WMI component monitor, you must provide valid domain or computer credentials. Or, if your web server requires credentials, you must provide the appropriate credentials to access the protected sections of your site. Those credentials can be stored in the Credentials Library.

These credentials can be used with the "Inherit credential from node" option for component monitors within application monitor templates, as well as individual application monitors.

Note the following details about component monitor credentials:

  • Default behavior for the "Inherit credential from node" option is as follows:
    • For WMI nodes, credentials specified during node registration to the SolarWinds Platform server are used for polling.
    • For Agent nodes, polling runs without any specific credentials using the Local System account under which the agent service runs on the target node.
    • For Linux nodes, see Credentials and privileges used on Linux/Unix-based computers.
  • If SNMP credentials were provided for a node during Discovery, you do not need to specify additional credentials for SNMP operations. To learn more, see SNMP credentials for the SolarWinds Platform.
  • Credentials can be used several times if you use Application Discovery to scan nodes and apply templates to nodes automatically. If credentials are incorrect, the account may become locked out. To avoid lockouts that affect actual users, consider using service accounts for monitoring instead.
  • If each component monitor within an application monitor requires a separate credential, you cannot specify credentials while creating an application monitor with the Add Node Wizard or the Add New Application Monitor wizard. Instead, create the application monitor first, and then configure credentials for individual component monitors by editing the individual application monitor.

For a video overview, watch Setting Credentials in SAM.