When do I use a VIP or a virtual hostname?
This topic applies only to the following products:
SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted
DPAIM — EOC — IPAM — LA — NAM — NCM — NPM — NTA — SAM — SCM — SRM — UDT — VMAN — VNQM — WPM
Use a virtual IP address (VIP) to reference your protected servers when you are protecting a server on a single subnet. Use a virtual hostname either on a single subnet or across multiple subnets.
| Single Subnet | Multiple Subnets | |
|---|---|---|
| VIP | Yes (obligatory) | No |
| virtual hostname | Yes (optional) | Yes (obligatory) |
What is a Virtual IP address?
A Virtual IP (VIP) address is an IP address that is shared by both members of a HA server pool on the same subnet. When a member of the pool goes down, the other pool member takes over the VIP address and responds to requests sent to the VIP. The VIP and each pool member must be part of the same subnet.
- The VIP option is only available for HA pools on a single subnet and HA pool members must use static IPv4 IP addresses.
- SolarWinds Platform High Availability does not support IPv6 addresses.
- The VIP option is not available when running HA in the cloud. Instead, you must use a virtual hostname.
How do I choose a VIP address?
You have two options when choosing a VIP address.
- Use your original SolarWinds Platform server's IP as your VIP, and add a new IP address to your manually configured network adapter for your SolarWinds Platform server. This allows devices that you have configured for limited access to a set number of IP addresses to continue to send information to the same IP address. This option requires no device configuration change if your devices can only send information to specific IP addresses.
- Use a new IP address as your VIP when you have no device restrictions.
If you lock down the IP addresses you send information to and receive information from, you must make configuration changes to your devices because the HA pool may send polling requests from one of three IP addresses.
You can use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager to update your router and switch configurations.
What is a virtual hostname?
A virtual hostname is shared by both members of the HA pool. Only the active member of the HA pool responds to the virtual hostname. Use a virtual hostname to connect to your SolarWinds Platform server or Additional polling engine HA pools when they span two different subnets or are deployed in the cloud.
You can use a virtual hostname when configuring an HA pool on a single subnet or over two subnets.
How do I create a virtual hostname?
You can create a new virtual hostname on the fly when you create an HA pool or create a virtual hostname before creating your HA pool.
SolarWinds strongly discourages you from using your original SolarWinds Platform server's host name as the virtual hostname. You must modify your reverse lookup zones manually in this scenario.