Documentation forSolarWinds Platform

Add the first cloud account to the SolarWinds Platform

This SolarWinds Platform topic applies only to the following products:

Hybrid Cloud Observability EssentialsHybrid Cloud Observability Advanced

IPAMNAMNPMSAMVMAN

 

Before proceeding, make sure the cloud account is configured for the SolarWinds Platform. Be sure to have your cloud account credentials handy.

Cloud Discovery with a Hybrid Cloud Observability License

If you have a Hybrid Cloud Observability license, get started with cloud monitoring by adding a cloud account to the SolarWinds Platform.

  1. Log in to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.
  2. Click My Dashboards > Cloud to access the Cloud Summary page.
  3. In the Getting Started resource, click Monitor my Cloud Instances.

  4. Choose your cloud provider (Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure) and click Next.

  5. Based on your provider selection, enter your access credentials for the provider you selected and click Next.

    If you are not certain the credentials you entered are correct, you can click the Test Connection button to test them before continuing.

  6. Select the regions you want to monitor and click Next.

  7. On the Resources Monitoring Method page, select whether you want to monitor all the supported resources for the selected regions, or if you want to monitor only specific resources. With Hybrid Cloud Observability 2023.2, you can also select resources to monitor by tag.

    1. For Virtual Machines, click monitor selected entities, select the box for Virtual Machines, then click edit to open the Monitor service dialog to check one or more VMs.

    2. Check the entities to be monitored and then click Monitor.

  8. Click Finish. Your selections will be validated against your credentials and your resources will be added for monitoring.

  9. Once complete, you will be taken to the Manage Cloud Accounts window, where you can add or edit cloud resources.

  10. To view your Cloud Summary and the accounts you added using the Cloud Discovery Wizard, go to My Dashboards > Home > Cloud.

 

Cloud Discovery without a Hybrid Cloud Observability License

If you do not have a Hybrid Cloud Observability license, get started with cloud monitoring by adding a cloud account to the SolarWinds Platform.

  1. Log in to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.
  2. Click My Dashboards > Cloud to access the Cloud Summary page.
  3. In the Getting Started resource, click Monitor my Cloud Instances.

  4. On Cloud Service Provider, select a provider and click the Monitor AWS/Monitor Azure button.

    If you are running only NPM 2020.2, only Microsoft Azure is available.

  5. On the Cloud Settings tab, provide cloud account details, and click Continue.
    1. Enter a Display Name for the account and provide account credentials.

    2. If the SolarWinds Platform server requires a proxy server to connect to certain websites, click "Are you behind a proxy?" to configure proxy settings.

    3. (Optional) Click Test Connection.

      If an error occurs, verify account credentials and confirm that accounts are configured for the SolarWinds Platform.

    4. (Optional) Toggle Auto Monitoring off for instances/VMs added later, either manually or via automated discovery.

      To learn more about wizard options, see Add a Cloud Account.

  6. On API Polling Options, ensure that Azure Monitor API Polling option is enabled, review the polling frequency, and continue to the next step or click Finish.

    When adding an Azure account, make sure that the Azure Resource Polling Frequency is higher or the same as the granularity of data provided by Microsoft. If you poll the data more frequently, you will get the same value every time you poll the information. Each added poll counts as a request.

  7. If you have SAM or VMAN, select instances to monitor.
  8. If you have IPAM deployed, ensure that you have DNS scanning enabled, and continue to the next step or click Finish.
  9. If you have NPM 2020.2 installed, ensure that Enable Virtual Network polling is on and continue to the next step or click Finish. If you don't use NPM, this step is skipped.
  10. After an account is added, the SolarWinds Platform begins polling for data. Click Dashboards > Cloud to display the Cloud Summary page and review instances/VMs for the new account. See Explore cloud instances and VMs on the Cloud Summary page.

    If necessary, you can restrict other SolarWinds Platform Web Console users from displaying instances/VMs for an account.