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 Arista Wireless Manager infrastructure

Add Arista WM orchestrator nodes for monitoring, monitor performance metrics, access points, and SSIDs for the wireless controller.

What does NPM monitor for Arista WM infrastructure?

Monitored entity Metrics
Wireless Controller
  • Controller name
  • IP address
Access Point
  • Access point name
  • IP address
  • SSID
  • Channels (interface property)
  • MAC (interface property)
  • Radio type (interface property)
Client
  • Client name
  • SSID
  • IP Address
  • MAC
  • Signal strength
  • Connected
  • Data rate
  • Data transmitted/received
Rogue Access Point
  • SSID
  • MAC
  • Signal strength

Requirements

  • Arista WM account with an API key ID, API key value, and base URL. The API key needs to have service privileges with Wi-Fi access and WIPS enabled. See Manage service privileges for users.

Limitations

  • Performance metrics, such as response time or availability are polled via REST API authorization requests. As a result, the response times are longer than for other nodes, and thus using default thresholds might result in marking the node status as critical. To address this, customize the Response Time thresholds when adding the nodes.

Request frequency and limits

Arista WM has a limit of 10 API calls per second. This limit is per wireless manager. As a result, all incoming calls to a wireless manager, regardless of the customer or user making the call will be throttled to allow 10 API calls per second.

API calls used for polling wireless access points

Nr. API request Purpose
1 /session Login
2 /locations Status poller
3 /manageddevices/aps Statistics collection poller - gets APs, interfaces, and SSIDs
4 /aps Statistics collection poller - gets rogue APs
5 /clients Statistics collection poller - gets information on clients.

Before you begin

Prepare your Arista WM customer and client details. You will need this information when adding your Arista WM infrastructure for monitoring.

Log in to the Arista WM management console and gather the following details:

  • API key ID
  • API key ID value
  • Base URL

See Arista WM Getting Started for details about where to find the details.

Add Arista WM wireless infrastructure to NPM

  1. Log in to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console as an administrator.

  2. Click Settings > Manage Nodes and click Add a Node.

  3. In Polling Method, select Orchestrators: API.

    The Polling Hostname or IP Address is disabled and arista.com is used as the default host name.

  4. Select Arista Wireless Manager Devices and provide the required information:

    • API key ID
    • API key ID value
    • Base URL

  5. Click Get Locations and select the locations to monitor.

    • To monitor a particular location, select the location in the dropdown.
    • To monitor devices in all locations, select All Locations.

    Polling Arista WM uses the global HTTP proxy settings. To change the defaults, click the Configure your HTTP proxy link.

  6. Review and adjust the device properties.

    1. Review your Arista WM user and client details, as well as proxy settings.

    2. To edit how often the node status or monitored statistics are updated, change the values in the Polling area.

      By default, Node Status is polled every 120 seconds and requires two requests - an authentication request and the status request. Statistics are polled every 10 minutes and require one authentication request with three entity requests.

    3. Enter values for custom properties for the node.

      The Custom Properties area is empty if you have not defined any custom properties for the monitored nodes. See "Add custom properties to nodes" in the SolarWinds Platform Administrator Guide.

    4. To adjust when the status of the node changes to Warning or Critical, edit alerting thresholds for the metric. Select the Override box and set thresholds for the node.

      Response times for Arista WM nodes might be 1-2 seconds. Consider adjusting the thresholds accordingly.

  7. Click OK, Add Node.

The Arista WM is now added as a node. After the first poll, you can see the data from the device in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.

On the Manage Nodes view, click the added node to see the node details in the Wireless Controller view, or drill down into thin access points listed on the view. Check Node Details to verify that the Machine Type of the new device is AristaWM Cloud Orchestrator.