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.

Create a NetPath probe in NPM

NetPath™ services are monitored by probes. Orion automatically installs a probe on each polling engine, and you can install a probe on any Windows computer. No other software is required on the path.

A probe is the source you are testing from. It is always the start of the path. Think of a probe as a representative of a user. SolarWinds recommends deploying probes where you have users, for example at each of your office locations.

The probe must be a Windows computer.

Create a probe

You can create a probe when you create a service, or while assigning an additional probe after you create the service:

  1. Click My Dashboards > Network > NetPath Services.

  2. Click next to an entry in the NetPath Services list.

  3. Click Create New Probe.

  4. Enter the required information on the Create New Probe window.

    Enter the credentials that can be used to log in to the computer and install the software.

  5. Click Create.

  6. Select the probe from the list.

  7. Click Assign.

Assign additional probes

Click next to an entry in the NetPath™ Services list to assign another probe to the service.

Disable a probe

  1. Go to NetPath Services. Click My Dashboards > Network > NetPath Services.

  2. Expand the service, and click the switch to disable the probe.

    If there is no probe enabled for a service, the service is disabled, too. No data for the service is polled.

Delete a probe

  1. Go to NetPath Services. Click My Dashboards > Network > NetPath Services.

  2. Expand the service, and click the waste basket icon to delete the probe.

    Deleting the last probe for a service permanently deletes the service.

Troubleshoot probes

If you are creating a probe on an existing SolarWinds Platform Agent, you must enter the primary polling IP address used by Orion for that device.

Check the probe status

If you have other issues with probe deployment, you can check the probe status.

Probes are listed in the Manage Agents section of Agent Management. The NetPath™ probe relies on the Agent infrastructure built into Orion and used for things like QoE and SAM Agents. NetPath™ is an additional plugin in this agent framework.

  1. Click Settings > All Settings.

  2. Under Node & Group Management, click Manage Agents.

  3. Locate the probe in the Agent/Node list by its host name, and select it.

  4. Verify the Agent Status is Running, and that the Connection Status is Connected.

  5. Click More Actions > View installed agent plugins.

  6. Verify the NetPath™ Agent Plugin is installed.

You can also click Edit Settings to change the configuration of the probe, or Delete to remove it.