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 Cisco SwitchStack in NPM

With NPM, you can view the health of individual Cisco® SwitchStack® members, monitor power and data connections between the members, and quickly locate a switch with issues.

Out-of-the-box events and alerts notify you when a member, or a connection between members goes down.

Add the Cisco SwitchStack for monitoring as a node. The IP address is always assigned to the master switch (highlighted with a crown icon).

View stack members and rings

When you receive an alert about a SwitchStack problem, go to the SwitchStack node details page, and click the SwitchStack subview.

The subview provides member-specific monitoring with topology maps showing how the data ports and power ports are connected, and information to pinpoint switches with issues.

You can quickly see which switch is having issues, locate it by serial number in the stack, and replace it or resolve the issue.

View the health of stack members

When you are monitoring hardware health on a Cisco SwitchStack node, you can see the health of individual switches in the stack. The health indicators inform you when the values on a switch are near the safe limits, or when they reach the critical stage.

  1. Log in to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console, and go to the SwitchStack node details page, and click the Network subview.

  2. Consult the Current Hardware Health resource.

  3. Expand a switch in the stack to display hardware health monitors.

    4. The item in the Status column describes the number of sensors monitored on the switch, grouped by the status of the sensor.

    You can now troubleshoot the SwitchStack member that is experiencing issues.

See also Monitor hardware health.

Cisco SwitchStack events

Events for Cisco SwitchStack include messages about the following issues and changes:

  • Stack ring redundancy loss
  • Stack ring failure
  • Members being added or removed
  • Member number changes
  • Master switch changes
  • Power redundancy loss
  • Power capacity change

Out-of-the-box alerts for SwitchStack

Out-of-the-box SwitchStack alerts inform you about the following items and more:

  • SwitchStack Master Changed
  • SwitchStack Data Ring Broken
  • SwitchStack Member Number Changed
  • SwitchStack Power Redundancy Lost

    • Not all out-of-the-box alerts are turned on by default.

Create alerts based on SwitchStack events

You can configure additional notifications based on SwitchStack events. For example, you can specify that when a stack ring fails, you want to receive an email with details.

Out-of-the-box alerts cover the most frequent issues. Review available alerts and duplicate and edit the alerts if you only need small adjustments.

  1. Select Alerts & Activity > Alerts, and click Manage Alerts.

  2. Click Add New Alert.

  3. On Trigger Condition, select the SwitchStack item you want to alert on.

  4. In Trigger alert when, select a condition, click the arrow in the second box next to the selected SwitchStack object, and select Browse all events.

  5. Select the event you want to alert on and if necessary, complete the trigger condition.

    For example, if you want to be notified about a SwitchStack ring failure, select the Ring Failure event, select Event must match the filter, and then select New Ring Failure is equal to Yes.

  6. Specify the trigger action and complete the wizard.

    7. After the trigger condition occurs, you will be notified about it both by the event and the trigger action you specified.