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.

View interface status, interface health, and details about downtime in NPM

The downtime information is useful, for example, for SLA providers who want to prove specific times of interface or port unavailability.

Check the health of interfaces in the Health Summary widget and get more details on the Node Details - Interfaces subview.

In some areas, an interface being down does not directly impact Internet or intranet connectivity.

Interface status

Interface status is polled via SNMP. Starting with 2022.4, configured thresholds for interfaces (Interface Errors and Discards, Interface Percent Utilization) are also reflected in the interface status.

View interface downtime information

  1. Log in to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.

  2. Navigate to the Node Details view.

  3. Review the Interface Downtime widget.

    By default, the widget shows the interface status in the last 24 hours, each hour represented as a block in color. This widget is also available on Interface Details views.

    To display downtime for all monitored interfaces on a node, add the Interface Downtime widget on node view.

  4. To see a detailed view of a problematic section, position your cursor on the graph.

Change the time period

By default, the Interface Downtime widget displays downtime data for the last 24 hours, one block representing 1 hour. You can display any time frame within the stored history.

  1. Go to the Interface Downtime widget, and click Edit.
  2. Select Custom in the Downtime Period list, and specify the Beginning and End dates and times.
  3. When displaying longer time periods, you might need to change the time frame represented by one block. Select Custom in Display Settings, and provide a time period represented by one block.
  4. Click Submit.

Set the retention period for interface downtime history

By default, interface status history is stored in the database for 7 days.

  1. Log in to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console as an administrator.
  2. Click Settings > All Settings in the menu bar.
  3. In the Thresholds & Polling grouping, click Polling Settings.
  4. Scroll down to Database Settings, and enter a time to retain interface status history in the database in the Downtime History Retention field. Enter a value in days, from 7 to 60 days.

Disable interface downtime monitoring

Monitoring interface downtime can affect the performance of your NPM. To decrease the load, disable interface downtime monitoring. For periods where interface downtime was not monitored, the Interface Downtime widget shows gray blocks.

  1. Log in to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console as an administrator.
  2. Click Settings > All Settings in the menu bar.
  3. In the Thresholds & Polling grouping, click Polling Settings.
  4. Clear the Enable Downtime Monitoring box in the Network grouping.
  5. Click Submit.

NPM does not monitor downtime for the interface any more. The Interface Downtime widget displays the message "Downtime monitoring is disabled. To enable it, go to Polling Settings.

View interface health

  1. In the SolarWinds Platform Web Console, go to the Node Details view.

  2. On the Summary subview, review the Health Summary widget to get an overview of the status of interfaces on the node.

  3. On the Health Summary widget, click a status group number to go to the Interfaces subview, filtered by the selected group status. The Interfaces subview lists monitored interfaces on the selected device, including relevant details, such as in and out utilization, or any errors that happened in the last hour.