Network Routing Insights: Port Channels

This feature requires a SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted license

Port Channels combine multiple physical network interfaces into one logical interface. This increases bandwidth, improves redundancy, and balances traffic across the links. If one link fails, the others keep the connection active. Port Channels are commonly used between switches or between servers and switches to optimize performance and reliability.

Discover and manage Port Channel pollers for network nodes

Port Channel pollers collect parent-child relationships between interfaces LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) statuses.

When you upgrade to 2026.1 or later, the Port Channels feature is automatically enabled for supported devices.

Nodes are marked for background inventory during the Configuration wizard instead of using a direct SQL script. This approach ensures proper handling of feature toggling.

If the Configuration wizard cannot mark nodes for port channel inventory, assign the pollers manually.

Supported Pollers

• Generic poller (preferred)

• Cisco-specific poller

Only one poller can be active per node to ensure accurate data collection.

Enable Port Channel polling

You can enable Port Channel polling using List Resources or during a network discovery.

List Resources

When you use List resources to enable port channel polling , you can select which poller to enable when multiple options are available for a node.

1. In SolarWinds Platform Web Console, open Node Details page for a node.

2. Find the Management widget.

3. Click List Resources.

4. Select Port Channels and select the poller to use:

   1. General polling

   2. Cisco -specific polling

5. Submit your changes.

Network Discovery

Network Discovery automatically assigns the Generic poller when available for a seamless experience.

1. In SolarWinds Platform Web Console, click Settings > Network Discovery.

2. Run an existing discovery or create a new one. See Discovery your network for the SolarWinds Platform.

Enable or disable Port Channel polling in Manage Pollers

You can also enable/disable PortChannel polling in Manage Pollers.

1. In SolarWinds Platform Web Console, click Settings > All Settings.

2. In Node & Group Management, click Manage Pollers.

3. Select the node.

4. Enable or disable Port Channel polling as needed.

Port Channel pollers

Poller	Poller type	Implemented by	Description	Polling interval
Generic poller	N.IfRel.PortChannels.SNMP.Generic	SnmpInterfacePortChannelsPoller	Uses three get table requests to get data from IEEE8023-LAG-MIB	Polled with Node Status poll interval (2 minutes by default).
Cisco poller	N.IfRel.PortChannels.SNMP.Cisco	CiscoSnmpInterfacePortChannelsPoller	Uses two get table requests to get data from CISCO-PORT-CHANNEL-MIB: portChannelIfIndex (1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.285.1.1.1.1.2) portChannelMemberList (1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.285.1.1.1.1.9) CISCO-PORT-CHANNEL-MIB doesn’t provide information about LACP mode.	polled with Node Status poll interval (2 minutes by default).