Add a SolarWinds Observability Agent based private probe

Install the Private Probe as a SolarWinds Observability Agent plugin that runs inside the SolarWinds Observability Agent for Linux (Agent).

Installation overview

The installation process for the SolarWinds Observability Agent based private probe works as follows.

1. Install the SolarWinds Observability Agent on a supported Linux host in your private network.

2. In SolarWinds Observability, you deploy a Private Probe plugin to that agent using a Digital Experience wizard.

The Agent based private probe plugin:

• Starts the private probe binary and checks executors on the host.

• Registers a new private probe in SolarWinds Observability.

• Periodically receives check schedules and sends results back using Digital Experience backend services and Agent transport.

The SolarWinds Observability Agent:

• Handles the private probe plugin lifecycle (install, start/stop, health checks, graceful shutdown).

• Collects logs from the private probe plugin into the Agent log directory.

• Auto-updates the private probe plugin.

Before getting started, make sure you have the prerequisites to install the Private Probe. See Private Probe requirements.

Confirm host resources

The host running the SolarWinds Observability Agent must have enough resources for the SolarWinds Observability Agent itself, and all SolarWinds Observability Agent plugins, including the private probe plugin. You should consider having enough resources for the expected number of concurrent checks per probe, and future growth.

See Private Probe requirements.

Install the SolarWinds Observability Agent

Install the SolarWinds Observability Agent on a supported Linux distribution. See the Configure Agent topic for full installation instructions.

Confirm SolarWinds Observability Agent installation

After installing your SolarWinds Observability Agent, confirm that it has been successfully installed in SolarWinds Observability.

1. Click Settings > Agents to open the Agents page.

2. Verify that your SolarWinds Observability Agent is visible on the page, and that it is reporting health and logs as expected.

Confirm SolarWinds Observability Agent connections

The SolarWinds Observability Agent must reach the appropriate Synthetics Collector endpoint over port 443, for example:

• synthetics.collector.na-01.cloud.solarwinds.com

• synthetics.collector.na-02.cloud.solarwinds.com

• synthetics.collector.eu-01.cloud.solarwinds.com

• synthetics.collector.ap-01.cloud.solarwinds.com

By default, the SolarWinds Observability Agent uses a CA bundle shipped as part of the plugin (equivalent to cacert.pem in the container-based probe) to validate HTTPS endpoints.

Add your Digital Experience private probe

1. Click Digital Experience > Probes to open the Probes page. Click the Private tab.

2. Click Add Private Probe.

3. Choose an existing SolarWinds Observability Agent on a monitored host. The SolarWinds Observability Agent must run on a Linux distribution, have access to your internal endpoints, and Digital Experience endpoints. Click Next to continue.

   For more information about installing the SolarWinds Observability Agent on your host, see Add a self-managed host or Run the SolarWinds Observability Agent as a Docker image or Kubernetes deployment.

   If the Agent you want to use is not displayed in the wizard, make sure it has host monitoring enabled. See Enable host monitoring on an Agent.

4. Configure your private probe settings.
   1. Enter an easily identifiable name for your private probe.
   2. Click Deploy to begin the Private Probe installation.
5. Review the installation summary. The installation summary displays the selected SolarWinds Observability Agent , and the deployment state of the private probe. Click Close to continue to the Probes page.