Host monitoring options
In SolarWinds Observability, there are two main options you can use to monitor hosts.
Agent-based monitoring
- Used for detailed observability data.
- SolarWinds Observability Agents (Agents) and monitoring plugins are based on the OpenTelemetry (OTel) standard, giving you the flexibility to add more features.
- Ensures that there is only one entity when you monitor a host both by the Agent and using a cloud account, such as AWS EC2.
- See Add a self-managed host, Configure native OTel integrations.
Agent-less / Cloud API-based monitoring
- Used to get a basic overview from a wide range of hosts.
- See Add an AWS cloud account, Add an Azure cloud account
Agent-based vs Agent-less monitoring
Agent-based | Agent-less (Cloud API-based) | |
---|---|---|
Installation | Lightweight installation on the host | No software needs to be installed on the host |
Agent Management | Directly in SolarWinds Observability:
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Centralized management and monitoring of multiple cloud hosts from a single location |
Monitoring capabilities | Configure monitoring to suit specific needs to monitor services, processes, and events relevant for the host, such as:
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Basic data for monitored hosts Optional real-time monitoring with API streaming to quickly detect and address issues as soon as they occur |
Entity consolidation |
One entity in SolarWinds Observability, no matter what is monitored (if both Agent and cloud monitoring is configured) Agents can be used to relate entities, for example if a database is on the same server as host, you can use one Agent to monitor both. |
One entity in SolarWinds Observability, no matter what is monitored (if both Agent and cloud monitoring is configured) |
Extensibility |
Additional monitoring can be enabled easily to add custom data (NGINX, Apache, ZooKeeper, Elasticsearch, Memcached, Redis,...) One Agent can monitor multiple aspects, by deploying multiple plugins, such as host, network, or database monitoring |
Easily scalable to monitor large numbers of cloud hosts but only basic data |
Diagnostics |
|
Depends on the API supported by the host |
Security | Secure data ingestion channel | Secure data by design |
Data collection frequency | Every 30 seconds | Every 5 minutes |
Standardization | Based on OpenTelemetry (OTel), consistent data, can be easily analyzed and compared | Depends on the API supported by the host |
Interoperability | Easy integration with other tools, such as tracing and logging systems | Depends on the API supported by the host |