Manage observed network devices in the Network Collector

Use the Network Collector to manage network devices, interfaces, and flows you want to monitor with SolarWinds Observability.

The Network Collector Web Console has the same look and feel like the SolarWinds Platform Web Console and workflows are almost the same.

Manage network devices

After you deployed a network collector, manage monitored network devices from the Network Collector Web Console.

Add a single network device

1. Log in to the Network Collector Web Console.

2. Click Settings > Manage Nodes, click Add Node, and complete the Add Node wizard. See Add single nodes for details.

Discover devices on your network

1. Log in to the Network Collector Web Console.

2. Click Settings > Network Discovery and complete the discovery wizard and import relevant network devices for monitoring. See Discover your network for details.

Import devices to the collector for monitoring

1. Log in to the Network Collector Web Console.

2. Click Settings > Network Discovery and activate the Network Discovery Results tab.

3. Select the discovery and complete the Network Sonar Results Wizard to import the network devices you want to monitor with SolarWinds Observability.

   See Import discovered nodes for details.

Remove devices from Network Collector

To stop monitoring devices with SolarWinds Observability, you must delete them in the Network Collector first. See Delete entities for details.

Manage users

1. Log in to the Network Collector Web Console.

2. Click Settings > All Settings, and then click Manage Accounts.

3. On Manage Accounts, click Add New Account, and select Orion individual account.

4. Enter your user name and password.

5. Specify privileges for the user and click Submit.

   • To create an administrator account, set Allow Administrator Rights to Yes.

     Consider whether the user needs to have administrative privileges. Administrators can access All Settings, create, and edit users, and reset user passwords.

   • To manage network devices, set Allow Node Management Rights to Yes.

The new user is added to the Manage Accounts list. See Manage SolarWinds Platform Web Console user accounts for details.

Review your license

When you install the Network Collector, you are automatically provided with an evaluation license.

1. Log in to the Network Collector Web Console.

2. Click Settings > All Settings, and then click License Manager in the Details section.

3. Review the license. You should have a SolarWinds Observability - Network Collector - Evaluation Observability license in the License Manager.

Review numbers of network devices in your license (used and available)

To review the number of available or currently polled network devices, review the license details.

1. In the Network Collector Web Console, click Settings > All Settings.

2. Click License Details in the Details section.

3. Review the data for the Main Orion Server details.

Services

On the Network Collector server, not all SolarWinds services are running. For example, the Alerting Service is always stopped.

Upgrade the Network Collector

To get new features provided by a new Network Collector version, upgrade your Network Collector.

1. In the Network Collector Web Console, click Settings > My Deployment > Updates and review available versions.

2. Click Check compatibility to identify possible issues. Address the discovered issues.

3. Click Update now and follow instructions in the wizard.

To verify the Network Collector version, log in to the Network Collector Web Console and check the Network Collector version in the footer.