Documentation forSolarWinds Observability

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.

Log in to the Network Collector Web Console

If you are logging in to the Network Collector Web Console for the first time, you are prompted to define a password for the Admin account.

  1. Launch a browser and enter the IP address or hostname of Network Collector Web Console.

    • http://ip_address:8787
    • http://hostname:8787

    By default, the Network Collector is installed in the express mode, using HTTP on port 8787. To use HTTPS, see Configure the SolarWinds Platform Web Console to use HTTPS.

  2. Enter your user name and password and click Login.

    If you are logging in for the first time, specify the password for the Admin account.

    3. You are now in the Network Collector Web Console.

Add a single network device (Network Collector)

  1. Log in to the Network Collector Web Console.

  2. In the Network Collector Web Console, click Settings > Manage Nodes.

  3. Click Add Node.

  4. Provide the node details, select elements (volumes, interfaces), and add the node for monitoring.

See Add a single node for monitoring.

To view data collected for the newly configured entity in the Entity Explorer, click the name of the entity type in the confirmation dialog in the lower-left corner. It may take a few seconds for data to appear for the newly created entity. See Entity Explorer for details.

See Entities in SolarWinds Observability for an overview of entity type entities and how they work in SolarWinds Observability.

Discover devices on your network (Network Collector)

To identify multiple nodes in your network, use the Discovery wizard. When you log in to the Network Collector Web Console for the first time, it opens by default. To launch the Discovery manually, click Settings > Network Discovery. See Discover your network with the Discovery wizard.

  1. Log in to the Network Collector Web Console.

  2. In the Network Collector Web Console, click Settings > Discover Network.

  3. Specify the network to discover the nodes.

  4. Provide the necessary credentials and complete the wizard.

  5. When the wizard completes, review the discovered nodes and only import nodes, interfaces, and volumes to be monitored with SolarWinds Observability.

    See Add discovered devices.

Import devices to the collector for monitoring (Network Collector)

To synchronize SolarWinds Observability with the discovered updates, import the new and changed entities.

  1. Log in to the Network Collector Web Console.

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

    To only import new devices, stay on the Discover Network tab, select the discovery, and click Import New Results.

    To launch the import wizard without reviewing the changes first, select the discovery and click Import All Results.

  3. Select the discovery you want to import results for and select nodes to be imported.

    To see what changed for specific nodes, review the information in the Description column. Expand the entry to find out more.

  4. The Network Sonar Results Wizard starts. Review the selected devices, interfaces volumes, applications, and server configuration profiles to be imported.

    The wizard reflects what you selected in the Network Discovery Results tab.

  5. On Import Preview, verify the list of items to be imported and click Import.

  6. When the import finishes, click Finish to complete the wizard.

Set up monitoring flow data (Network Collector)

Set up network devices to export flow data and add the devices to Network Collector. See Set up network devices to export NetFlow data.

Requirements for flow monitoring

  • The device must be configured to export flow data to the Network Collector.

  • The device must be monitored in the Network Collector.

    If the device is not monitored with the Network Collector, traffic from the device is added to the traffic from unmonitored devices. The Network Collector is receiving the data, but you cannot analyze it.

  • The interface used for exporting flow data must be monitored in the Network Collector. The interface index must match the index number in the collected flow data.

Set up flow data monitoring

  1. Log in to the network device.

  2. Enable flow export. See NetFlow device examples for configuration examples.

  3. In the Network Collector Web Console, click Settings > Manage Nodes.

  4. Click Add Node and complete the wizard. On Choose Resources, ensure that the interface for flow export is selected for monitoring.

    Flow data from the device should start appearing in SolarWinds Observability shortly. If not, ensure that device category in the Network Collector is Network.

Set up monitoring volumes (Network Collector)

When adding nodes for monitoring on a Network Collector, select volumes to be monitored.

The method used to poll the node defines the details that you will be able to observe for the volume:

  • SNMP - usage statistics
  • WMI - usage statistics and performance (IO) statistics

Calculating volume metrics

To calculate a volume usage, the following OIDs are polled from the node:

  • AllocationUnits (.1.3.6.1.2.1.25.2.3.1.4)
  • TotalSize (.1.3.6.1.2.1.25.2.3.1.5)
  • UsedSize (.1.3.6.1.2.1.25.2.3.1.6)

Formulas

  • Volume size (in bytes) = TotalSizeOID * AllocationUnitsOID
  • Used size (in bytes) = UsedSizeOID * AllocationUnitsOID
  • Available size (in bytes) = Volume size (in bytes) - Used size (in Bytes)

Stop/start collecting data for monitored devices (Network Collector)

Starting with Network Collector 2024.1, you can stop and resume collecting metrics directly in SolarWinds Observability. See Manage observed network devices in SolarWinds Observability.

  1. Log in to the Network Collector Web Console.

  2. Click Settings > Manage Nodes.

  3. Select the node(s) you want to change.

  4. Click Un-Manage Now to stop collecting data for the devices.

    Click Manage Again to start collecting data for the nodes.

    See Stop/Start collecting statistics in SolarWinds Platform documentation for details.

Remove devices from Network Collector

Starting with Network Collector 2024.1, you can remove devices directly from SolarWinds Observability.

To stop monitoring devices with SolarWinds Observability, delete the network device from the Network Collector:

  1. Log in to the Network Collector Web Console. See Log in to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.

  2. Click Settings > Manage Nodes.

  3. Select the node and click Delete.

The device is deleted in the Network Collector. No data is sent from the device to SolarWinds Observability. Now you need to delete the devices in SolarWinds Observability. See Delete entities.

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.

    6. 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.

You need Administrator Rights to access the License Manager.

  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. Download the new installer file on the server hosting your Network Collector.

    1. In SolarWinds Observability, click Add Data at the top.

    2. On the Add Data dialog, click Network Device.

    3. On Select Network Collector, select Deploy new Network Collector and click Next.

    4. On Prepare Ingestion Token, select a token to identify the Agent when sending the data into SolarWinds Observability and click Next.

    5. On the Install Network Collector screen, download the ISO file.

  2. On the Network Collector server, mount the ISO file, and run the SolarWinds.Installer.exe file.

  3. Review the upgrade information and click Start.

  4. Review and confirm the license agreement.

  5. Make a backup of your database, click the toggle for I have a backup, and confirm that you have a database backup.

  6. Review the System Check messages. If there are no errors, click Install.

  7. When the upgrade is finished, the Configuration wizard starts automatically. Complete 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.