Monitor custom metrics from HTTP endpoints via API

Collect data from devices, services, or other HTTP endpoints and store it in SolarWinds Observability SaaS. Specify metrics and configure API monitors defining what data to poll and how to poll it.

Observe monitored metrics

In SolarWinds Observability SaaS, click Infrastructure > Software and activate the API monitor tab. The tab lists all available monitors, with details, such as the collected metric prefix, number of monitored metrics, or the polling interval.
Click the Metric Prefix to open the Metrics Explorer displaying all metrics with the given prefix.
In the Metric Explorer, click a metric to display a graph showing polled values.

Create an API monitor

In SolarWinds Observability SaaS, click Infrastructure > Software and activate the API monitor tab.
Click Create API Monitor.
On Settings, provide a Name for the new monitor. The name is used as the prefix for the new metric. You can use it to find your monitors in the Metrics Explorer.
If appropriate, type a description to help you remember why you created the custom monitor.
By default, custom monitors are polled every two minutes. If you want to change the polling frequency, click Use Custom Polling Interval and specify the new polling interval.
Click Next.
On Create Request, specify the request you want to send to the URL.
1. Fill in the Request URL.
2. If appropriate, specify headers for your request. Click Add Header and provide the Name and Value for the header. Repeat for all headers you want to include in the request.
3. Click Send Request. The response (headers and content) are displayed on the screen.
Select metrics to monitor.
1. Review the response. You can see a toggle next to items you can monitor with SolarWinds Observability.
2. Enable the toggle for a metric you want to monitor.
  
  At present, only numerical metrics are supported. Future releases may include limited support for additional data types.
3. In the Configure Metric pop-up, type a display name. Review the read-only box below to see the metric name. This is the name you will see in the Metrics Explorer.
4. Click Save and complete the steps for all metrics to monitor.
When you have added all metrics you want to monitor, click Next.
Review the Summary and click Save. You will return to the API monitor tab where you can see your new metric.

Edit API monitors

If you want to rename a monitor, change the URL, add or remove a metric it specifies, edit the monitor.

In SolarWinds Observability SaaS, click Infrastructure > Software and activate the API monitor tab.

Find the monitor to edit, click the vertical ellipsis at the end of its row and select Edit. This starts the API monitor wizard.
On Settings, you can:
- Change the prefix used for polled metrics: Adjust the Name and check the change in the read-only field below.
  
  Changing the name also changes the metric prefix. As a result, the data is polled from scratch and historical data is not linked to the metric anymore.
- Change the polling frequency: Click the slider and fill in the required polling frequency.
On Create Request, you can make the following changes:
- Change the request URL
- Adjust the headers.
- Add or remove monitored metrics: Click Send Request and use the sliders to adjust what is monitored.
Review the summary and complete the wizard.

Stop/re-start polling data for a monitor

If you want to temporarily stop polling metrics for a monitor, disable it.

In SolarWinds Observability SaaS, click Infrastructure > Software and activate the API monitor tab.
Find the monitor to edit, click the vertical ellipsis at the end of its row and select Disable. Data for all metrics in the monitor will stop being polled. Check the monitor status on the API Monitor tab, it should be Disabled.
To start polling data for the monitor again, click the vertical ellipsis and select Enable.

Delete API monitors

If you want to remove an API monitor, delete it.