Documentation forSolarWinds Observability

Server monitoring with Hybrid Cloud Observability

Servers monitored with Hybrid Cloud Observability can easily be monitored alongside infrastructure entities in SolarWinds Observability. Using Platform Connect, server nodes can be brought into SolarWinds Observability as server entities.

Hybrid Cloud Observability servers can be found as server entities in several SolarWinds Observability explorers, but they are also grouped under the host category.

Monitor server entities

If you have server nodes in Hybrid Cloud Observability that you want to monitor in SolarWinds Observability, set up Platform Connect to stream data from Hybrid Cloud Observability to SolarWinds Observability. To use Platform Connect, a commercial Hybrid Cloud Observability license must be activated on your SolarWinds Platform server.

  1. Copy or create an API token (Ingestion type), found in the settings area of SolarWinds Observability. See API Tokens for details.

  2. In the SolarWinds Platform Web Console settings, open Platform Connect. Follow the on-screen prompts to install and configure the SolarWinds Observability Agent, entering the API token created earlier. See Connect Hybrid Cloud Observability to SolarWinds Observability with Platform Connect for details.

After Platform Connect setup is completed, server nodes are available as server entities in SolarWinds Observability, as are many other Hybrid Cloud Observability nodes.

For more information about server nodes, including how to add or configure them in Hybrid Cloud Observability, see the Hybrid Cloud Observability server documentation.

View server data

Use the Entity Explorer to view a list of your observed servers. Click a server to view detailed information for the server, including Hybrid Cloud Observability status and details. Metric data collected by Hybrid Cloud Observability is available as widgets in the entity details tabs. Depending on the data collected in Hybrid Cloud Observability, the server entity's details view also includes process data, storage information, virtualization data, and hardware and software asset inventory information.

Server data collected by Hybrid Cloud Observability is also summarized with other hosts in the Infrastructure area overview. See Host monitoring.

Server metrics are also available in the Metrics Explorer, using the sw.collector prefix.

View a server entity's processes data

Click the Processes tab in the entity details view for a server entity to see a list of all processes monitored on the server. The information available for each process includes process and application names, CPU usage, and memory usage.

View a server's storage information

Click the Storage tab in the entity details view for a server entity to see a list of storage details for the server. The storage information available for the server includes:

  • Logical volume details including the name, type and file system, serial number and size details.

  • A list of drives along with model, serial number, and capacity details.

  • Storage controller details, such as name, model number, serial number, firmware version, and driver version.

View a virtual server's virtualization information

Click the Virtualization tab in the entity details view for a virtual server entity to see resource utilization and machine details for the selected server. This tab is only visible for virtual server entities.

The information available for each virtual server includes CPU value, memory utilization, and other utilization details, as well as virtual machine details like the host name and operational state.

View a server's asset information

Click the Asset tab in the entity details view for a server entity to see a list of the server's hardware and software assets monitored by Hybrid Cloud Observability. The asset information available for the server includes:

  • A system information summary, such as system and host name, IP address, and inventory collection details.

  • Hardware details summarized for the device, including asset type, manufacturer, model, and serial number.

  • Operating system highlights, including operating system type and version, as well as information about the last user to log in to the device.

  • Detailed server information about the installed hardware and firmware. This information includes details about graphics and audio cards, the number of ports and USB controllers found, detected peripheral devices, as well as available memory on the device. The name, manufacturer, and pertinent details about detected processors, network interfaces, and installed firmware is also listed. To view this detailed information for the server, click the Server tab found under the Asset tab in the server entity's details view.

  • An inventory of drivers and software detected on the server. The list of drivers includes the device that the driver applies to; a name for the device or driver; and the publisher, driver version, and date of the driver. The list of installed software includes the software name, publisher, version, and installation date. Click the Software Inventory tab found under the Asset tab in the server entity's details view to review the device or software information.

  • A summary of operating system update information for the server, including a list of installed updates and the installation details. To review the server's update status, click the Update tab found under the Asset tab in the server entity's details view. This tab also includes settings for checking for updates.

View a server's hardware health information

Click the Sensors tab in the entity details view for a server entity to see a list of the server's hardware and software sensors monitored by Hybrid Cloud Observability.

Hardware Health details are only available for sensors deployed on specific devices, such as Aruba, Cisco, Dell, F5, HP, Juniper devices, and Arista 7500E chassis. See Monitor hardware health for the SolarWinds Platform for more details.

The hardware health information available for the server includes:

  • The sensor details, such as the sensor name, status, and native state.

  • Sensor category, such as power supply, battery, array, or temperature.

  • The sensor value both as a trend chart and the current value.

  • The last poll time stamp.