Documentation forSolarWinds Observability SaaS

Monitor IP Addresses

To monitor IP addresses in SolarWinds Observability SaaS, add the devices for monitoring using the web console (Network Collector web console or Platform-connected SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted).

Requirements

  • Network Collector version 2025.1.1 or later

  • Platform-connected SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted:

    • Your SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted license must include IP address management

    • IP Management must be enabled during Platform Connect configuration

Add DHCP servers and subnets using Network Collector

  1. Log in to the Network Collector web console using an account with Administrator privileges.

  2. To add a DHCP server:

    1. Click Settings > All Settings > DHCP and DNS Management.

    2. Click Add and complete the Add DHCP Server wizard.

      After you finish the wizard, the DHCP server scan runs. The first scan may take up to 30 minutes, depending on the number of scopes/subnets and the managed IP space. The associated DHCP scopes and subnets are imported and displayed under Network > IP Addresses.

      The folders and hierarchy structure is not yet exported and represented. All is flat.

  3. To add a stand-alone subnet:

    1. Click Settings > All Settings > Manage Subnets & IP Addresses.

    2. Click Add > Subnet, specify the subnet details (name, IP address, CIDR notation), and save your data.

      After the subnet is added, the initial discovery scan is scheduled. Once the data is collected, it appears in SolarWinds Observability SaaS and updates every 15 minutes.

Configure monitoring for Platform-connected SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted

To monitor IP addresses managed in SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted, configure Platform Connect to stream data to SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

To use Platform Connect, a commercial SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted 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 SaaS. See API Tokens for details.

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

  3. On the Configure Agent screen, ensure IP Management items are enabled.

After Platform Connect setup, selected items are available in SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

Specify Location and VLAN ID

To display location and VLAN ID in SolarWinds Observability SaaS, specify them on the Network Collector/Platform-connected SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted.

  1. Log in to the web console using an account with Administrator privileges.

  2. Click Settings > All Settings > DHCP and DNS Management.

  3. Select a DHCP server and click Edit.

  4. On Properties, fill in VLAN ID and Location and save your changes.

    After the next scan, the values appear in the Additional Details section for the DHCP server in SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

View IP addresses

  1. In SolarWinds Observability SaaS, click Network to display the Network area overview.

  2. Click the IP Management tab.

    • To view subnets and DHCP scopes with highest percentual utilization, review the Top 10 widgets.

    • Click a subnet/scope row to open the entity details view with more details.

    • Click a subnet/scope to go to the subnet/scope details page.

    • To view the aggregated utilization summary across your organization, review the IP Utilization widgets.

    • Click a widget header to navigate to the Entity Explorer for the relevant entity (subnets/scopes), ordered by usage.

View monitored subnets/scopes

  1. In SolarWinds Observability SaaS, click Network to display the Network area overview.

  2. Open a dedicated view for subnets or scopes:

    • For subnets, click Top 10 Subnets by % IP Address Used (the widget header). The Subnets view lists all monitored subnets, with basic details, such as IP address, CIDR, Mask, IP utilization, and DHCP scopes.

    • For scopes, click Top 10 DHCP scopes by Utilization (the widget header). The DHCP Scopes view lists all monitored subnets, with basic details, such as IP address, CIDR, Mask, IP utilization, subnet, and DHCP server.

View DHCP servers

  1. In SolarWinds Observability SaaS, click Network to display the Network area overview.

  2. Click the IP Management tab > DHCP Servers.

  3. Click a server to go to its details view. The details include:

    • Available IPs

    • IP utilization

    • Basic details, such as server name, host, IP address, ...

      If you defined VLAN ID and Location on the collector, you can see these in the Additional details section.

    • Historical cumulative totals since the server started or the server statistics reset.

      • Discovers: Clients searching for available DHCP servers on the network.

      • Offers: Servers offering IP addresses and configuration.

      • Requests: Clients requesting offered IP addresses from a specific DHCP server.

      • Acks: Servers confirming IP assignments to clients.

      • Nacks: Servers rejecting clients requests, for example in case of invalid IPs.

      • Declines: Clients informing the server that the offered IP address is already in use (detected via ARP).

      • Releases: Clients releasing the IP address when it's no longer needed.

Alerts and dashboards

You can custom alerts and dashboards for DHCP servers, DHCP subnets, and scopes.