SolarWinds Observability user account

Using SolarWinds Observability, you can easily access all SolarWinds Observability organizations you are a member of. You won’t need to manage multiple SolarWinds Observability user credentials across different organizations.

Organizations

Organizations allow entire teams to share access to SolarWinds Observability and the resources saved within the product. The first time a team member signs up to use SolarWinds Observability, an organization is created alongside the team member's user account. The user who created the organization is the Organization owner and can invite team members to join the organization.

Each user can be a member of several organizations at one time, with different roles in each organization. To access other organizations you may be a member of, click your profile icon. To switch to a different organization, select an organization listed under My Organizations.

Users

A SolarWinds Observability user account is required to access SolarWinds Observability. If an organization was already set up for your team, ask your Organization owner to invite you to join the organization. When someone in the organization initiates the invitation, you will receive an email. Click the link in the email to create a new SolarWinds Observability user account and join the organization. If Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is enabled for your organization, you will be prompted to set up MFA for your user account. See Set up MFA for a user account.

If, however, an organization has not been set up for your team, the person who will serve as an Organization owner should sign up to use SolarWinds Observability first. See Organizations.

When you join an existing organization, your role within the organization and within the product is determined by the person who invited you (the Organization owner or any user with user management rights). Your organization role defines the access you have to the organization’s settings and resources in SolarWinds Observability. See User roles and access levels for more information.

Log in to SolarWinds Observability

Go to the SolarWinds Observability user page (https://swo.cloud.solarwinds.com/) and select SolarWinds Observability.

Depending on whether Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) or Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is enabled for any of the organizations you access, your exact login process may differ.

1. Enter your credentials:

   • If SAML is not enabled for the organization(s) that you access, enter your username and password and click Log in to access your SolarWinds Observability user account.

     If SAML is enabled but you prefer to log in with just your SolarWinds Observability user credentials, you need to contact your Organization owner and ask them to add you as a service account before you can log in with SolarWinds Observability user credentials.

   • If SAML is enabled for any of the organization(s) that you access, click Log in with SSO, enter your organization email address or your organization name when prompted, and click Log in with Single Sign On.

     If you are not already logged into your identity provider(s), you will be prompted authenticate. If you are a member of multiple organizations, you will be prompted to authenticate for each with a SolarWinds Observability user credentials and/or identity provider.

     Once you are logged in, you can access all organizations that you are a member of.

2. Authenticate with your device (for organizations with MFA enabled):

   • If MFA was recently enabled for the organization and you have not yet configured MFA for your user account, set up MFA to continue to your user account. See Set up MFA for a user account.

   • If MFA is already configured for your user account, open the authenticator app on your device and enter the code listed for your solarwinds.com account. Authentication codes expire quickly; enter the code before the timer runs out or wait for a new code to display.

     If you cannot find your device, use one of the recovery codes saved for your user account. See Store recovery codes.

FAQs

I can’t access my account. What should I do?

Make sure you are using the correct email address. If you need assistance determining the email address associated with your account, contact SolarWinds Observability support.

For newly created accounts, a verification email is sent to the email address used when signing up for the account. You must click the link in the email before you can log into your new account.

How can I see what SolarWinds Observability organizations are associated with my email address?

You can view and access all SolarWinds Observability organizations associated with your user account by logging into SolarWinds Observability at https://swo.cloud.solarwinds.com/ with your email address. Click your profile icon to see all the organizations you have access to for SolarWinds Observability.

I think I am missing some of the organizations in the drop-down. What should I do?

If you do not see an organization listed in the profile drop-down that you expected, navigate to your account Profile settings to see a list of every organizations you are a member of.

To gain access to a SolarWinds Observability organization, ask the Organization owner in your company to invite you using your email address. Once your email address is added to the organization, it will show up in your profile drop-down menu.

What is single sign-on? What is SAML? Do I need to know anything about this?

Single sign-on (SSO) is an authentication method that allows users to log in to several independent software systems with a single set of credentials. Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is a protocol used to configure and implement SSO. This (single) authentication is provided by an identity provider. Once the user is authenticated against the identity provider, they are automatically authenticated to use all configured services. This helps administrators manage users' access to multiple services and allows users to access multiple services without worrying about multiple login credentials.

In layman's terms, SSO/SAML allows users to access multiple software systems, including SolarWinds Observability, using their corporate login method.

If your company uses SSO/SAML to manage user accounts and has enabled SAML for SolarWinds Observability, then you will need to log in with SSO.

When the term SAML is used in this document or in the software, it is referring to the SAML authentication method used by SolarWinds Observability to implement SSO.

What is an identity provider (IdP)? Why do I care?

IdP stands for identity provider, which is a service that stores and manages user accounts. Identity providers allow companies to securely manage access to their systems and data. SSO/SAML uses an identity provider to authenticate user accounts across multiple services.

If your company uses SSO/SAML to manage user accounts and has enabled SAML for SolarWinds Observability, you may need to log into your identify provider before performing certain actions. You may also need to make sure you're a member of certain identity provider groups.

Examples of identity providers include Microsoft Azure, Google, OneLogin, and Okta.

Do I have to use single sign-on? Can I log in with a SolarWinds Observability username and password instead?

If your organization has enabled SAML and you want to log in with just a username and password, ask your Organization owner to configure your user account as a service account. Once created, a service account allows you to log in with your SolarWinds Observability user account's username and password.

If your organization has not enabled SAML, you should log in with your SolarWinds Observability user username and password. Click Log in after entering your username and password at https://swo.cloud.solarwinds.com/.

I was removed from the identity provider organization and can no longer log in. What should I do?

Contact your IT administrator or contact our support team to resolve the situation.

I am prompted to log in with an identity provider multiple times in a row. Why is this happening?

If you are a member of multiple organizations with SSO/SAML enabled, you need to authenticate against each identity provider. If you are not already authenticated to all identity providers, you will be prompted to log in for each provider you are not logged into.

If you do not need access to each organization, contact our support team to discuss removing your account from the some organizations to reduce the number of organizations you log into. If you need access to all organizations but want to reduce the number of providers that you authenticated against, consider talking to each Organization owner to see if they will create a service account for you instead, which would allow you to log into those organizations with your SolarWinds Observability user instead of SSO/SAML.

I am logged in with my identity provider but I am still prompted to enter my username and password. Why?

If you are a member of an organization that does not have SSO/SAML configured, you will need to log in to that organization with your SolarWinds Observability user.

I accessed SolarWinds Observability today, but my login time does not reflect the last time I was online. Why?

Last login is the last time the user entered login credentials. This is not the last time the user accessed SolarWinds Observability for the current organization. Last login is influenced by the expiration date determined by your organization. The default expiration period is 14 days. For more information, see Set Session Expiration.

I am a new user who was recently added to the IdP. When I log in with SSO, I see an error message. What should I do?

When accessing SolarWinds Observability for the first time, new users need to log in from the IdP's portal page. Click the link to SolarWinds Observability from your IdP's portal page to access the application. After this first access to SolarWinds Observability, you can log in from the IdP page or via the Log in with SSO link at https://swo.cloud.solarwinds.com/.

Still can’t find the answer to your question?

Feel free to contact us. We’ll be happy to help.