Connect SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted to SolarWinds Observability SaaS

If you have a SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted Essentials or Advanced license and also use SolarWinds Observability SaaS, you can use Platform Connect to see SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted data in SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

Platform Connect also enables Anomaly-Based Alerting and the SolarWinds AI Agent in SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted.

These instructions apply to the current release (2026.1.1). For earlier versions, see the version-specific administrator guide. You can download guides for supported versions from SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted and SolarWinds Platform and previous versions.

Requirements

To set up Platform Connect, you need:

• Any SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted license (commercial, temporary, or trial)

• Connectivity between your SolarWinds Platform server and your cloud service provider for communication with SolarWinds Observability SaaS

• If you use an existing SolarWinds Observability SaaS account, you need an API token for the account.

Set up Platform Connect

1. Log in to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console using an account with administrative privileges.

2. Click the Platform Connect icon in the menu bar.

   • If Platform Connect is not configured, the setup wizard launches.

   • If it is already configured, Platform Connect details are displayed.

   

   You can also launch the wizard from Settings > All Settings > scroll down to the Platform Connect section > Add/Edit Platform Connector.

3. Accept the SolarWinds SaaS Supplement to the license agreement.

4. On Connect, specify the SolarWinds Observability SaaS account for setting up the Platform Connect. Select whether to create a new account or use an existing one.

   Create a new account

   Choose this option if you don't have a SolarWinds Observability SaaS account. This option creates a new SolarWinds Observability SaaS environment for you, including:

   • A new tenant and organization

     In SolarWinds Observability SaaS, the terms tenant and organization are often used interchangeably.

     • A tenant is the isolated environment that stores and secures all observability data.

     • An organization determines how users and permissions are managed within that tenant.

     The tenant expiration is aligned with your SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted license. For trials, the tenant is valid for 30 days.

   • A user account you can use to sign in

   Select your cloud provider and type your email address. Click Install Agent to continue.

   Use existing account

   Select this option if you already have a SolarWinds Observability SaaS account associated with an existing tenant and organization.

   • In the current SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted version, tenant expiration is not automatically updated to reflect your SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted license. The tenant may remain on its original expiration date.

   • If the tenant expires, you may need to activate a commercial SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted license or contact SolarWinds support.

   • If you disconnect and re-connect Platform Connect, the connection is restored to the same tenant, even if you select Create a new account.

   • You can connect multiple SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted deployments to the same SolarWinds Observability SaaS organization by using the same API token.

   Create or copy an API token

   1. Log in to your SolarWinds Observability SaaS account.

   2. Go to Settings > API Tokens.

   3. Do one of the following:

      • To use an existing token, click the three dots next to the token, and select Copy Token.

      • To create a token, click Create API Token, provide a name for the new token and click Create. Then, click the clipboard icon to copy the token.

        Learn more about SolarWinds Observability SaaS API tokens.

   Install the Agent

   1. When you have your API token, switch back to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.

   2. In the Platform Connect Wizard, paste the API token from your clipboard to the Token field and click Install Agent.

      The SolarWinds Platform Web Console will begin installing the SolarWinds Observability SaaS Agent on your SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted server. The agent is the behind-the-scenes service that enables the connection between SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted and SolarWinds Observability SaaS. You will see a confirmation toast when the installation is successful.

5. On Configure Agent, select SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted features you want to use in SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

   SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted Features are enabled by default.

   • Anomaly-based alerts - analyze metrics for anomalies to reduce alert noise. See Anomaly-Based Alerting in SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted.

   • AI functionality - use SolarWinds AI Agent. See Meet the AI Agent... on THWACK.

   SolarWinds Platform Module Features

   In addition to SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted features, you can also stream data from other modules to SolarWinds Observability SaaS. If you don’t have an appropriate license, a trial license will be enabled so that you can evaluate available features in SolarWinds Observability SaaS for 30 days. After the trial period, polling data for unlicensed features will be discontinued and your license will revert back to its original status.

   1. Enable the SolarWinds Platform Module Features toggle.

   2. Enable streaming data to SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

   3. Enable features from individual categories you want to see in SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

      • Network & Infrastructure Observability

        By default, the data will be sent for all monitored nodes. Click the number of selected nodes to see a list of these nodes. By default, only network nodes and servers send data to SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

        

      • IP Management - DHCP, DNS, and subnets

      • Storage Observability - storage

6. Select the features and click Next. Your SolarWinds Observability SaaS user name and organization displays at the top of the screen. You can also use the link to log in to SolarWinds Observability SaaS. Review the account information and click Connect at the bottom of the screen.

7. After Platform Connect setup is completed, you can see enabled SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted data in SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

Troubleshoot the Agent installation

If the Agent installation fails, make sure you have opened the following paths in the firewall:

• *.amazontrust.com:80

• *.ss2.us:80

These paths are used for online certificate status validation. See Online Certificate Status Protocol for details.

See Network requirements for more information.

Connect SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted in High Availability mode using Platform Connect

To connect SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted with High Availability deployed using Platform Connect, install the SolarWinds Observability SaaS Agent on your main server, following the steps below:

1. Build the SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted standby server and create the HA pool. For more information, see SolarWinds Platform High Availability deployment walk-through.

2. Set up Platform connect on the main server.

3. Force a manual failover. For more information, see Disable or delete HA pools, force a failover, or update an HA pool for SolarWinds Platform products.

4. Install the SolarWinds Observability SaaS Agent on the standby server.

Edit what data is sent to SolarWinds Observability SaaS

1. In the SolarWinds Platform Web Console, click the Platform Connect icon () in the menu bar. The Platform Connect details are displayed.

2. On Agent Status, review the Network Collector version, the agent version and plugins status.

3. On Settings, review the account used to configure the Platform Connect and enabled features. Use to toggles to change what data is being sent to SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

Disable Platform Connect

To temporarily stop sending all SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted data to SolarWinds Observability SaaS, complete the following steps:

1. In the SolarWinds Platform Web Console, click the Platform Connect icon () in the menu bar. The Platform Connect details are displayed.

   As an alternative, you can navigate to Settings > All settings > scroll down to the Platform Connect section > Add/Edit Platform Connector and select Disable Connection.

2. Activate the Settings tab and disable the Platform Connect Status toggle.

Remove the connection between SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted and SolarWinds Observability SaaS

To remove the connection, uninstall the Agent.

1. In the SolarWinds Platform Web Console, click the Platform Connect icon () in the menu bar. The Platform Connect details are displayed.

2. Click Uninstall Agent and complete the uninstallation. The connection is deleted. To connect SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted and SolarWinds observability SaaS again, configure the connection from scratch.