Documentation forServer & Application Monitor
Monitoring your applications and environment is a key capability of Hybrid Cloud Observability and is also available in a standalone module, Server & Application Monitor (SAM). Hybrid Cloud Observability and SAM are built on the self-hosted SolarWinds Platform.

HTTP Monitor

The HTTP Monitor is a SAM component monitor that is also available as a SAM application monitor template that you can assign to a node to test a web server's ability to accept incoming sessions and transmit the requested page. It also measures the time it takes the web page referenced in the component monitor to load, in milliseconds.

If a web page redirects to another page, the response time measures the entire time from the original request until the last redirected page is loaded.

You can also search a page for specific text strings and then pass or fail the test based on that search.

This monitor supports the following SolarWinds Platform variables:

  • ${Node.SysName}
  • ${Node.Caption}
  • ${Node.DNS}
  • ${Node.ID}

Statistic

This component monitor does not compute a statistic.

Polling with the SolarWinds Platform agent for Linux

Only Basic and Digest authentication are supported if using the SolarWinds Platform agent for Linux.

For Kerberos authentication on Linux-based systems, select Agentless as the Preferred Polling Method.

Field descriptions

Description

A default description of the monitor. To override the default description, add to or replace existing text. Changes are automatically saved. The variable to access this field is ${UserDescription}.

Customize descriptions to specify what will be monitored so related alerts and notifications are more meaningful later.

Enable Component

Determines whether the component is enabled. Disabling the component leaves it in the application in a deactivated state not influencing either SolarWinds SAM application availability or status.

Credential for Monitoring

If the website is password-protected, select a credential that can access the website, or use the <Inherit credential from node> option. If the credential you need is not in the credentials list, add it in the Credentials Library.

If the website is not password protected, do not specify a credential.

Port Number

The port used for the website. The default value is 80.

Url

Specify the URL you want to monitor. Variables contained in the default value for this field attempt to monitor a website at the IP address of the assigned node ${IP} and on the port specified in the Port Number field ${PORT}.

To prevent proxy servers from caching the monitored URL, append a unique query string to the URL with the ${TimeStamp} variable, also called a "cache buster."

Example for simple URL: http://${IP}:${Port}/?_cb=${TimeStamp}

Example for URL with existing query string:
http://${IP}:${Port}/?page.aspx?var=value&_cb=${TimeStamp}

Host Header

Enter the address of the host header. For example, www.solarwinds.com.

Host Request

Enter the type of content. For example, POST.

Follow Redirect

Specify the component monitor to automatically follow server-side redirects.

Use Proxy

Select "Use Proxy" to use a web proxy to access the website.

Proxy Address

Specify the address of a web proxy to access the website.

User Agent

Emulate a specific user agent or browser type when contacting the website. For example, to emulate Internet Explorer version 7, type Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0b; Windows NT 6.0). For more information about user agent strings, see http://www.useragentstring.com

Search String

Provide the text string that indicates successful page retrieval. If the specified string is found in the web page content, the monitor is considered up.

The search string is not case-sensitive.

Fail if Found

Select "Yes" to reverse the default behavior of the search string. If the search string is found in the web page content, the monitor is considered down instead of up.

Head Request

This field allows you to ensure the website responds to the HTTP protocol, but without checking the validity of the web page content. Search strings are ignored if you select this option.

Accept Compression

Indicates if compression is supported.

Response Time Threshold

Set the warning or critical threshold conditions based on the response time. The response time is the time in milliseconds it takes SAM to determine that a component is not Down and to retrieve any statistical data. See Application Monitor Thresholds.

User Notes

Add notes for easy reference. To access this field, use the following variable: ${UserNotes}