Documentation forServer & Application Monitor
Monitoring your applications and environment is a key capability of SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted (formerly Hybrid Cloud Observability) and is available in the Essentials edition. Server & Application Monitor (SAM) is also available in a standalone module.

SSL Certificate Expiration Date Monitor

This SAM component monitor, which is also available as an application monitor template, tests a web server's ability to accept incoming sessions over a secure HTTPS channel. You can configure the number of times that SAM attempts to connect to a server before assuming that the SSL certificate expired; by default, SAM tries once.

To enable and set the retry mechanism:

  1. Navigate to the SolarWinds Platform installation directory.
    The default directory is c:\Program Files (x86)\SolarWinds\Orion\SolarWinds.APM.Probes.dll.config
  2. In a text editor, open SolarWinds.APM.Probes.dll.config.
  3. Change the value of <SslExpirationDatePollingSettings MaxConnectionAttempts="1" /> to any number higher than the default value, 1.
  4. Save the changes.
  5. Use the SolarWinds Platform Service Manager to restart the SolarWinds Job Engine v2 service.

Note the following details about this component monitor:

  • This monitor assumes that target nodes are running a web service of some type at the remote end.
  • It does not currently support proxies.
  • You can use this monitor for devices with web-accessible interfaces that are secured with certificates. The web interface may serve as the primary way to interact with the service the device provides (for example, an SSL VPN), or it may be the interface used to configure and manage the device.

    (Recommended) For Internet Security (IPsec) VPN devices, monitor the same certificate used to secure the management web interface of the device. In addition to increased security and consistency, this allows SAM to monitor the certificate expiration via HTTPS.

  • For tips on configuring alerts for this monitor, see this THWACK post.

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 if the component is enabled. Disabling a component monitor leaves related application in a deactivated state that doesn't influence either SAM application availability or status.

Port Number

The default value for this port is 443.

Convert Value

Select the "Yes, convert returned value" option to display fields where you can select a common function or enter a custom formula. The Custom Conversion option provides basic arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /), plus built-in mathematical functions for more advanced conversions. See Convert values in data transformations for SAM component monitors.

Response Time Threshold

Set the warning and 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. For details, see Manage thresholds in SAM.

Statistic Threshold

Specify when a threshold that indicates a warning or critical level has been breached. Logical operators are in the drop-down list followed by a blank field for you to enter the value of this threshold. For example: Less than 15 for warning, Less than 5 for critical. For details, see Manage thresholds in SAM.

User Notes

Add notes for easy reference. You can access this field by using the variable, ${UserNotes}.