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.

Configure WinRM polling in SAM 2024.4.1 and earlier

The following instructions are valid for SAM 2024.4.1 and earlier. For current documentation, see Configure WinRM in the SolarWinds Platform Self-Hosted documentation.

  • WinRM is the default fetching method for WMI-based component monitors. SAM automatically switches to DCOM as a fallback method to collect data if WinRM fails during a polling cycle, and then works through other methods until polling succeeds.

    WinRM fallback can negatively impact polling times. Ensure it is configured properly on target nodes or consider disabling WinRM on them.

  • WinRM application monitor polling is enabled on all Windows network nodes added to the SolarWinds Platform, by default.

  • WinRM is enabled by default on the SolarWinds Platform server. The global SAM WinRM toggle is enabled on the SolarWinds Platform server.

Use the following procedures to adjust WinRM settings to suit your business needs.

See also Choose a fetching method for Performance Counter Monitors in the SAM Template Reference.

If target nodes are hosted in a separate domain from the SolarWinds Platform server, adjust TrustedHost settings on the SolarWinds Platform server.

Configure WinRM polling on target nodes

WinRM polling is automatically enabled on any new Windows network nodes added to the SolarWinds Platform, but you may need to configure it on existing nodes that aren't already using WinRM to:

See Installation and configuration for WinRM for details. Use PowerShell in SAM also describes how to enable WinRM.

When finished, the target node should include the following elements:

  • The WinRM service to receive requests from other IP addresses.
  • An SSL certificate to secure data.
  • A firewall exception to allow external requests to reach the WinRM service.
  • A WinRM Listener to accept external requests.

Add target nodes that use WinRM polling as trusted hosts on the SolarWinds Platform server

To use WinRM polling on target nodes that exist in a different domain than the SolarWinds Platform server, add them to the WS-Management TrustedHosts list on the SolarWinds Platform server, to support WinRM communication between the client (the SolarWinds Platform server) and the server (the target node).

The following steps assume that the SolarWinds Platform server is used as the Main Polling Engine. In large environments with Additional Polling Engines (APEs), use these steps to create trust relationships between target nodes and related polling engines.

  1. On the SolarWinds Platform server, add each target node as a TrustedHost with this PowerShell command:
    Install-Module psTrustedHosts -Force
  2. Use either of the following methods to add target nodes as TrustedHosts.

    • To set all hosts as trusts, enter:

      Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value "*" -Force
    • If using the method above, you can replace the * wildcard character with a specific IP address for added security. Use commas to separate multiple IP addresses, if necessary.

    • To set all remote hosts from a specific domain as trusts, enter:

      Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts *.yourdomain.local
  3. Verify the WinRM connection from the SolarWinds Platform server to each target node by entering:

    Test-WSMan -ComputerName $TargetNodeHostName -Authentication default

    If the SolarWinds Platform server and a target node have the same credentials, results will look similar to this example.

Review logs on nodes for the following error. The default log location is:

C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Logs\APM\ApplicationLogs.

The following log file contains details about the WinRM configuration process: C:\ProgramData\Solarwinds\Logs\APM\RunWinRMConfigurator.log

Disable WinRM polling on individual nodes

The WinRM feature is enabled on all Windows network nodes added to the SolarWinds Platform by default. Use the procedures in this section to disable WinRM polling, if necessary.

  1. In the SolarWinds Platform Web Console, navigate to the relevant Node Details view and click Edit Node.
  2. When the Edit Properties page opens, scroll down and clear the Enable WinRM check box.
  3. Click Submit to save your changes.

Disable WinRM polling on the SolarWinds Platform server

The WinRM feature is enabled on the SolarWinds Platform server by default. To disable this feature at the global level, adjust APM.WMI.Settings on the Advanced Configuration page.

  1. Log in to the SolarWinds Platform server as an administrator.

  2. Copy the following text: /Admin/AdvancedConfiguration/Global.aspx

  3. Paste text into your browser address bar, after /Orion, as shown here:

    <your product server>/Orion/Admin/AdvancedConfiguration/Global.aspx
  4. On the Global tab of the Advanced Configuration page, scroll down to APM.WMI.Settings.

  5. Clear the WinRemoteManagementforWmiEnabled check box, and then scroll down to click Save.

  6. Restart SolarWinds Platform services in the SolarWinds Platform Service Manager, and then wait a few minutes for changes to occur.

Ignore certificate errors during WinRM polling

By default, WinRM flags invalid certificates found during polling, including self-signed certificates over HTTPS. When this occurs, messages similar to the following appear in logs:

Fetching WMI query failed by 'SolarWinds.APM.Probes.Management.WinRM.WinRmConnection'.

You can configure WinRM to ignore invalid certificates by enabling the WinRemoteManagementIgnoreCertificateErrors setting on the Advanced Configuration page.

Neither SolarWinds Platform agents nor SolarWinds Platform Remote Collectors respect centralized settings adjusted on the Advanced Configuration page.

  1. Log in to the SolarWinds Platform server as an administrator.

  2. Use the SolarWinds Platform Service Manager to stop all SolarWinds Platform services.

  3. Copy the following text: /Admin/AdvancedConfiguration/Global.aspx

  4. Paste text into your browser address bar, after /Orion, as shown here:

    <your product server>/Orion/Admin/AdvancedConfiguration/Global.aspx

  5. On the Global tab of the Advanced Configuration page, scroll down to APM.WMI.Settings.

  6. Select the WinRemoteManagementIgnoreCertificateErrors check box, and then scroll down to click Save.

  7. Restart SolarWinds Platform services in the SolarWinds Platform Service Manager, and then wait a few minutes for changes to occur.