Observability-Self-Hosted-Fundamentals SolarWinds Exam Lab Questions

Custom Views(Summary Views and Detail Views) are the primary way administrators control the layout and focus of the SolarWinds Web Console. According to theSolarWinds Platform Administrator Guide, views are used to tailor the platform to different user roles.

The two primary reasons for creating them are:

Limit user access to specific elements (A): Views can be restricted to specific users or groups. By creating a custom view that only contains "Storage" widgets and assigning it to the Storage Team, an administrator can effectively limit what those users see when they log in. This prevents users from being overwhelmed by irrelevant data and acts as a functional layer of access control.

Personalize user experience and focus on specific elements (D): Different roles require different data. A CXO might need a high-level "Map" and "SLA Trend" view, while a technician needs a "Top 10 Nodes by CPU" and "Active Alerts" view. Custom views allow the administrator to curate exactly which widgets are visible, ensuring that each user has the most relevant information for their job front-and-center.

SQL customizations(Option C) are a method of building widgets, but not thereasonfor the view itself. Monitoring new elements (Option B) is handled through theAdd NodeandPollerssettings; a view onlydisplayswhat is already being monitored.

The reporting engine in the SolarWinds Platform is designed to provide historical documentation and summary data for management and technical analysis. According to theSolarWinds Platform Reporting Guide, reports are distinct from alerts; while alerts focus on real-time "critical incidents needing immediate attention" (Option B), reports focus on aggregated data over time.

Specifically, the two primary purposes shown in the options are:

Availability and Response Time Reports (A): These provide a summary of how infrastructure has performed over a specific period (daily, weekly, monthly). This is used for Service Level Agreement (SLA) reporting to show that devices at a particular location maintained required uptime and performance metrics.

Status Summaries (D): Reports can be generated to show the current or historical distribution of node health. A report on the "number of nodes in warning or critical states" provides an executive-level view of environmental stability, identifying which areas of the network are experiencing the most frequent issues.

Option C is incorrect as database dependencies are typically visualized live inAppStackorIntelligent Mapsrather than in a static report. Option B describes the function of theAlerting Engine, which is intended for immediate operational response rather than the post-hoc analysis provided by reports.

Automation is a cornerstone of efficient node management in the SolarWinds Platform. To avoid the manual labor of updating groups every time a new device is commissioned, the platform utilizesDynamic Queries. According to theSolarWinds Platform Administrator Guide, the best-practice workflow for automated grouping involves two steps.

First, an administrator shouldcreate a custom property(e.g., City or ApplicationName). When new nodes are added via the "Add Node" wizard or Network Discovery, they are tagged with a specific value for that property. Second, the group's membership is defined by adynamic queryrather than a static list. For example, a group could be configured with a rule that states: "Add any node where City is equal to London".

Once this is configured, the platform's backend services periodically scan for any new nodes that match the criteria. As soon as a new server is added and its custom property is set, it isautomaticallyadded to the group without any further human intervention. This ensures that dashboards, alerts, and reports that rely on that group always reflect the current state of the infrastructure. Option D is incorrect because while alerts can trigger actions, they are not the standard architectural mechanism for group membership management.

Custom properties can be configured as "Mandatory" to ensure data integrity across the platform. According to theSolarWinds Platform Administrator Guide, changing a property like AssetTag to mandatory after nodes already exist creates an enforcement requirement.

The system does not retroactively block polling or delete nodes (Option B and D are incorrect), but it enforces the requirement during administrative interaction. Specifically:

Requirement after the action (A): Moving forward, any new node added to the system will require the AssetTag field to be populated before the node can be saved.

Requirement when edited (C): For existing nodes that do not yet have an AssetTag, the platform will permit them to exist and be polled normally. However, the next time an administrator attempts toeditthe properties of that node, the Web Console will block the "Save" action until a value is provided for the mandatory AssetTag field. This ensures that as the environment is managed over time, the metadata is gradually backfilled until all mandatory requirements are satisfied.