Free and Premium SolarWinds Observability-Self-Hosted-Fundamentals Dumps Questions Answers

Once a SolarWinds agent is deployed, its communication mode (Active/Passive or Agent-Initiated/Server-Initiated) may need to be adjusted due to network changes or security requirements. According to theSolarWinds Platform Agent Managementguide, this is handled through a centralized administrative interface.

The correct method is toedit the agent in the "Manage Agents" page. By navigating toSettings > All Settings > Manage Agents, an administrator can select one or more agents and click "Edit Settings." Within this menu, the "Communication Mode" can be toggled. If the change is possible (i.e., the network allows the new path), the platform sends a command to the agent software on the remote node to switch its listening or polling behavior.

This process is designed to be seamless and does not require a fullredeploy(Option D) of the software, which would be time-consuming and disruptive. Modifying "Global Agent Settings" (Option A) would affect allnewagents but doesn't specifically target an existing agent's unique configuration. The "Manage Agents" page provides the granular control necessary to modify these communication parameters on a per-node or bulk basis.

The SolarWinds Platform web-based report builder provides specific layout options to ensure reports are professional and readable. According to theSolarWinds Platform Reporting Guide, customization of a report's visual structure is handled through the Layout tab.

Logo on the report (B): Administrators can upload a custom company logo to appear in the header of the report. This ensures that exported PDFs and web views align with corporate branding standards.

Width of the report (D): The layout editor allows users to define the report width, typically choosing between a fixed pixel width (often used to ensure a consistent look on printed paper or PDF) or a percentage-based fluid width that adjusts to the browser window.

While the platform allows for some styling, granular control over thefont of the report content(Option A) is generally limited to global CSS or predefined themes rather than individual report layout settings. Similarly, theposition of the page number(Option C) is usually a fixed element of the report's footer template and is not a standard customizable field within the primary web-based report layout wizard.

Account Limitationsare security filters applied at the user or group level to control data visibility within the Web Console. According to theSolarWinds Platform User Account Managementguide, these limitations do not affecthowdata is collected (polling), but ratherwhocan see the resulting data.

The two primary use cases are:

Access by Department (A): Organizations often use custom properties (like "Department") to tag nodes. By applying an account limitation, you can ensure that the "Finance" team only sees servers tagged for their department, while the "IT" team sees the entire infrastructure.

Access by Device Type (B): Limitations can be set based on vendor, machine type, or other attributes. For instance, a Network Operations Center (NOC) team might be limited to seeing only "Cisco" or "Juniper" devices to keep their dashboard focused purely on networking gear.

Option C is incorrect because "access to features" (like the ability to manage alerts or reports) is handled viaAccount Permissions, not limitations. Option D is incorrect because "polling of devices" is a backend function of thePolling Engines, which is managed via the "Manage Nodes" section rather than user-facing account limitations.

To prevent "alert noise" caused by temporary performance spikes, the SolarWinds Platform allows for threshold persistence. According to theSolarWinds Platform Administrator Guide, simply setting a threshold at 90% would trigger an alert the moment a single poll returns a high value.

The correct configuration to ensure onlysustainedhigh utilization triggers an action is toset the node to change CPU status if the threshold is met for multiple polling cycles. This is found in the "Edit Node" properties under the Thresholds section. For example, if the polling interval is 2 minutes and you set the condition to "10 minutes" (or 5 consecutive polls), the CPU status will only transition to Warning or Critical after the utilization has stayed above 90% for that entire duration. This filtering happens at the node/status level, ensuring that the alert engine only fires when there is a legitimate, sustained performance bottleneck rather than a transient spike caused by a routine background process.

In Hybrid Cloud Observability (HCO), report visibility is controlled byReport Limitation Categories. While standard users are typically restricted to specific categories (e.g., "Finance Reports" or "Network Reports"), administrators often require a global view of all reporting assets.

According to theSolarWinds Platform Documentation on Restricting Report Access, the setting"No Limitation"is the specific value used to bypass all category-based filters. When an account is configured with the "No Limitation" report category, the platform security layer allows that user to see every report stored in the database, including reports marked as "private" or those assigned to specific siloed departments.

It is important to distinguish this from the"Default"setting (Option A), which typically only allows users to see reports that have not been assigned to any specific limitation category. To ensure a Platform Administrator has a truly comprehensive view for auditing or management purposes, the "No Limitation" setting must be explicitly selected in their User Account settings underSettings > All Settings > Manage Accounts > Edit User.

In the SolarWinds Platform, the "Node" acts as the primary parent object for all other monitored elements related to that IP address or hostname. According to theSolarWinds Platform Node Managementguide, the deletion process follows a strict parent-child relationship hierarchy.

When an administrator selects a node and chooses to delete it, thenode and all its associated objects are immediately removed (B)from the active monitoring database. Associated objects include interfaces, volumes, hardware health sensors, and application monitors (such as those assigned via SAM). This is an irreversible action. Unlike "Unmanaging" or "Muting," which keep the node record intact, "Delete" purges the entity and its historical data pointers from the current view.

It is important to understand that while the records are removed from the web console immediately, the actual data rows in the SQL database may be marked for deletion and cleared during the next scheduled "Database Maintenance" (Option C). However, from the perspective of the user and the monitoring engine, theresultis immediate: the node stops being polled, its alerts are cancelled, and it no longer appears in any dashboards or reports. The platform does not allow "orphaned" objects; you cannot have a monitored interface in the database if its parent node has been deleted (Option D).

The transition from the legacy Orion Platform toHybrid Cloud Observability (HCO)introduced stricter hardware and software prerequisites to support modern features like AIOps, advanced mapping, and high-performance data processing. According to theSolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability System Requirements, the platform requires modern SQL features for optimal performance.

While legacy versions of the Orion Platform may have supported SQL Server 2016 or even 2012 in older iterations,MS SQL Server 2019is identified as theminimum supported versionfor new HCO installations. This requirement ensures compatibility with the latest database indexing and query optimization techniques used by the SolarWinds Platform to handle the high volume of time-series data generated by observability nodes. Additionally, using SQL 2019 or later (including SQL 2022) is necessary to ensure the platform can utilize specific security protocols and memory management improvements that are not available in the end-of-life SQL 2012 or SP1 versions of 2016.

According to theSolarWinds Platformconfiguration documentation, the option toEncrypt connections with SSLduring the database configuration wizard specifically dictates the security level of the communication channel between the application server and the database backend. When this box is checked, the platform ensures thatthe network data between SolarWinds' Hybrid Cloud Observability Platform server and the SQL server will be encrypted. This security measure is critical for protecting the integrity and confidentiality of the performance metrics, configuration data, and credentials as they traverse the internal network between these two primary architectural components.

This encryption utilizesTransport Layer Security (TLS)to wrap theTDS (Tabular Data Stream)protocol used by Microsoft SQL Server. By enabling this feature, the platform prevents potential "man-in-the-middle" attacks where an adversary could sniff network traffic to intercept sensitive monitoring data or administrative information stored within the SQL database. It is important to note that for this setting to function correctly, theSQL Servermust be configured with a valid SSL/TLS certificate that is trusted by the SolarWinds application server.

This setting differs from simple credential encryption (Option C) or secure storage (Option B) because it applies toall datatransmitted during the session, not just the initial login exchange. Furthermore, while the configuration wizard does require a login account (Option A), that account's specific permissions are a separate functional requirement from the underlying encryption of the transport layer. Enabling SSL encryption is a standard best practice for organizations following strict compliance frameworks likeHIPAA,PCI-DSS, orSOC2, where protecting data-in-transit is a mandatory requirement even on internal, "trusted" network segments. This centralized encryption toggle simplifies the deployment of high-security observability environments by orchestrating the secure connection parameters through the standard SolarWinds Configuration Wizard interface.

PerfStack(Performance Analysis) projects are highly versatile troubleshooting assets that can be shared and integrated across the SolarWinds Platform. According to theSolarWinds Platform Administrator Guide, once a correlation project is built—linking metrics like CPU, Latency, and IOPS—it can be utilized in several ways.

Add as a menu bar item (A): A specific PerfStack project that is used frequently (such as "Core Switch Health") can be saved and added directly to the main navigation menu. This allows users to access the troubleshooting dashboard with a single click from anywhere in the console.

Share to non-web console users (B): PerfStack projects can be shared via a unique URL. This "Public Link" feature allows stakeholders who do not have a SolarWinds account (such as third-party vendors or executives) to view the real-time correlation data in a read-only browser view.

Show as a widget in a view (D): PerfStack projects can be embedded into Summary Views or Node Details pages as awidget. This provides context-sensitive performance data right alongside the standard node information, allowing for "at-a-glance" correlation without leaving the main dashboard.

While PerfStack provides visual data, it is typically treated as a dynamic, interactive "Project" or "Widget" rather than a static "dashboard graphic" (Option C) in the classic sense of a standalone image or icon.

Modern Dashboardsrepresent a significant evolution over the legacy "Classic" summary views in the SolarWinds Platform. According to theSolarWinds Platform Administrator Guide, there are several architectural differences designed to improve performance and flexibility.

Define visible data using SWQL (D): Unlike classic dashboards that rely on a fixed "Data Selection" wizard or pre-built resources, modern dashboards allow administrators tohand-edit SWQL (SolarWinds Query Language) queriesdirectly within the widget configuration. This provides near-infinite flexibility to filter and display data in ways that were previously impossible without custom coding.

Configure refresh rates (C): Classic dashboards typically rely on the global web console refresh interval (often 5 minutes) or a full page reload. Modern dashboards introduce the ability toset individual refresh intervalsfor each widget (from 1 second to 24 hours), or configure a "Modern Widget Refresh" default for the entire dashboard. This ensures that critical real-time data is updated more frequently than static inventory data on the same page.

While "NOC mode" (Option B) and "Account Limitations" (Option A) are compatible with the broader SolarWinds environment, they are standard platform features that have existed in classic views for years and are not "unique" new settings specific only to the modern dashboarding engine.

In advanced alerting scenarios, particularly with performance metrics like disk fragmentation or temperature, the "Trigger Condition" and "Reset Condition" often require different thresholds to prevent "flapping"—a state where an alert rapidly toggles between triggered and reset states because the metric is hovering right at the threshold line. According to theSolarWinds Platform Alerting Guide, while the default behavior is to reset when trigger conditions are no longer true (Option D), this would reset the alert as soon as fragmentation hit 29.9%.

To satisfy the specific requirement where the issue is only "resolved" at 10%, a customReset Conditionmust be defined. By selecting "set reset condition to reset when condition is below a set percent," the administrator can explicitly define a separate value ($10\%$) from the trigger value ($30\%$). This creates a "deadband" or hysteresis effect, ensuring the alert remains active and visible until the database maintenance has successfully reduced the fragmentation to the desired healthy level. This configuration is essential for AppInsight applications where returning to a "not-critical" state (e.g., 29%) does not necessarily mean the underlying performance bottleneck has been sufficiently remediated.

Network Discovery is an automated process to scan subnets and import new infrastructure. However, the discovery engine includes logic to prevent duplicate entries and ignore non-relevant assets. According to theSolarWinds Platform Administrator Guide, if specific devices are missing from the results, the most common administrative cause is theDiscovery Ignore List.

The "Ignore List" is a database of IP addresses or MAC addresses that the platform has been explicitly told to skip. This often happens if a device was previously discovered but the administrator chose "Ignore this node" during the import phase. The system remembers this choice to prevent the device from reappearing in every subsequent scan. Additionally, the platform automatically ignores any node that isalready presentin the "Manage Nodes" list to avoid creating redundant monitoring objects.

While a timeout (Option C) or incorrect polling method (Option D) could cause a node to fail to respond with its full metadata, the device would typically still appear in the discovery results as a "Generic" or "ICMP-only" device rather than being skipped entirely. Only theIgnore Listor pre-existing status causes a device to be excluded from the discovery results table during a scan of a valid subnet.

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.

In the SolarWinds Platform, visibility of specific reports is managed throughReport Limitations. According to theSolarWinds Platform Reporting Guide, even if a user has general permissions to view nodes, an administrator can restrict their access to specific reports to ensure data privacy or to simplify their workspace.

By creating a report limitation, you define a rule—such as filtering by a custom property or report category—and apply it directly to a user's account settings. Once applied, the user will only see the reports that match the criteria of that limitation when they navigate to the Reports section of the Web Console. This is different from a standardAccount Limitation(Option D), which restricts the visibility of the nodes themselves across the entire platform. Using a report-specific limitation allows the user to still monitor the nodes in real-time views while preventing them from accessing sensitive historical or inventory data contained in specific PDF or web-based reports.

In the SolarWinds Platform, report access is governed by both functional permissions and account limitations. While "Disable Manage Reports" (Option B) prevents a user from editing or creating reports, it does not necessarily hide the "Reports" menu or prevent the user from viewing existing reports they have access to. To completely remove the visibility and accessibility of all reports for a specific user account, anAccount Limitationmust be applied.

According to theSolarWinds Platform User Account Managementdocumentation, account limitations act as a security filter that restricts what the user can see throughout the entire Web Console. By navigating toSettings > All Settings > Manage Accounts, selecting the user, andediting theirReport Limitation, an administrator can choose "No Reports". This configuration ensures that when the user logs in, the Reports section will either be empty or completely hidden from their navigation bar, regardless of their other permissions. This is the most effective method for high-security environments or multi-tenant deployments where certain users should have zero visibility into the historical performance data or inventory summaries contained within the reporting engine.

In the SolarWinds Platform, transferring report definitions between different instances (such as Site A and Site B) requires a format that captures the underlying logic, SQL/SWQL queries, and layout metadata. According to theSolarWinds Platform Reporting Guide, while CSV, PDF, and DOC are formats used for exporting theresultsof a report (the data), they do not contain the instructions needed to recreate the report itself on a different server.

To share a report's structure, the administrator must use theExport/Import XMLfunctionality. By selecting the report in the Report Manager and choosing "Export," the system generates a specialized.xml file. This file contains the complete definition of the report, including the datasource filters, selected columns, chart configurations, and formatting rules. When this XML file is imported into the second SolarWinds instance, the platform parses the code and creates a new entry in the local database. This is the standard method for migrating custom reports from a test environment to production or sharing successful reporting templates across a geographically distributed organization with multiple independent polling installations.

AlertStackin Hybrid Cloud Observability (HCO) uses alert clusters to group related active alerts into a single actionable incident. According to theSolarWinds HCO Alertingdocumentation, these clusters are designed to provide context beyond the alert itself by correlating different types of data.

Metric Values (D): Alert clusters include the specific performance data that triggered the alert, such as high CPU load percentages or interface latency values. This allows the administrator to see the "why" behind the incident immediately within the cluster view.

Audit Events (A): To assist in root cause analysis, alert clusters can include relevant audit events. For example, if a node goes down immediately after a configuration change, the audit event showing who logged in and what they changed will be correlated within the cluster to provide a timeline of events leading to the alert.

While "device status" is often the result of an alert, the cluster is specifically built to aggregate the underlyingmetricsandevents(Audit/Events) to give a comprehensive picture of the environment's health.

According to theSolarWinds Platform Administrator GuideregardingModern Dashboards, the platform introduces several new widget types designed for high-performance data visualization. The widget shown in the image, which displays a single, large numerical value (the number "1") representing a specific count of "DOWN Nodes" against a distinct colored background, is officially categorized as aKPI (Key Performance Indicator)widget.

KPI widgets are specifically engineered to provide an immediate "at-a-glance" understanding of critical metrics. Unlike the legacy "Classic" dashboards which relied on multi-row tables or fixed gauges, the Modern Dashboard KPI widget allows for a highly streamlined presentation of data derived fromSWQL (SolarWinds Query Language). In this instance, the widget is likely running a query such as SELECT count(NodeID) FROM Orion.Nodes WHERE Status = 2, which returns a single scalar value. This value is then rendered prominently in the center of the widget.

One of the defining features of the KPI widget in HCO is its ability to useConditional Formatting. This allows the background color of the widget to change dynamically based on the value returned by the query; for example, the background may turn red if the count of down nodes is greater than zero, providing a visual alert to the NOC staff. This type of widget is distinct from a "table" (D), which displays multiple rows of data, or a "counter" (A), which is typically a legacy term for simple incremental statistics. It is also not a "custom HTML" (B) widget, as those are used for embedding external content or custom code rather than native data point visualization. The KPI widget remains the primary tool for displaying high-level summary statistics, such as active alert counts, total interface errors, or, as seen here, the availability status of nodes across the environment.

The SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability (HCO) Platform is designed for maximum deployment flexibility to accommodate diverse enterprise security and infrastructure requirements. According to theSolarWinds Platform Installation and Upgrade Guide, the platform's architecture is fundamentally self-contained.

Operation without an internet connection (A): This is a critical requirement for many government, military, and high-security financial environments. The platform is capable of "air-gapped" operation, where all polling, data processing, and visualization occur within a private network. While features like "Platform Connect" (for cloud-based AI) may require a connection, the core monitoring, alerting, and reporting functions remain fully operational without any external internet access.

Deployment on-premises or in the cloud (B): HCO is truly hybrid. It can be installed on physical hardware or virtual machines within a local data center, or it can be deployed within a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) on platforms like AWS or Azure. This allows organizations to maintain their monitoring infrastructure alongside their managed assets, regardless of where those assets reside.

While HCOprovidesAIOps and machine learning (Option C), this is a feature of specific licensing tiers and configuration states rather than a fundamental "platform" characteristic that defines its deployment capability in the same way its offline and hybrid nature does.