Hybrid-Cloud-Observability-Network-Monitoring Hybrid Cloud Observability Network Monitoring Exam Questions and Answers

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

If only response time and packet loss are visible, the node is currently being polled via ICMP (ping), which does not provide detailed statistics like CPU, memory, or interface data. Switching the polling method to SNMP enables SolarWinds to gather detailed device metrics and statistics, as SNMP supports comprehensive monitoring.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

If the flow source view in SolarWinds NTA shows “never received” and firewall issues are ruled out, it is often because the device (node) is no longer monitored by SolarWinds. If a node is removed or its monitoring is disabled, the collector will not associate incoming flows from that node, resulting in "never received" status.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

SolarWinds provides the flow alert wizard as the tool to configure and manage flow alerts. This wizard guides administrators through selecting the relevant flow metrics and alert thresholds.

The documentation states:

"Use the Flow Alert Wizard to define and manage alerts on flow-based data, allowing for rapid detection and notification of anomalous network activity."

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Universal Device Pollers (UDPs) must be explicitly assigned to each node for which custom polling is required. Adding a new node does not automatically assign existing UDPs to that node, even if it’s the same device type as others already using the poller. Assigning the existing UDP to the new node will resolve the issue and enable polling of the desired data.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

The most common cause of mismatch between bandwidth (SNMP) numbers and flow (NetFlow, sFlow, etc.) numbers is that not all network traffic is included in the flow export. SNMP bandwidth counters include all traffic traversing the interface, but NetFlow or other flow records may only represent sampled or filtered subsets, or may miss certain traffic due to export or device configuration limitations. This is a well-documented and expected difference in the SolarWinds platform.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

NetPath probes require a supported Windows environment for deployment. According to the SolarWinds documentation, probes can be run from the Hybrid Cloud Observability (HCO) server itself, which must be a Windows server, or from any Windows client computer, including Windows 10. NetPath agents are not available for Linux or for network devices such as routers; the agent cannot be installed on Red Hat Linux or routers.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability (HCO) supports capturing flow data and CBQoS data using:

A. IPFIX: (IP Flow Information Export) is the IETF standard for exporting flow information, supported for both flow data and CBQoS.

C. NetFlow: Developed by Cisco, widely used for flow and CBQoS data collection.

J-Flow is primarily for flow data (from Juniper devices), and SNMP is not a flow export protocol.

The documentation states:

"NetFlow (including NetFlow v9) and IPFIX are supported for flow and CBQoS data collection. These standards provide extensive network traffic and QoS visibility within HCO."

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Incorrect hardware health data often results from polling the wrong MIB tree. By changing to the correct or preferred MIB tree for the device model, SolarWinds can accurately interpret and display hardware health metrics.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Duplicate flows can occur if multiple interfaces export the same data or if NetFlow is configured on both ingress and egress interfaces. SolarWinds documentation recommends:

Enabling the “flow de-duplication” feature within NetFlow Traffic Analyzer to automatically filter duplicate data.

Ensuring NetFlow is enabled only on ingress interfaces (best practice), as enabling it on both directions can result in duplicate records.

Automatic addition of flow sources and enabling on sub-interfaces do not directly address duplication.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

A node rediscovery updates all node and interface information, including names, IP addresses, captions, and interface aliases. Running a rediscovery on the node ensures all related interface details are refreshed in the SolarWinds database and web console.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

When displaying Universal Device Poller (UDP) data in different web console views, each view must be configured to show the UDP results as charts.

From the documentation:

“In the Universal Device Poller application, under the Web Display tab, you must check the ‘chart’ box for every web view where you want to display the poller data. If the box is not checked for the current view, the data will not be visible as a chart widget.”

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

To add additional NetFlow collector ports, you must stop the NetFlow service and then specify multiple ports separated by commas in the NetFlow collector services widget.

From the documentation:

"To configure multiple collector ports, stop the NetFlow service, edit the collector ports in the widget by separating them with commas, and then restart the service."

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

If a NetPath probe displays “no data found” while others work, the most common and recommended first step is to restart the SolarWinds agent service on the node where the problematic probe is deployed. This action often resolves agent-to-probe communication issues or agent service hiccups.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

The Brocade G620 switch is not supported by SolarWinds for hardware health statistics collection, regardless of the SNMP version or polling method used. SolarWinds documentation lists the specific switch models and vendors that are compatible with hardware health monitoring, and Brocade switches (including the G620) are not among the supported models for this feature.

The documentation states:

“Hardware health monitoring in SolarWinds is available for a set of supported vendors and models. Brocade G620 is not included in the list of devices that provide hardware health statistics. As a result, these statistics will not appear on the node details summary page, even if SNMP polling is enabled and working for other metrics.”

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

NBAR2 (Next Generation Network-Based Application Recognition) is Cisco's deep packet inspection technology used to classify network traffic at the application layer. It provides visibility by inspecting packet payloads, not just ports, and is supported in SolarWinds for advanced application recognition.

SolarWinds documentation states:

"NBAR2 allows supported Cisco devices to classify traffic by application using deep packet inspection. This provides detailed application visibility within SolarWinds network monitoring solutions."

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

If a node is up but its interfaces show as “unknown,” this usually means the interfaces are not currently being managed/monitored in the SolarWinds platform.

From the documentation:

“If interfaces are not selected for management during discovery or have been removed from monitoring, their status appears as ‘unknown’ even though the parent node is up.”

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

If interfaces on a node show an “unknown” status, the recommended solution is to delete and rediscover the node. This ensures all current interface information, OIDs, and properties are correctly detected and polled, resolving mismatch or missing data that can cause an “unknown” status.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

The MIB browser tool in the SolarWinds web console is designed to browse, query, and verify OIDs on monitored nodes. It allows you to test if an OID returns valid data for a specific device before assigning it in a custom poller. This ensures compatibility and accuracy of your custom monitoring setup.

Universal Device Pollers (UDPs) are tied to the polling engine on which they are created. This means if a UDP is created on the main polling engine, it will only collect data for devices polled by that engine. To collect data from devices polled by an additional polling engine, you must create or assign the UDP on that engine as well.

Exact Extract from Official Guide:

“Universal Device Pollers are tied to the polling engine on which they are created. To monitor devices assigned to an Additional Polling Engine, the UDP must be created or assigned on that engine.”

— (Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide, “Universal Device Pollers” section)

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

NetFlow defines a flow as a unidirectional sequence of packets sharing common values in seven key fields. The three essential data points from your list used to determine if packets are part of the same flow are IP address (source and destination), Layer 3 protocol (such as TCP or UDP), and port number (source and destination). The interface name is not used to identify a unique flow.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

The local NetFlow source provides live (real-time) flow traffic data that is sourced to and from the main polling engine server. This feature is primarily for monitoring the main polling engine’s traffic and quickly identifying top talkers and general flow activity on that server.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

When configuring database log collection (e.g., from SQL Server), SolarWinds supports:

Mixed mode authentication (SQL Server and Windows authentication)

Windows authentication

Kerberos and oAUTH are not supported directly as authentication methods for log collection from SQL Server databases in the SolarWinds platform.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Device Studio is designed to enable support for complex devices and can poll multiple OIDs as part of a single custom poller definition. While Universal Device Poller (UDP) is also used for custom SNMP polling, it is generally limited to a single OID per poller. Device Studio is intended for use cases that require combining and correlating multiple OIDs for richer, template-based device monitoring.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Disabling NetFlow/CBQoS stops flow data collection, resulting in gaps in graphs during the disabled period (A). However, historical data collected prior to disabling is retained in the database (C), so you can still view past flow information.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Show best is the status rollup mode designed for groups of redundant or backup devices. It displays the "best" (most available/least severe) status within the group, which is most useful when any one device in the group being up means the group is healthy.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Unknown flow traffic often occurs when SolarWinds receives flow data from sources not defined in its database, or when flow-enabled devices are not sending data to the expected port.

Add the devices and interfaces to SolarWinds' database: Ensures flow data is properly associated with monitored objects, resolving the "unknown" status.

Ensure flow-enabled devices send data to the appropriate port: If data is sent to the wrong port, SolarWinds cannot process it correctly, leading to unknown events.

SolarWinds documentation notes:

"Unknown flow traffic typically indicates a mismatch between flow sources and known device/interface configurations, or incorrect UDP port configuration. Registering devices/interfaces and verifying port assignments resolves most unknown flow issues."

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Device Studio enables custom polling for multi-CPU and memory statistics and node details (such as chassis, serial number, and vendor-specific fields). Baselines/thresholds (A) are alert/report features, not Device Studio poller technologies. Throughput (D) is generally handled by standard interface polling, not Device Studio.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

SolarWinds provides a MIB Browser utility that lets you search and verify whether a specific object ID (OID) exists in the SolarWinds MIB database. By entering the OID in the MIB Browser, you can confirm its presence and also test polling against the device.

The documentation states:

"Use the MIB Browser to search for and verify OIDs in the SolarWinds MIB database. The tool also allows you to test poll the device to ensure the OID is being returned."

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

SolarWinds Log Analyzer supports secure syslog forwarding using the TCP protocol. The industry standard and the default port used for secure syslog (Syslog over TLS/TCP) is port 6514. This is referenced in SolarWinds documentation where it specifies:

"For secure syslog forwarding, Log Analyzer uses TCP port 6514, which is the default for syslog over TLS, as defined by RFC 5425."

This ensures that log data is encrypted during transmission, enhancing security over the default UDP port 514 (which is used for non-secure syslog).

The “Device View” feature allows users to view the physical layout of device interfaces on graphical stencils, providing an intuitive graphical representation of port locations and status.

Exact Extract from Official Guide:

“Device View displays the physical layout of device interfaces using graphical stencils for supported devices.”

— (Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide, “Device View” section)

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

To properly collect and display NetFlow data in SolarWinds NTA, the following requirements must be met:

C. Each device that exports NetFlow data to SolarWinds’ NTA must be monitored in NPM.

NTA (NetFlow Traffic Analyzer) relies on devices being monitored by NPM (Network Performance Monitor) to collect and correlate flow data.

D. The interface through which a device exports NetFlow data must be monitored in NPM.

Only interfaces that are managed in NPM can be used for NetFlow data collection, visualization, and reporting.

Devices do not need to be monitored in NCM (Network Configuration Manager) for NetFlow, and exporting NetFlow is not optional if you want the device’s flows displayed in NTA.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Hardware health monitoring can be enabled during node discovery or after a node is added via the "List Resources" option. Additionally, hardware health can be enabled or viewed in the Asset Inventory page for nodes that support it.

From the documentation:

“You can enable hardware health sensors by selecting the option during resource discovery (List Resources) or later via Asset Inventory for individual nodes.”

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

To change the polling interval for a specific node, navigate to the Node Details Summary, then choose “Edit Node.” In the polling section, you can configure how often SolarWinds polls this node for status and statistics. This is the correct place for per-node polling interval adjustments.

The global polling settings under “Settings > All Settings > Polling Settings” (option D) affect all nodes, not an individual node.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

For a node-specific log view, navigate to the node’s details summary and choose “Analyze Logs” under the Management section. This provides a filtered view of log messages for the selected node, allowing you to drill into relevant log events and details.

From the documentation:

“To view logs for a specific node, open Node Details > Management > Analyze Logs for node-level log analysis and troubleshooting.”

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

A. When you probe less frequently, updates are slower but generally more accurate since there's less overhead and less chance of missing network changes due to polling overlaps.

C. Probing more frequently results in faster updates but may slightly decrease accuracy due to increased network noise and overlapping probes.

The documentation states:

"A higher probing frequency provides faster updates in NetPath views but can reduce accuracy due to more frequent sampling. Lower frequency means slower updates but typically results in higher accuracy and less system load."

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

The radial gauge display in the SolarWinds web console requires that the polled value from the OID is a numeric type that supports gauge visualizations (for example, a percentage or value with a defined minimum and maximum). If the OID returns data that does not fit these requirements—such as text, status, or a counter with no clear min/max—the gauge option will be grayed out and unavailable for selection. This behavior is explained in the Universal Device Poller documentation, which states that only compatible numeric OID types can be displayed using radial gauge resources.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Resource is showing outdated information: If polling intervals are too long or if there is a communication problem, the hardware health resource may not update promptly, resulting in inaccurate status display.

Wrong MIB being used for polling: If SolarWinds is using an incorrect or generic MIB, it may not retrieve accurate hardware health data for the specific fan sensor, causing the status to incorrectly display as “up” even when failed.

While disabled sensors and forced thresholds may impact alerting or monitoring, they are less likely to cause this direct display inconsistency.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

NetFlow is the Cisco IOS feature designed for monitoring and analyzing network traffic to pinpoint specific applications or endpoints consuming bandwidth or causing network slowness. It captures detailed flow information, including source/destination, ports, and protocols.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

SolarWinds capacity forecasting accuracy improves when:

More historical data is used: The more historical data points included in calculations, the better the forecasting model will perform.

Using average daily values for calculations: This smooths out anomalies and provides a more accurate trend, as recommended in the documentation:

“To improve the precision of capacity forecasting, use as much historical data as possible and set calculations to use average daily values.”

Monitoring with platform agents or adjusting thresholds affects alerting, not trend accuracy.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Network Insight in SolarWinds supports in-depth monitoring for certain advanced switch platforms. According to the latest SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide:

"Network Insight for Cisco Nexus provides advanced visibility into the health, configuration, and performance of Nexus switches. This includes inventory, configuration changes, interface health, VDCs, and more."

Other switch families such as Brocade, Juniper, and Meraki are not currently supported by Network Insight.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

If a device studio poller is configured with a static textual value (rather than a dynamic OID), any change in the actual value on the node will not be detected automatically; the poller’s configuration must be manually updated to reflect the new value. OID-based pollers update automatically as values change on the device.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

Universal Device Pollers (UDPs) in SolarWinds are tightly coupled with the polling engine on which they are configured. If the main polling engine fails, custom pollers do not automatically failover; as a result, statistics collection for those UDPs is interrupted. According to SolarWinds documentation:

"UDPs are assigned to a specific polling engine. If the polling engine fails, UDP statistics are not collected until the engine is restored."

"Universal Device Pollers are not supported on failover engines; they do not collect data from hot standby or failover engines."

Thus, options C and D directly reflect the official guidance.