Hybrid-Cloud-Observability-Network-Monitoring SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability Network Monitoring Exam Free Practice Exam Questions (2026 Updated)

When a device returns multi-core CPU statistics as a table, SolarWinds Device Studio allows you to use the " Add Calculated Value " option and select the average function. This enables the web console widget to display the computed average CPU utilization automatically.

The documentation explains:

" For devices with multi-core CPUs, you can use the Add Calculated Value feature in the Device Studio to compute the average (or other statistical functions) of returned table values, which can then be visualized directly in widgets. "

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.”

The correct polling method is Agent. SolarWinds documentation explains that agents are useful when traditional polling methods such as WMI or SNMP are difficult because of firewall, NAT, proxy, or domain boundary constraints. For Windows systems, WMI can require multiple ports, including RPC/DCOM-related ports, which makes firewall configuration more complex. SolarWinds agents provide a communication channel between the SolarWinds Platform server and the monitored computer and can perform secure polling over a single port. API and CLI are not the native replacement polling method for this Windows device scenario, and SNMP would not solve the Windows native polling/firewall problem in the same way.

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To monitor a custom application using flow monitoring in SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability, you must define the application by specifying its port or port range (and optionally protocol). After this, the application can be assigned to flows involving specific machines, but the primary step is to define application ports first.

Device Studio pollers offer more advanced capabilities than traditional Universal Device Pollers (UDPs). While both can poll SNMP-enabled devices, Device Studio pollers can gather additional node details (such as chassis information and advanced device metrics) that UDPs are not able to access. UDPs are limited to polling OIDs and displaying simple numeric or textual values. The official documentation states that Device Studio expands the range of supported technologies and provides access to more detailed device information compared to UDPs.

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. "

If devices respond to SNMP queries individually but aren ' t discovered during network scans, the most likely cause is the discovery timeout value being set too low. This can result in slower devices timing out before responding to discovery requests, even though they are operational and SNMP-enabled.

The documentation explains:

" If devices are not discovered but respond to SNMP queries, increase the discovery timeout and retry. Short timeouts can cause missed responses from devices that take longer to reply during scanning. "

List resources is the menu where you can select or deselect which interfaces (including operationally down and administratively shutdown ones) are monitored for a node. This allows you to uncheck unnecessary or down interfaces and prevent them from impacting the node status.

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)

When you observe an " unknown traffic event " in the SolarWinds web console, it usually means the collector is receiving NetFlow or other flow data from a device that is not currently managed or monitored in the SolarWinds database. The collector can receive flows from any device, but if the device is not added or properly monitored, the traffic will show up as " unknown " because SolarWinds cannot associate the flows with a known interface or device.

Flow collectors differ from polling engines because they passively receive and process flow records sent by network devices, while polling engines actively poll devices for data (like SNMP). Devices must be explicitly configured to export their NetFlow, sFlow, or J-Flow records to the IP address and port of the flow collector, rather than being queried by the SolarWinds server.

The documentation states:

" To monitor flow data, devices must be configured to send their flow records to the collector. Unlike traditional polling, the collector does not initiate contact; it listens for incoming flow exports from network devices. "

ICMP polling in SolarWinds only provides basic status (up/down) by sending ping requests to the device. For more detailed statistics such as interface traffic, CPU load, and memory usage, SNMP polling must be enabled. The documentation states:

" ICMP polling provides only basic reachability and response time. To collect detailed statistics such as device health, performance, and interface details, SNMP polling must be configured on the device and enabled in SolarWinds. "

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.

Device Studio allows you to define calculated values based on multiple polled results. To aggregate per-core CPU usage into a single metric, you can create a calculated value (such as the average) using the outputs from all cores.

From the documentation:

“Device Studio enables you to define calculated values (such as sum or average) when multiple SNMP values are returned, allowing you to represent a total or average CPU usage.”

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.

This message means the NetFlow collector is receiving flow data from a device whose IP address is not managed in the SolarWinds platform, so the flow data is discarded. To resolve this, you must either:

Add the sending device as a managed node using the correct IP address, or

Enable the " Allow matching nodes by another IP " option in the NetFlow settings, which allows SolarWinds to match flows sent from an interface IP or secondary IP.

SolarWinds determines node status by polling using ICMP (ping) and SNMP. If ICMP is blocked by a firewall or network device between the polling engine and the monitored node, the node will appear “down” in the web console even though it is actually up. Likewise, if the SNMP credentials configured in SolarWinds are incorrect, the polling engine cannot successfully query the device, leading to a false “down” status.

From the documentation:

“If ICMP packets are blocked or dropped, SolarWinds cannot determine node status, resulting in false down events.”

“Incorrect SNMP community strings or credentials will prevent node polling, and these nodes may appear down in the console.”

Changing the polling interval or node management settings does not directly cause this issue.

Duplicate flow data typically results when both ingress and egress flow monitoring are applied simultaneously on interfaces. If both directions are enabled either globally (all interfaces) or locally (on a single interface), the same flow is counted twice—once entering and once leaving—resulting in duplicate statistics.

UDP port 2055 is the default port for NetFlow data (flow analysis), while SNMP (port 161) is required for CBQoS monitoring. SolarWinds NTA receives flow traffic on UDP 2055, and SNMP is used for polling CBQoS statistics from devices.