Hybrid-Cloud-Observability-Network-Monitoring SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability Network Monitoring Exam Free Practice Exam Questions (2025 Updated)

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

In NetFlow (especially Flexible NetFlow on Cisco devices), a flow monitor is applied to an interface to track and collect information about IPv4 (or IPv6) traffic. The flow monitor references a flow record and a flow exporter. The monitor itself is the entity configured on an interface to start the flow tracking process.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

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.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

To detect duplex mismatches:

The node must be monitored (i.e., managed in SolarWinds).

The node must be in "up" status, so SNMP data about interface status, speed, and errors can be polled and compared.

Description in MIB (A) is not necessary if the device is already SNMP-capable, and "warning" status (C) is a result, not a requirement.

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:

Capacity forecasting accuracy is directly impacted by:

Amount of historical data used: More historical data provides better trend analysis.

Exhaustion calculation method: Different methods (e.g., linear, peak, moving average) affect how forecasts are calculated.

Polling interval: More frequent polling increases granularity and the accuracy of forecasting.

Warning thresholds (D) do not affect the precision of forecasts, only the alerting behavior.

If flows are confirmed as reaching the poller but no data appears in the web console, the most common cause is a missing or incorrect source address field in the flow configuration on the sending device. SolarWinds uses the source address to match incoming flows to the correct device record in its database; if this field is missing or misconfigured, the data will not be processed or displayed.

Exact Extract from Official Guide:

“If the source address field is missing or incorrectly configured in the flow-exporting device, the system cannot associate the flow with a monitored device, and no data will appear in the console.”

— (Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide, “Troubleshooting NetFlow” section)

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

According to the latest SolarWinds Administrator Guides, integrating Cisco ACI for true Hybrid Cloud Observability involves several coordinated steps:

B. Configure API polling credentials for the APIC cluster under “Settings > All Settings > Manage ACI” in SolarWinds.SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability leverages API-based polling (not only SNMP) to retrieve comprehensive fabric topology, health scores, faults, and logical object inventory (tenants, application profiles, EPGs, etc.). Configuration of API credentials is required to access these features."For deep ACI monitoring, use API credentials under 'Manage ACI'. SNMP alone is insufficient for advanced monitoring, object mapping, or health correlation."

C. Enable NetFlow export from all ACI leaf switches to the SolarWinds collector and import flow definitions in the Platform.NetFlow is essential for capturing east-west and north-south traffic inside the fabric, and SolarWinds uses this flow data for bandwidth analysis and path visualization."SolarWinds recommends enabling NetFlow export on all leafs and importing flow records to gain traffic visibility inside Cisco ACI environments."

D. Map tenants, application profiles, and endpoint groups (EPGs) to custom properties for advanced alerting and reporting.Custom properties in SolarWinds allow mapping logical ACI constructs to alert rules, reports, and dashboards for business-centric monitoring."Map EPGs and application profiles to custom properties for granular alerting and business-aligned dashboards."

Option A is incorrect because the official guide states that API polling (not just SNMP v3 with plugins) is required for automatic APIC object discovery.

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:

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:

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:

A. MIB files define the available SNMP objects and metrics that can be polled from a device.

C. MIB files provide human-readable names and descriptions for OIDs, allowing SolarWinds to display metrics in a clear, user-friendly format instead of raw OID numbers.

Automatic device discovery is handled by network scanning, not by MIB files, and OIDs are created by device vendors, not by SolarWinds.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

If the web console shows a router as “down” but it is actually operational:

ICMP is blocked: If the polling engine cannot ping the device, it will be reported as down.

SNMP is blocked: If SNMP polling fails (for devices polled via SNMP), detailed data and status cannot be retrieved, resulting in a down state.

Agent connection issues may apply for agent-based monitoring but are not typical for network routers. Node dependency configuration could affect child node status display but would not cause the parent node to show “down”.

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:

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.

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:

To monitor and configure High Availability (HA) mode for site-to-site VPN tunnels on a Cisco ASA firewall, SolarWinds uses SNMP for standard device and interface metrics, and CLI polling for advanced VPN and HA state details. SNMP provides general health data, while CLI polling (using Device Studio or Network Insight) collects information not available via SNMP, such as detailed VPN and HA status.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

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.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

According to theSolarWinds Log Analyzer Administrator Guide (Version 2024.1), Log Analyzer provides several built-in or native log entry actions as part of its log-processing rules. The key native log entry actions include:

Add a tag to the log entry: This action allows you to tag event logs for easier searching and filtering later.

Continue rule processing but do not save: With this action, the log entry is not saved but rule processing continues.

Halt further rule processing for the log entry: Selecting this action will immediately stop the processing of any more rules for the current log entry.

Sending an email notification is an alert action and not considered a native log entry action in the context of log processing rules.

Exact Extract from Official Guide:

"Key features in LA

Apply tags to event logs

Drop unwanted event logs in LA

Filter and analyze event logs

Filter and view event logs in live mode

Filter entry details in LA

Filter on log tags..."— (Log Analyzer Administrator Guide, Page 53-54)

Additionally, the guide specifies underCreate custom log-processing rules in LAthat actions such as tagging, halting processing, and not saving are among the native processing actions.

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.