Request for Clarification on Node List Resource Metrics and Monitoring Impact

Hi Team,

I hope you all are doing well.

I am exploring node list resource options and have found different types of metrics based on various device types, as shown in the screenshots below.

I have some doubts regarding these metrics, which can be found under list resources. I would like to clarify my understanding of them.

Could you please explain the benefits and drawbacks of not monitoring these metrics, as shown in the screenshot and listed below? I am tried to find related documents, which explain me in details but I am unable to get it.

Routing Table – What are the benefits of monitoring this? If we do not monitor it, what impact will it have?
IPv6 Routing Table – What are the benefits of monitoring this? If we do not monitor it, what impact will it have?
BGP Neighbors – What are the benefits of monitoring this? If we do not monitor it, what impact will it have?
OSPF Neighbors – What are the benefits of monitoring this? If we do not monitor it, what impact will it have?
CPU & Memory – If we monitor this, will it increase the device’s CPU and memory usage?
Hardware Health Sensors – What are the benefits of monitoring this? If we do not monitor it, what impact will it have?
Topology: Layer 3 – What are the benefits of monitoring this? If we do not monitor it, what impact will it have?
VLAN – What are the benefits of monitoring this? If we do not monitor it, what impact will it have?
Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) – What are the benefits of monitoring this? If we do not monitor it, what impact will it have?
EnergyWise – What are the benefits of monitoring this? If we do not monitor it, what impact will it have?
Topology: Layer 2 – What are the benefits of monitoring this? If we do not monitor it, what impact will it have?
GigabitEthernet0/0 - Gi0/0 – What are the benefits of monitoring this? If we do not monitor it, what impact will it have?
Null0 - Nu0 – What are the benefits of monitoring this? If we do not monitor it, what impact will it have?

Looking forward to your insights.

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Comments

stevenstadel

This all goes to what you want observed. Monitor the things that are important to your environment / or things you want a easily reportable inventory on. There are a huge amount of metrics available when polling devices. Ask yourself if in your environment that you need or want these metrics and how you would use the info. If you don't have a use case you don't need to collect it.

1. Routing Table - Do you need to have the routing table downloaded to SolarWinds regularly? What would you do with this information?
Benefits of Monitoring:
- Track real-time route changes
- Troubleshoot routing issues
- Validate route propagation

Impact of Not Monitoring:
- Missed misconfigurations or route changes

2. IPv6 Routing Table - (Are you even using IPv6?)
Benefits of Monitoring:
- Monitor IPv6 routes
- Ensure correct route advertisement

Impact of Not Monitoring:
- IPv6 issues go unnoticed
- Potential silent failures for IPv6 traffic

3. BGP Neighbors (Is monitoring BGP status important to you?)
Benefits of Monitoring:
- Monitor session status
- Detect flapping or lost sessions

Impact of Not Monitoring:
- Missed peering failures
- Risk of route blackholing

4. OSPF Neighbors (Is collecting OSPF info important?)
Benefits of Monitoring:
- Check neighbor and advertisement status
- Detect flapping or loss

Impact of Not Monitoring:
- Missed route convergence issues
- Difficult fault isolation

5. CPU & Memory
Benefits of Monitoring:
- Identify performance/resource issues
- Aid in capacity planning

Impact of Not Monitoring:
- Missed high usage leading to outages
- Performance degradation

Polling CPU and Memory will not increase the devices CPU and memory usage. If using SNMP this is using the same technique as polling the other data and impact would be the same.

6. Hardware Health Sensors
Benefits of Monitoring:
- Monitor temperature, fan, power, voltage
- Prevent hardware failures

Impact of Not Monitoring:
- Undetected physical failures
- Risk of unplanned downtime

7. Topology: Layer 3
Benefits of Monitoring:
- Logical IP-level network map
- Path visualization and loop detection

Impact of Not Monitoring:
- Poor routing visibility
- Difficult root cause analysis

8. VLAN
Benefits of Monitoring:
- Track VLAN config
- Troubleshoot broadcast/VLAN issues

Impact of Not Monitoring:
- Harder to trace VLAN problems

9. Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF)
Benefits of Monitoring:
- Monitor isolated routing tables
- Important for segmented networks

Impact of Not Monitoring:
- Undetected routing problems in VRFs
- Traffic misrouting risks

10. EnergyWise (I have yet to use this)
Benefits of Monitoring:
- Monitor and manage power use
- Support green IT efforts

Impact of Not Monitoring:
- No insight into energy usage
- Missed cost-saving opportunities

11. Topology: Layer 2
Benefits of Monitoring:
- Visualize physical switching and MACs
- Detect STP issues and loops

Impact of Not Monitoring:
- Troubleshooting switch issues harder
- Longer diagnosis times

12. GigabitEthernet0/0 - Gi0/0 (The picture indicates this interface is administratively turned off. Will it be turned back on, is it important to your environment to get these metrics?)
Benefits of Monitoring:
- Interface monitoring for errors and usage
- Alerts for link issues

Impact of Not Monitoring:
- Missed link or performance issues
- No correlation with network slowness

13. Null0 - Nu0 (This is a virtual interface for dropping traffic)

ImNishat

Thanks for your detailed explanation @stevenstadel

One more request, is there any documents available that can helps me to identify the different types of interface status icon like Administ. turned off or down etc.

What if i found L2 and L3 topology in a single node while doing list resources, is it good to monitor both topology or i should monitor only one. How will I decide this?

stevenstadel

I do not know of a document for the administrative / operational status icon types. I just hover over the icon and read the output.

Will you use the topology information? If there is no use case then there is no need to collect it. This isn't really a monitor but a data collection. Depending on your router / switch there can be thousands of records and collecting this data can be overburdensome to the device. https://solarwindscore.my.site.com/SuccessCenter/s/article/Network-topology-considerations?language=en_US

Layer 2 Topology (L2 Topology):

Focuses on the Data Link Layer.
Shows connections based on MAC addresses.
Helps visualize switch-level connectivity — which device is plugged into which switch port.
Useful for:
- Identifying physical port-level issues.
- Troubleshooting VLANs and switching problems.
- Viewing end-host connectivity (like PCs connected to switches).
Requires SNMP access to switches to get MAC address tables and ARP tables.

Example:

Switch A port 1 connected to PC1 (MAC: AA:BB:CC:DD:EE).
Switch A port 2 connected to Router1 (MAC: 11:22:33:44:55).

Layer 3 Topology (L3 Topology):

Focuses on the Network Layer.
Shows connections based on IP addresses and routing information.
Visualizes router-to-router or router-to-switch connectivity using Layer 3 interfaces.
Useful for:
- Troubleshooting routing issues.
- Understanding how devices communicate across subnets.
- Monitoring logical IP-based paths.
Based on routing protocols, ARP tables, and interface IPs.

Example:

Router1 (IP: 10.0.0.1) connects to Router2 (IP: 10.0.0.2).
Shows the IP-level connection between these two devices.