How managed service providers can monitor every client's SD-WAN in SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted, and what changed in 2026.4.
The MSP problem
You are a managed service provider (MSP). You run SD-WAN for many clients. Most of them sit on one shared orchestrator: one VeloCloud Orchestrator, one Versa Director, or one FortiManager. You want to see every client's edge devices, tunnels, and health in SolarWinds.
The first idea is simple: "My partner login sees all my clients. I will add that one login and get everything." That does not work today. But one method does work for every supported vendor, and as of 2026.4 it is much easier to set up.
The quick answer
Use each client's tenant-level login, and add each client as its own orchestrator node.
- Each node discovers and polls only that client's SD-WAN devices.
- You can add clients one at a time, as you onboard them.
New in 2026.4: You can add many orchestrator nodes that share the same hostname or IP address on the same polling engine. This applies to all supported SD-WAN orchestrators.
Why the partner login does not work
SD-WAN vendors have two kinds of accounts:
Account type | What it sees | How the API behaves |
|---|
Partner / Provider / MSP account | All clients on the orchestrator | Most API calls must name the client (for example, an enterprise ID or tenant ID) in every request. |
Tenant / Customer account | One client only | The API scopes every call to that client automatically. |
SolarWinds uses the tenant pattern. With a tenant account, discovery returns the client's full device list.
Meraki is an exception. One API key can serve many clients.
How it works
Two layouts cover all supported vendors.
Shared orchestrator: VeloCloud, Cisco Catalyst , Versa, FortiManager, Meraki, and Prisma .
Dedicated orchestrator: Aruba EdgeConnect with Orchestrator-SP.
Three steps, for every vendor:
- Get tenant credentials. Get a tenant-level API credential for each client. Do not use the partner login.
- Add Node. Enter the orchestrator hostname, select the SD-WAN polling method, and enter the tenant credential.
- Repeat for each client. Add one node for each client. Check the node name on the last page of the wizard.
What changed in 2026.4
Before 2026.4, clients on the same shared orchestrator often needed separate polling engines as a workaround, because each node had the same hostname or IP address. Now all of them can use one polling engine.
Vendor guide
Each vendor uses its own words for the hierarchy. The green level is the login that you add to SolarWinds.
Vendor | Client level | Credential in SolarWinds | Hostname per client |
|---|
VeloCloud | Enterprise (Customer) | Enterprise administrator user or API token | Same |
Cisco Catalyst | Tenant | Tenant user | Own subdomain |
Versa | Tenant organization | Tenant organization user | Same |
Aruba EdgeConnect | Tenant Orchestrator | User on the tenant Orchestrator | Different |
Fortinet FortiManager | ADOM | Administrator restricted to the client's ADOM | Same |
Cisco Meraki | Organization | Dashboard API key, then select one organization for each node | Same |
Palo Alto Prisma | Client TSG | Service account client ID and secret, plus the client's TSG ID | Same |
Vendor notes
- VeloCloud: Enterprise Read Only users cannot use API tokens. Use an Enterprise account that can.
- Cisco Catalyst : Use the tenant's own subdomain as the hostname.
- Versa: The node name includes the organization name.
- Aruba EdgeConnect: Add the tenant Orchestrator, not Orchestrator-SP.
- FortiManager: The administrator must have JSON API access (
rpc-permit). - Meraki: One API key that can access many organizations works. Reuse it, and select a different organization for each node.
- Prisma The node name includes the TSG name.
Summary
Question | Answer |
|---|
Can an MSP monitor all clients' SD-WAN in SolarWinds? | Yes. Add one orchestrator node for each client. |
Which credential? | The client's tenant-level login. For Meraki, an API key plus the client's organization. |
Can I add clients one at a time? | Yes. Add each client when you onboard it. |
