Optimizing SAM Templates

FormerMember

We have multiple polling engines with NPM SLX and SAM ALX licenses, so there is no licensing issue.

I create application templates with all of the monitors required for all functions of the application, WMI monitors, port monitors, Service Monitors, SNMP monitors, etc. assign it to each node in the application, and then enable/disable the monitors based upon what the node needs checked.  This allows the grouping of the application's nodes in the All Applicaitons Tree and simplifies alerting. It certainly makes it easy, but is this the most efficient way to monitor?  Does this increase the load on the polling engine or consume component monitor licenses even though the checks are disabled?

Is this the most efficient way to do this?

dgsmith80

Firstly, if the component is disabled it does NOT use up a component license - this was verified during a conversation directly with SolarWinds and I tested it to validate in my lab environment.

However I wouldn't say this is the cleanest way of doing it, personally, I might have 1 template that has the more generic components that would be applied to All Nodes, and you would hope that 85% or more don't need any alteration. Then you create a few more specific templates for groups of nodes that need more specific components (ie SQL, IIS or Exchange). This way you're not having to spend as much time changing the application monitor.

There are many different ways of working with SAM Application Monitors & Monitor Templates, I would highly recommend some of the Virtual Classrooms within SolarWinds Customer Portal if you have access to that. Otherwise, there are some excellent videos on YouTube and within SolarWinds Labs.