SolarWinds
Network Performance Monitor (NPM)
Monitor network device health and availability via SNMP, the classic SolarWinds use case.
SolarWinds built its reputation on network monitoring, and Network Performance Monitor (NPM) — historically delivered on the Orion Platform — is the flagship. NPM polls routers, switches, firewalls, and servers primarily over SNMP (with ICMP, WMI, and APIs) to track availability, interface bandwidth, errors, latency, and packet loss. It auto-discovers devices and topology, then visualizes health on maps and dashboards aimed at network and IT operations teams.
A building manager who walks the corridors on a fixed round, checking every door, light, and pipe, and immediately flags any that are broken or overloaded — for the network instead of a building.
Key Concepts
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Its strength is breadth of device support and an operations-focused workflow: fault detection, the NetPath hop-by-hop path analysis for hybrid/cloud routes, and rapid time-to-value for traditional infrastructure. This is a different lineage from cloud-native APM tools — NPM targets the network and infrastructure layer that enterprises still run, including on-premises gear that cloud-first tools largely ignore. It is typically self-hosted, which suits regulated or on-prem-heavy environments.