Observability

Additional polling engine installer fails to connect to the primary SolarWinds Platform server over port 17777

Installing or upgrading an Additional Polling Engine fails due to connection issues.

First published date

6/4/2026 3:20 PM

Last published date

6/4/2026 3:20 PM

Overview

When installing an additional polling engine (APE) on a temporary server, the installer fails to complete because it cannot successfully communicate with the primary SolarWinds server over TCP port 17777, even though basic connectivity (ping) works and an existing additional poller is already functioning in the environment.

Product section

Hybrid Cloud Observability

Cause

A configuration issue on the primary SolarWinds polling engine prevented stable communication over TCP port 17777 (SolarWinds Information Service / Administration Service) required by the additional polling engine installer.
After confirming that:

The installer was targeting the main SolarWinds application server (this-sw) and not the SQL server (this-swsql), and
Firewall rules allowed communication,

Running the SolarWinds Configuration Wizard (repair) for Database and Website/Services on the primary polling engine repaired the platform configuration and bindings. The additional polling engine installation then completed successfully.

Resolution

Resolution:

Confirm the installer targets the correct server
- In the additional polling engine installer, enter the hostname/FQDN of the main SolarWinds application server (main polling engine), not the SQL server, unless they are the same machine.
Verify connectivity to port 17777 from the APE server
- From the additional poller server, use a connectivity test tool such as Test-NetConnection to confirm TCP port 17777 is reachable on the primary SolarWinds server.
- If the test fails, review Windows Firewall and any AV/EDR rules on both servers and ensure there is an allow rule for TCP 17777 between the APE and the primary server.
Repair the SolarWinds Platform configuration on the primary polling engine
- If the installer is pointing to the correct server and network/firewall checks succeed but installation still fails, run the SolarWinds Configuration Wizard on the primary SolarWinds server.
- Select Database and Website/Services only, complete the wizard to repair the configuration and service bindings, verify that port 17777 is listening, and then rerun the additional polling engine installer; the installation should now complete successfully.

Related Articles:
SolarWinds Port Requirements

Ports for additional poller to communicate with APM – THWACK

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