Observability

Change the IP address of Network Collector server in SolarWinds Observability SaaS

This article describes the steps to perform on how to change the IP address of the Windows server hosting a SolarWinds Observability Network Collector and validate that services and agent plugins return to a healthy state afterward.

First published date

6/3/2026 6:15 PM

Last published date

6/3/2026 6:27 PM

Overview

You may be required to change the IP address of the Windows server hosting the Network Collector. Schedule this change accordingly during a maintenance window and coordinate with System Administration and Database Administration teams as needed.

Product section

SolarWinds Observability

Resolution

Resolution

  1. Schedule the change during a maintenance window and coordinate with your System Administration and Database Administration teams as needed.

  2. Back up the database before making any changes.

    • If the SQL database is on a virtual machine, a VM snapshot or copy of the VM is acceptable.

    • If not, use SSMS on the Network Collector server and create full backups of these databases:

      • SolarWindsOrion

      • SolarWindsOrionLog

      • SolarWindsFlowStorage

    • Microsoft’s backup guidance is here: Create a Full Database Backup.

    • If SSMS is not installed, use: Install SQL Server Management Studio.

  3. Record the server’s current IP address before making the change.

  4. Open SolarWinds Platform Service Manager and click Shutdown Everything. Confirm that all services under Services stop successfully.

  1. In SolarWinds Platform Service Manager, under Dependencies, select SolarWinds Administration Service and click Stop.

  1. Open services.msc and stop these services:

    • SolarWinds HighAvailability Service

    • SolarWinds UAMS Client

  2. Update the Windows server IP address with help from your System Administration team.

  3. Open Database Manager, click Add Orion Server, expand SolarWindsOrion, and double-click any table such as AccountRights to open a query window.

  1. Delete the default query and run the following SQL statement, replacing newipaddresshere with the new server IP address:

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UPDATE dbo.Engines
SET IP = 'newipaddresshere'

  1. Click Execute query.

  1. Verify the change in Database Manager.

  • Under the SolarWindsOrion database, locate Engines and double-click it.

  • Run the query shown for the Engines table and review the Results pane.

  • Confirm that the IP column now shows the new IP address.

  1. Run the Configuration Wizard.

  • Open Configuration Wizard.

  • Click Next through the wizard without changing settings and allow it to complete so database connections refresh properly.

  1. Return to SolarWinds Platform Service Manager and confirm all SolarWinds services start and remain running.

  2. Return to services.msc and confirm the following services are started and running:

  • SolarWinds HighAvailability Service

  • SolarWinds UAMS Client

  1. In SolarWinds Observability SaaS, go to Settings > Agents and locate the Windows server by name or IP. Confirm the Network Collector and its plugins do not show issues.

  2. If any issues are found after the IP change, collect Network Collector diagnostic logs for further troubleshooting.

Notes

  • Network Collector uses an embedded SQL Server Express database by default for configuration and temporary data, which is why the database backup and dbo.Engines validation steps are important for this procedure.

  • This procedure is for changing the IP on the existing Network Collector server. If you are performing a High Availability deployment or a database migration to a separate SQL Server, use the official Network Collector HA/database migration workflow instead.

  • Database backup and restore operations should be done with SQL Server Management Studio rather than Database Manager.