Network Management

How to switch the message bus type from SolarWinds Message Bus to RabbitMQ to enable or create high availability pools

This article shows how to switch the message bus type in SolarWinds Platform 2026.2 to RabbitMQ to enable or create High Availability pool creation.

First published date

4/14/2026 5:53 PM

Last published date

4/14/2026 5:53 PM

Overview

When attempting to create a High Availability (HA) pool in the SolarWinds Platform, a blocking message appears if SolarWinds Message Bus is currently in use as the message broker:

SolarWinds Message Bus isn’t supported in high-availability (HA) environments in the current release. 

Switch the message bus to RabbitMQ, and then create the pool. See [this article] for details. " 

When attempting to enable a High Availability (HA) pool in the SolarWinds Platform, a blocking message appears if SolarWinds Message Bus is currently in use as the message broker: 

"Enabling or disabling HA pools isn’t supported when SolarWinds Message Bus is configured in high-availability (HA) environments. 

Switch the message bus to RabbitMQ, and then enable or disable the pool. See [this article] for details. " 

Product section

Orion Platform

Cause

Changes to the message bus in SolarWinds Platform 2026.2.

Resolution

Method 1: Switch the message bus type via Advanced Configuration (Recommended)

  1. Navigate to the Advanced Configuration page on your SolarWinds Platform server:

    https://<hostname>/Orion/Admin/AdvancedConfiguration/Global.aspx

  2. Locate the centralized setting: Orion.PubSub.MessageBusType

  1. Change the setting value to RabbitMQ.

  2. Subscriptions automatically react to this change; however, the process has limitations. Wait a few minutes before continuing.

  3. Ensure that the InformationServiceV3 service is running on the Main Polling Engine (MPE) throughout this process.

  4. Run the Configuration Wizard on the Main Polling Engine.

Note: If you have a Main Polling Standby Engine installed with SolarWinds Message Bus as the selected message bus, you must also run the Configuration Wizard on the standby engine.

  1. If you experience issues on additional polling engines — such as data not synchronizing with the MPE website or other inconsistencies related to the Message Bus — navigate to each additional engine and restart the services.

Method 2: Switch Message Bus via Database Manager (If Website Is Unavailable)

Use this method if the Configuration Wizard fails on the MPE, or if the website is not accessible to make the change via Advanced Configuration.

  1. Open Database Manager.

  2. Select the dbo.Setting table.

  3. Click Enable table editing.

  4. Find the row for Orion.PubSub.MessageBusType and change its value to RabbitMQ (or NATS to revert).

  5. Run the Configuration Wizard on the Main Polling Engine.

  6. Restart all services on each additional polling engine and additional website.

 

  • Switching the message bus is required before HA pool creation can proceed.

  • After completing the steps above, return to the HA configuration and attempt to Create new pool again.