ICMP-only nodes show Critical status with “SNMP/WMI/WinRM polling is failing” after upgrade to SolarWinds Platform 2026.1

2/26/2026 11:55 PM

2/27/2026 2:31 AM

Hybrid Cloud Observability

1. Expected poller configuration for ICMP-only nodes

For nodes intended to be ICMP-only, the typical expectation is:

• Only the following core ICMP pollers are enabled for the node:
• N.Status.ICMP.Native
• N.ResponseTime.ICMP.Native
• In the database, this usually corresponds to:
• ObjectSubType = 'ICMP' in the Nodes table.
• In the Pollers table, only N.Status.ICMP.Native and N.ResponseTime.ICMP.Native have Enabled = 1 for that NodeID.

Note: The platform does not strictly block other poller types from being enabled for nodes with ObjectSubType = 'ICMP'. It is possible (and has been observed) that additional SNMP/WMI/WinRM or Device Studio pollers remain assigned and enabled for nodes that are now ICMP-only.

2. Stale or unintended non‑ICMP pollers on ICMP-only nodes

In affected environments, some ICMP-only nodes still have enabled non‑ICMP pollers, for example:

• SNMP pollers:
• N.Status.SNMP.Native
• N.ResponseTime.SNMP.Native
• N.Details.SNMP.*
• N.Uptime.SNMP.*
• SNMP CPU/Memory pollers, and similar.
• WMI/WinRM pollers:
• N.Details.WMI.*
• N.Uptime.WMI.*
• N.Cpu.WMI.*
• N.Memory.WMI.*
• WinRM status and response-time pollers.
• Device Studio pollers:
• Entries in the DeviceStudio_PollerAssignments table (NetObjectType = 'N') referencing the node.

These pollers may be legacy or stale:

• The node may previously have been monitored via SNMP/WMI/WinRM and later changed to ICMP-only, but some pollers were not fully cleaned up.
• Device Studio configurations may still reference the node, although it is now intended to be ICMP-only.
• In some environments, unsupported direct database edits or custom scripts may have added or modified poller records.

3. How the 2026.1 polling-error logic interacts with stale pollers

With the 2026.1 enhancements:

• The platform evaluates poller results and poller errors over a monitoring period.
• If a node experiences continuous failures for certain management pollers for longer than that period and those failures include a display error message, the node can:
• Have polling errors recorded in PollingErrors.
• Be flagged internally as having a polling issue.
• Change to Critical status with a “polling is failing” message that reflects the failing protocol (SNMP/WMI/WinRM).

When stale SNMP/WMI/WinRM or Device Studio pollers are still enabled and failing on nodes that are now ICMP-only:

• Those pollers can still generate polling errors.
• The polling-error logic may then:
• Treat the node as having a persistent management polling problem.
• Set node status to Critical with a “polling is failing” message, even though ICMP is healthy and the node is meant to be ICMP-only.

4. Root cause status

As of this writing:

• SolarWinds has observed stale non‑ICMP pollers on ICMP-only nodes in some customer environments.
• The exact workflow by which those pollers remain attached:
• May differ between environments.
• Is not always visible from the UI alone.
• Unsupported direct database modifications or custom scripts are one possible contributor, but not the only potential cause.
• A fully reproducible, UI-only or API-only path that causes new non‑ICMP pollers to be assigned to an ICMP-only node has not been conclusively identified. If a customer can reliably reproduce this from supported interfaces only, it should be investigated and tracked as a potential product defect.

Important: Always back up the SolarWinds database before running any direct SQL statements. The scripts below are examples only and are provided AS IS. They are not covered under any SolarWinds support program or service. If you are not comfortable interpreting or running these queries, contact SolarWinds Support.

Step 1 – Confirm that the node is truly ICMP-only

1. In the Web Console:
   • Status is Critical with a message such as:
   • Node status is Critical, SNMP polling is failing: 'Request timed out – possible causes include network issues, incorrect community string or SNMPv3 credentials, or the device not responding.'
   • Node status is Critical, WinRM polling is failing: 'The WinRM client cannot process the request.'
   • Polling Method is set to ICMP only.
• Open the affected node from its Node Details Page.
• Confirm:
• Click Edit Node and verify:
2. From the polling engine:
• Confirm the node responds to ICMP (ping).
3. Confirm with the customer:
• No SNMP, WMI, or WinRM monitoring is expected for this node (it should truly be ICMP-only).

If the node is meant to use SNMP/WMI/WinRM, follow standard troubleshooting for those protocols instead of this article.

Step 2 – Identify ICMP-only nodes with enabled non‑ICMP pollers

Use the following read-only query to see which ICMP-only nodes still have non‑ICMP pollers enabled.

-- Preview: ICMP-only nodes with enabled non-ICMP pollers
SELECT
    n.NodeID,
    n.Caption       AS NodeName,
    n.IP_Address    AS IPAddress,
    n.ObjectSubType,
    p.PollerType,
    p.Enabled
FROM Nodes   AS n
JOIN Pollers AS p
  ON p.NetObjectType = 'N'
 AND p.NetObjectID   = n.NodeID
WHERE n.ObjectSubType = 'ICMP'
  AND p.Enabled       = 1
  AND p.PollerType NOT IN ('N.Status.ICMP.Native', 'N.ResponseTime.ICMP.Native')
ORDER BY n.Caption, p.PollerType;

Review this output to confirm:

• Which ICMP-only nodes (ObjectSubType = 'ICMP') still have enabled non‑ICMP pollers.
• That these nodes match those showing the polling is failing Critical status.

Step 3 – (Optional) Check polling-error state

If needed, you can confirm which ICMP-only nodes are currently in a polling-error Critical state.

-- Preview: ICMP-only nodes that are Critical with polling errors flagged
SELECT
    n.NodeID,
    n.Caption       AS NodeName,
    n.IP_Address    AS IPAddress,
    n.Status,
    n.StatusDescription,
    n.IsPollingError
FROM Nodes AS n
WHERE n.ObjectSubType   = 'ICMP'
  AND n.Status          = 14            -- Critical
  AND n.IsPollingError  = 1
ORDER BY n.Caption;

To see recent errors for context:

-- Preview: recent polling errors (all nodes)
SELECT TOP 100
    e.NodeId,
    n.Caption           AS NodeName,
    e.ErrorCode,
    e.ErrorMessage,
    e.DisplayErrorMessage,
    e.StartTime,
    e.EndTime
FROM PollingErrors AS e
JOIN Nodes        AS n ON e.NodeId = n.NodeID
ORDER BY e.StartTime DESC;

This can help confirm that non‑ICMP pollers on those nodes are indeed failing.

Step 4 – Identify Enabled Device Studio pollers on ICMP-only nodes

If Enabled Device Studio pollers are in use, you can preview them as well:

-- Preview: Enabled Device Studio poller assignments for ICMP-only nodes
SELECT
    n.NodeID,
    n.Caption       AS NodeName,
    n.IP_Address    AS IPAddress,
    n.ObjectSubType,
    d.ID            AS DeviceStudioAssignmentID,
    d.PollerID,
    dp.Name         AS DeviceStudioPollerName,
    d.NetObjectType,
    d.NetObjectID,
    d.Enabled       AS AssignmentEnabled,
    dp.Enabled      AS PollerEnabled
FROM DeviceStudio_PollerAssignments AS d
JOIN Nodes                       AS n
  ON d.NetObjectType = 'N'
 AND d.NetObjectID   = n.NodeID
JOIN DeviceStudio_Pollers        AS dp
  ON d.PollerID = dp.PollerID
WHERE n.ObjectSubType = 'ICMP'
  -- only assignments explicitly enabled
  AND d.Enabled = 1
  -- and only Device Studio pollers that are enabled
  AND dp.Enabled = 1
ORDER BY n.Caption, d.PollerID;

If this returns entries for nodes that are intended to be ICMP-only, these pollers are needed to be disabled or removed.

Step 5 – Cleanup: disable non‑ICMP pollers for ICMP-only nodes

• Disable non‑ICMP pollers (set Enabled = 0)
• This preserves history and allows review.

-- Cleanup: disable non-ICMP pollers for ICMP-only nodes
-- Scripts are not supported under any SolarWinds support program or service.
-- Scripts are provided AS IS without warranty of any kind. SolarWinds further
-- disclaims all warranties including, without limitation, any implied warranties
-- of merchantability or of fitness for a particular purpose. The risk arising
-- out of the use or performance of the scripts and documentation stays with you.
-- In no event shall SolarWinds or anyone else involved in the creation,
-- production, or delivery of the scripts be liable for any damages whatsoever
-- (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business
-- interruption, loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising
-- out of the use of or inability to use the scripts or documentation.

UPDATE p
SET    p.Enabled = 0
FROM   Pollers AS p
JOIN   Nodes   AS n
       ON p.NetObjectType = 'N'
      AND p.NetObjectID   = n.NodeID
WHERE  n.ObjectSubType = 'ICMP'
  AND  p.PollerType NOT IN ('N.Status.ICMP.Native', 'N.ResponseTime.ICMP.Native');

After running this, repeat Step 2’s preview query to confirm that:

• ICMP-only nodes now have only N.Status.ICMP.Native and N.ResponseTime.ICMP.Native enabled.

Step 6 – Cleanup: disable enabled device studio pollers for ICMP-only nodes

-- Scripts are not supported under any SolarWinds support program or service.
-- Scripts are provided AS IS without warranty of any kind. SolarWinds further
-- disclaims all warranties including, without limitation, any implied warranties
-- of merchantability or of fitness for a particular purpose. The risk arising
-- out of the use or performance of the scripts and documentation stays with you.
-- In no event shall SolarWinds or anyone else involved in the creation,
-- production, or delivery of the scripts be liable for any damages whatsoever
-- (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business
-- interruption, loss of business information, or other pecuniary loss) arising
-- out of the use of or inability to use the scripts or documentation.
-- Disable Device Studio poller assignments on ICMP-only nodes
UPDATE d
SET    d.Enabled = 0
FROM   DeviceStudio_PollerAssignments AS d
JOIN   Nodes                       AS n
       ON d.NetObjectType = 'N'
      AND d.NetObjectID   = n.NodeID
JOIN   DeviceStudio_Pollers        AS dp
       ON d.PollerID = dp.PollerID
WHERE  n.ObjectSubType = 'ICMP'
  AND  d.Enabled = 1        -- only currently enabled assignments
  AND  dp.Enabled = 1;      -- only pollers that are enabled

Step 7 – Force status recalculation and verify

1. In the Web Console:
• From Manage Nodes, temporarily Unmanage and then Remanage the affected nodes; or
• Wait for several normal polling cycles.
2. Refresh the node details page and Manage Nodes grid to confirm:
• Node status returns to the expected ICMP-based status (for example, Up, Down, or Warning).
• The “SNMP/WMI/WinRM polling is failing” status message is no longer present for nodes that are truly ICMP-only.

Step 8 – Optional: adjust or disable the polling-error feature (not recommended)

Important: It hides real monitoring problems. Use it only if you fully understand the impact and have other ways to detect polling failures.

1. Sign in with an account that has administrative rights.
2. Go to the Advanced Configuration page:
   http://<solarwinds_server>/Orion/admin/advancedconfiguration/global.aspx
3. Search for the setting PollerErrorMonitoringPeriodInMinutes.
4. Change its value to 0 and save.

When this setting is 0:

• SolarWinds stops changing node status based on persistent polling errors.
• Polling errors may still appear in logs and diagnostics, but nodes can remain Up even if polling is failing.

To ensure existing nodes reflect the new behavior:

• Temporarily Unmanage and then Remanage the affected nodes (for example, from Manage Nodes).
• This forces a status recalculation for those nodes under the new configuration and clears the prior polling‑error–driven Critical state