Job Engine v3 and Feature Service fail to start when proxy does not bypass localhost in the SolarWinds Platform

3/6/2026 4:13 PM

3/6/2026 5:07 PM

You may observe one or more of the following symptoms:

Job Engine v3 or Feature Service:

- Fails to start, or starts and then repeatedly crashes or restarts.

Configuration Wizard:

- Fails to complete because the Feature Service does not start.

Logs:

- Show CM client connection failures to https://localhost:17732

Additional observation:

- Older .NET Framework–based components on the same server can connect without issue.

Network Performance Monitor

On the SolarWinds server, an HTTP/HTTPS proxy is configured using WinINet (Internet Options or system proxy).

Key behavior differences:

NET Framework apps:

* WinINet implicitly bypasses the proxy for loopback addresses such as:

localhost
127.0.0.1
[::1]

* Requests to https://localhost:17732 go directly to the local CM service (no proxy).

NET (Core/5+/8) apps including (Job Engine v3 and Feature Service):

* Do not behave the same way with WinINet implicit bypass.
* Requests to https://localhost:17732 can be sent through the proxy.
* The proxy cannot reach the server’s own loopback adapter, so the CM connection fails and the service fails to start.

Result:

Job Engine v3 and Feature Service cannot reach the local CM service via https://localhost:17732 because traffic is being proxied instead of going directly to localhost.

Step 1: Review the current proxy configuration

- Log in to the SolarWinds server where Job Engine v3 and Feature Service are running.
- Open Internet Options or Network & Internet > Proxy in modern Windows.
- Check how the proxy is configured:

* Address/port of the proxy server.
* Existing bypass or exceptions list.

Note: The effective proxy settings for SolarWinds services usually come from the Local System account or the specific service account. Ensure you are reviewing the correct context if you are using tools like PsExec or GPO.

Step 2: Configure the proxy to bypass local addresses

Update the proxy settings so that local/loopback addresses are not sent through the proxy.

Depending on UI/OS version:

- In the proxy dialog, ensure the option "Bypass proxy server for local addresses" is enabled (if available).
- In the bypass/exceptions list, add one of the following:

* Recommended: <local>
* Or explicitly: localhost

Guidance:

* The <local> token bypasses any hostname that does not contain a dot (for example localhost, myserver), which covers most loopback/local names.

* Do not rely only on <-loopback> for .NET (Core/5+/8) apps, as behavior is not consistent across frameworks.

- Apply and save the changes.

Step 3: Restart services and verify

- Restart the affected services or the SolarWinds Platform services as a group:

SolarWinds Job Engine v3
SolarWinds Feature Service

- Verify that services now start successfully and remain running.
- Configuration Wizard (if previously failing) completes without Feature Service errors.

Optional connectivity test (PowerShell 7+):

Invoke-WebRequest https://localhost:17732 -SkipCertificateCheck
Invoke-WebRequest https://localhost:17732 -SkipCertificateCheck -NoProxy

- Receiving HTTP 403 (Forbidden) is expected and indicates that you are successfully reaching the CM service; only the client certificate is missing.

- If the request works only when using -NoProxy, the proxy is still intercepting localhost traffic and needs further adjustment.

Additional information:

* This behavior is related to differences in how .NET Framework vs .NET (Core/5+/8) leverage WinINet proxy and bypass rules.

* Engineering is working on product-side improvements so that CM client components in .NET (Core/5+/8) automatically bypass loopback addresses in future releases. Until then, correctly configuring proxy bypass is the recommended solution.