Observability

SolarWinds Observability SaaS Network Collector Silent Upgrade Preflight Checks Failure due to Missing SSL Certificate on IIS net.tcp Binding

This article addresses the issue where the silent upgrade of Network Collector in SolarWinds Observability SaaS is failing and cannot proceed due to Preflight checks failing.

First published date

7/28/2026 2:37 PM

Last published date

7/28/2026 3:23 PM

Overview

When performing a silent upgrade of the Network Collector via the SolarWinds Observability SaaS UI by clicking the "Upgrade" button from Data Collection >> Network Collectors, the upgrade may fail with the following message:

 

This same error message can also be seen in the SWO SaaS UI under Analyze >> Events >> Network Collector Installation and Upgrade:

 

When checking the log messages in the Network Collector server, particularly at C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Logs\Installer\<Date>\AdministrationService.Client.log, the below entries are observed:

 

2026-07-21 21:59:13,684 [7] ERROR (null) Solarwinds.Administration.ActiveDiagnosticsManager.DiagnosticsClient - Failed to run suite No certificates bound to the website were found
System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.
   at System.Number.StringToNumber(String str, NumberStyles options, NumberBuffer& number, NumberFormatInfo info, Boolean parseDecimal)
   at System.Number.ParseInt32(String s, NumberStyles style, NumberFormatInfo info)
   at SolarWinds.Administration.AdminService.WCF.EnvironmentSettingsProviderService.ToWebsiteBinding(Binding binding)

 

In the upgrade process, preflight checks validate IIS website bindings to ensure all configurations meet security and operational requirements. If IIS has additional bindings, such as net.tcp bindings with no SSL certificate assigned, the validation process fails and prevents the upgrade from proceeding. 

Product section

SolarWinds Observability

Cause

The issue is triggered when the preflight checks attempt to parse an IIS binding that has no associated certificate.

Resolution

To address this, please review the IIS bindings on the affected Network Collector server by: 

  1. Log in to the server where the affected Network Collector is installed
  2. Open IIS Manager
  3. Expand the Hostname and click Sites. Right-click on the SolarWinds NetPerfMon and select Bindings
  4. Check for any unused net.tcp binding, commonly with 808:* information. If present, delete this particular entry only by clicking "Remove". See sample screenshot below:  
  5. Restart IIS via iisreset command using CMD with Admin privileges.
  6. Re-initiate the Network Collector upgrade from the SWO SaaS UI via Data Collection >> Network Collectors >> click "Upgrade" button.

The preflight checks should proceed successfully after removing the unused binding, and the upgrade should complete successfully.