Applications Systems

VMAN virtualization polling option disabled and only Basic polling available

This article explains an issue where the virtualization polling option is disabled and nodes are limited to Basic polling when adding VMware vCenter/ESXi or Hyper‑V hosts, and how to resolve it by enabling VMAN virtualization polling for the affected hosts.

First published date

7/17/2026 3:29 PM

Last published date

7/17/2026 3:29 PM

Overview

In a SolarWinds Platform deployment with Virtualization Manager (VMAN) or a platform license that includes virtualization (for example, SolarWinds Observability Self‑Hosted / Hybrid Cloud Observability), you should be able to enable virtualization polling for VMware vCenter/ESXi and Hyper‑V hosts.

In some environments, administrators find that when adding these hosts, the option to enable VMAN/virtualization polling is unavailable or greyed out, and the host can only be added with Basic polling, resulting in no VMAN performance or inventory data.

Product section

Virtualization Manager

Cause

  • Virtualization polling for the affected VMware or Hyper‑V hosts is disabled in the SolarWinds Platform configuration.
  • The nodes are added or kept as standard ICMP/SNMP/WMI “Basic polling” nodes only, so VMAN does not start collecting virtualization metrics even though the VMAN integration and licensing are present.

Resolution

  1. Confirm licensing includes virtualization

    1. Open the SolarWinds License Manager or licensing page for your SolarWinds Platform / Observability Self‑Hosted deployment.

    2. Verify that your license includes virtualization monitoring (for example, VMAN or a Hybrid Cloud Observability/Observability Self‑Hosted edition that covers virtualization).

    3. If you are unsure whether your entitlement includes virtualization, contact your SolarWinds account representative or consult the product licensing documentation for your version.

  2. Enable VMware polling for VMWARE/HYPER-V nodes as below :