SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor
Server Configuration Monitor
Stop wondering about unauthorized configuration changes. Correlate drift with server performance in minutes to keep your infrastructure secure and stable.
What is a server configuration monitor?
A server configuration monitor is software designed to track, alert, and report on changes to server files, registry entries, software, and database settings, helping IT teams prevent configuration drift and resolve issues faster. SolarWinds® Server Configuration Monitor (SCM) provides near-real-time visibility into configuration changes across Windows and Linux environments, including changes detected through custom scripts and database queries.
Explore Server Configuration Monitor features
Resolve issues faster with unified configuration monitoring
Track changes across servers, applications, and databases in near real time so you can pinpoint what changed, who changed it, and whether it impacted performance.
Server Change Tracking
Catch unauthorized configuration changes in near real time
See who changed files and registry entries on Windows and Linux servers the moment it happens. Agent-based configuration monitoring compares systems against a user-defined baseline and alerts you when drift occurs.
- Monitor file, registry, and configuration changes on Windows and Linux
- Identify who made each change with near real-time detection
- Compare current configurations against baselines or any two points in time
Database Change Monitoring
Monitor databases for unauthorized changes
Connect SolarWinds SCM to SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle, or MySQL and run queries to detect changes to user permissions, objects, backup configurations, and scheduled jobs without deploying an agent.
- Track changes to tables, indexes, views, and stored procedures
- Monitor user permission and access changes across databases
- Alert on changes to backup and job configurations
PerfStack Correlation
Know if a config change caused the performance issue
When a server slows down or goes offline, drag configuration change data onto a PerfStack timeline alongside performance, health, and availability metrics to see if a change was the root cause.
- Correlate config changes with server performance metrics in a single view
- Reduce mean time to resolution by confirming root cause in minutes
- Works across SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted for unified troubleshooting across the full application stack
Script Monitoring
Centrally monitor custom script outputs across your environment
Extend server configuration monitoring with custom PowerShell and Linux scripts, including Bash and Python. With SCM profiles, you can centrally define scripts, assign them to monitored nodes, and track output over time. SCM alerts you when script results change, helping identify configuration drift and monitor custom system data across your environment.
- Monitor Bash, Python, and other scripts supported by the target system
- Detect changes in custom script output and receive alerts when results change
- Extend configuration change monitoring beyond standard files and settings
Inventory & Compliance
Stay compliant with automated policy monitoring
Track hardware and software inventory automatically and enforce compliance with built-in policy rules. SCM evaluates configurations against benchmarks and returns pass, fail, or unknown for every rule.
- Maintain an always-current hardware and software inventory
- Evaluate configurations against DISA STIG and custom compliance policies
- Alert when compliance falls below defined thresholds
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How SolarWinds SCM works
Understand the mechanics behind configuration change detection and performance correlation.
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Server configuration monitoring FAQ
What is the best monitoring tool for servers?
The best server monitoring tool depends on your environment and use case. For IT operations teams managing hybrid infrastructure, SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor provides near real-time change detection on Windows and Linux servers, database change monitoring, and PerfStack correlation that connects configuration changes to performance impact. As part of SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted, SCM integrates with server, application, network, and log monitoring in a single console, reducing the need to switch between disconnected tools during troubleshooting.
How do you check server configuration?
Server configuration monitoring tools like SolarWinds SCM track changes automatically by comparing current configurations against a user-defined baseline. SCM uses agent-based monitoring on Windows and Linux devices to detect file, registry, and application configuration changes in near real time. You can view recent changes in the SCM Summary dashboard, compare any two configuration versions side by side, and see exactly who made each change and when.
What is a server monitor?
A server monitor is software that tracks the health, availability, and performance of servers. A server configuration monitor goes further by tracking changes to the server's configuration — files, registry entries, software, and database settings — and alerting you when those changes occur. SolarWinds SCM combines both functions by detecting configuration drift, identifying who made changes, and correlating those changes with performance metrics to help you find root cause faster.
What is SolarWinds monitoring?
SolarWinds monitoring includes a suite of IT observability tools built on the SolarWinds Platform. SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted provides full-stack visibility across networks, servers, applications, databases, and logs from behind your firewall. Server Configuration Monitor is one of the capabilities included in the Advanced and Premier tiers of Observability Self-Hosted, giving IT teams the ability to track configuration changes and correlate them with performance data in a single console.
What is a good tool to manage servers?
A good server management tool should give you visibility into both performance and configuration changes. SolarWinds Server Configuration Monitor detects unauthorized or unexpected changes across Windows and Linux servers, databases, and applications, then correlates those changes with performance metrics using PerfStack. This helps IT teams answer "what changed?" and understand whether a change contributed to an outage or performance degradation, all within the SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted platform.
Does SolarWinds SCM support container configuration management?
SolarWinds SCM focuses on tracking configuration changes to Windows and Linux servers, applications, and databases. For container configuration management, SCM can monitor script outputs and file changes on container host systems. Teams managing containerized environments often use SCM alongside other SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted capabilities like Server & Application Monitor, which supports agent-based collection for Kubernetes workloads and direct cloud integrations for Azure and AWS.
How does SCM help with compliance monitoring?
How does SCM help with compliance monitoring?
SolarWinds SCM includes a policy engine that automates compliance monitoring across your servers, databases, and applications. Each rule reads a configuration from a file, device, command, or registry setting, evaluates it against a benchmark, and returns pass, fail, or unknown. Out-of-the-box policies include DISA STIG for Windows Server. Compliance is evaluated daily and on demand, and SCM alerts you when compliance percentage falls below a defined threshold or when a specific rule fails on a node.
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Key capabilities of SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted
SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted, built from the heritage of our Orion® modules and powered by AIOps, is designed to help organizations of any scale optimize performance, ensure availability, and accelerate remediation across hybrid IT environments, all from behind the firewall to help meet your security and compliance needs.
