SolarWinds, placed in 3D

What you get

• Device layer: node status, CPU load and memory colour each server in its rack. A node that is down shows as a fault on the device, its workloads and its tenant; SAM application monitors become the services a failure would stop.
• Network layer: interface speed and utilisation drawn on the auto-laid-out topology; width = speed, colour = utilisation. Fail a switch or link and see who loses every path and who keeps a backup.
• Power and Air layers: hardware-health temperatures become rack-inlet colours; UPS load, battery and runtime (estimated when SolarWinds has no runtime value) sit on the one-line diagram. Click the UPS → Fail → what goes dark.

What we read (today)

SolarWinds export field	DC Sim sheet.column	Layer
Node Caption	Devices.name	Device
Node Vendor + MachineType	Devices.model, matched to the catalog	Device, Power, Air
Custom property for the rack (e.g. Rack)	Devices.rack	Floor
Custom property for the U position (e.g. RackUnit)	Devices.u	Floor
Custom property or node Location for the row	Racks.row	Floor
Node Status	Readings metric up	Device, Network
Node CPULoad, PercentMemoryUsed	Readings metrics util_pct, mem_used_pct	Device
Interface Speed; InBps / OutBps	Cables.speed; Readings item device:port, metric link_mbps	Network
Interface InErrors + OutErrors	Readings item device:port, metric port_errors	Network, Cabling
Hardware health temperature items	Readings metric inlet_c or temp_c	Air
Hardware health fan and power-supply items	Readings metrics fan_rpm, psu_ok	Device
UPS values (hardware health or a universal device poller): load %, battery %, runtime	Readings metrics ups_load_pct, ups_battery_pct, ups_runtime_min	Power
SAM application names on the node	Devices.runs	Device, Token

SolarWinds has no native rack or U field, so the Devices sheet takes them from the custom properties you already keep. Readings use four columns — time, item, metric, value — so any report with a timestamp fits.

What we will read / write back (roadmap)

Item	Status
Read-only SolarWinds connector in the DC Sim agent: SWQL queries through the Information Service on a schedule, read-only account	Roadmap (today: CSV export)
Node inventory → devices and rack positions automatically from custom properties	Roadmap
SolarWinds alerts → DC Sim alarms with advice	Roadmap
Write back: DC Sim rack and U assignments into SolarWinds custom properties; export the design as a node import	Roadmap

Setup

1. Export from SolarWinds. Run a web-based report over nodes (Caption, Vendor, MachineType, Status, CPULoad, PercentMemoryUsed and your rack custom properties) and export it as CSV or Excel; or run a SWQL query through the Information Service via the Orion SDK, e.g. SELECT Caption, Vendor, MachineType, Status, CPULoad, PercentMemoryUsed, CustomProperties.Rack FROM Orion.Nodes. Export interfaces and hardware-health items the same way.
2. Map the columns. Download the DC Sim Excel template and paste the node export into Devices, racks into Racks, metrics into Readings. Headers match case-insensitively with synonyms (“Hostname”, “Rack name”, “U position”, “Model number”), so rename only what the importer cannot guess.
3. Import. Import → preview → report → apply. Up to 10 MB per file, 50,000 rows per sheet, values only; bad rows are listed and never block the import.
4. Read the check list — U overlaps, overweight racks, breakers above 80 %, unknown models — each with its 3D location; a re-upload shows what changed.
5. Ask to be told when the live, read-only SolarWinds connector is ready: da@mustardseedmt.com.

Nothing inbound

Today nothing connects to SolarWinds: you upload a file. The roadmap connector will run in the outbound-only DC Sim agent: one WebSocket out, no listening port, batches spooled to disk and replayed in order after an outage, and a read-only SolarWinds account whose credentials never leave your network.