Custom Propertiesare one of the most versatile features of the SolarWinds Platform, providing a way to extend the metadata associated with monitored objects. TheSolarWinds Platform Administrator Guidedefines them as "user-defined fieldsthat allow you to add custom information to nodes, interfaces, volumes, or other monitored entities".
Unlike built-in attributes like "IP Address" or "Vendor," which are discovered automatically, custom properties are created by the administrator to suit specific business needs. Common examples include "Site Location," "Emergency Contact," "Department," or "Service Level Agreement (SLA) Tier". These fields are critical for organization and automation because they allow for:
Filtering and Grouping: You can create groups that automatically include any node where the "Department" custom property is set to "Finance".
Alerting: You can configure alerts to only trigger for nodes marked as "Mission Critical" in a custom property field.
Reporting: Reports can be generated to show the uptime of all nodes belonging to a specific "Owner" or "Cost Center".
Because they are user-defined, they provide the necessary flexibility to map technical monitoring data to real-world business structures.
