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Copyright © 1995-2014 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of thisdocument may be reproducedby any means nor modified, decompiled, disassembled, published or distributed, in whole or in part, or translated to any electronic medium or other means without thewritten consent of SolarWinds. All right, title, and interest in and to the software and documentationare and shall remain the exclusive property of SolarWinds and its respective licensors.

SOLARWINDS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS OR OTHER TERMS, EXPRESSOR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, ON SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATIONFURNISHED HEREUNDER INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES OFDESIGN, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ANDNONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL SOLARWINDS, ITS SUPPLIERS, NOR ITSLICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, WHETHER ARISING IN TORT, CONTRACT OR

ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY EVEN IF SOLARWINDS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THEPOSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

The SolarWinds, the SolarWinds & Design, ipMonitor, LANsurveyor, Orion, and other SolarWinds

marks, identified on the SolarWinds website, as updated from SolarWinds from time to time andincorporated herein, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registeredor pending registration in other countries. All other SolarWinds trademarks may be common lawmarks or registered or pending registration in the United States or in other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks contained and/or mentioned herein areused for identificationpurposes only and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.Microsoft®, Windows®, and SQL Server® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in theUnited States and/or othercountries.

Version 11.0.1, revised 10/20/2014


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About SolarWindsSolarWinds, Inc develops and markets an array of network management,monitoring, and discovery tools to meet the diverse requirements of today’snetwork management and consulting professionals. SolarWinds productscontinue to set benchmarks for quality and performance and have positioned thecompany as the leader in network management and discovery technology. TheSolarWinds customer base includes over 45 percent of the Fortune 500 andcustomers from over 90 countries. Our global business partner distributor networkexceeds 100 distributors and resellers.

Contacting SolarWindsYou can contact SolarWinds in a number of ways, including the following:

Team Contact Information

Sales [email protected]

www.solarwinds.com1.866.530.8100

+353.21.5002900

Technical Support www.solarwinds.com/support/

User Forums www.thwack.com

Conve ntionsThe docum entation use s consistent conventions to help you identify itemsthroughout the printed and online library.

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Convention Specifying

Bold Window items, including buttons and fields.

Italics Book and CD titles, variable names, new terms

Fixed font File and directory names, commands and codeexamples, text typed by you

Straight brackets, asin [value]

Optional command parameters

Curly braces, as in

{value}

Required command parameters

Logical OR, as invalue1|value2

Exclusive command parameters where only one of theoptions can be specified

Documentation LibraryThe following documents are included in the documentation library:

Document Purpose

Administrator Guide

Provides detailed setup, configuration, and conceptualinformation.

Page Help Provides help for every window in the user interface

ReleaseNotes

Provides late-breaking information, known issues, and updates.The latest release notes can be found at www.solarwinds.com .

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Chapter 1: Introduction 30

Why Install SolarWinds NPM 30

Benefits of Orion Network Performance Monitor 31

Key Features of SolarWinds NPM 32

Networking Concepts and Terminology 38

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) 39

Internet Con trol Message Protocol (ICMP) 39

SNMP Credentia ls 40

Management Information Base (MIB) 41

Windows Management I nstrumentation (WMI) 41

How Orion Network Performance Monitor Works 42Chapter 2: Installing SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor 44

Licensing Orion Network Performance Monitor 44

NPM Licensing Levels 44

Licensing NPM with Other Sola rWinds Products 45

Maintaining Licenses with Lic ense Manager 45

Installing License Manager 45

Using License Manager 46Orion NPM Require ments 47

Orion Requireme nts 47

Orion Server Software Requirements 47

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Orion Server Hardware Requirements 50

Requirements for the Orion Database Server (SQL Server) 51

Requirements for Virtual Machines and Servers 54

Additional Required Components 54

Server Sizing 55

SNMP Requirements for Monitored Devices 56

Enabling Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 57

Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2003 57

Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2008 58

Enabling IIS on Windows Serve r 2012 58

Enabling and Requiring Secure Channels with SSL 59

Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2003 59

Enabling SSL Connections on Wi ndows Server 2008 61

Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2012 61

Configuring the Orion We b Console for SSL 62

Configuring the Web Console to R equire SSL 63

Antivirus Directory Exclusions 63

Windows Server 2003 and Wind ows XP: 64

Windows Server 2007, W indows Vista, and Windows 2008 64

Installing Orion Network Performance Monitor 64

Completing an Orion NPM Ins tallation 64

Completing the Orion Configuration Wizard 67

Upgrading Orion Network Performance Monitor 70Upgrading an Evaluation Licen se 72

Chapter 3: Discovering and Add ing Network Devices 75

Discovery Central 75

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Network Discovery 76

Interface Discovery 76

Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wizard 76

Using the Network Sonar Results Wizard 84

Importing a List of Nodes Using a Seed File 86

Managing Scheduled Discovery Results 88

Using the Discovery Ignore List 89

Downloading the SolarWinds MIB Database 89

Chapter 4: Ma naging Orion NPM in the Web Console 91

Logging in to the Orion Web Consol e 91Orion Network Performance Monitor Thresholds 91

Network Performance Mo nitor Threshold Types 92

Setting Network P erformance Monitor Thresholds 93

Custom NPM Interface Charts 93

Discards and Error s Charts 93

Percent Utilization Charts 94

Traffic Charts 94

Other Charts 94

Ch apter 5: Monitoring Devices in the Web Console 95

Network Overview 95

Viewing Interface Data in NPM Tooltips 97

Setting Interface Management State s 98

Editing Interface Properties 99

Remotely Managing Mo nitored Interfaces 101

Assigning Pollers to Monitored Devices 101

Unscheduled Device Polling and Rediscovery 103

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Monitoring F5 BIG-IP Devices and VSANs 103

F5 Connections 104

F5 CPU 105

F5 Device Details 105

F5 List of Virtual Servers 106

F5 List of Nodes 107

F5 List of Pools 108

F5 Memory 109

F5 Thro ughputs 109

Monitoring Fibre Channel Devices and VSANs 110

VSAN Views 110

VS AN Details 110

VS AN Summary 111

Monitoring Windows Server Memory 112

Monitoring Hardware Health 112

Schedul ing a Node Maintenance Mode Time Period 112

Chapter 6: Monitoring Quality of Experience 114

Introduction 115

User Scenarios 116

Scenario: High Response Time 116

Syste m Requirements 116

Netwo rk Packet Analysis Sensors (NPAS) 117

Server Packet Analysis Sensors (SPAS) 117Port Requirements 118

Port Mirroring Requiremen ts 118

How Do SolarWinds Packet Analysis Sensors Work 118

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Network Packet Analysis Sensor (NPAS) 119

Server Packet Analysis Sensor (SPAS) 119

Deploying Packet Analysis Sensors 120

Aggregation per application 121

Aggregation with access to network (NPAS) 122

Aggregation with access to application servers (SPAS) 123

Aggregation per site 124

Aggregation per site with access to network (NPAS) 124

Aggregation per site wit h access to application servers (SPA S) 126

Aggregation per comp uter 127

Aggregation per computer with access to network (NPAS) 127

Aggregation per computer with acces s to application servers (SPAS) 128

Deploying a Network Sensor 129

Deploying a Server Sensor 130

Removing a Se nsor 131

Configuring Nodes and Applications to Mo nitor 131

Monitoring QoE Applications 132

Defining nodes t o monitor for a network sensor 134

Defining C ustom HTTP Applications 134

Advanced Sensor Configuration 136

Configuring the Monitored Inter face 136

Configuring the Number of CPU Cores and Allocated Memory 137

Configuring Thresholds 138Packet Analysis Sensor Agents 139

Agent Require ments 139

Deploying an Agent 141

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Deploying Agent Software via Orion Server Push 141

Deploying the Agent Manually 144

Mass Deploying an Agent 145

Packaging the Orion Agent for Deployment with Patch Manager 152

Agent Settings 162

Certificates and the Agent 164

Managing Agents 167

Editing Agent Configuration 169

Chapter 7: Virtualizatio n 171

VMware Monito ring 171Virtual Machine Auto-Summary 171

Virtualization Alerting and Reporting 171

Requireme nts for Monitoring ESXi and ESX Servers 172

Enabling SNMP on VMware ESXi and ESX Servers 173

Enabling SN MP on VMware ESXi 173

Enabling SNMP on E SX Server version 3.5 175

Enabling SNMP on ESX Server Version 4.0 176

Enabling SNMP on ESX Server V ersion 5.0 178

Creating ESX Server Credentials for NPM 178

Managing VMware Credentials in the Web Console 179

Adding VMware Servers for Mo nitoring 180

Polling for VMware node s Using the Network Sonar Wizard 180

Virtualization Summary 181Viewing ESX Host Details 181

Changing Poll ing Orders for ESX Servers 182

Chapter 8: Monito ring EnergyWise Devices 183

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What is EnergyWise? 183

EnergyWise Terminology 183

Monitoring EnergyWise Devices with NPM 186

EnergyWise Summary View and Resources 187

Additional EnergyWise Resources 188

Adding the EnergyWise Summary View 190

Managing EnergyWise Interface Entity Power Levels 191

Chapter 9: Monitoring Wireless Networks 193

Getting Started 193

Migrating Data from the Wire less Networks Module 193Viewing Wireless Data 194

Removing a Wireless Devic e 195

Chapter 10: Creating and Managing Alerts 196

Advanced Alerts Predefined by Default 196

Configuring Basic Alerts 198

Creating a N ew Basic Alert 199

Editing the Nam e of an Existing Basic Alert 199

Selecting the Monitored Property of a Basic Alert 200

Selecting the Network Objects Monitored by a Basic Alert 201

Setting the Alert Trigger of a Basic Alert 201

Setting the Time of Day for a Bas ic Alert 202

Setting the Alert Suppression for a Basi c Alert 202

Selecting the Actions of a Basic Alert 203

Testing a Basic Alert 204

Configuring Basic Alert C opies 205

Changing the Name of a Copied Alert 206

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Changing the Monitored Property of a Copied Alert 206

Changing Network Objects Monitored by a Copied Alert 207

Changing the Alert Trigger of a Copied Alert 207

Changing the Time of Day of a Copied Alert 208

Changing the Alert Suppression of a Copied Alert 208

Changing the Actions of a Copied Alert 210

Deleting a Basic Alert 210

Deactivating a Basic Alert 211

Adding Basic Alert Actions 211

Available Basic Alert Actions 212

Send an E-mail / Page 212

Playing a Sound 213

Logging Alerts to a File 214

Logging an Alert to the Windows Event Log 215

Sending a Syslo g Message 216

Executing an External Program 217

Executing a Visual Basic Script 217

E-mailing a Web Page 218

Changing a Cust om Property 219

Using Text to Speech Output 220

Sending a Wi ndows Net Message 221

Dialing a Paging o r SMS Service 222

Sending an SNMP Trap 222Using GET or POST URL Functions 223

Copying Basic A lerts to an Additional Polling Engine 224

Viewing Alerts in the Orion Web Console 225

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Chapter 11: Creating Network Maps 226

Chapter 12: Monitoring MIBs with Universal Device Pollers 227

Downloading the SolarWinds MIB Database 228

Configuring Universal Device Poller Thresholds 229

Creating Universal Device Pollers 230

Assigning Pollers to Nodes or Interfaces 234

Disabling Assigned Pollers 236

Duplicating an Existing Poller 236

Importing MIB Pollers 237

Exporting Universal Device P ollers 238Setting Custom Poller Thresholds 239

Transforming Poller Result s 240

Available Polle r Transformations 240

Creating a Poller Transformation 242

Viewing Universal Dev ice Poller Statistics 246

Creating Alerts for Uni versal Device Pollers 247

Mapping Universal Device Pollers with Network Atlas 247

Chapter 13: Device Stu dio 248

Managing Pollers 248

Managing Unique Devices 249

Creating Device Studio Pollers 249

Customizi ng Pollers 250

Manually Definin g Object Identifiers (OIDs) 250

SNMP Get T ype 251

What is a Formula? 251

Common Formulas 251

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Assigning Pollers 252

Scanning Monitored Objects 252

Chapter 14: Using Additional Polling Engines 254

Additional Polling Engine Guidelines 254

Additional Polling Engine System Requirements 255

Installing Additional Polling Engines 256

Upgrading an Additional Polling Engine 257

Configuring an Additional Polling Engine 258

Changing Polling Engine Node Assignments 258

Chapter 15: Managing the Orion Web Console 260Logging in for the First Ti me as an Administrator 260

Windows Authentication with Active Directory 260

Using the Web Console N otification Bar 261

Navigating the Orion Web C onsole 262

Using Web Console Tabs 262

Using and Disabling Web Con sole Breadcrumbs 264

Customizing Web Console Breadcrumbs 264

Disabling Web Console Breadcrumbs 264

Administrative Fu nctions of the Orion Web Console 265

Changing an Account Password 265

Orion Website Administration 266

Node & Group Managemen t 266

Node & Group Management 267

Accounts 267

Customize 268

Manage Alerts 268

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Product Updates 268

Views 269

Settings 269

Details 270

Viewing Secure Data on the Web 271

Handling Counter Rollovers 271

Orion General Thresholds 272

Orion General Threshold Types 272

Settin g Orion General Thresholds 274

Cu stomi zing Views 275

Creating New Views 275

Editing Views 275

Configuring Vi ew Limitations 277

Copying Views 278

Deleting Views 279

Views by D evice Type 279

Resource Configuration Examples 279

S electing a Network Map 279

Displaying a List of Objects on a Network Map 280

Displaying a Custom List of Maps 281

Displaying an Event Summary - Custom Period of Time 282

Specifying User-Defined Link s 282

Specifying Custom HTML or Text 283Specifying an Ori on Report 284

Displaying a Custo m List of Reports 285

Filtering Nodes 286

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Grouping Nodes 287

Adding a Service Level Agreement Line to Charts (Orion NPM) 288

Using and Configuring Subviews 289

Using a Subview 289

Adding a New Subview 290

Editing an Existing Subview 292

Copying an Existing Subview 294

Deleting an Existing Subview 294

Us ing the Orion Web Console Message Center 295

Exporting Views to P DF 296

Creating a Custom Summary View 296

Creating and Editin g External Website Views 298

Customizing the Orio n Web Console 298

Customizing Web Console Menu Bars 299

Changing th e Web Console Color Scheme 300

Changing the Web C onsole Site Logo 301

Configuring the Available Product Updates View 301

Updating your Orion Insta llation 302

Orion Web Console and Chart Settings 302

Web Console Settings 303

Auditing Settings 305

Chart Settings 305

Discovery Settings 305Using No de Filters 306

Custom Cha rts in the Orion Web Console 307

Customizing Charts in the Orion Web Console 307

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Custom Chart Resource Title Bar Options 307

Edit Chart Title View 307

Custom Node Charts 309

Availability 309

CPU Load 309

Memory Usage 309

Packet Loss and Response Time 310

Custom Volume Charts 310

Multiple Object Charts 311

Custom Cha rt View 311

Printing Options 311

Chart Titles 311

Time Period 311

Sample Interval 312

Chart Size 312

Font Si ze 312

Data Export Options 312

Cu stom Objec t Resources in the Orion Web Console 312

Editing a Custom Object Resource 313

Selecting Custom Objects and Resources 313

Available Custom Resources 314

Integrating SolarWinds E ngineer’s Toolset 314

Installing the Toolset Integration 314Configuring a Toolset Integ ration 315

Adding Programs to a Toolset Integration Menu 316

Using Integrated Remote Desktop 317

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Accessing Nodes Using HTTP, SSH, and Telnet 317

Chapter 16: Managing Devices in the Web Console – Core 319

Adding Devices for Monitoring in the Web Console 319

Changing the Polling Method for a Node 323

Changing Polling Engine Assignments 324

Customizing the Manage Nodes View 325

Customizing the Manage Nodes View Node Tree 325

Customizing the Manage Nodes View Node List 325

Deleting Devices from Monitoring 326

Viewing Node Data in Tooltips 327Editing Object Properties 328

Promoting a Node from IC MP to SNMP Monitoring 332

Promoting a Node from ICMP to W MI Monitoring 334

Viewing Node Resources 335

Setting Device Man agement States 336

Changing Polli ng Engine Assignments 337

Unscheduled Device Polling and Rediscovery 337

Monitoring Wind ows Server Memory 338

Scheduling a Node Mai ntenance Mode Time Period 338

Chapter 17: Managing Gro ups and Dependencies 339

Managing Groups 339

Creating Groups 340

Editing Existing Groups 341

Managin g Group Members 342

Deleting Grou ps 342

Managing the Display of Group Status 342

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Managing Dependencies 344

Creating a New Dependency 345

Editing an Existing Dependency 346

Deleting an Existing Dependency 348

Viewing Alerts on Child Objects 348

Chapter 18: Managing Orion Polling Engines 349

Viewing Polling Engine Status in the Web Console 349

Configuring Polling Engine Settings 349

Orion Polling Setting s 350

Polling Intervals 350Polling Statistics Inter vals 351

Dynamic IP Address and Hos tname Resolution 351

Database Settings 351

Network 355

Calculat ions & Thresholds 356

Calculating Node Availability 357

Node Status 357

Percent Packet Loss 357

Calculating a Bas eline 358

Setting the Node Warning Level 359

Managing Packe t Loss Reporting 359

Chapter 19: Ma naging Web Accounts 362

Creating New Accou nts 362

Editing User Accounts 364

User Accoun t Access Settings 364

Setting Account Limitations 366

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Defining Pattern Limitations 368

Setting Default Account Menu Bars and Views 369

Configuring an Account Report Folder 371

Configuring Audible Web Alerts 371

Chapter 20: Monitoring Network Events in the Web Console 373

Viewing Event Details in the Web Console 373

Acknowledging Events in the Web Console 374

Chapter 21: Using Orion Advanced Alerts 375

Creating and Configuring Advanced Alerts 375

Creating a New Advance d Alert 376Naming, Describing , and Enabling an Advanced Alert 376

Setting a Trigger Condition for an Advanced Alert 379

Setting a Reset Condition f or an Advanced Alert 383

Setting a Suppression for a n Advanced Alert 385

Setting the Monitorin g Period for an Advanced Alert 386

Setting a Trigger Action for an Advan ced Alert 387

Setting a Reset Action for an Advanced Alert 387

Alert Escalation 388

Sharing Advanced Alerts with Othe r SolarWinds Products 388

Understanding Condition Groups 389

All Condition Group 389

Any Condition Group 390

None Condition Group 390

Not All Condition Group 390

Using the Advanc ed Alert Manager 391

Current Events Window 391

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Active Alerts Window 392

Alert Viewer Settings 393

Adding Advanced Alert Actions 394

Available Advanced Alert Actions 395

Sending an E-mail / Page 395

Playing a Sound 397

Logging an Advanced Alert to a File 398

Logging an Advanced Alert to the Windows Event Log 399

Logging an Adv anced Alert to the NetPerfMon Event Log 400

Sending a Syslog Message 401

Executing an External Program 402

Executin g a Visual Basic Script 403

Emailing a Web Page 404

Using Text to Speech Output 405

Sending a Windo ws Net Message 406

Sending an SNMP Trap 407

Using GET or POST URL Functions 408

Dial Paging or SM S Service 409

Testing Alert Actions 409

Viewing Alerts in the Orion Web Console 410

Acknowledging Ad vanced Alerts in the Web Console 411

Managing A dvanced Alerts in the Web Console 412

Editing Advanced Alerts 412Enabling and Disabling Advan ced Alerts 413

Deleting Adva nced Alerts 414

Escalated Advanced Alerts 414

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Escalated Alert Example 414

Creating a Series of Escalated Alerts 415

Viewing Alerts from Mobile Devices 418

Chapter 22: Creating and Viewing Reports – Core 420

Predefined Orion Reports 420

Availability 421

Current Node Status 421

Current Volume Status 422

Daily Node Availability 422

Events 422Historical CPU and Memory Reports 424

Histo rical Response Time Reports 424

Historical V Mware ESX Server Reports 424

Groups: Current Groups and Groups Members Status 425

Groups: Daily Group Availability 425

Groups: Group Availabil ity (with members) 426

Groups: Historical Groups Status 426

Historical Volume Usage Reports 426

Inventory 426

Viewing Reports 427

Viewing Reports in th e Orion Web Console 427

Viewing Reports in the Report Writer 428

Creating Reports in the Web Console 428Modifying an Existing W eb-Based Report 429

Creating a New Web-B ased Report 431

Adding Content to a Web-Based Report Column 433

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Adding a Custom Chart to a Web-Based Report Column 433

Adding a Custom Table to a Web-Based Report Column 436

Using Report Writer 438

Preview Mode 439

Design Mode 439

Creating and Modifying Reports in Report Writer 439

General Options Tab 440

Select Fields Options Tab 440

Filter Results Options Tab 441

Top XX Records Options Tab 442

Time Frame Options Tab 443

Summarization Options Tab 443

Report Grou ping Options Tab 443

Field Formatting Options Tab 444

Customizing the Rep ort Header and Footer Image 444

Customizing W eb-Based Report Headers and Footers 445

Customizing Report Headers and Footers with Report Writer 445

Using Orion Report Scheduler 445

Creating a Scheduled Report Jo b 445

Using Orion Report Scheduler with HTTPS 446

Troubleshooting t he Orion Report Scheduler 447

Printing Web Pa ges from Report Scheduler 447

Orion Report Scheduler and Internet Explorer Enhanced Security 448Re ports and Account Limitations 448

Example Device Availability Report – Report Writer 449

Reports and Account Limitations 457

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Chapter 23: Monitoring Syslog Messages 459

Configuring the Orion Syslog Port 460

Syslog Messages in the Web Console 460

Syslog Resources 461

Viewing Syslog Messages in the Web Console 462

Acknowledging Syslog Messages in the Web Console 463

Using the Syslog Viewer 463

Viewing and Acknowledging Current Messages 464

Searching for Syslo g Messages 464

Syslog Server Settings 465Configuring Syslog Viewer Filters and Alerts 466

Available Syslog Alert Actions 469

Forwarding S yslog Messages 470

Syslog Alert Variables 471

Syslog Date/T ime Variables 471

Other Syslog Variables 473

Syslog Message Priorities 474

Syslog Faci lities 474

Syslog Severities 475

Chapter 24: Mon itoring SNMP Traps 477

The SNMP Trap Protocol 477

Viewing SN MP Traps in the Web Console 478

Using the Trap Viewer 478

Viewing Current Traps 479

Searching f or Traps 479

Trap Viewer Settings 480

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Configuring Trap Viewer Filters and Alerts 480

Available Trap Alert Actions 483

Trap Alert Variables 485

Trap Date/Time Variables 485

Other Trap Variables 487

Chapter 25: Creating Custom Properties 489

Managing Custom Properties 490

Creating a Custom Property 490

Assigning Valu es to a Custom Property 492

Importing Custom Property Data 493Removing Cust om Properties 494

Exporting a Custom Prop erty 494

Custom Properties in Older Orion Platform Versions 495

Creating Properties with the Custom Property Editor 495

Removing Custom P roperties 496

Importing Custom Property Data 497

Custom Property Editor Settings 498

Editing Custom Properties in the C ustom Property Editor 498

Using Filters in the C ustom Property Editor Edit View 499

Creating Custom Properties Filters 499

Removing Custom Properties Filters 500

Chapter 26: Creating Account Limit ations 502

Using the Account Limit ation Builder 502

Creating an Account Limita tion 502

Deleting an Account L imitation 503

Chapter 27: Managing the Orion Database – Core 505

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Using Database Manager 505

Adding a Server 506

Viewing Database Details 506

Viewing Table Details 507

Editing Database Fields 508

Using SQL Server Management Studio 509

Database Maintenance 511

Chapter 28: Common NPM Tasks 512

Creating a n Alert to Discover Network Device Failures 512

Creating a Cust om Property 512Creating an Alert Using a Custom Property 516

Configuring Alert Action s 517

Create a Local Alert Log 517

Send a Syslog Message 520

Send an SN MP Trap 521

Testing Alerts 522

Scheduling and Emailing Business Hours Reports 524

Creating a Busines s Hours Report 524

Scheduling and Emailing a Report 525

Creating Geographic or Departmental Views 527

Creating a Custom Gr oup 527

Chapter 29: Software Lic ense Key 528

Chapter 30: Configuring Auto matic Login 529

Using Windows P ass-through Security 530

Passing Login Information U sing URL Parameters 532

Using the DirectLink Acco unt 532

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Chapter 31: Status Icons and Identifiers 534

Status Indicators 534

Status Rollup Mode 536

Chapter 32: Variables and Examples 539

Variable Modifiers 539

Advanced Alert Engine Variables 540

General 540

Date/Time 540

Group Variables 542

SQL Quer y 544Status Variables 545

Node Variables 546

Vo lume Variables 553

Example Messages Using Variables 555

Basic Alert Engine Variables 555

Alert-Sp ecific 556

Buffer Errors 557

Date/Time 558

Interfaces 559

Interface Errors 560

Inter face Polling 561

Inte rface Status 562

Interface Traffic 563

Nodes 564

Node P olling 566

Node Statistics 566

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Node Status 567

Object Types 567

Volumes 568

Volume Polling 568

Volume Statistics 569

Volume Status 569

Example Messages Using Variables 570

Basic Alert Engine Suppression Examples 571

Depen dent Node Alert Suppression Example 572

Fai lure of Load Balancing Alert 574

Advanced Alert Engine Variables – NPM Only 576

Interfac e Poller Variables 576

Interface Variables 581

Universal Device Poller 585

Wireless Node Vari ables 586

Chapter 33: 95th Percentile Cal culations 587

Chapter 34: Regu lar Expression Pattern Matching 589

Characters 589

Character Cl asses or Character Sets [abc] 590

Anchors 591

Qua ntifiers 592

Dot 594

Word Boundaries 595

Alternation 595

Regular Expression Pattern Matching Examples 596

Chapter 35: Troubleshooting 597

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Back Up Your Data 597

Verify Program Operation 597

Stop and Restart 598

Run the Configuration Wizard 598

Adjusting Interface Transfer Rates 598

Using Full Variable Names 599

Working with Temporary Directories 599

Moving the SQL Server Temporary Directory 599

Redefining Wi ndows System Temporary Directories 600

Slow Per formance on Windows Server 2008 600Chapter 36: Orion Product Family 602

Monitoring Netwo rk Application Data (SAM) 602

Managing Network Con figurations (NCM) 603

Managing IP Addresses (IPAM) 604

Managing IP Service Level Ag reements (SolarWinds VoIP and N etwork Quality Manager) 605

Monitoring NetFlow Tr affic Analysis Data (NTA) 605

Monitoring Network User Connections (User Device Tracker) 606

Orion Scalability En gines 607

Using an Orion Additional Web Server 607

Orion Failover and Disaster Recovery 611

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Chapter 1: IntroductionSolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) delivers comprehensive faultand network performance management that scales with rapid network growth andexpands with your network monitoring needs, allowing you to collect and viewavailability and realtime and historical statistics directly from your web browser.While monitoring, collecting, and analyzing data from routers, switches, firewalls,servers, and any other SNMP-, ICMP-, or WMI-enabled devices, SolarWindsNPM successfully offers you a simple-to-use, scalable network monitoringsolution for IT professionals juggling any size network. Users find that it does nottake a team of consultants and months of unpleasant surprises to get SolarWindsNPM up and running because the NPM experience is far more intuitive thanconventional, complex enterprise network management systems. Because it cantake less than an hour to deploy and no consultants are needed, NPM providesquick and cost-effective visibility into the health of network devices, servers, andapplications on your network, ensuring that you have the realtime information you

need to keep your systems running at peak performance.

Why Install SolarWinds NPMOut of the box, SolarWinds NPM monitors the following critical performancemetrics for physical and virtual devices on your network:

l Network availabilityl Bandwidth capacity utilizationl Buffer usage and errorsl

CPU and memory utilizationl Interface errors and discardsl Network latencyl Node, interface, and volume statusl Volume usage

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Chapter 1: Introduction

These monitoring capabilities, along with a fully customizable web-basedinterface, alerting, reporting engines, and flexible expansion capabilities, make

SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor the easiest choice you will makeinvolving your network performance monitoring needs.

Benefits of Orion Network Performance Monitor Consider the following benefits of Orion Network Performance Monitor.

Out-of-the-box Productivity

Automatic discovery and wizard-driven configuration offer an immediatereturn on your investment. Within minutes of installing SolarWinds NPM,

you can be monitoring your critical network devices.Easy to Understand and Use

SolarWinds NPM is designed for daily use by staff that also have other responsibilities. The SolarWinds interface provides what you need whereyou expect to find it and offers advanced capabilities with minimalconfiguration overhead.

Affordable Value

While SolarWinds NPM provides functionality that is comparable, if notsuperior, to most other solutions, the cost and maintenance of your SolarWinds installation is less than the initial cost of most other solutions.

Scalability

By adding individual polling engines, you can scale your SolarWinds NPMinstallation to any environment size. By sharing the same database, you canalso share a unified user interface, making the addition of polling enginestransparent to your staff.

thwack.com Online Community

thwack.com is a community site that SolarWinds developed to provideSolarWinds users and the broader networking community with usefulinformation, tools and valuable resources related to SolarWinds networkmanagement solutions. Resources that allow you both to see recent posts

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and to search all posts are available from the Orion Web Console, providingdirect access to the thwack.com community.

Key Features of SolarWinds NPMConsidering the previously listed benefits of SolarWinds NPM and the followingfeatures, NPM is a simple choice to make.

Quality of Experience Monitoring

A new Quality of Experience (QoE) dashboard allows you to monitor network and application traffic by collecting and analyzing packet-level datadirectly from the Orion Web Console. With the QoE Monitoring component,

you can do all of the following, directly from the Orion Web Console:l Monitor traffic by collecting and analyzing packets locally or on a

SPAN/mirror interface or tap.l Determine if traffic bottlenecks are on the network or at the server by

comparing network (TCP Handshake) and application (Time of FirstByte) response times.

l Choose from over 1000 pre-defined applications (such as FTP, RDP,CIFS, SQL, Exchange, etc.) or create your own custom HTTPapplication to monitor.

l Deploy Packet Analysis Sensors to analyze network data. UseNetwork Sensors to monitor traffic through network interfaces usingdedicated Windows nodes connected to SPAN/mirror interfaces or taps, and use Server Sensors deployed on any Windows server tomonitor traffic locally

l Characterize applications as either business-related or purely socialso you can keep tabs on how your bandwidth is used.

l Use application categories, such as web services, network monitoring,

and file transfer, to better understand and manage your network'straffic profile.

l Specify application risk levels, from "No Risk" to "EvadesDetection/Bypasses Firewalls", to be alerted whenever there isunwanted, risky traffic on your network.

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For more information, see "Monitoring Quality of Experience" in the OrionCommon Components Guide .

Network Operations Console (NOC) View Mode

Customize web console views for optimal display on large networkoperations center screens. With NOC View enabled, a web console viewcan cycle through its network monitoring resources for continually updated,shared viewing.

Customizable and Flexible Orion Web Console

Detailed graphs, tables, and lists are displayed in a fully customizableweb-based inter face allowing you to remotely view network fault,availability, and performance information. Using the award-winning, intuitiveSolarWinds web interface, you can conduct administrative tasks, such asadding new devices, both individually and in groups, create customresources and views, establish unique user accounts and views for departments, geographic areas, or any other user-defined criteria, andcustomize web console displays from anywhere on your network. Drag-and-drop highly customizable resources on-the-fly to get an accurately updatedview of your network. Enable Network Operations Center (NOC) view to

share the web console view with your entire IT management team. You andyour team save valuable time by administering NPM tasks remotely withouthaving to RDP directly into your SolarWinds server.

Network Atlas with ConnectNow

Network Atlas, the Orion network mapping application, gives you the abilityto create multi-layered, fully customizable, web-based maps of your networkto visually track the performance of any device in any location across your network in real time. The ConnectNow feature uses ARP table data to draw

virtual and physical links between nodes discovered on your network.Network Atlas maps may include any monitored network object or configured Universal Device Poller. Link utilization and speed are availableas visible connection options.

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Routing Information

Discover and view routing table information, including VRF data, for

monitored nodes, identify flapping routes, and create alerts for detectedrouting table changes. RIP v2, OSPF v2, OSPF v3/EIGRP, and BGP arecurrently supported protocols.

Detailed Historical Reports

Easily configure reports of data from the Orion database over custom timeperiods. Data is presented in an easily reviewed format in the web console.With over 40 built-in reports available, you can project future trends andcapacity needs, and immediately access availability, performance, and

utilization statistics. Using the Web-based Report Scheduler, you can email,print or save reports on a regularly scheduled basis, directly from the webconsole.

Multicast Routing Status and Performance Monitoring

Multicast-specific resources provide group status and realtime monitoring of multicast traffic for Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Cisco devices. Web consoleresources allow you to see multiple routing table levels. You can alsoconfigure alerts to trigger on route changes and traffic thresholds.

Web Console User Auditing Audit events for web console users are stored in the SolarWinds database,allowing you to keep track of which users are making changes to your network monitoring profile.

Hardware Health Monitoring

Get immediate, visual insight into the operational state of your network withhardware health charts and alerts that show you the number of devices onyour network that are functioning in Warning and Critical states.

F5 BIG-IP Monitoring

NPM now specifically supports performance monitoring for F5 devices andinterfaces. NPM monitoring for F5 devices and interfaces includes device

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status and availability, CPU and memory performance statistics, interfaceperformance details, and related graphs and charts.

Interactive Charting for Node and Interface Statistics

SolarWinds NPM charting not only provides historical performance data; thenew interactive charting package enables you to zoom in on your charteddata, using either fixed time periods or custom date ranges

Training View

The Training view on the Home tab of the SolarWinds Web Consoleprovides a variety of helpful documents and videos that are regularlyupdated to help you optimize your SolarWinds monitoring environment.

Automatic and Scheduled Device Discovery

Wizard-driven device discovery further simplifies the addition of devices andinterfaces to SolarWinds NPM. Answer a few general questions about your devices, and the discovery application takes over, populating theSolarWinds database and immediately beginning network analysis. Youcan also create network discovery schedules to independently andautomatically run Network Sonar Discovery jobs whenever you need them.Network Discovery also performs IP address de-duplication automatically

when any single, discovered, network device is associated with multiple IPaddresses.

Intuitive SolarWinds NPM Administration

Using the award-winning, intuitive web interface, you can now conductadministrative tasks, such as adding new devices, both individually and ingroups, establish unique user accounts, and customize web consoledisplays from anywhere on your network. These administration featuresallow you to save time by administering NPM tasks remotely without having

to RDP directly into your SolarWinds server.Open Integration

Enterprise-tested standards, including a Microsoft® SQL Server databaseand industry-standard MIBs and protocols, are the backbone of the

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SolarWinds NPM network monitoring solution.

Integrated Wireless Poller

An integrated wireless device poller enables you to leverage proven NPMalerts, reports, and web console resources as you monitor and managewireless thin and autonomous access points in the same views in whichyou are already monitoring your wired network devices.

Cisco EnergyWise Monitoring

Cisco EnergyWise technology allows you to responsibly manage energyusage across the enterprise. With NPM, you can view EnergyWise devicemanagement data to measure, report, and reduce the energy consumptionof any devices connected to EnergyWise-enabled switches.

Unpluggable Port Mode

NPM enables you to designate selected ports as unpluggable, so you don’treceive unnecessary alerts when users undock or shutdown connecteddevices. This feature is particularly useful for distinguishing low priorityports connected to laptops and PCs from more critically importantinfrastructure ports.

Universal Device Pollers

The Universal Device Poller allows you to easily add any SNMP-enableddevice into the local monitoring database and collect any statistics or information that are referenced in device MIB tables. Using poller transformsavailable in the Universal Device Poller Wizard, you can also manipulatedata collected from multiple Universal Device Pollers to create your owncustom statistics and then choose your own customized data display. Youmay also use Network Atlas to map your Universal Device Pollers.

VMware Infrastructure Monitoring

SolarWinds NPM enables you to monitor your VMware servers,datacenters, and clusters, including VMware ESX and ESXi, Virtual Center,and any virtual machines (VMs) hosted by ESX servers on your network.

Available resources include lists of VMs on selected ESXi and ESX

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servers, performance details for ESXi and ESX servers and hosted VMs,and relevant charts and reports.

Data Center Monitoring

NPM offers predefined reports and web console views and resourcesspecifically tailored to provide performance data about Cisco UnifiedComputing Systems (UCS) and Fibre Channel devices manufactured byCisco MDS, Brocade, and McData.

Incident Alerting

You can configure custom alerts to respond to hundreds of possible networkscenarios, including multiple condition checks. SolarWinds NPM alerts helpyou recognize issues before your network users experience productivityhits. Alert delivery methods and responses include email, paging, SNMPtraps, text-to-speech, Syslog messaging, and external applicationexecution.

Integrated Trap and Syslog Servers

SolarWinds NPM allows you to save time when investigating networkissues by giving you the ability to use traps and Syslog messages to accessnetwork information from a single interface instead of requiring that you poll

multiple machines. You can use SolarWinds NPM to easily set up alertsand then receive, process, forward, and send syslog and trap messages.

Groups and Dependencies

The ability to define device groups and dependencies allows you to moreeffectively manage your network. Groups give you the ability to logicallyorganize monitored objects, regardless of device type or location, anddependencies allow you to more faithfully represent what can actually beknown about your network, eliminating “false positive” alert triggers and

providing more accurate insight into the status of monitored network objects.Coordinated Network, Application, and Configuration Management

SolarWinds provides a complete network management and monitoringsolution when SolarWinds NPM is installed with SolarWinds Server &

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Application Monitor (SAM, formerly Application Performance Monitor, APM),SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM), and the SolarWinds Network

Configuration Manager (NCM) integration to monitor network applications,manage IP address and subnet allocations, and manage network deviceconfiguration, respectively.

Extensible SolarWinds NPM Modules

With additional SolarWinds modules NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) and IPSLA Manager (formerly Orion VoIP Monitor) SolarWinds NPM can analyzenetwork traffic and monitor VoIP and WAN traffic using Cisco IP SLA,respectively. NPM modules save time by leveraging the existing

SolarWinds NPM deployment to add feature functionality without requiringadditional standalone software.

Product Update Notifications

Receive regular, automatic notification of updates to your installed Orionmonitoring and management applications in the Orion Web Console assoon as they are available from SolarWinds. Product updates can includeupgrade opportunities, service packs, and hotfixes.

Orion Product Team Blog

Stay in touch with the people who bring you the products in the Orion familyby following the Orion Product Team Blog on thwack, the SolarWinds onlineuser community. Read posts from Orion product managers and developersto learn how to extend and optimize your Orion installation to best meet theneeds of your network.

Networking Concepts and TerminologyThe following sections define the networking concepts and terminology that are

used within NPM.l Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)l Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)l SNMP Credentials

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l Management Information Base (MIB)l Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

For most network monitoring and management tasks, NPM uses the SimpleNetwork Management Protocol (SNMP). SNMP-enabled network devices,including routers, switches, and PCs, host SNMP agents that maintain a virtualdatabase of system status and performance information that is tied to specificObject Identifiers (OIDs). This virtual database is referred to as a ManagementInformation Base (MIB), and NPM uses MIB OIDs as references to retrievespecific data about a selected, SN MP-enabled, managed device. Access to MIBdata may be secured either with SNMP Community Strings, as provided withSNMPv1 and SNMPv2c, or with optional SNMP credentials, as provided withSNMPv3.

Notes:

l To properly monitor devices on your network, you must enable SNMP on alldevices that are capable of SNMP communications. The steps to enableSNMP differ by device, so you may need to consult the documentationprovided by your device vendor.

l If SNMPv2c is enabled on a device you want NPM to monitor, by default,NPM will attempt to use SNMPv2c to poll the device for performance inform-ation. If you only want NPM to poll using SNMPv1, you must disableSNMPv2c on the device to be polled.

For more information about MIBs, see "Management Information Base (MIB)". For more information about SNMP credentials, see "SNMP Credentials".

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

NPM uses the Internet Control Message Protoc ol (ICMP) to poll for status usingecho requests of managed devices. When NPM polls a managed device usingICMP, if the device is operationally up, it returns an echo reply that NPM uses tocalculate a response time. NPM also records any reported packet drops. This

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information is used by NPM to monitor status and measure average responsetime and packet loss percentage for managed devices.

Note: NPM only uses ICMP to poll devices for status, average response time, andpacket loss percentage. Other information displayed in the Orion Web Consolemay be obtained using SNMP and WMI requests or VMware and UCS APIs.

SNMP Credentials

SNMP credentials secure access to SNMP-enabled managed devices. SNMPv1and SNMPv2c credentials serve as a type of password that is authenticated byconfirming a match between a cleartext SNMP Community String provided by anSNMP request and the SNMP Community String stored as a MIB object on anSNMP-enabled, managed device.

SNMPv3 provides a more secure interaction by employing the following fields:

l The User Name is a required cleartext string that indentifies the SNMP man-ager (NPM) or poll request that is attempting to access an SNMP-enableddevice. User Name functions similarly to the SNMP Community String of SNMP v1 and v2c.

l The Context is an optional identifying field that can provide an additional

layer of organization and security to the information available in the MIB of an SNMP-enabled device. Typically, the context is an empty string unless itis specifically configured on an SNMP-enabled device.

l SNMPv3 uses keyed-Hash Message Authentication (HMAC) with either of two available Authentication Methods : Message Digest 5 (MD5) andSecure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA1). With either method, MD5 or SHA1,HMAC includes the Authentication Key with the SNMPv3 packet and thengenerates a digest of an entire SNMPv3 packet that is then sent. MD5digests are 20 bytes long, and SHA1 digests are 16 bytes long. When the

packet is received, the User Name is used to determine a matching authen-tication key on the recipients internal credentials table. HMAC uses thematched authentication key and the digest to recreate the sent packet usingthe appropriate method.

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Note: It is possible to allow SNMP to create the required authentication keyusing the password to key algorithm. For more information, see RFC 2574 .

l SNMPv3 also provides the following optional Privacy/Encryption Meth-ods that are supported by SolarWinds NPM:

o Data Encryption Standard (DES56). DES56 uses a 56 bit key with a56 bit salt to encrypt the SNMP v3 packet data. All packet headers aresent in clear-text.

o Advanced Encryption Standards (AES128, AES 192, and AES 256)using 128-, 192-, or 256-bit keys, respectively, with 128-, 192-, or 256-bit salts. All packet headers are sent in clear-text.

Management Information Base (MIB) A Management Information Base (MIB) is the formal description of a set of objectsthat can be managed using SNMP. MIB-I refers to the initial MIB definition, andMIB-II refers to the current definition. Each MIB object stores a value such assysUpTime , bandwidth utilization , or sysContact . During polling, SolarWindsNPM sends a SNMP GET request to each device to poll the specified MIBobjects. Received responses are then recorded in the SolarWinds database for use in NPM, including within Orion Web Console resources.

Most network devices can support several different types of MIBs. While mostdevices support the standard MIB-II MIBs, they may also support any of a number of additional MIBs that you may want to monitor. Using a fully customizable OrionUniversal Device Poller, you can gather information from virtually any MIB on anynetwork device to which you have access.

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a proprietary technology used topoll performance and management information from Windows-based networkdevices, applications, and components. When used as an alternative to SNMP,WMI can provide much of the same monitoring and management data currentlyavailable with SNMP-based polling with the addition of Windows-specific

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communications and security features. For more information about WMI, see theMicrosoft article, About WMI.

Notes:

l Due to specific characteristics of WMI polling requests, polling a singleWMI-enabled object uses approximately five times the resources required topoll the same or similar object with SNMP on the same polling frequency.

l SolarWinds NPM does not currently use WMI to monitor interfaces.

How Orion Network Performance Monitor WorksThrough ICMP, S NMP, WMI, and Syslog communication and data collection,NPM continuously monitors the health and performance of your network, and itdoes this without interfering with the critical functions of your network devices.Unlike many other network monitoring products, NPM helps you maintain theoverall performance of your network in the following ways:

l NPM does not install outside agents on your mission-critical serversl NPM does not employ services that take vital resources from critical applic-

ationsl NPM does not install any code on monitored network devices. Unmanaged

or outdated code can open security holes in your network. After installing NPM, you can automate the initial discovery of your network, andthen simply add new devices as you add them to your network. NPM storesgathered information in a SQL database (the SolarWinds database) and providesa user-friendly, highly customizable web console in which to view current andhistorical network status.

The following procedure and diagram provide an outline of how SolarWinds NPMmonitors your network.

1. After Network Sonar Discovery has populated the SolarWinds Databasewith the network objects you want to monitor, object information is passed tothe Business Layer.

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2. The Business Layer passes node and volume information to the Collector Polling Controller and provides licensing information to the SolarWinds

Information Service (SWIS).

3. The Collector Polling Controller creates the required polling jobs and thenpasses them on to the Job Engine v2.

4. The Job Engine v2 performs requested polling jobs, using SNMP, ICMPand WMI, as configured in Network Sonar Discovery.

5. The Job Engine v2 then passes the results of all requested polling jobs to

the Collector Polling Controller.6. The Collector Polling Controller places all polling results into the Microsoft

Message Queue (MSMQ).7. The Collector Data Processor pulls polling results from the MSMQ, and then

performs the following operations:a. The Collector Data Processor performs any required calculations, and

then inserts these “cooked” results into the SolarWinds database.b. The Collector Data Processor checks with the SolarWinds Information

Service (SWIS) for any existing dependencies that are defined for thepolled nodes.

c. The Collector Data Processor checks polling results against existingbasic alert definitions to determine if any basic alerts and cor-responding actions should be triggered.

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Chapter 2: Installing SolarWindsOrion Network Performance Monitor Orion Network Performance Monitor (Orion NPM) provides a simple, wizard-driven installation process. For an enterprise-class product, licensing, hardwareand software requirements are nominal.

Licensing Orion Network Performance Monitor Orion NPM can collect data and detailed information from any of your version 3 or earlier SNMP-enabled devices, including routers, switches, firewalls, and servers.

Orion NPM is licensed in accordance with the largest number of the followingthree types of monitored network elements:

Nodes

Nodes include entire devices, for example, routers, switches, virtual andphysical servers, access points, and modems.

Interfaces

Interfaces include switch ports, physical interfaces, virtual interfaces, sub-interfaces, VLANs, and any other single point of network traffic.

Volumes

Volumes are equivalent to the logical disks you are monitoring.

NPM Licensing Levels

The following list provides the different types of Orion Network PerformanceMonitor licenses that are available:

l An SL100 license allows you to monitor up to 100 nodes, 100 interfaces,and 100 volumes (300 elements in total).

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Chapter 2: Installing SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor



l An SL2000 license allows you to monitor up to 2000 nodes, 2000 inter-faces, and 2000 volumes (6000 elements in total).

l An SLX license allows you to monitor a virtually unlimited number of ele-ments.

Database size increases with the addition of monitored elements. Depending onthe number of elements and the amount of traffic on your network, monitoring

more than 10,000 elements can require additional polling engines.Licensing NPM with Other SolarWinds Products

Your NPM license interacts additively with your other SolarWinds licenses. For example, if you have an NPM SL500 (500 nodes and 500 volumes) installed withSAM AL50, you can monitor a total of 550 nodes (500 NPM nodes + 50 SAMnodes), 500 interfaces, 550 volumes (matching the node count), and 50application monitors.

Maintaining Licenses with License Manager

SolarWinds License Manager is a free utility allows you to easily migrate Orionlicenses from one computer to another without contacting SolarWinds Customer Service.

The following sections provide procedures for installing and using LicenseManager:

l Installing License Manager l Using License Manager

Installing License Manager

Install License Ma nager on the computer from which you are migrating currentlylicensed products.

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Note: You must install License Manager on a computer with the correct time. If the time on the computer is even slightly off, in either direction, from Greenwich

Mean Time (GMT), you cannot reset licenses without contacting SolarWindsCustomer Service. Time zone settings neither affect nor cause this issue.

To install License Manager:

1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds > SolarWinds License Manager Setup .

2. Click I Accept to accept the SolarWinds EULA.3. If you are prompted to install the SolarWinds License Manager applic-

ation, click Install .

Using License Manager

You must run License Manager on the computer where the currently licensedSolarWinds product is installed before you can migrate licenses to a newinstallation. The following procedure deactivates currently installed licenses thatcan then be transferred to a new installation.

To deactivate currently installed licenses:

1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds > SolarWinds LicenseManager .

2. Check the products you want to deactivate on this computer, and then clickDeactivate .

3. Specify your SolarWinds Customer ID and password when prompted, andthen click Deactivate .

Note: Deactivated licenses are now available to activate on a newcomputer.

When you have successfully deactivated your products, log on to the computer onwhich you want to install your products, and then begin installation. When askedto specify your licenses, provide the appropriate information. The license youdeactivated earlier is then assigned to the new installation.

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Orion NPM Requirements

SolarWinds recommends installing Orion NPM on its own server, with the Oriondatabase hosted separately, on its own SQL Server. Installations of multiple Orionservers, including NPM, Orion Server & Application Monitor, and Orion NetworkConfiguration Manager using the same database are not supported. For moreinformation, see "Additional Requirements" in the Orion Common Componentswebhelp.

Note: Any and all installed Additional Polling Engines and Additional WebServers must use the same version that is installed on the primary Orion server.

Orion RequirementsSolarWinds recommends installing Orion and your SQL Server on separateservers. Installations of multi ple NPM servers using the same database are notsupported.

The following sections provide specific requirements:

l Orion Server Software Requirementsl Orion Server Hardware Requirementsl

Requirements for the Orion Database Server (SQL Server)l Requirements for Virtual Machines and Serversl Additional Required Components

Orion Server Software Requirements

The following table lists minimum software r equirements and recommendations.

Software Requirem ents

Operating

System

Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 (32- or 64-bit)

Windows Server 2008, 2008 SP2, 2008 R2, 2008 R2 SP1

Windows Server 2012, or 2012 R2

Notes:

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Software Requirements

l

IIS and MSMQ must be installed. SolarWinds recommendsthat Orion administrators have local administrator privilegesto ensure full functionality of local Orion tools. Accountslimited to use of the Orion Web Console do not requireadministrator privileges.

l SolarWinds does not support production installations of Orion products on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows7, or Windows 8 systems.

l SolarWinds products are not compatible with installations of

Internet Information Services version 6.0 (IIS6) that makeuse of web gardens.

l SolarWinds SAM installations on Windows Server 2008require R2. For more information, see “Additional SAMRequirements” in the SolarWinds Server & ApplicationMonitor Administrator Guide.

OperatingSystemLanguages

English (UK or US), German, Japanese, or Simplified Chinese

IP AddressVersion

IPv4 or IPv6 implemented as a dual stack. For more information,see RFC 4213 - Basic Transition Mechanisms for IPv6 Hosts andRouters .

Note: CIDR notation is not currently supported for IPv6addresses.

ApplicationPorts

25 for SSL/TLS-enabled email alert actions

161, 162, 443 (SNMP). VMware ESX/ESXi Servers are polled on443.

1801 (TCP) for MSMQ WCF binding. For more information see:

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http://support.microsoft.com/kb/18329317777 (TCP) open for Orion module traffic

17778 (HTTPS) open to access the SolarWinds InformationService API

17779 (HTTP and HTTPS) for the SolarWinds Toolset Integration

WebServer

Microsoft IIS, version 6.0 or higher, in 32-bit mode.

DNS specifications require that hostnames be composed of

alphanumeric characters ( A-Z, 0-9), the minus sign ( -), andperiods ( .). Underscore characters ( _ ) are not allowed. For moreinformation, see RFC 952 - DOD Internet Host TableSpecification.

Warning: The following Windows accounts, as configured by IIS6.0 on Windows Server 2003 with their default security settings,are required:

l IUSR_ , as a member of the Guests group

ONLY.l IWAM_ , as a member of the IIS_WPG group

ONLY.

Disabling these accounts or changing any default settings of these accounts may negatively affect the operation of your Orioninstallation. SolarWinds strongly recommends against alteringthese accounts or their settings.

Notes:

l SolarWinds does not support installing NPM on domaincontrollers.

l SolarWinds neither recommends nor supports theinstallation of any Orion product on the same server or

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using the same database server as a Research in Motion(RIM) Blackberry server.

.NETFramework

Version 3.5. SP1 and 4.0

Note: Both versions 3.5 SP1 and 4.0 are required.

WebConsoleBrowser

Microsoft Internet Explorer version 8 or higher with Activescripting

Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or higher (Toolset Integration is not supported

on Firefox)Google Chrome 10.0 or higher

Note: JavaScript must be enabled on all browsers to ensure fullweb console functionality.

Orion Server Hardware Requirements

The following table lists minimum hardware requirements and recommendations.

Note: Hardware requirements are listed by Orion NPM license level.

HardwareSL100, SL250, or SL500 SL2000 SLX

CPUSpeed

2.0 GHz 2.4 GHz 3.0 GHz

Note: A dual-core processor is required, but a quad-core processor is recommended. Physical Address Extension (PAE) should notbe enabled.

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HardwareSL100, SL250, or SL500 SL2000 SLX

HardDriveSpace

2.5 GB 5 GB 20 GB

Note : A RAID 1 drive for server operating system, Orioninstallation, and tempdb files is recommended. Orion requires atleast 1.5GB for job engine, information service, collector service,MIB database and other required files. The Orion installer needs1GB on the drive where temporary Windows system or user variables are stored. Per Windows standards, some common files

may need to be installed on the same drive as your server operating system. For more information, see "Working withTemporary Directories".

Memory 3 GB 4 GB 8 GB

Requirements for the Orion Database Server (SQL Server)

The following table lists software and hardware requirements for your Oriondatabase server. Orion NPM license lev els are pro vided as a reference.

RequirementsSL100, SL250, or SL500 SL2000 SLX

SQL Server SolarWinds supports Express, Standard, or Enterpriseversions of the following:

l SQL Server 2005 SP3

Note: SolarWinds recommends that you upgrade toSQL Server 2005 SP4 or, preferably, SQL Server 2008

l SQL Server 2008 without SP, with SP1, with SP2, or with SP3

l SQL Server 2008 R2 without SP, with SP1, or with SP2l SQL Server 2012 without SP, with SP1, or with SP2

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l SQL Server 2014

Notes :

l The FullWithSQL NPM installer package automaticallyinstalls SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 Express. This isrecommended for evaluations.

l SolarWinds strongly recommends maintainingSolarWinds servers as physically separate from your SQL server.

l SQL Server Express 3.5 SP2 is only supported for NPMevaluations.

l Due to latency effects, SolarWinds does not recommendinstalling your SQL Server and your Orion server or additional polling engine in different locations across aWAN. For more information, see SolarWindsKnowledge Base article, "Can I install my SolarWindssoftware and SolarWinds database (SQL Server) across

a WAN?"l Either mixed-mode or SQL authentication must be

supported.l If you are managing your Orion database, SolarWinds

recommends you install the SQ L Server ManagementStudio component.

l Use the following database select statement to checkyour SQL Server version, service pack or release level,and edition:

l select SERVERPROPERTY ('productversion'),SERVERPROPERTY ('productlevel'),SERVERPROPERTY ('edition')

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SQL Server Collation

English with collation setting SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_ AS

English with collation setting SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_ CS_AS

German with collation setting German_PhoneBook_CI_AS

Japanese with collation setting Japanese_CI_AS

Simplified Chinese with collation setting Chinese_PRC_CI_ AS

CPU Speed 2.0 GHz 2.4 GHz 3.0 GHz

Hard DriveSpace

2 GB 5 GB 20 GB

Note: Due to intense I/O requirements, a RAID 1+0 drive isstrongly recommended the SQL Server database and Oriondata and log files. RAID 5 is not recommended for the SQLServer hard drive. The Orion installer needs at least 1GB onthe drive where temporary Windows system or user variablesare stored. Per Windows standards, some common files mayneed to be installed on drive as your server operating system.For more information, see "Working with TemporaryDirectories".


Note: SolarWinds recommends additional RAM, up to 8 GB,

for SAM installations including more than 1000 monitors.

.NETFramework

.NET is not required if your database is on a separate server.

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Requirements for Virtual Machines and Servers

Orion installations on VMware Virtual Machines and Microsoft Virtual Servers arefully supported if the following minimum configuration requirements are met for each virtual machine.

Note: SolarWinds strongly recommends that you maintain your SQL Server database on a separate physical server.

VMConfiguration

Orion Requirements by License Level

SL100, SL250, or SL500 SL2000 SLX

CPU Speed 2.0 GHz 2.4 GHz 3.0 GHz

Allocated

Hard DriveSpace

2GB 5GB 20GB

Note: Due to intense I/O requirements, SQL Server should behosted on a separate physical server configured as RAID 1+0.RAID 5 is not recommended for the SQL Server hard drive.


NetworkInterface

Each virtual machine on which Orion is installed should haveits own, dedicated network interface card.

Note: Since Orion uses SNMP to monitor your network, if youare unable to dedicate a network interface card to your Orionserver, you may experience gaps in monitoring data due tothe low priority generally assigned to SNMP traffic.

Additional Required Components

The Orion Installation Wizard installs the following required x86 components if they are not found on your Orion database server:

l SQL Server System Common Language Runtime (CLR) Types for SolarWinds Orion NPM 10.2 and older. Orion products use secure SQL

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CLR stored procedures for selected, non-business data operations toimprove overall performance.

l Microsoft SQL Server Native Clientl Microsoft SQL Server Management Objects

Server SizingNPM is capable of monitoring networks of any size, ranging from small corporateLANs to large enterprise and service provider networks. Most NPM systemsperform well on 3.0 GHz systems with 3 GB of RAM, using default polling enginesettings. However, when monitoring larger networks, you should give additionalconsideration to the hardware used and the system configuration.

There are three primary variables that affect scalability. The most importantconsideration is the number of monitored elements, where an element is definedas a single, identifiable node, interface, or volume. Systems monitoring more than1,000 elements may require tuning for optimal performance. The second variableto consider is polling frequency. For instance, if you are collecting statistics everyfive minutes instead of the default nine, the system will have to work harder andsystem requirements will increase. Finally, the number of simultaneous usersaccessing NPM directly impacts system performance.

When planning an NPM installation, there are four main factors to keep in mindwith respect to polling capacity: CPU, memory, number of polling engines, andpolling engine settings. For minimum hardware recommendations, see "OrionNPM Requirements". For more information about polling engines, see"Configuring an Additional Polling Engine".

In most situations, installing NPM and SQL Server on different servers is highlyrecommend ed, particularly if you are planning to monitor 2000 elements or more.If you experience performan ce problems or you plan to monitor a very largenetwork, you should certainly consider this option. This scenario offers severalperformance advantages, as the NPM server does not perform any databaseprocessing, and it does not have to share resources with SQL Server.

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If you plan to monitor 10000 or more elements, SolarWinds recommends that youinstall additional polling engines on separate servers to help distribute the work

load. For more information about sizing NPM to your network, contact theSolarWinds sales team or visit www.solarwinds.com. For more information aboutadditional polling engines, see "Configuring an Additional Polling Engine".

SNMP Requirements for Monitored DevicesNPM can monitor the performance of any SNMPv1-, SNMPv2c-, or SNMPv3-enabled device on your network. If a device is SNMPv2c-enabled, by default,NPM will attempt to use SNMPv2c to poll the device for performance information.

If you only want NPM to poll using SNMPv1, you must disable SNMPv2c on thedevice to be polled. Consult your device documentation or a technicalrepresentative of yo ur device manufacturer to acqui re specific instructions for configuring SNMP on your device.

Notes:

l Monitored devices must allow access to the SysObjectID for correct deviceidentification.

l Unix-based devices should use the configuration of Net-SNMP version 5.5

or higher that is specific to the type of Unix-based operating system in use.l Orion NPM is capable of monitoring VMware ESX and ESXi Servers ver-

sions 3.5 and higher with VMware Tools installed. For more informationabout enabling SNMP and VMware Tools on your VMware device, consultyour VMware documentation or technical representative.

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Enabling Microsoft Internet Information Services(IIS)To host the Orion Web Console, Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) mustbe installed and enabled on your Orion server. Windows Server 2003 requires IISversion 6, and Windows Server 2008 requires IIS version 7, as detailed in thefollowing sections:

l Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2003l Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2008l Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2012

Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2003The following procedure enables IIS on Windows Server 2003.

To enable IIS on Windows Server 2003:

1. Click Start > Control P anel > Add or Remove Programs .2. Click Add/Remove Wi ndows Components .3. Click Application Serv er , confirm it is checked, and then click Details .4. Click Internet Information Services (IIS) , confirm it is checked, and then

click Details .

5. Click World Wide Web Service , confirm it is checked, and click Details .6. Select World Wide Web Service , confirm it is checked, and then click OK.7. Click OK on the Internet Information Services (IIS) window, and then click

OK on the Application Server window.8. Click Management and Monitoring Tools , confirm it is checked, and then

click Details .9. Confirm that both Simple Network Management Protocol and WMI SNMP

Provider are checked, and then click OK.10. Click Next on the Windows Components window, and then click Finish

after completing the Windows Components Wizard.Note: You may be prompted to install additional components, to provideyour Windows Operating System media, or to restart your computer. Restartyour server if prompted, but Orion does not require the Phone Book Service.

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11. If you are currently enabling IIS as part of an Orion installation, restartthe Orion installer. For more information, see the installation instructions in

the Administrator Guide for your specific Orion product.

Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2008

The following procedure enables IIS on Windows Server 2008.


1. Click Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Server Manager .2. Click Roles in the left pane, and then click Add Roles in the main pane.3. Click Next to start the Add Roles Wizard.4. Check Web Server (IIS) .5. If you are prompted to add features required for Web Server (IIS), click

Add Required Features .6. Click Next on the Select Server Roles window, and then click Next on the

Web Server (IIS) window.7. Confirm that Common HTTP Features > Static Content is installed.8. Check Application Development > ASP.NET , and then click Add

Required Role Services .9. Check both Security > Windows Authentication and Security > Basic

Authentication .10. Check Management Tools > IIS 6 Management Compatibility , and then

click Next on the Select Role Services window.11. Click Install on the Confirm Installation Selections window, and then click

Close on the Installation Results window.12. If you are currently enabling IIS as part of an Orion installation, restart

the Orion installer. For more information, see the installation instructions inthe Administrator Guide for your specific Orion product.

Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2012The following procedure enables IIS on Windows Server 2012.


1. Click Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Server Manager .2. Click Manage in the top right, and then click Add Roles and Features .

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3. Select Role-based or feature-based installation as the Installation Type,and then click Next .

4. Select the server on which you are enabling IIS, and then click Next .5. Check Web Server (IIS) in the list of Server Roles, and then click Next .6. IIS does not require any additional Features. Click Next .7. Review the provided Web Server Role (IIS) notes, and then click Next .8. Confirm that Common HTTP Features > Static Content is installed.9. Check Application Development > ASP.NET , and then click Add

Required Role Services .10. Check both Security > Windows Authentication and Security > Basic

Authentication .

11. Check Management Tools > IIS 6 Management Compatibility .12. Click Next on the Select role services window.13. Click Install on the Confirm installation selections window, and then click

Close on the Installation Results window.14. If you are currently enabling IIS as part of an Orion installation, restart

the Orion installer. For more information, see the installation instructions inthe Administrator Guide for your specific Orion product.

Enabling and Requiring Secure Channels withSSLOrion supports the use of Secure Sockets Layer certificates to enable securecommunications with the Orion Web Console.

The following sections provide procedures for enabling SSL connections to theOrion Web Console:

l Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2003l Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2008l Configuring the Web Console to Require SSL

Enabling SSL Connections on Wi ndows Server 2003

The following procedure enables SSL connections to an Orion Web Consoleinstalled on Windows Server 2003.

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Notes:

l Secure SSL communications are conducted over port 443.l The following procedure does not describe the processes either of obtaining

a required certificate or of generating a certificate signing request for a third-party certificate authority. Your server must already have the required SSLcertificate installed.

To enable SSL connections to the web console on Windows Server 2003:

1. Log on to your NPM server using an account with administrative privileges.2. Click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Man-

agement .

3. Expand Services and Applications > Internet Information Services (IIS)Manager > Web Sites .

4. Click SolarWinds NetPerfMon , and then click Action > Properties .5. Open the Web Site tab, confirm that SSL port is set to 443 , and then click

Apply .6. Click Advanced .7. If the Multiple SSL identities for this Web site field does not list the IP

address for the Orion Web Console with SSL port 443, complete the fol-lowing steps.

a. Click Add , and then select the IP address of the Orion Web Console.Note: As it was set initially in the Configuration Wizard, this option is usu-ally set to (All Unassigned) . If the IP address of the Orion Web Consolewas not initially set to (All Unassigned), select the actual, configured IPaddress of the Orion Web Console.

b. Type 443 as the TCP port , and then click OK.8. Click the Directory Security tab, and then click Edit in the S

orion administrator

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