SolarWindsOrionAdminGuide PDF

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Orion Common Components Administrator Guide, Version 2015.1.2, 9/18/2015
About SolarWinds
SolarWinds, Inc. develops and markets an array of IT management, monitoring,
and discovery tools to meet the diverse requirements of today’s IT management
and consulting professionals. SolarWinds products continue to set benchmarks
for quality and performance and have positioned the company as the leader in IT
management and discovery technology. The SolarWinds customer base includes
over 85 percent of the Fortune 500 and customers from over 170 countries. Our
global business partner distributor network exceeds 100 distributors and
resellers.
Contacting SolarWinds
You can contact SolarWinds in a number of ways, including the following:
Team Contact Information

Sales [email protected]
www.solarwinds.com
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+353.21.5002900
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Documentation Library
The following documents are included in the documentation library:
Document Purpose
Administrator Provides detailed setup, configuration, and conceptual
Guide information.
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Notes The latest release notes can be found at www.solarwinds.com.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction 28
What is SolarWinds Orion? 29
Benefits of Orion Products 32
Key Features of Orion Monitoring Products 33
Networking Concepts and Terminology 37
Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) 37
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) 37
SNMP Credentials 38
Password is a Key 39
Management Information Base (MIB) 39
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) 40
How SolarWinds Orion Works 41
Chapter 2: Preparing a SolarWinds Orion Installation 42
Orion Requirements 43
Orion Server Software Requirements 43
Orion Server Hardware Requirements 46
Requirements for the Orion Database Server (SQL Server) 46
SQL Server Configuration Best Practices 49
Maximizing SQL server performance 49
Hardware settings for SQL servers 49
Recommendations for multi-CPU systems and the optimal settings of the I/O
subsystem 51
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Orion Common Components Administrator Guide
Database file setting recommendations 53

Memory setting recommendations 53
CPU setting recommendations 53
Requirements for Virtual Machines and Servers 53
Additional Requirements 54
Orion Licensing 55
Activating SolarWinds Licenses 55
Maintaining Licenses 58
License Manager Requirements 58
Installing License Manager 59
Activating Licenses with the License Manager 60
Deactivating and Registering Licenses with the License Manager 63
Upgrading and Synchronizing Licenses 64
Synchronizing Licenses 64
Antivirus Directory Exclusions 65
Enabling and Requiring Secure Channels with SSL 66
Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2008 66
Configuring the Orion Web Console for SSL 67
Enabling FIPS 69
Chapter 3: Discovering and Adding Network Devices 71
Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wizard 72
Using the Network Sonar Results Wizard 80
Importing a List of Nodes Using a Seed File 82
Choosing Your Polling Method 84
External Node (No Status) 84
Status Only: ICMP 84
Most Devices SNMP & ICMP 85
Windows Servers: WMI and ICMP 85
Windows Servers: Agent 85
Managing Scheduled Discovery Results 87
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Table of Contents
Using the Discovery Ignore List 88

Discovery Central 89
Network Discovery 89
Agent Deployment 89
Additional Discovery Central Resources 90
Chapter 4: Managing the Orion Web Console 91
Logging in for the First Time as an Administrator 92
Windows Authentication with Active Directory 93
Supported Active Directory Scenarios 94
Enabling LogonFallback 95
Using the Web Console Notification Bar 97
Navigating the Orion Web Console 98
Using Web Console Tabs 98
Using and Disabling Web Console Breadcrumbs 99
Customizing Web Console Breadcrumbs 99
Disabling Web Console Breadcrumbs 99
Administrative Functions of the Orion Web Console 101
Changing an Account Password 101
Web Console Administration 101
Getting Started with Orion 102
Node & Group Management 102
Alerts & Reports 103
Product Specific Settings 103
Thresholds & Polling 104
Windows Credentials 104
User Accounts 105
Views 105
Details 105
Customize Navigation & Look 106
Viewing Secure Data on the Web 107
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Handling Counter Rollovers 107

Searching syslogs, traps and objects monitored in the Orion Web Console globally 108
Installing Orion Global Search 108
Searching with Orion Global Search 109
Orion Thresholds 111
Orion General Threshold Types 111
Setting Orion General Thresholds 113
Customizing Views 114
Creating New Views 114
Editing Views 114
Enabling NOC View Mode 116
Configuring View Limitations 117
Copying Views 118
Deleting Views 118
Views by Device Type 119
Resource Configuration Examples 119
Selecting a Network Map 119
Displaying a List of Objects on a Network Map 120
Displaying a Custom List of Maps 121
Displaying the Worldwide Map 121
Displaying an Event Summary - Custom Period of Time 122
Specifying User-Defined Links 123
Specifying Custom HTML 124
Specifying an Orion Report 125
Displaying a Custom List of Reports 126
Filtering Nodes 126
Grouping Nodes 128
Adding a Service Level Agreement Line to Charts (Orion NPM) 129
Using the Orion Web Console Message Center 131
Exporting Views to PDF 132
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Table of Contents
Creating a Custom Summary View 133

Creating and Editing External Website Views 134
Customizing the Orion Web Console 135
Customizing Web Console Menu Bars 135
Changing the Web Console Color Scheme 136
Changing the Web Console Site Logo 136
Orion Web Console and Chart Settings 138
Web Console Settings 138
Auditing Settings 140
Chart Settings 140
Other Settings 141
Active Alerts Settings 141
Using Node Filters 142
Customizing Charts in the Orion Web Console 143
Customizing Charts 143
Customizing Custom Charts 145
Custom Chart Dropdown Menu Options 145
Editing the Chart 145
Custom Object Resources in the Orion Web Console 147
Editing a Custom Object Resource 147
Selecting Custom Objects and Resources 148
Available Custom Resources 148
Accessing Nodes Using HTTP, SSH, and Telnet 149
Using Integrated Remote Desktop 149
Chapter 5: Managing Devices in the Web Console 150
Adding Devices for Monitoring in the Web Console 151
Deleting Devices from Monitoring 156
Viewing Node Data in Tooltips 157
Editing Node Properties 158
Promoting a Node from ICMP to SNMP Monitoring 162
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Viewing Node Resources 164

Scheduling a Node Maintenance Mode Time Period 164
Setting Device Management States 165
Unscheduled Device Polling and Rediscovery 166
Monitoring Windows Server Memory 167
Chapter 6: Monitoring Your Virtual Infrastructure 168
Requirements for Monitoring ESXi and ESX Servers 170
Creating ESX Server Credentials for SolarWinds Orion 171
Managing VMware Credentials in the Web Console 172
Adding VMware Servers for Monitoring 172
Polling for VMware Nodes Using the Network Sonar Wizard 172
Virtualization Summary 173
Viewing ESX Host Details 174
Configuring virtualization polling settings 176
Assigning credentials to Hyper-V servers 176
Assigning credentials to VMware servers 176
Chapter 7: Monitoring Hardware Health 177
Monitored Hardware Sensors 178
Enabling Hardware Health Monitoring 178
Add Node Wizard 178
Enabling or Disabling Hardware Health Monitoring for Individual Nodes 179
Enabling and Disabling or Adjusting Hardware Health Monitors for Individual Nodes 180
Updates Visible After the Next Poll 180
Enabling Hardware Sensors 180
Disabling Hardware Sensors 181
Editing Thresholds for Hardware Health 182
Changing MIB Used for Polling Hardware Health Statistics 183
Changing Hardware Health Units in Hardware Health Resources 184
Troubleshooting Hardware Health 185
Chapter 8: Common Orion Tasks 186
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Table of Contents
Creating an Alert to Discover Network Device Failures 187

Creating a Custom Property 187
Use a Custom Property in Alerts 190
Scheduling and Emailing Business Hours Reports 192
Creating a Business Hours Report 192
Scheduling and Emailing a Report 193
Creating Geographic or Departmental Views 195
Creating a Custom Group 195
Creating a Custom View 196
Chapter 9: Managing Web Accounts 198
Creating New Accounts 199
Editing User Accounts 201
User Account Access Settings 201
Setting Account Limitations 203
Defining Pattern Limitations 205
Setting Default Account Menu Bars and Views 206
Configuring an Account Report Folder 208
Configuring Audible Web Alerts 208
Creating Account Limitations 210
Using the Account Limitation Builder 210
Creating an Account Limitation 210
Deleting an Account Limitation 211
Chapter 10: Managing Groups and Dependencies 212
Managing Groups 213
Creating Groups 213
Editing Existing Groups 215
Managing Group Members 217
Deleting Groups 217
Managing the Display of Group Status 217
Managing Dependencies 220
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Creating a New Dependency 221

Editing an Existing Dependency 222
Deleting an Existing Dependency 223
Viewing Alerts on Child Objects 224
Chapter 11: Creating and Managing Alerts 225
Alert Preconfiguration Tasks 226
Sending an Email/Page 226
Dialing a Paging or SMS Service 226
Playing a Sound 227
Sending an SMNP Trap 227
Creating Text to Speech Output 228
Configuring the Default Email Action 229
Navigating to the Alert Manager 230
Settings Page (Recommended) 230
All Active Alerts Resource 230
Active Alerts Details 230
Node Details 230
Best Practices and Tips for Alerting 231
Use the Out of the Box Alerts as Templates 231
Restrict Who Receives Alerts 231
Plan which Devices to Monitor 231
Establish Dependencies 231
Creating New Alerts 232
Setting Alert Properties 233
Setting Trigger Conditions 235
Setting Reset Conditions 237
Setting the Time of Day or Schedule 239
Setting Trigger Actions & Escalation Levels 242
Trigger Actions 242
Escalation Levels 243
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Table of Contents
Setting Reset Actions 243

Reviewing the Alert Summary 244
Commonly Created Alerts 246
Alert Me When a Server is Down 246
Use a Custom Property in Alerts 248
Viewing Triggered Alerts 249
Acknowledging Alerts 250
Testing Alerts 251
Testing Trigger Conditions 251
Testing Trigger or Reset Actions within the Alert 251
Testing Actions in the Action Manager 251
Managing Alerts 253
Adding and Editing Alerts 253
Enabling and Disabling Alerts 253
Exporting or Importing Alerts 253
Deleting Alerts 253
Building Complex Conditions 254
Waiting for Multiple Objects to Meet the Trigger Condition 254
Evaluating Multiple Condition Blocks 255
How Condition Blocks Are Evaluated 255
Evaluating Multiple Object Types 256
Available Alert Actions 257
Changing Custom Property 258
Dialing Paging or SMS Service 259
Emailing a Web Page 259
Executing an External Program 261
Executing a Visual Basic Script 262
Logging an Alert to a File 263
Logging an Alert to the NPM Event Log 265
Managing the resource allocation of a virtual machine 266
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Deleting a snapshot of a virtual machine 268

Moving a virtual machine to a different host 269
Moving a virtual machine to a different storage 271
Pausing a virtual machine 272
Powering off a virtual machine 273
Powering on a virtual machine 274
Restarting a virtual machine 276
Suspending a virtual machine 277
Taking a snapshot of a virtual machine 278
Playing a Sound 279
Restarting IIS Site or Application Pools 280
Sending a Windows Net Message 281
Sending an SNMP Trap 282
Using Get or Post URL Functions 284
Sending a Syslog Message 285
Sending an Email/Page 286
Setting Custom Status 288
Using Text to Speech Output 289
Logging an Alert to the Windows Event Log 290
Changes in the Alerting Engine 292
Changed or removed functionality 292
Database changes 292
Macro or variable changes 293
Alert Migration to the Web 294
Migration Issues 294
Limitations to Migrated Alerts 294
Integrating Alerts with Other Products 295
Chapter 12: Monitoring Quality of Experience 296
Benefits of QoE 297
System Requirements 298
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Table of Contents
Network Packet Analysis Sensors (NPAS) 298

Server Packet Analysis Sensors (SPAS) 298
Port Requirements 299
Port Mirroring Requirements 299
How SolarWinds Packet Analysis Sensors Work 300
Network Packet Analysis Sensor (NPAS) 300
Server Packet Analysis Sensor (SPAS) 300
Limitations to Packet Analysis Sensors 301
Deploying Packet Analysis Sensors 302
Common Packet Analysis Sensor Deployment Scenarios 302
Aggregation per application 303
Aggregation with access to network (NPAS) 303
Aggregation with access to application servers (SPAS) 305
Aggregation per site 306
Aggregation per site with access to network (NPAS) 306
Aggregation per site with access to application servers (SPAS) 307
Aggregation per computer 308
Aggregation per computer with access to network (NPAS) 309
Aggregation per computer with access to application servers (SPAS) 310
Deploying a Network Sensor 311
Deploying a Server Sensor 312
Removing a Sensor 313
Monitoring QoE Applications and Nodes 314
Manage Global QoE Settings 314
QoE Applications 314
Nodes with QoE Traffic 315
Monitoring QoE Applications 316
Monitoring Applications Automatically 316
Monitoring Applications Manually 317
Defining Nodes for a Network Sensor 318
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Adding Nodes Automatically 318

Adding Nodes Manually 318
Ignoring Applications or Nodes 319
Ignoring Applications 319
Ignoring Nodes 320
Defining Custom HTTP Applications 321
Advanced Sensor Configuration 323
Configuring the Monitored Interface 323
Configuring the Number of CPU Cores and Allocated Memory 323
Configuring Thresholds 324
Packet Analysis Sensor Agents 325
Chapter 13: SolarWinds Orion Agents 326
Agent Requirements 327
Supported Operating Systems 327
Prerequisites 327
Agent Resource Consumption 328
Agent Licensing 328
Accounts and Security Requirements 328
Agent Open Port Requirements 328
Requirements for Remote Deployment from the Server 329
Open Ports Requirements for Remote Deployment from the Server 329
Agent Settings 330
Server Initiated Communication 332
Agent Initiated Communication 333
Deploying an Agent 334
Deploying Agent Software via Orion Server Push 334
Deploying the Agent Manually 337
Mass Deploying an Agent 339
Packaging the Orion Agent for Deployment with Patch Manager 342
Deploying with a Gold Master Image 348
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Table of Contents
Deploying on Windows Core Servers 349

Deploying Agents in the Cloud 350
Manually Deploy an Agent on Amazon Web Services 350
Automatically Deploy an Agent on Amazon Web Services 351
Automatically Deploy an Agent on Microsoft Azure 353
Managing Agents 355
Editing Agent Configuration 358
Tracking Your Polling Method 358
Installed Agent Plug-in Status 361
Editing Agent Settings in the Control Panel 362
Connecting to a Previously Installed Agent 362
Changing Agent Communication Modes 364
Changing the Agent Port 365
Certificates and the Agent 366
Using the Agent Polling Method 368
Using the Network Sonar Wizard to Check Agent Polled Nodes 368
Agent Performance Counters 369
SolarWinds: Agent Service 369
SolarWinds: Agent Management Service 369
Troubleshooting Agents 371
Troubleshooting Your Agent Installation 371
Troubleshooting Agent Configuration 372
Passive Agent: Connection Refused 372
Passive Agent: Agent is not running in passive mode 372
Invalid Agent Version 372
Agent GUID is Different 372
Troubleshooting Agent Connections 373
Installed Agent Plug-in Status 374
Chapter 14: Monitoring Network Events in the Web Console 375
Viewing Event Details in the Web Console 376
17
Acknowledging Events in the Web Console 377

Chapter 15: Network Maps 378
The Worldwide Map 379
Setting up the Worldwide map 379
Map objects 380
Network Atlas Maps 382
Chapter 16: Creating and Viewing Reports 383
Predefined Orion Reports 384
Viewing, Creating, Exporting, Importing, Editing and Scheduling Reports in the Orion Web
Console 385
Creating Reports in the Web Console 385
Modifying an Existing Web-Based Report 385
Creating a New Web-Based Report 388
Adding Content to a Web-Based Report Column 390
Adding a Custom Chart or Table to a Web-Based Report Column 391
Scheduling Reports 398
Creating a Report Schedule While Creating or Editing a Report 398
Creating, Assigning and Editing Report Schedules in Report Manager 402
The Report Scheduler 407
Reports and Account Limitations 408
Exporting and Importing Reports 409
Exporting Reports 409
Exporting Reports as Excel and PDF from the Orion Web Console 409
Exporting Reports from the Orion Report Writer 410
Exporting and Importing Reports as XML 410
Chapter 17: Monitoring Syslog Messages 412
Configuring the Orion Syslog Port 413
Syslog Messages in the Web Console 414
Syslog Resources 414
Viewing Syslog Messages in the Web Console 415
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Table of Contents
Acknowledging Syslog Messages in the Web Console 416

Using the Syslog Viewer 417
Viewing and Acknowledging Current Messages 417
Searching for Syslog Messages 417
Syslog Server Settings 418
Configuring Syslog Viewer Filters and Alerts 419
Available Syslog Alert Actions 422
Forwarding Syslog Messages 423
Syslog Alert Variables 425
Syslog Date/Time Variables 425
Other Syslog Variables 426
Syslog Message Priorities 428
Syslog Facilities 428
Syslog Severities 429
Chapter 18: Monitoring SNMP Traps 431
The SNMP Trap Protocol 432
Viewing SNMP Traps in the Web Console 433
Using the Trap Viewer 434
Viewing Current Traps 434
Searching for Traps 434
Trap Viewer Settings 435
Configuring Trap Viewer Filters and Alerts 436
Trap Alert Variables 439
Trap Date/Time Variables 439
Other Trap Variables 440
Chapter 19: Creating Custom Properties 442
Creating a Custom Property 443
Removing Custom Properties 445
Importing Custom Property Data 445
Exporting Custom Property Data 447
19
Custom Property Editor Settings 448

Editing Custom Properties 449
Using Filters in the Custom Property Editor Edit View 450
Creating Custom Properties Filters 450
Removing Custom Properties Filters 451
Chapter 20: Managing the Orion Database 452
Using Database Manager 453
Adding a Server 453
Viewing Database Details 453
Viewing Table Details 454
Database Maintenance 456
Running Database Maintenance 456
Best Practices for Managing Your Orion Database 457
Managing Database Growth in the Orion Web Interface 457
Troubleshooting Your Orion Database 457
Upgrading Your Database 459
Requirements 459
Stopping Orion Services 459
Creating a Database Backup 460
Restoring a Database Backup 460
Updating Orion to Use New Database 461
Creating a Maintenance Plan with SQL Server Management Studio 462
Chapter 21: Managing Orion Polling Engines 465
Viewing Polling Engine Status in the Web Console 466
Configuring Polling Engine Settings 466
Orion Polling Settings 467
Polling Intervals 467
Polling Statistics Intervals 468
Dynamic IP Address and Hostname Resolution 468
Database Settings 469
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Table of Contents
Network 472
Calculations & Thresholds 473
Calculating Node Availability 475
Node Status 475
Percent Packet Loss 475
Calculating a Baseline 476
Orion Baseline Data Calculation 477
What Data is Affected? 477
When Are Baselines Calculated? 478
Why Are Only Interface Baselines Customizable? 478
Setting the Node Warning Level 479
Managing Packet Loss Reporting 480
Deleting Polling Engines 481
Chapter 22: Using Orion Scalability Engines 482
Scalability Engine Requirements 483
Scalability Engine Guidelines by Product 484
DameWare in Centralized Mode 484
Database Performance Analyzer (DPA) 485
Engineer's Toolset on the Web 485
Enterprise Operations Console (EOC) 485
IP Address Manager (IPAM) 486
Log and Event Manager (LEM) 486
NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) 487
Network Configuration Manager (NCM) 487
Network Performance Monitor (NPM) 488
Patch Manager (SPM) 489
Quality of Experience (QoE) 489
Server & Application Monitor (SAM) 490
Serv-U FTP Server and MFT Server 491
Storage Resource Monitor (SRM) 491
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User Device Tracker (UDT) 492

Virtualization Manager (vMan) 492
VoIP & Network Quality Manager (VNQM) 493
Web Performance Monitor (WPM) 493
Scalability Engine Deployment Options 495
Centralized Deployment 495
Distributed Deployment 497
Centralized Deployment with Remote Polling Engines 500
Installing Additional Polling Engines 503
Activating Stackable Poller Licenses 504
Frequently Asked Questions 505
Chapter 23: Configuring Automatic Login 506
Using Windows Pass-through Security 507
Passing Login Information Using URL Parameters 510
Using the DirectLink Account 511
Chapter 24: Orion Product Family 512
Monitoring Network Performance (Orion NPM) 513
Monitoring Network Application Data (SAM) 514
Managing IP Addresses (IPAM) 515
Managing IP Service Level Agreements (SolarWinds VoIP and Network Quality Manager) 516
Why Install VoIP & Network Quality Manager 516
What SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager Does 517
Monitoring NetFlow Traffic Analysis Data (NTA) 518
Orion Scalability Engines 519
Using an Orion Additional Web Server 520
Orion Failover and Disaster Recovery 524
Using a Hot Standby Engine 524
Installing a Hot Standby Engine 525
Configuring a Hot Standby Engine 528
Testing a Hot Standby Engine 529
22
Table of Contents
Appendix A: References 530

Troubleshooting 531
Back Up Your Data 531
Verify Program Operation 531
Stop and Restart 532
Run the Configuration Wizard 532
Working with Temporary Directories 532
Moving the SQL Server Temporary Directory 532
Redefining Windows System Temporary Directories 533
Slow Performance on Windows Server 2008 533
Error When Creating New Group 534
Orion Variables and Examples 535
Variable Construction 535
Variable Modifiers 536
Alert Variables 536
General Alert Variables 536
Date Time 538
Group Variables 540
SQL Query 542
Status Values 543
Node Variables 544
Defunct Alert Variables 555
Example Messages Using Variables 555
Using Macro Formatters 557
Syslog Alert Variables 557
Syslog Date/Time Variables 557
Other Syslog Variables 559
Trap Alert Variables 559
Trap Date/Time Variables 560
Other Trap Variables 561
23
Status Icons and Identifiers 563

Status Indicators 563
Status Rollup Mode 565
95th Percentile Calculations 567
Regular Expression Pattern Matching 569
Characters 569
Character Classes or Character Sets [abc] 570
Anchors 571
Quantifiers 572
Dot 574
Word Boundaries 575
Alternation 575
Regular Expression Pattern Matching Examples 575
Web Console and Syslog Viewer (Search Messages tab) 576
Syslog Rules 577
Required SolarWinds Account Permissions 579
Using Report Writer 580
Preview Mode 581
Design Mode 582
Creating a Scheduled Report Job 582
Creating and Modifying Reports in Report Writer 583
General Options Tab 584
Select Fields Options Tab 585
Filter Results Options Tab 586
Top XX Records Options Tab 586
Time Frame Options Tab 587
Summarization Options Tab 587
Report Grouping Options Tab 588
Field Formatting Options Tab 588
Appendix B: Technical References 590
24
Table of Contents
Filter Syntax Guide 591

Filter Syntax 591
SQL or SWQL? 592
SWQL Filter Syntax Examples 592
Wildcards 592
Filtering by Custom Property 592
Filtering by Built-in Properties 592
Filtering by Status 593
SQL Filter Syntax Examples 593
Wildcards 593
Filtering by Custom Property 593
Examples 594
Filtering by Status 594
SWQL Resource Matrix 594
SolarWinds EOC Resources 595
SolarWinds SAM Resources 611
Implementing SNMPv3 615
SNMPv3 Security 615
General Implementation of SNMPv3 619
SolarWinds Product-Specific Implementation 620
SolarWinds SNMPv3 input mapped to IOS 620
Integrating SolarWinds Orion and Trouble Ticket Systems 623
Understanding the Requirements 624
Implementing a Test Plan 626
Transitioning to Production 628
Automated Acknowledgement of Alerts 628
Integrating TTS Web Functions into the Orion Web Console 628
Managing Orion Performance 630
Managing Orion Component Performance 632
SQL Performance - Measuring and Monitoring a Production Server 632
25
Determining SQL Server Performance Abilities 636

Optimizing SQL Server for Orion 636
Orion Server Performance 639
Setting Up Cisco UCS 641
Setting up and Monitoring a Cisco UCS 641
Understanding Charts and Graphs 646
Charts and Graphs Definitions 646
IT Management Data Types 647
Raw Vs. Cooked Data 648
Absolute vs. Relative Data 649
Data Sources 650
Data Collectors 651
Data Perspective 652
Interpreting Orion Data Charts and Graphs 652
Gauges 652
Bar and Line Charts 653
Comparing Data from Different Resources 654
Disparate Data Sources 655
Graphing Differences Between Views 655
Graphing Differences Within a Single View 655
Understanding Orion AD Authentication 656
Adding AD Orion Authentication for AD Users 658
Adding a New User Account 659
Configuring User Account Settings 661
Strategies for Using Orion with AD 662
Sample Scenario 662
Troubleshooting Orion AD Issues 662
Additional Resources 663
Orion AD Implementation Resources 664
Microsoft Active Directory Resources 664
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Table of Contents
thwack Community 664

Understanding Orion Report Writer 665
Reporting Components 665
Working with Report Writer 666
Existing Reports 666
Building a Report 670
Understanding (some) SQL 675
Time Frames or datetime 676
JOINs 676
Aliases 676
Report Scheduler 677
Creating and Distributing Graphical Reports 677
thwack Community 677
Hey Chart, get in my Report! (Part 1) 678
Hey Chart, get in my Report! (Part 2) 681
Using Groups and Dependencies 689
Orion Service Groups (Groups) 690
Nested Groups 690
Group Status 691
Dependencies 697
27
Chapter 1: Introduction
The SolarWinds Orion family of products delivers easy-to-use, scalable solutions
to meet your network, systems, and storage monitoring and management needs.
Built around the Orion Web Console, the Orion family of products can give you a
comprehensive view of all aspects of your network from a single centralized
location, while also offering the user flexibility and remote access abilities that are
native to a web-based platform.
SolarWinds users have also found that it does not take a team of consultants and
months of unpleasant surprises to get a full SolarWinds Orion installation up and
running because the overall SolarWinds Orion experience is far more intuitive
than conventional, unnecessarily complex enterprise-level network, systems, and
storage monitoring and management systems.
28
What is SolarWinds Orion?

The SolarWinds Orion family consists of the following network, systems, and
storage monitoring and management products:
Network Performance Monitor
Network Performance Monitor (NPM) makes it easy to quickly detect,
diagnose, and resolve performance issues with your dynamic network. It
delivers realtime views and dashboards enabling you to visually track
network performance at a glance. Plus, with its new auto-updating network
topology maps and automated network discovery features, you can keep up
with your evolving network without breaking a sweat. And NPM is the
easiest product of its kind to use and maintain, meaning you will spend
more time actually managing networks, and less time supporting your
network manager. For more information about NPM, see the SolarWinds
Orion Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.
Network Configuration Manager
Monitoring a network is easy, but isolating problems is not. Fortunately,
Network Configuration Manager (NCM) notifies you in realtime when device
configurations change, helping you quickly determine which changes could
potentially cause network issues. With NCM, you’ll never have to guess
who changed what and when as you troubleshoot that infamous user
complaint: `the Internet is down.’ You can also rest easy as you save time
with features such as nightly config backups, bulk config changes, user
tracking, and inventory and compliance reporting. For more information
about NCM, see the SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager
Administrator Guide.
Server & Application Monitor (formerly Orion Application Performance
Monitor)
Server & Application Monitor (SAM), formerly Orion Application
Performance Monitor (Orion APM), brings powerful monitoring, alerting, and
reporting capabilities to applications and servers. Easily discover your
applications and get the visibility you need into application performance and
the underlying operating systems and servers they run on. For more
information about SAM, see the SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
29
What is SolarWinds Orion?
NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) enables you to quantify exactly how your
network is being used, by whom, and for what purpose. A new advanced
application mapping feature correlates the traffic arriving from designated
ports, source IPs, destination IPs, and even protocols, to application names
you can easily recognize. NTA makes it easy to get a comprehensive view
of your network traffic, find the bottlenecks, and shut down the bandwidth
hogs. For more information about NTA, see the SolarWinds Orion NetFlow
Traffic Analyzer Administrator Guide.
IP Address Manager
IP Address Manager (IPAM) is a powerful, scalable IP address
management module that enables you and your team to quickly create,
schedule, and share IP space reports. With either SolarWinds NPM or
SolarWinds SAM, IPAM provides affordable IP address management that is
unified with performance monitoring data for a comprehensive view of
network health. For more information about IPAM, see the SolarWinds Orion
IP Address Manager Administrator Guide.
VoIP & Network Quality Manager (formerly Orion IP SLA Manager)
SolarWinds VoIP and Network Quality Manager delivers a powerful network
monitoring solution for identifying site-specific and WAN-related
performance issues from the perspective of each of your remote sites. With
this module, you can use Cisco IP SLA technology with automatic IP SLA
setup to quickly begin monitoring your key WAN performance metrics,
including Cisco VoIP jitter and MOS. For more information about
SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager, see the SolarWinds VoIP &
Network Quality Manager Administrator Guide.
Orion Scalability Engines
Orion Scalability Engines allow you to scale the monitoring and
management capabilities of your primary Orion installation as your
enterprise network expands and your network management needs change.
Distribute polling across multiple servers with Additional Polling Engines,
protect against monitoring outages with the Orion Failover Engine, and
enable more users to access the Orion Web Console with Orion Additional
Web Servers. For more information, see Orion Scalability Engines.
30
Orion Enterprise Operations Console

With Orion Enterprise Operations Console (Orion EOC), remotely
monitoring critical network infrastructure in multiple physical locations is as
easy and affordable as managing a router in the next room. Orion EOC
provides a consolidated command center to monitor your entire enterprise
network and gives you unified visibility into remote Orion servers running
either SolarWinds NPM or SAM and associated Orion modules. For more
information about Orion EOC, see the SolarWinds Orion Enterprise
Operations Console Administrator Guide.
31
Benefits of Orion Products
Benefits of Orion Products

Consider the following benefits of SolarWinds Orion network, systems, and
storage monitoring and management products:
Out-of-the-box Productivity
Automatic discovery and wizard-driven configuration offer an immediate
return on your investment. Within minutes of installation, you can be
monitoring your critical network elements and applications.
Easy to Understand and Use
SolarWinds Orion is designed for daily use by staff that also have other
responsibilities. The Orion Web Console provides what you need where
you expect to find it and offers advanced capabilities with minimal
configuration overhead.
Affordable Value
While SolarWinds Orion provides functionality that is comparable, if not
superior, to most other solutions, the cost and maintenance of your
SolarWinds Orion installation is less than the initial cost of most other
network and systems monitoring solutions.
Scalability
By adding individual polling engines, you can scale your SolarWinds Orion
installation to any environment size. By sharing the same database, you can
also share a unified user interface, making the addition of polling engines
transparent to your staff.
thwack.com Online Community
thwack.com is a community site that SolarWinds developed to provide
SolarWinds users and the broader networking community with useful
information, tools and valuable resources related to SolarWinds network
management solutions. Resources that allow you both to see recent posts
and to search all posts are available from the Orion Web Console, providing
direct access to the thwack.com community.
32
Key Features of Orion Monitoring Products

Considering the previously listed benefits of SolarWinds Orion and the following
features, SolarWinds Orion is a simple choice to make for monitoring your
network.
Automatic and Scheduled Device Discovery
Wizard-driven device discovery further simplifies the addition of devices to
SolarWinds Orion for monitoring. Answer a few general questions about
your devices, and the discovery application takes over, populating your
Orion database and immediately beginning network analysis. You can also
create network discovery schedules to independently and automatically run
Network Sonar Discovery jobs whenever you need them.
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 data
directly 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 First Byte)
response times.
l Choose from over 1000 pre-defined applications (such as FTP, RDP, CIFS,
SQL, Exchange, etc.) or create your own custom HTTP application to
monitor.
l Deploy Packet Analysis Sensors to analyze network data. Use Network
Sensors to monitor traffic through network interfaces using dedicated
Windows nodes connected to SPAN/mirror interfaces or taps, and use
Server Sensors deployed on any Windows server to monitor traffic locally.
l Characterize applications as either business-related or purely social so 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's traffic profile.
33
l Specify application risk levels, from "No Risk" to "Evades

Detection/Bypasses Firewalls", to be alerted whenever there is unwanted,
risky traffic on your network.
Network Operations Console (NOC) View Mode
Customize web console views for optimal display on large network
operations center screens. With NOC View enabled, a web console view
can cycle through its network monitoring resources for continually updated,
shared viewing.
Customizable and Flexible Orion Web Console
You can easily customize the web console to meet your individual needs. If
you want to segregate use, you can custom design views of your data and
assign them to individual users. You can also create web console accounts
for departments, geographic areas, or any other user-defined criteria.
Open Integration
Enterprise-tested standards, including a Microsoft® SQL Server database
and industry-standard MIBs and protocols, are the backbone of the
SolarWinds Orion monitoring solution.
Network Atlas with ConnectNow
Network Atlas, the Orion network mapping application, gives you the ability
to create multi-layered, fully customizable, web-based maps of your network
to visually track the performance of any device in any location across your
network in real time. The ConnectNow feature automatically draws links
between directly-connected physical nodes discovered on your network
using both Layer 2 and Layer 3 topology data. In addition to interface status,
map links are now capable of providing both interface connection speed
and interface utilization information.
Unpluggable Port Mode
SolarWinds Orion enables you to designate selected ports as unpluggable,
so unnecessary alerts are not triggered when users undock or shutdown
connected devices. This feature is particularly useful for distinguishing low
priority ports connected to laptops and PCs from more critically important
infrastructure ports.
34
Data Center Monitoring

SolarWinds Orion offers predefined reports and web console views and
resources specifically tailored to provide performance data about Cisco
Unified Computing Systems (UCS) and Fiber Channel devices
manufactured by Cisco MDS, Brocade, and McData.
VMware Infrastructure Monitoring
SolarWinds Orion 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
servers, performance details for ESXi and ESX servers and hosted VMs,
and relevant charts and reports.
Groups and Dependencies
Groups give you the ability to logically organize monitored objects,
regardless of device type or location, and dependencies allow you to more
faithfully represent what can actually be known about your network,
eliminating “false positive” alert triggers and providing more accurate insight
into the status of monitored network objects.
Incident Alerting
You can configure custom alerts to respond to hundreds of possible network
scenarios, including multiple condition checks. SolarWinds Orion alerts
help you recognize issues before your network users experience
productivity hits. Alert delivery methods and responses include email,
paging, SNMP traps, text-to-speech, Syslog messaging, and external
application execution.
Detailed Historical Reports
Easily configure reports of data from the Orion database over custom time
periods. Data is presented in an easily reviewed format in the web console
or in the Orion Report Writer application. With over 40 built-in reports
available, you can project future trends and capacity 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 web console.
35
Product Update Notifications

Receive regular, automatic notification of updates to your installed Orion
monitoring and management applications in the Orion Web Console as
soon as they are available from SolarWinds. Product updates can include
upgrade opportunities, service packs, and hotfixes.
Orion Product Team Blog
Stay in touch with the people who bring you the products in the Orion family
by following the Orion Product Team Blog on thwack, the SolarWinds online
user community. Read posts from Orion product managers and developers
to learn how to extend and optimize your Orion installation to best meet the
needs of your network.
Integrated Syslog Servers
Save time when investigating network issues by using Syslog messages to
access network information from a single Orion server instead of polling
multiple machines independently. Use Orion to easily set up alerts and then
receive, process, forward, and send Syslog messages.
Extensible SolarWinds Modules
The Orion product family provides solutions for all your network monitoring
and management needs. With either Application Performance Monitor or
Network Performance Monitor as a base, Orion products, including NetFlow
Traffic Analyzer, VNQM (formerly VoIP Monitor or IP SLA Manager), IP
Address Manager, and the Network Configuration Manager integration, give
you the ability to monitor network applications, analyze network traffic,
monitor VoIP and WAN traffic using Cisco IP SLA, manage IP address and
subnet allocations, and manage network device configurations,
respectively, from a single location: your Orion Web Console.
36
Networking Concepts and Terminology

The following sections define the networking concepts and terminology that are
used within Orion.
l Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

l Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
l SNMP Credentials
l Management Information Base (MIB)
l Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

SolarWinds Orion uses the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) to poll for
status using ping and echo requests of managed devices. When SolarWinds
Orion polls a managed device using ICMP, if the device is operationally up, it
returns a response time and record of any dropped packets. This information is
used by SolarWinds Orion to monitor status and measure average response time
and packet loss percentage for managed devices.
Note: SolarWinds Orion only uses ICMP to poll devices for status, average
response time, and packet loss percentage. Other information displayed in the
Orion Web Console is obtained via SNMP requests.
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

For most network monitoring and management tasks, SolarWinds Orion products
use SNMP.
SNMP-enabled network devices, including routers, switches, and PCs, host
SNMP agents that maintain a virtual database of system status and performance
information that is tied to specific Object Identifiers (OIDs). This virtual database is
referred to as a Management Information Base (MIB), and SolarWinds Orion uses
MIB OIDs as references to retrieve specific data about a selected,
SNMP-enabled, managed device. Access to MIB data may be secured either with
SNMP Community Strings, as provided with SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c, or with
optional SNMP credentials, as provided with SNMPv3.
Notes:
l To properly monitor devices on your network, you must enable SNMP on all
devices that are capable of SNMP communications. The steps to enable
37
SNMP Credentials
SNMP differ by device, so you may need to consult the documentation

provided by your device vendor.
l If SNMPv2c is enabled on a device you want Orion to monitor, by default,
Orion will attempt to use SNMPv2c to poll the device for performance
information. If you only want Orion to poll using SNMPv1, you must disable
SNMPv2c 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.
SNMP Credentials
SNMP credentials secure access to SNMP-enabled managed devices. SNMPv1
and SNMPv2c credentials serve as a type of password that is authenticated by
confirming a match between a cleartext SNMP Community String provided by an
SNMP request and the SNMP Community String stored as a MIB object on an
SNMP-enabled, managed device.
SNMPv3 provides a more secure interaction by employing the following fields:
l The User Name is a required cleartext string that identifies the agent or poll
request that is attempting to access an SNMP-enabled device. 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 it
is specifically configured on an SNMP-enabled device.
l SNMPv3 provides two optional Authentication Methods: Message Digest
5 (MD5) and Secure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA1). Both methods, MD5 and
SHA1, include the Authentication Key with the SNMPv3 packet and then
generate a digest of an entire SNMPv3 packet that is then sent. MD5
digests are 16 bytes long, and SHA1 digests are 20 bytes long. When the
packet is received, the User Name is used to recreate a packet digest using
the appropriate method. Both digests are then compared to authenticate.
l SNMPv3 provides two optional Privacy/Encryption Methods:
o Data Encryption Standard (DES56). DES56 uses a 56-bit key with a
56-bit salt to encrypt the SNMP v3 packet data. All packet headers are
sent in clear-text.
38
o Advanced Encryption Standards (AES128, AES192, and AES256)

using 128-, 192-, or 256-bit keys, respectively, with 128-, 192-, or 256-
bit salts. All packet headers are sent in clear-text.
Password is a Key
The "password is a key" feature, also known as "localized key" means that the
hash is computed using a combination of the user defined password and from the
SNMP agent's engine ID. This feature can be used instead of plain text
authentication on SNMP devices.
Each SNMPv3 agent has an engine ID that uniquely identifies the agent on the
device. If a device gets compromised, no other managed or managing devices
are affected by it.
If your devices support localized keys and the SNMP settings on your device are
set up for authentication with the localized key (hash), you must also make
appropriate changes in the Orion node settings.
To set the localized key:
1. Log into the Orion Web Console using an account with administrator
privileges.
2. Go to the Edit Node view. Select Settings > Manage Nodes, select the
node, and then click Edit Properties.
3. In the Edit Node view, select the SNMPv3 polling method.
4. Make sure the Password is a key box is selected for SNMPv3
Authentication or Privacy/Encryption, as appropriate.
Management Information Base (MIB)

A Management Information Base (MIB) is the formal description of a set of objects
that can be managed using SNMP. MIB-I refers to the initial MIB definition, and
MIB-II refers to the current definition. Each MIB object stores a value such as
sysUpTime, bandwidth utilization, or sysContact that can be polled to provide
current performance data for any selected device. For example, when polling your
network for performance data, Orion Network Performance Monitor sends an
SNMP GET request to each network device to poll the specified MIB objects.
Received responses are then recorded in the Orion database for use in Orion
products, including within Orion Web Console resources.
39
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
Most network devices can support several different types of MIBs. While most
devices 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 Orion
Universal Device Poller, you can gather information from virtually any MIB on any
network device to which you have access.
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a proprietary technology used to
poll performance and management information from Windows-based network
devices, applications, and components. When used as an alternative to SNMP,
WMI can provide much of the same monitoring and management data currently
available with SNMP-based polling with the addition of Windows-specific
communications and security features. For more information about WMI, see the
Microsoft article, About WMI.
Note: Due to specific characteristics of WMI polling requests, polling a single
WMI-enabled object uses approximately five times the resources required to poll
the same or similar object with SNMP on the same polling frequency.
40
How SolarWinds Orion Works

Using ICMP and SNMP polling, trap receiving, and Syslog communication and
data collection, installed Orion products can continuously monitor the health and
performance of all aspects your network. This monitoring is accomplished without
interfering with the critical functions of your network devices. Unlike many other
network monitoring products, Orion helps you maintain the overall performance of
your network in the following ways:
l Orion products do not install outside agents on your mission-critical servers.

l Orion products do not employ services that take vital resources from critical
applications.
l Orion products do not install any code on monitored network devices as
unmanaged or outdated code can open security holes in your network.
After installing SolarWinds Orion, you can automate the initial discovery of your
network, and then simply add new devices for monitoring as you add them to your
network. SolarWinds Orion stores all gathered information in a SQL database and
provides the highly customizable web console in which to view current and
historical network status.
41
Chapter 2: Preparing a SolarWinds
Orion Installation
Orion products use a simple wizard to direct the installation process. For an
enterprise-class product, installation requirements are nominal.
Note: Downgrades of Orion products are not supported. If you are upgrading or
installing multiple Orion products, confirm that you are installing them in the order
given in the Upgrade Instructions located in your SolarWinds Customer Portal.
42
Chapter 2: Preparing a SolarWinds Orion Installation
Orion Requirements
Your Orion product and your Orion database should use separate servers.
Multiple Orion server installations using the same database are not supported.
The following sections provide specific requirements:
l Orion Server Software Requirements

l Orion Server Hardware Requirements
l Requirements for the Orion Database Server (SQL Server)
l Requirements for Virtual Machines and Servers
l Additional Requirements
Orion Server Software Requirements

The following table lists minimum software requirements and recommendations
for a SolarWinds Orion installation.
Software Requirements
Operating Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 (32- or 64-bit)
System Windows Server 2008, 2008 SP2, 2008 R2, 2008 R2 SP1
Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2
Notes:
l IIS and MSMQ must be installed. SolarWinds recommends

that Orion administrators have local administrator privileges
to ensure full functionality of local Orion tools. Accounts
limited to use of the Orion Web Console do not require
administrator privileges.
l SolarWinds does not support production installations of
Orion products on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7,
or Windows 8 systems.
l Evaluation versions of SolarWinds products are supported
on Windows 7, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8 (except for
Standard Edition), Windows 8.1 (except for Standard
Edition), and Windows 8.1 Update 1 (except for Standard
Edition).
43
Orion Server Software Requirements
l SolarWinds products are not compatible with installations of

Internet Information Services version 6.0 (IIS6) that make use
of web gardens.
l SolarWinds SAM installations on Windows Server 2008
require R2. For more information, see "Additional SAM
Requirements" in the SolarWinds Server & Application
Monitor Administrator Guide.
l Installing SolarWinds Orion on Windows Server 2012 R2
Essentials is not supported.
Operating English (UK or US), German, Japanese, or Simplified Chinese
System
Languages
IP Address IPv4 or IPv6 implemented as a dual stack. For more information,
Version see RFC 4213 - Basic Transition Mechanisms for IPv6 Hosts and
Routers.
Note: CIDR notation is not currently supported for IPv6 addresses.
Application 25 (TCP) SMTP port for non-encrypted messages.
Ports 161 (UDP) for NPM statistics collection
162 (UDP) for NPM Trap Server listening for incoming messages.
443 (TCP) default port for https binding. Also used for bi-directional
ESX/ESXi server polling and for Cisco UCS monitoring.
465 (TCP) for SSL-enabled email alert actions
587 ( TCP) for TLS-enabled email alert actions
1801 (TCP) for MSMQ WCF binding. For more information, consult
appropriate Microsoft online help.
17777 (TCP) open for Orion module traffic
17778 (HTTPS) open to access the SolarWinds Information
Service API
17779 (HTTP and HTTPS) for the SolarWinds Toolset Integration
44
Web Microsoft IIS, version 6.0 or higher, in 32-bit mode.
Server DNS specifications require that hostnames be composed of
alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9), the minus sign (-), and periods
(.). Underscore characters (_) are not allowed. For more
information, see RFC 952 - DOD Internet Host Table Specification.
Warning: The following Windows accounts, as configured by
IIS 6.0 on Windows Server 2003 with their default security settings,
are required:
l IUSR_<hostname>, as a member of the Guests group

ONLY.
l IWAM_<hostname>, 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 Orion
installation. SolarWinds strongly recommends against altering
these accounts or their settings.
Notes:
l SolarWinds does not support installing SolarWinds Orion on

domain controllers.
l SolarWinds neither recommends nor supports the installation
of any Orion product on the same server or using the same
database server as a Research in Motion (RIM) Blackberry
server.
.NET .NET 3.5 SP1 and .NET 4.0.3

Framework Note: Both versions 3.5 SP1 and 4.0.3 are required.
Web Microsoft Internet Explorer version 8 or higher with Active scripting

Console Firefox 32.0 or higher (Toolset Integration is not supported on
Browser Firefox)
Chrome 40.0 or higher
Safari for iPhone
45
Orion Server Hardware Requirements
Orion Server Hardware Requirements

The following table lists minimum hardware requirements and recommendations
for your Orion server.
Note: Hardware requirements are listed by SolarWinds NPM license level.
SL100, SL250, or
Hardware SL500 SL2000 SLX
CPU 2.0 GHz 2.4 GHz 3.0 GHz
Speed
Note: For production environments, quad core is recommended.
Physical Address Extension (PAE) should not be enabled.
Hard 2.5 GB 5 GB 20 GB
Drive
Note: A RAID 1 drive for server operating system, Orion installation,
Space
and tempdb files is recommended. Orion requires at least 1.5 GB for
job engine, information service, collector service, MIB database and
other required files. The Orion installer needs 1 GB 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.
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 Orion
database server. SolarWinds NPM license levels are provided as a reference.
SL100, SL250, or
Requirements SL500 SL2000 SLX
SQL Server SolarWinds supports Express, Standard, or Enterprise

versions of the following:
l SQL Server 2008 without SP, 2008 SP1, 2008 SP2,

2008 SP3, or 2008 SP4
l SQL Server 2008 R2 without SP, 2008 R2 SP1, 2008
R2 SP2, 2008 R2 SP3
46
SL100, SL250, or
l SQL Server 2012 without SP, 2012 SP1 (also with

AlwaysOn Availability Groups), or with SP2
l SQL Server 2014 (also with AlwaysOn Availability
Groups)
Notes:
l The FullWithSQL NPM installer package automatically

installs SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 Express. This is
recommended for evaluations.
l SolarWinds strongly recommends maintaining
SolarWinds servers as physically separate from your
SQL server.
l The recovery model of the database should be set to
Simple. SolarWinds does not support other methods.
l SQL Server Compact Edition 3.5 SP2 is only supported
for NPM evaluations.
l Due to latency effects, SolarWinds does not recommend
installing your SQL Server and your Orion server or
additional polling engine in different locations across a
WAN. For more information, see SolarWinds
Knowledge Base article, Can I install my Orion server or
Additional Polling Engine and my Orion database (SQL
Server) in different locations 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 SQL Server Management
Studio component.
47
Requirements for the Orion Database Server (SQL Server)
SL100, SL250, or
l Use the following database select statement to check

your SQL Server version, service pack or release level,
and edition:
select SERVERPROPERTY ('productversion'),
SERVERPROPERTY ('productlevel'),
SERVERPROPERTY ('edition')
SQL Server English with collation setting SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_

Collation 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 Drive 2 GB 5 GB 20 GB
Space
Note: Due to intense I/O requirements, a RAID 1+0 drive is
strongly recommended for the SolarWinds database, and
data and log files. RAID 5 is not recommended for the SQL
Server hard drive. The Orion installer needs at least 1 GB on
the drive where temporary Windows system or user variables
are stored. Per Windows standards, some common files may
need to be installed on drive as your server operating system.
Note: SolarWinds recommends additional RAM, up to 8 GB,

for SolarWinds SAM installations including more than
1000 monitors.
48
SL100, SL250, or
.NET .NET is not required if your database is on a separate server.

Framework
SQL Server Configuration Best Practices

This topic provides recommendations about how best to manage the SQL server
you are using with your Orion installation.
The standard SQL environment for Orion products contains the following
components:
l A dedicated SQL Standard or Enterprise Server

l Directly attached (DAS), RAID 10 storage (I/O subsystem)
l LAN attachment between the main Orion server and any additional
components
Maximizing SQL server performance
When planning your SQL server configuration, consider the following information:
l SQL Express is only suitable for very small Orion installations without NTA.
NetFlow can be a major factor in database sizing, depending on the
incoming flow rates.
l WAN connections should never be used between the SQL server and the
Orion server. This includes any additional Orion pollers.
l The SQL Server should not be installed on the Orion server.
l The performance of an SQL server is dependent on the performance of the
I/O subsystem.
l The more disks there are in a RAID 10 array, the better.
l Many RAID controllers do not handle RAID 01 well.
Hardware settings for SQL servers
The following section contains the recommended hardware settings for SQL
servers, taking different scenarios and the number of logical disks you use.
49
Hardware settings for SQL servers
The following table contains the recommended data storage settings which
provide maximum performance.
Component Recommendation
Orion database l A dedicated hard drive for data files (.mdf, .ndf).
RAID 1+0 is recommended.
l A dedicated hard drive for transaction files (.ldf). A
disk with fast sequential writing is recommended.
A RAID 1+0 setup is recommended.
SQL Server l A dedicated hard drive for data files (.mdf, .ndf).
temporary directory RAID 1+0 is recommended.
(tempdb) database
SQL Server host l A dedicated hard drive of any type.

system (Windows)
The following table contains the recommended data storage settings with four
HDDs on the database server.
Orion database l A dedicated hard drive for data files (.mdf, .ndf).
RAID 1+0 is recommended.
SQL Server l A dedicated hard drive for data files (.mdf, .ndf) and
temporary directory the transaction log (.ldf)
(tempdb) database
SQL Server host l A dedicated hard drive of any type. This hard drive
system (Windows) should be the slowest of the four available disks.
50
The following table contains the recommended data storage settings with three
HDDs on the database server.
Orion database l A dedicated hard drive for data files

(.mdf, .ndf). RAID 1+0 is recommended.
l A dedicated hard drive for transaction
files (.ldf). A disk with fast sequential
writing is recommended. A RAID 1+0
setup is recommended.
SQL Server temporary l A dedicated hard drive for tempdb data

directory (tempdb) database files (.mdf, .ndf), tempdb transaction log
and SQL Server host system (.ldf), and host system.
(Windows)
If you have two hard drives on your database server, the following setup is
recommended:
l Use the disk with the faster sequential writing for the host system and for the
transaction log files (.ldf).
l Use the other disk for data files (.mdf, .ldf), for the tempdb data files, and for
the tempdb log files.
Note: If there are more databases on a given SQL server, it is strongly
recommended that you use dedicated hard drives for the tempdb database. Use
at least one hard drive for data files, and one hard drive for the transaction log.
The reason for this is that all databases use only one tempdb, therefore the
tempdb can be the biggest bottleneck in the I/O subsystem.
subsystem
On multi-CPU systems, the performance of some operations can be increased by

creating more data files on a single hard drive.
Note: Every logical CPU is considered to be one CPU.
51
The following example shows the original settings of a system with 16 CPU
cores:
l One hard drive for data with the SolarWindsOrionDatabase.MDF file

in the PRIMARY filegroup.
l One hard drive for the transaction log with the
SolarWindsOrionDatabase.LDF file.
l One hard drive for the tempdb data with the tempdb.MDF file in the
PRIMARY filegroup.
l One hard drive for the tempdb transaction log with the tempdb.LDF file.
The previous settings can be improved in the following way:
l One hard drive for data, with the following files in the PRIMARY file group:
l SolarWindsOrionDatabase01.MDF
l One hard drive for the transaction log with the
SolarWindsOrionDatabase.LDF file.
l One hard drive for tempdb data, with the following files in the PRIMARY
filegroup:
l tempdb01.MDF
l tempdb02.MDF
l tempdb03.MDF
l tempdb04.MDF
l One hard drive for the tempdb transaction log with the tempdb.LDF file.
Notes:
l Having more files in the filegroup help the SQL server to distribute the load
generated by multiple threads while working with files.
l The recommended ratio between the number of cores and the files in the
filegroup is typically 4:1 or 2:1 (for example, 16 cores and four files, or 16
cores and eight files).
52
l The size and growth setting for all files in a filegroup must be set to identical
values in order to distribute the load evenly.
l For the transaction log, it is not effective to create more files, because the
SQL server can only use the first file.
l For the tempdb database, a RAM disk or an SSD disk can be used.
l An SSD disk can be used for data files, but it is not effective for the
transaction log where sequential access is most important.
Database file setting recommendations
l It is recommended to pre-allocate as much disk space as possible, because

the allocation process can be time-consuming.
l Define an absolute auto-growth setting with a reasonable size (500 MB,
1 GB, and so on), instead of an auto-growth percentage.
Memory setting recommendations
l Do not reserve all memory to the SQL server, because this can lead to a
lack of memory for the host operating system.
l Reserve 1 GB of memory to the host operating system if there are no
additional services running on the given host system.
l If additional resource-intensive services are running on the host operating
system, reserve sufficient memory for the host operating system.
SolarWinds does not recommend such configuration.
CPU setting recommendations
l Make sure that power-saving technologies are disabled on the CPU.
Requirements for Virtual Machines and Servers

Orion installations on VMware Virtual Machines and Microsoft Virtual Servers are
fully 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.
53
Additional Requirements
Orion Requirements by License Level
VM SL100, SL250, or
Configuration SL500 SL2000 SLX
CPU Speed 2.0 GHz 2.4 GHz 3.0 GHz
Allocated 2 GB 5 GB 20 GB
Hard Drive Note: Due to intense I/O requirements, SQL Server should be
Space hosted on a separate physical server configured as RAID 1+0.
RAID 5 is not recommended for the SQL Server hard drive.
Network Each virtual machine on which Orion is installed should have

Interface its own, dedicated network interface card.
Note: Since Orion uses SNMP to monitor your network, if you
are unable to dedicate a network interface card to your Orion
server, you may experience gaps in monitoring data due to
the low priority generally assigned to SNMP traffic.
Additional Requirements
The following requirements must also be met to ensure a fully functional
monitoring environment.
SysObjectID Access
In order to fully monitor network objects, the SysObjectID of any device to be
monitored by SolarWinds must be accessible from the SolarWinds server.
Additional Required SQL Server 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. Orion

products use secure SQL CLR stored procedures for selected, non-
business data operations to improve overall performance.
l Microsoft SQL Server Native Client
l Microsoft SQL Server Management Objects
54
Orion Licensing
Products in the Orion family are licensed additively, in terms of monitored network
objects. So, for example, if you have purchased both SolarWinds NPM with an
SL100 license and SolarWinds SAM with an AL50 license you will be able to
monitor performance of both interfaces and applications on a total of 150 unique
nodes. For more information, see the Administrator Guide of your specific Orion
product.
Activating SolarWinds Licenses

After you have installed your Orion product, you may be prompted to provide your
licensing information (software license key and customer data) and thus activate
your product.
l To postpone the activation, click Continue Evaluation. You can activate

the license later, via the License Manager. For more information, see
Activating Licenses with the License Manager.
l To activate the license immediately, click Enter Licensing Information and
complete the following procedure:
To activate your SolarWinds license:
1. Click Enter Licensing Information to launch the Activation Wizard.

2. Select whether you have access to the Internet or whether you want to
activate your license offline.
Activating Licenses with Internet Access
If you have installed your SolarWinds product on a computer which is
connected to the Internet, the license key will be activated via the Internet.
To activate the license, launch the Activation Wizard, and complete the
following steps:
i. Select I have Internet access...

ii. Find out your activation key in the customer portal, and provide it in
the Activation Key field.
55
Activating SolarWinds Licenses
a. Browse to https://customerportal.solarwinds.com, and then log in

using your Customer ID and password, or your individual user
account information.
Note: If you do not know your SolarWinds Customer ID and
password or individual profile details, contact Customer Support
at http://www.solarwinds.com/support/ticket/serviceticket.aspx.
b. Under Licensing Management section on the top bar, select

License Management.
c. Browse to the appropriate SolarWinds product, and then click
the plus sign next to the product to display your activation key.
d. Copy your unregistered activation key for the appropriate
SolarWinds product to the clipboard, and then paste it into the
Activation Key field on the Activate NPM window.
iii. If you are using a proxy server to access the Internet, select I
access the Internet through a proxy server, and then type the proxy
address and port number.
iv. Click Next and complete the Activation Wizard.
Activating Licenses Offline

If the computer on which you are installing your Orion product is not
connected to the Internet, you need to provide the unique machine ID in the
SolarWinds customer portal, download the license key, and complete the
activation on the offline computer.
To activate your SolarWinds license for an offline computer, launch the
Activation Wizard and complete the following procedure:
i. On the Activate NPM screen, select This server does not have
Internet access, and click Next.
ii. On the Activate Product window to finalize your registration, click
Copy Unique Machine ID.
iii. Paste the copied data into a new document in a text editor, and then
save the text document.
56
iv. Transfer the document to a computer with Internet access. For

example, transfer the document to a shared location.
v. Log on to the SolarWinds customer portal and find out your activation
key:
a. Browse to https://customerportal.solarwinds.com from a

computer with Internet access, and then log in using your
Customer ID and password, or your individual user account
information.
b. Click License Management.

c. Browse to the appropriate SolarWinds product, such as Network
Performance Monitor, and then click Manually Register
License.
d. Provide the Unique Machine ID you transferred earlier, and then
download your license key.
e. Transfer the license key to a shared location.
vi. Return to the offline computer where you have been running the
activation wizard, and browse to the shared License Key File location
from the Activate Product window.
vii. Click Next to continue.
3. Provide your customer data, and then complete the Activation Wizard.
a. Provide your First Name, Last Name, Email address, and Phone
Number to register your Orion product, and then click Next.
b. Click Finish when your license is activated.
c. Review and record the information provided on the License Status
window, and then click Close.
57
Maintaining Licenses
Maintaining Licenses
After you finish an Orion product installation, you are automatically prompted to
activate your license. You can either activate your product straight away, or if you
are under active maintenance, you can activate the license later, using the
SolarWinds License Manager.
SolarWinds License Manager is an easily installed, free utility that gives you the
ability to manage Orion licenses without contacting SolarWinds Customer
Service.
SolarWinds License Manager provides the following capabilities:
l Deactivating licenses on one computer and activating them on another

computer without contacting SolarWinds Customer Service
l Upgrading from one production license level to another
l Upgrading from evaluation licenses to production licenses
Note: To be able to use the License Manager, you need to have an active
maintenance.
License Manager Requirements

The following table lists the requirements for SolarWinds License Manager.
Item Requirement
Install SolarWinds License Manager must be installed on the same

Location computer as the products to be migrated.
Connectivity Computer must have access to the Internet.
.NET 2.0 or later, links to the framework are included in the installation
Framework
Operating The following operating systems are supported:

System
l Windows Server 2008 and higher, including R2
l Windows Server 2012
l Windows Vista
l Windows 7
58
Item Requirement
l Windows 8
Browser The following browsers are supported:

Internet Explorer 8 or later
Firefox 2.0 or later
Chrome latest version
Notes:
l SolarWinds License Manager does not reset Storage Manager,

Virtualization Manager, Mobile Admin, Log & Event Manager, Web Help
Desk, and DPA/Confio licenses.
l ipMonitor versions 10 or later are now supported by License Manager. You
can reset ipMonitor licenses previous to version 10 by launching the
ipMonitor Configuration Program, clicking Software Licensing, and then
clicking Park License.
l License Manager must be installed on a computer with the correct time. If
the time on the computer is off 24 hours in either direction from the
Greenwich Mean Time clock, you will be unable to reset licenses. Time
zone settings do not affect and do not cause this issue.
Installing License Manager

Install License Manager on the computer on which you want to activate, upgrade
or synchronize your license or on which you want to deactivate currently licensed
products.
Warning: 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 SolarWinds
Customer Service. Time zone settings neither affect nor cause this issue.
To install License Manager via SolarWinds UI:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds > SolarWinds License Manager
Setup.
59
Activating Licenses with the License Manager
Note: If problems with License Manager occur, download and install the
latest version of License Manager.
2. Click Next to accept the SolarWinds EULA.

3. If you are prompted to install the SolarWinds License Manager
application, click Install.
Downloading the License Manager from the Internet

To download and install the latest version of the License Manager:
1. Navigate to
http://solarwinds.s3.amazonaws.com/solarwinds/Release/LicenseManager/
LicenseManager.zip.
2. Unzip the downloaded file, and then run LicenseManager.exe.

Activating licenses with the License Manager allows you to manage licenses for
multiple SolarWinds products.
You need to activate your license after you have purchased and installed your
Orion product, or after you purchase a license key for a currently installed
evaluation version of your product.
To activate licenses with the License Manager:
1. Start the License Manager in your SolarWinds program folder.

Note: If the License Manager is not installed on the computer, install it first.
For more information, see Installing License Manager.
2. Click Activate next to the appropriate SolarWinds product.
3. Select whether you have access to the Internet or whether you want to
activate your license offline.
Activating Licenses with Internet Access

If you have installed your SolarWinds product on a computer which is
connected to the Internet, the license key will be activated via the Internet.
60
To activate the license, launch the Activation Wizard, and complete the
following steps:
i. Select I have Internet access...

ii. Find out your activation key in the customer portal, and provide it in
the Activation Key field.
a. Browse to https://customerportal.solarwinds.com, and then log in

using your Customer ID and password, or your individual user
account information.
b. Under Licensing Management section on the top bar, select

License Management.
c. Browse to the appropriate SolarWinds product, and then click
the plus sign next to the product to display your activation key.
d. Copy your unregistered activation key for the appropriate
SolarWinds product to the clipboard, and then paste it into the
Activation Key field on the Activate NPM window.
iii. If you are using a proxy server to access the Internet, select I
access the Internet through a proxy server, and then type the proxy
address and port number.
iv. Click Next and complete the Activation Wizard.
Activating Licenses Offline

If the computer on which you are installing your Orion product is not
connected to the Internet, you need to provide the unique machine ID in the
SolarWinds customer portal, download the license key, and complete the
activation on the offline computer.
61
To activate your SolarWinds license for an offline computer, launch the

Activation Wizard and complete the following procedure:
i. On the Activate NPM screen, select This server does not have
Internet access, and click Next.
ii. On the Activate Product window to finalize your registration, click
Copy Unique Machine ID.
iii. Paste the copied data into a new document in a text editor, and then
save the text document.
iv. Transfer the document to a computer with Internet access. For
example, transfer the document to a shared location.
v. Log on to the SolarWinds customer portal and find out your activation
key:
a. Browse to https://customerportal.solarwinds.com from a

computer with Internet access, and then log in using your
Customer ID and password, or your individual user account
information.
b. Click License Management.

c. Browse to the appropriate SolarWinds product, such as Network
Performance Monitor, and then click Manually Register
License.
d. Provide the Unique Machine ID you transferred earlier, and then
download your license key.
e. Transfer the license key to a shared location.
vi. Return to the offline computer where you have been running the
activation wizard, and browse to the shared License Key File location
from the Activate Product window.
vii. Click Next to continue.
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4. Provide your customer data, and then complete the Activation Wizard.
a. Provide your First Name, Last Name, Email address, and Phone
Number to register your Orion product, and then click Next.
b. Click Finish when your license is activated.
c. Review and record the information provided on the License Status
window, and then click Close.
Deactivating and Registering Licenses with the License Manager

If you decide to move your SolarWinds product to another server, you need to
deactivate the license on the computer with the currently licensed product and
reactivate it on the server with the new installation.
To be able to deactivate and reuse a license without contacting SolarWinds
Customer Service, your product needs to be under active maintenance.
To deactivate a SolarWinds license and register it on another computer:
1. Log on to the computer where the currently licensed SolarWinds product is

installed.
2. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds > SolarWinds License
Manager.
3. Select the boxes for products you want to deactivate on this computer, and
then click Deactivate.
4. When prompted, confirm that you are sure that you want to deactivate the
product.
Deactivated licenses are now available to activate on a new computer.
If you have deactivated a license on an offline computer, or if you do not
have active maintenance, contact Customer Support at
[email protected] to be able to reuse the available license.
5. Log on to the computer on which you want to install your products, and then
begin installation.
6. When asked to specify your licenses, provide the appropriate information.
The license you deactivated earlier is then assigned to the new installation.
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Upgrading and Synchronizing Licenses
Upgrading and Synchronizing Licenses

To upgrade a currently installed license:
1. Start the License Manager from the SolarWinds Program group.

2. Click Upgrade in the Action column next to the products for which you want
to upgrade the license on this computer.
3. Complete the Activation Wizard to upgrade your license.
Synchronizing Licenses
For most NPM licenses (Gen3 licenses), you can synchronize the data available
on your customer portal with the data in the License Manager.
Synchronizing might include:
l Updating the maintenance end date

l Registering the license anew, if it was reset
To synchronize a currently installed license with the SolarWinds Customer
Portal:
1. Start the License Manager from the SolarWinds Program group.

2. Select the product whose license you want to synchronize, and then click
Synchronize.
3. Click Synchronize again in the Synchronize Licenses window.
64
Antivirus Directory Exclusions

To ensure that all Orion products have access to all required files, exclude the
following directories, listed by operating system, from antivirus protection.
Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SolarWinds\
Windows Server 2007, Windows Vista, and Windows 2008
C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\
Notes:
l Do not exclude executable files.

l We assume that C:\ is the default install volume.
65
Enabling and Requiring Secure Channels with SSL
Enabling and Requiring Secure Channels with

SSL
Orion supports the use of Secure Sockets Layer certificates to enable secure
communications with the Orion Web Console.
The following sections provide procedures for enabling SSL connections to the
Orion Web Console:
l Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2008

l Configuring the Orion Web Console for SSL
Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2008

The following procedure enables SSL/TLS connections to an Orion Web Console
installed on Windows Server 2008.
Notes:
l Secure SSL/TLS 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 SSL
certificate installed.
l Due to security concerns, you may want to disable SSL v3.0 and earlier.
See Microsoft KBs 187498 or 245030.
To enable SSL connections to the web console on Windows Server 2008:
1. Log on to your NPM server using an account with administrative privileges.

2. Click Start > Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services (IIS)
Manager.
3. In the Connections pane, expand the name of your Orion server, and then
expand Sites.
4. Click SolarWinds NetPerfMon, and then click Bindings in the Actions
pane on the right.
5. Click Add in the Site Bindings window.
6. In the Type: field, select https, and then confirm that Port is set to 443.
66
7. In the SSL Certificate field, select a certificate, and then click OK.
8. Click Close on the Site Bindings window.
9. In the IIS group, click SSL Settings, and then check Require SSL.
10. Click Apply in the Actions group on the right.
11. In the Connections pane, click SolarWinds NetPerfMon.
12. Click Restart in the Manage Web Site group on the right.
Configuring the Orion Web Console for SSL

The following procedure enables Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security (https) for
the Orion Web Console.
To enable SSL for the Orion Web Console:
1. Log on to your Orion server using an account with administrative rights.

2. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Advanced Features >
Orion Service Manager.
3. Click Shutdown Everything.
Note: It may take a few minutes to stop all services.
Database Manager.
5. If your Orion database is not listed in the left pane, complete the
following steps:
a. Click Add SQL Server.
b. Using the format Server/Instance, select or provide the SQL Server
instance you are using as your Orion database.
c. Select the appropriate login method, providing credentials as required,
and then click Connect to Database Server.
6. Expand your Orion database in the left pane.
7. Right-click the Websites table, and then click Query Table.
8. Replace the default query with the following query:
UPDATE dbo.WebsitesSET SSLEnabled=1WHERE WebsiteID=1
9. Click Refresh.
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Configuring the Orion Web Console for SSL
11. Click Start Everything.
Note: It may take a few minutes to restart all services.
12. If you want to use a designated SSL port, such as the default https port
443, for the web console, complete the following procedure to change the
web console port:
a. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Configuration
and Auto-Discovery > Configuration Wizard.
b. Check Website, and then click Next on the Welcome window.
c. Enter the designated SSL port number in the Port field, and then click
Next.
Note: Port 443 is typically reserved for SSL traffic.
d. Review the configuration summary, and then click Next.

e. Click Finish when the Configuration Wizard completes.
68
Enabling FIPS
SolarWinds has developed the FIPS 140-2 Manager to direct you in configuring
your SolarWinds software for FIPS 140-2 compliance.
To configure a FIPS-compliant SolarWinds installation:
1. Configure the server on which you have installed your SolarWinds software
for FIPS compliance. For more information, see the Microsoft Support
knowledge base article, System cryptography: Use FIPS compliant
algorithms for encryption, hashing, and signing security setting effects in
Windows XP and in later versions of Windows.
2. Start the SolarWinds FIPS 140-2 Manager
(SolarWinds.FipsManager.exe)
Note: By default, SolarWinds.FipsManager.exe is located in
Install_Volume:\Program Files (x86)\.
3. Review the welcome text, and then click Next.
4. If you have configured your SolarWinds server to use FIPS-compliant
algorithms for encryption, hashing and signing, the SolarWinds FIPS
140-2 Manager will attempt to confirm that the current configuration of your
SolarWinds products is FIPS-compliant.
5. If any currently installed SolarWinds products are not FIPS compliant,
the FIPS Manager will notify you of which SolarWinds modules are not
FIPS-compliant. Click Close, and then remove any non-compliant
SolarWinds modules from your FIPS-compliant server before running the
FIPS 140-2 Manager again.
Note: SolarWinds recommends that you install all FIPS-compliant
SolarWinds software on specifically FIPS-compliant servers and separately
maintain all non-compliant software on specifically non-compliant servers.
6. If FIPS 140-2 is currently is disabled, check Enable FIPS 140-2, and then
click Next.
7. The FIPS Manager may provide a list of objects and saved network
discovery definitions that are not FIPS-enabled.
Note: This list of non-compliant objects does not auto-refresh. To refresh
the list of non-compliant objects after editing required credentials, restart the
FIPS 140-2 Manager.
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Enabling FIPS
8. For each listed object that is not FIPS-compliant:

a. Click the non-compliant object.
b. If the non-compliant object is a monitored node, edit its Polling
Method properties as follows:
l Select SNMPv3 as the SNMP Version.
l Select FIPS-compliant Authentication and Privacy/Encryption
methods, and provide appropriate passwords.
Note: SHA1 is a FIPS-compliant authentication method.
AES128, AES192, and AES256 are FIPS-compliant
Privacy/encryption methods.
l Click Submit.
c. If the non-compliant object is a network discovery, edit SNMP
credentials as follows:
l Confirm that all SNMP credentials are SNMPv3. Either delete or
edit any credentials that are not VIPS-compliant SNMPv3.
l Confirm that all SNMP credentials use FIPS-compliant
Authentication and Privacy/Encryption methods, and provide
appropriate passwords.
Note: SHA1 is a FIPS-compliant authentication method.
AES128, AES192, and AES256 are FIPS-compliant
Privacy/encryption methods.
l Complete the Network Sonar Wizard using the updated
credentials.
9. If all monitored objects and network discoveries are FIPS-compliant,

click Restart now to restart all relevant SolarWinds services.
70
Chapter 3: Discovering and Adding
Network Devices
There are two ways—Web Node Management and network discovery using the
Network Sonar Wizard—to add nodes to the SolarWinds Orion database. The
method recommended largely depends on the number of devices added. To
discover and add a larger number of devices across your enterprise, the Network
Sonar and Network Sonar Results Wizards are recommended. This chapter
provides instructions to populating your SolarWinds Orion database quickly with
the network objects you want to monitor and manage with your SolarWinds Orion
platform products. The Orion Web Console also provides an easy-to-use Web
Node Management wizard suited to discovering and adding individual network
objects. For more information, see Managing Devices in the Web Console.
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Chapter 3: Discovering and Adding Network Devices
Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar

Wizard
Orion platform products employ the easy-to-use Network Sonar Wizard to
discover devices on your network.
Before using the Network Sonar Wizard, consider the following points about
network discovery:
l The Network Sonar Wizard recognizes network devices that are already in
your SolarWinds Orion database and prevents you from importing duplicate
devices.
l CPU and Memory Utilization charts are automatically enabled for your
Windows, Cisco Systems, VMware, and Foundry Networks devices.
l The community strings you provide in the Network Sonar Wizard are only
used for SNMP GET requests, so read-only strings are sufficient.
When you add credentials in the Network Sonar Wizard, Orion

automatically adds those credentials to the Credential Manager so that
you can reuse them later on without having to enter them every time.
To discover devices on your network:
1. Log on to the Orion Web Console and navigate to Settings > Network
Sonar Discovery.
2. Click Add New Discovery to create a new discovery. Select a discovery,
and use one of the following choices if you already have a discovery.
l Click Discover Now to use an existing discovery to rediscover your
network, select the discovery you want to use, and then complete the
Network Sonar Results Wizard after discovery completes.
l Click Edit to modify an existing discovery before using it.
l Click Import All Results to import some or all devices found in a
defined discovery that you may not have already imported for
monitoring.
l Click Import New Results to import any newly enabled devices
matching a defined discovery profile.
72
Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wizard
For more information about network discovery results, see Using the
Network Sonar Results Wizard.
3. To add the custom SNMP credentials or SNMPv3 credentials, complete the

following steps.
Notes:
l Repeat the following procedure for each new community string. To

speed up discovery, highlight the most commonly used community
strings on your network, and then use the arrows to order them in the
list.
l If you intend to use SNMPv3 for monitoring VLAN interfaces on Cisco
devices, confirm that all relevant VLAN contexts are added to all
VLAN groups defined for your monitored Cisco devices.
a. Click Add New Credential, and then select the SNMP Version of
your new credential.
b. If you are using a credential you have already provided, select this
credential in the Choose Credential field.
c. If you are adding an SNMPv1 or SNMPv2c credential, provide the
new SNMP Community String.
d. If you are adding an SNMPv3 credential, provide the following
information for the new credential:
l User Name, Context, and Authentication Method
l Authentication Password/Key, Privacy/Encryption Method
and Password/Key, if required.
e. Click Add.
4. Click Next on the SNMP Credentials view.
5. To check nodes polled by agents for updates, select Check all existing
nodes polling with agents for node changes and updates. For more
information, see Using the Network Sonar Wizard to Check Agent Polled
Nodes.
6. Click Next on the Check All Nodes Currently Polling with Agents for
Updates view.
73
7. To discover any VMware VCenter or ESX Servers on your network, confirm

that Poll for VMware is checked, and then complete the following steps to
add or edit required VMware credentials.
Note: Repeat the following procedure for each new credential. To speed up
discovery, use the arrows to move the most commonly used credentials on
your network to the top of the list.
a. Click Add vCenter or ESX Credential.

b. If you are using an existing VMware credential, select the
appropriate credential from the Choose Credential dropdown menu.
c. If you are adding a new VMware credential, select <New
Credential> in the Choose Credential dropdown menu, and then
provide a new credential name in the Credential Name field.
Note: SolarWinds recommends against using non-alphanumeric
characters in VMware credential names.
d. Add or edit the credential User Name and Password, as necessary.

Note: The default ESX user name is root.
e. Confirm the password, and then click Add.

8. Click Next on the Local vCenter or ESX Credentials for VMware view.
9. To discover any WMI- or RPC-enabled Windows devices on your network,
complete the following steps to add or edit credentials.
a. Click Add New Credential.

b. If you are using an existing Windows credential, select the
appropriate credential from the Choose Credential drop down menu.
c. If you are adding a new Windows credential, select <New
Credential> in the Choose Credential drop down menu, and then
provide a new credential name in the Credential Name field.
Note: SolarWinds recommends against using non-alphanumeric
characters in Windows credential names.
d. Add or edit the credential User Name and Password, as necessary.

e. Confirm the password, and then click Add.
74
Notes:
l SolarWinds does not poll interfaces on WMI- or RPC-enabled nodes.

l Repeat the following procedure for each new credential. To speed up
discovery, use the arrows to move the most commonly used
credentials on your network to the top of the list.
10. Click Next on the Windows Credentials view.
11. To discover devices located on your network within a specific range of IP
addresses, complete the following procedure.
Note: Only one selection method may be used per defined discovery.
a. Click IP Ranges in the Selection Method menu, and then, for each IP
range, provide both a Start address and an End address.
Note: Scheduled discovery profiles should not use IP address ranges
that include nodes with dynamically assigned IP addresses (DHCP).
b. If you want to add another range, click Add More, and then repeat
the previous step.
c. If you want to delete one of multiple ranges, click X next to the IP
range you want to delete.
d. If you have added all the IP ranges you want to poll, click Next.
12. To discover devices connected to a specific router or on a specific subnet of
your network, complete the following procedure:
Note: Only one selection method may be used per defined discovery.
a. Click Subnets in the Selection Method menu.

b. To discover on a specific subnet, click Add a New Subnet, provide
both a Subnet Address and a Subnet Mask for the desired subnet,
and then click Add.
Note: Repeat this step for each additional subnet you want to poll.
c. To discover devices using a seed router, click Add a Seed Router,

provide the IP address of the Router, and then click Add.
75
Notes:
l Repeat this step for each additional seed router you want to use.
l Networks connected through the seed router are NOT
automatically selected for discovery.
l Network Sonar reads the routing table of the designated router
and offers to discover nodes on the Class A network (255.0.0.0
mask) containing the seed router and, if you are discovering
devices for an Orion NPM installation, the Class C networks
(255.255.255.0 mask) containing all interfaces on the seed
router, using the SNMP version chosen previously on the SNMP
Credentials page.
d. Confirm that all networks on which you want to conduct your network
discovery are checked, and then click Next.
13. To add IPv6 devices or devices that you already know their IP addresses or
hostnames, complete the following procedure:
a. Click Specific Nodes in the Selection Method menu.

b. Type the IPv4 or IPv6 addresses or hostnames of the devices you
want to discover for monitoring into the provided field.
Note: Type only one hostname, IPv4 address, or IPv6 address per
line.
c. Click Validate to confirm that the provided addresses and hostnames

are assigned to SNMP-enabled devices.
d. If you have provided all the addresses and hostnames you want
to discover, click Next.
14. Configure the options on the Discovery Settings view, as detailed in the
following steps.
a. Provide a Name and Description to distinguish the current discovery

profile from other profiles you may use to discover other network
areas.
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Note: This Description displays next to the Name in the list of

available network discovery configurations on the Network Sonar
view.
b. Position the slider or type a value, in ms, to set the SNMP Timeout.
Note: If you are encountering numerous SNMP timeouts during
Network Discovery, increase the value for this setting. The SNMP
Timeout should be at least a little more than double the time it takes a
packet to travel the longest route between devices on your network.
c. Position the slider or type a value, in ms, to set the Search Timeout.
Note: The Search Timeout is the amount of time Network Sonar
Discovery waits to determine if a given IP address has a network
device assigned to it.
d. Position the slider or type a value to set the number of SNMP Retries.
Note: This value is the number of times Network Sonar Discovery will
retry a failed SNMP request, defined as any SNMP request that does
not receive a response within the SNMP Timeout defined above.
e. Position the slider to type a value to set the number of WMI Retries.
Note: This value is the number of times Network Sonar Discovery will
retry a failed WMI credential.
f. Position the slider or type a value to set how long Network Sonar
Discovery waits before trying the WMI credentials again in WMI Retry
Interval.
g. Position the slider or type a value to set the Hop Count.
Note: If the Hop Count is greater than zero, Network Sonar Discovery
searches for devices connected to any discovered device. Each
connection to a discovered device counts as a hop.
h. Position the slider or type a value to set the Discovery Timeout.

Note: The Discovery Timeout is the amount of time, in minutes,
Network Sonar Discovery is allowed to complete a network discovery.
If a discovery takes longer than the Discovery Timeout, the discovery
is terminated.
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15. To discover devices that respond to SNMP or WMI, check Ignore nodes
that only respond to ICMP (ping). Nodes must respond to SNMP, WMI.
Note: By default, Network Sonar uses ICMP ping requests to locate
devices. Most information about monitored network objects is obtained
using SNMP queries, but Network Sonar can also use WMI to monitor
devices.
16. If multiple Orion polling engines are available in your environment,

select the Polling Engine you want to use for this discovery.
17. Click Next.
18. Configure a schedule for your discovery.
To run the discovery only once, perform the following steps.
a. Select Once from the Frequency list, and then specify whether you
want to run the discovery immediately or not by selecting the
appropriate option.
To run on a regular schedule, perform either of the following steps.
a. To set up a discovery in an hourly frequency, select Hourly from the

Frequency list, and then provide the number of hours to pass
between two discoveries.
b. To set up a discovery to run once daily, select Daily from the
Frequency list, and then provide the time at which you want your
discovery to run every day, using the format HH:MM AM/PM.
c. To set up a discovery to run at another specific frequency, select
Advanced from the Frequency list, and then click Add Frequency.
Provide a name for the frequency, and then select the appropriate
frequency from the list. Depending on your selection, specify the dates
and times, select whether you want to start the discovery right now, or
at a specific date, and optionally specify the end date for the
scheduled discovery. After specifying your settings, click Add
Frequency.
19. If you do not want to run your network discovery at this time, select No,
don’t run now, and then click Save or Schedule, depending on whether
you have configured the discovery to run once or on a schedule,
respectively.
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20. If you want your Network Sonar discovery to run now, click Discover to
start your network discovery.
Notes:
l Scheduled discovery profiles should not use IP address ranges that

include nodes with dynamically assigned IP addresses (DHCP).
l Default Discovery Scheduling settings execute a single discovery of
your network that starts immediately, once you click Discover.
l Results of scheduled discoveries are maintained on the Scheduled
Discovery Results tab of Network Discovery. For more information
about managing scheduled discovery results, see Managing
Scheduled Discovery Results.
l Because some devices may serve as both routers and switches, the
total number of Nodes Discovered may be less than the sum of
reported Routers Discovered plus reported Switches Discovered.
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Using the Network Sonar Results Wizard

The Network Sonar Results Wizard directs you through the selection of devices
for monitoring.
It opens when the Network Sonar Wizard completes or when you click either
Import All Results or Import New Results for a selected discovery. For more
information, see Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wizard.
To select the results of a network discovery for monitoring:
1. On the Device Types to Import page, check the device types you want to
monitor, and then click Next.
Note: If you are not sure you want to monitor a specific device type, check
the device type in question. If you do not want to monitor a selected device
later, delete the device using Web Node Management.
2. Select the interfaces you want to monitor or filter the results to specific
interfaces, and then click Next.
Note: If you are not sure you want to monitor a specific interface type, check
the interface type in question. If you do not want to monitor a selected
interface later, delete it using Web Node Management.
a. In the Selection Criteria area, check the appropriate Status, Port

Mode, and Hardware properties of the interfaces you want to monitor.
b. To select discovered interfaces using keywords, phrases or regular
expressions, click + to expand Advanced selection options, select
from the available advanced options, as desired, and then click
Reselect Interfaces.
c. In the List of Interfaces area, check the Interface Types you want to
3. On the Volume Types to Import page, check the volume types you want to
Note: If you are not sure you want to monitor a specific volume type, check
the volume type in question. If you do not want to monitor any volume of the
selected type later, delete the volume using Web Node Management.
4. To import nodes, even when they are already known to be polled by another
polling engine, check the option in the Allow Duplicate Nodes section. For
more information about working with multiple polling engines, see
Managing Orion Polling Engines.
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Using the Network Sonar Results Wizard
5. If there are any devices on the Import Preview that you do not ever
want to import, check the device to ignore, and then click Ignore. Selected
nodes are added to the Discovery Ignore List. For more information, see
Using the Discovery Ignore List.
6. Confirm that the network objects you want to monitor are checked on the
Import Preview page, and then click Import.
7. After the import completes, click Finish.
Note: Imported devices display in the All Nodes resource.
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Importing a List of Nodes Using a Seed File

In versions of Orion platform products following the release of Orion NPM version
10.0, the Specific Nodes option in the Network Discovery Wizard may be used to
import devices from a seed file. The following procedure details how the Specific
Nodes option is used with a seed file to import devices into the SolarWinds Orion
database.
Note: A Seed File discovery option is available in SolarWinds NPM prior to
version 10.
To import devices from a seed file:
1. Open your seed file.

2. Logon to the Orion Web Console and navigate to Settings > Network
Sonar Discovery.
3. Click Add New Discovery to create a new discovery. Select a discovery,
and use one of the following choices if you already have a discovery.
l Click Discover Now to use an existing discovery to rediscover your
network, select the discovery you want to use, and then complete the
Network Sonar Results Wizard after discovery completes. For more
information about network discovery results, see Using the Network
Sonar Results Wizard.
l Click Edit to modify an existing discovery before using it.
l Click Import All Results to import some or all devices found in a
defined discovery that you may not have already imported for
monitoring. For more information about network discovery results, see
Using the Network Sonar Results Wizard.
l Click Import New Results to import any newly enabled devices
matching a defined discovery profile. For more information about
network discovery results, see Using the Network Sonar Results
Wizard.
4. If the devices on your network do not require community strings other
than the default strings public and private provided by Orion, click Next
on the SNMP Credentials view.
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Importing a List of Nodes Using a Seed File
5. If you need to supply new SNMP credentials to discover the devices in

your seed file, click Add New Credential, provide the required information,
and then click Add. For more information, see Network Discovery Using the
Network Sonar Wizard.
6. Click Next on the SNMP Credentials view.
7. To check nodes polled by agents for updates, select Check all existing
nodes polling with agents for node changes and updates. For more
information, see Using the Network Sonar Wizard to Check Agent Polled
Nodes.
8. If you intend to import known VMware vCenter or ESX servers and you
need to supply new VMware credentials to discover these servers in
your seed file, complete the following steps on the Local vCenter or ESX
Credentials for VMware view:
a. Check Poll for VMware, and then click Add vCenter or ESX
Credential.
b. Provide the required information, and then click Add.
Note: For more information, see Network Discovery Using the
Network Sonar Wizard.
9. Click Next on the Local vCenter or ESX Credentials for VMware view.
10. To discover any WMI- or RPC-enabled Windows devices on your network,
click Add New Credential, provide the required information, and then click
Add.
11. Click Next on the Windows Credentials view.
12. Click Specific Nodes in the Selection Method menu.
13. Copy and then paste the IP addresses or hostnames of the devices you
want to discover from your seed file into the provided field.
Note: Confirm that there are no more than one IPv4 address or hostname
per line.
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14. Click Validate to confirm that the provided IP addresses and hostnames are
assigned to SNMP-enabled devices.
15. If you have provided all the IP addresses and hostnames you want to
discover, click Next.
16. Complete the Network Discovery and Network Discovery Results Wizards.
For more information, see Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar
Wizard.
Choosing Your Polling Method

SolarWinds provides five different polling methods to help you monitor your
nodes in the way that best suits your environment.
External Node (No Status)

The node is not polled and no data is collected from this node. However, the node
is included in your environment and is used to monitor an application or another
element on the node. This also allows you to build a more complete map of your
network environment within your SolarWinds Orion platform product.
Status Only: ICMP

Limited information is gathered using Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
or ping. This polling method only provides information such as status, response
time, and packet loss. When a node is queried, it only returns a response time
and a record of any dropped packets. This information is used to monitor status
and measure average response time and packet loss percentage for managed
devices.
Use this method when you only need limited information or if you want to monitor
devices that do not support SNMP or WMI.
Note: This requires that you enable ICMP on your nodes. You may also want to
consider adjusting any network intrusion detection systems or your firewalls to
allow for the ICMP traffic.
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Most Devices SNMP & ICMP
Most Devices SNMP & ICMP

This method allows you to query Management Information Base (MIB) and
performance indicators that are tied to specific Object Identifiers (OIDs) in addition
to polling the device status, average response time, and packet loss percentage.
This method is suitable for SNMP-enabled devices such as routers, switches, and
computers. You must provide the appropriate SNMP community strings for SNMP
v1 or v2c, or SNMP v3 credentials.
Your devices must have ICMP and SNMP enabled to use this polling method. If
you want to poll with a specific version of SNMP, you must disable all other
versions on the device.
Note: You may also want to consider adjusting any network intrusion detection
systems or your firewalls to allow for the ICMP traffic.
Windows Servers: WMI and ICMP

This polling method can only be used for Windows computers. Windows
Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a proprietary technology used to poll
performance and management information from Windows-based network
devices, applications, and components. When used as an alternative to SNMP,
WMI can provide much of the same monitoring and management data currently
available with SNMP-based polling with the addition of Windows specific
communications and security features.
Your devices must have WMI and SNMP enabled to use this polling method. You
can use WBEMTest.exe, which is included on every computer that has WMI
installed, to test the connectivity between your SolarWinds Orion server and your
Windows computer.
Note: Due to specific characteristics of WMI polling requests, polling a single
WMI enabled object uses approximately five times the resources required to poll
the same or similar object with SNMP on the same polling frequency.
Windows Servers: Agent

An agent is software that provides a communication channel between the
SolarWinds Orion server and a Windows computer. Agents are used to
communicate the information that SolarWinds plug-ins collect to the
SolarWinds Orion server.
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Information collected by plug-ins depend on the type of plug-in installed on the

agent. For example, the Quality of Experience plug-in collects packet traffic, while
a SAM plug-in collects application data that are used to monitor the applications.
Agents automatically download the plug-ins for all installed products.
This polling method is most useful in the following situations:
l When host and applications are behind firewall NAT or proxies

l Polling node and applications across multiple discrete networks that have
overlapping IP address space
l Allows for secure encrypted polling over a single port
l Support for low bandwidth, high latency connections
l Polling nodes across domains where no domain trusts have been
established
l Full end to end encryption between the monitored host and the poller
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Managing Scheduled Discovery Results
Managing Scheduled Discovery Results

The Scheduled Discovery Results tab of Network Discovery provides a list of all
recently discovered, changed, or imported devices on your monitored network.
Results are compared between discoveries, and results are listed on this tab. The
following procedure provides guidelines for managing discovery results.
To manage scheduled discovery results:
Sonar Discovery.
2. Click Scheduled Discovery Results.
3. Select the type of devices you want to view from the Status menu in the left
pane. The following options are available:
l Select Found and Changed to view a combined list of all devices
found or changed as described above.
l Select All except Ignored to view all discovered, changed or
imported devices you have not already designated as Ignored, as
detailed above.
l Select Found to view all devices discovered by a scheduled
discovery.
l Select Changed to view all devices that have changed between
recent scheduled discoveries. Changes include the addition of
interfaces and device configuration changes.
l Select Imported to view all devices you have recently imported into
your Orion database. For more information about importing devices,
see Using the Network Sonar Results Wizard.
l Select Ignored to view all devices you have added to your Discovery
Ignore List. For more information about the Discovery Ignore List, see
Using the Discovery Ignore List.
4. To apply a grouping criterion to organize your listed results, select an
appropriate criterion from the Group by: menu in the left pane.
5. To update your SolarWinds Orion database to include changed or
discovered nodes in the results list, check all nodes to update or to add, and
then click Import Nodes.
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6. To ignore devices in future discoveries, regardless of discovered updates or

changes, select all nodes to ignore, and then click Add to Ignore List.
Using the Discovery Ignore List

Often, devices are found during a network discovery that you never intend to
monitor. The Discovery Ignore List is a record of all such devices on your network.
By placing a device on the Discovery Ignore List you can minimize the SNMP
processing load associated with discovering devices that you do not intend to
monitor.
To manage devices on the Discovery Ignore List:
Sonar Discovery.
2. Click Discovery Ignore List.
3. To add devices to the Discovery Ignore List, complete the following
procedure:
a. Click Scheduled Discovery Results.

b. Check devices you want to ignore, and then click Add to Ignore List.
4. To remove devices from the Discovery Ignore List, complete the following
procedure:
a. Click Scheduled Discovery Results, and then check the devices you
want to remove from the list.
b. Click Remove from Ignore List.
c. Confirm that you want to stop ignoring selected items by clicking OK.
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Discovery Central
Discovery Central
Discovery Central provides a centralized overview of the types and number of
network objects you are monitoring with your currently installed Orion platform
products. The Discovery Central view is subdivided into sections corresponding
to the Orion platform products you have installed. The Network Discovery section
displays for all node-based Orion platform products. For more information about
Network Discovery, see Network Discovery. For more information about specific
sections, see the Administrator Guide for the corresponding Orion platform
products.
Clicking Go to Orion Home opens the Orion Summary Home view for your entire
monitored network.
Network Discovery
The Network Discovery resource provides the number of nodes and volumes that
are currently monitored. This information is both available and applicable to all
installed Orion products.
Click Discover my Network to start a Network Sonar Discovery. For more
information, see Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wizard.
Click Add a Single Node to open the Add Node – Define Node view of the Orion
Node Management utility. For more information, see Adding Devices for
Monitoring in the Web Console.
Agent Deployment
Agents provide an additional method to poll devices that are part of a separate
network or have intermittent connectivity to the network with your
To deploy agents to devices that can be accessed from the SolarWinds Orion
server, click Deploy Agent on my Network. For more information, see Deploying
Agent Software via Orion Server Push.
To deploy agents manually to devices, click Download Agent Installation Files.
This option is often used when deploying agents to devices that are not on the
same network as the SolarWinds Orion server. For more information, see
Deploying the Agent Manually.
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Additional Discovery Central Resources

As they are released following the release of Orion NPM 10.1.2, each SolarWinds
Orion module will provide its own Discovery Central resource. These additional
Discovery Central resources provide the number of module-related network
objects that are currently monitored. For more information about any of these
additional Discovery Central resources, see the corresponding Orion module
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Chapter 4: Managing the Orion Web
Console
The Orion Web Console is an integral part of the Orion family of products that can
be configured for viewing from virtually any computer connected to the Internet.
You can also customize the web console for multiple users and store individually
customized views as user profiles. Administrator functions are accessed by
clicking Settings in the top right of all Orion Web Console views.
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Chapter 4: Managing the Orion Web Console
Logging in for the First Time as an Administrator

When you launch the Orion Web Console, you are presented with a login view
requiring both a User Name and a Password.
To log in to the Orion Web Console:
1. Launch the Orion Web Console using either of the following methods:
l Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Orion Web
Console.
l Or launch a browser and enter http://ip_address or
http://hostname, where ip_address is the IP address of your
SolarWinds Orion server, or where hostname is the domain name of
your SolarWinds Orion server.
2. Enter Admin as your User Name, and then click Login.
Notes: Until you set a password, you can log in as Admin with no
Password. After your first login, you may want to change the Admin
password.
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Windows Authentication with Active Directory
Windows Authentication with Active Directory

As of Orion Platform version 2010.2, the Orion Web Console can authenticate
Active Directory users and users who are members of Active Directory security
groups.
SolarWinds offers a free analyzer tool for Active Directory that provides
instantaneous visibility into effective permissions and access rights.
The tool provides a complete hierarchical view of the effective
permissions access rights for a specific file folder (NTSF) or share
drive. Download it for free from here:
http://www.solarwinds.com/products/freetools/permissions_analyzer_
for_active_directory/.
To enable Active Directory Windows authentication to the web console:
1. Install and configure Active Directory on your local network.

Notes:
l For more information about installing Active Directory on Windows

Server 2003, see the Microsoft Support article, "How To Create an
Active Directory Server in Windows Server 2003".
l For more information about Active Directory on Windows Server 2008,
see the Microsoft TechNet article, "Active Directory Services".
l For information about Active Directory on Windows Server 2012, see
the Microsoft TechNet article, "What's New in Active Directory in
Windows Services".
2. If you want to enable automatic login for web console accounts using
Windows Authentication, configure the Orion Web Console as shown in the
following steps:
a. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Configuration
and Auto-Discovery > Configuration Wizard.
b. Check Website, and then click Next.
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c. After providing the appropriate IP Address, Port, and Website Root

Directory, select Yes – Enable automatic login using Windows
Authentication.
d. Click Next, and then complete the Configuration Wizard.
3. Log in to the web console using the appropriate domain and user, providing
Domain\User name or Username@Domain as the web console User
name.
Supported Active Directory Scenarios

The following Active Directory login scenarios are supported for SolarWinds
products using the latest version of the Orion Platform.
Network
Atlas and
Web Con- Unmanage
sole Login Local Login Utility Login
Scenario Supported? Required? Supported?
Login with "Orion Server" Yes No Yes

domain AD account LogonFallback
Login with "Orion Server" must be
domain Group AD account enabled.
Login with trusted domain AD No

user
Login with trusted domain AD

Group User
Login with "Orion Server"

domain Group AD account
(group user belongs to trusted
domain)1
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Enabling LogonFallback
Network
Atlas and
Web Con- Unmanage
sole Login Local Login Utility Login
Scenario Supported? Required? Supported?
Login with trusted domain No N/A

Group AD account (group user
belongs to "Orion Server"
domain)2
Login with AD user or Group No, without

user from a foreign AD forest an
Additional
Website3
Notes:
1. Use a group account from the domain where the Orion server is located.
This group contains a user from the trusted domain. Log-in with this user.
2. Use a group account from the domain where the Orion server is located.
This domain is trusted by the domain in which the Orion server is located.
This group contains a user from the domain of the Orion server. Log-in with
this user.
3. Active Directory authentication is performed by the web service. If you need
to authenticate users from an AD forest other the one to which your primary
SolarWinds server belongs, you must have an Additional Web Server in the
AD forest wherein the users to be authenticated exist.
Enabling LogonFallback
LogonFallback must be enabled when the Active Directory user of the Orion Web
Console does not have local logon rights to the web server machine. The
following procedure enables LogonFallback on the server hosting your Orion
Web Console.
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To enable LogonFallback:
1. Locate the file web.config on the server hosting your Orion Web
Console.
Note: The default location is c:\inetpub\SolarWinds\.
2. Create a backup of web.config.
3. Locate row <add key="LogonFallback" value="false" />.
4. Set value="true".
5. Save web.config.
6. Restart your SolarWinds website in Internet Information Services Manager.
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Using the Web Console Notification Bar
Using the Web Console Notification Bar

Below the web console menu bar, the Orion notification bar provides
informational messages related to the following NPM features:
l If you have configured the Orion Web Console to check for product updates,
an announcement displays in the notification bar when an update, including
any upgrade, service pack, or hotfix, to NPM or any other Orion modules
you currently have installed becomes available.
l If you have configured the Orion Web Console to store blog posts, new and
unread posts to the Orion Product Team Blog are announced in the
notification bar.
l If you have currently configured a scheduled discovery, results display in
the notification bar when the discovery completes. For more information
about Scheduled Discovery, see Discovering and Adding Network Devices.
l If you are currently using NPM to monitor any VMware ESX or ESXi
Servers, the notification bar can display messages communicating the
number of ESX nodes found during any discovery, and, if any discovered
ESX nodes require credentials, the notification bar tells you.
For more information about any displayed notification bar message, click More
Details and a web console view relevant to the displayed message opens.
To delete a posted message, either click Dismiss Message next to the displayed
message, or properly address the situation mentioned in the posted notification.
To remove the notification bar from your web console, click Close (X) at the right
end of the notification bar.
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Navigating the Orion Web Console

The Orion Web Console offers two primary methods of navigation: top-level web
console tabs and view-level breadcrumbs.
Using Web Console Tabs

Depending on the modules installed, the SolarWinds Orion Web Console
displays the following tabs:
Home
The Home tab provides a menu bar of links to views aiding you in general
network management and monitoring. Information, like events and Top 10
lists, and technologies, like alerts, used to generate the views linked from
the Home menu are generally available to all Orion modules. By default, the
Orion Summary Home view displays when you click Home from any view
in the web console.
Network (NPM)
The Network tab opens a menu bar of links to views and technologies, like
EnergyWise, wireless network, and interface monitoring, which are specific
to the features provided by NPM. If NPM is installed, the NPM Summary
Home view displays by default when you click Home from any web console
view.
Applications (SAM)
If you are viewing the Orion Web Console on a server on which SolarWinds
Server & Application Monitor (SAM) is also installed, the Applications tab
opens a menu of default views for some of the many different types of
applications SAM can monitor. If SAM is installed without NPM, the SAM
Summary Home view displays by default when you click Home from any
web console view.
Configs (NPM and NCM)
If the Orion NCM Integration for Orion NPM is installed, the Configs tab
provides links to default device configuration management views. If NPM is
installed, clicking Home from any web console view displays the NPM
Summary Home view by default.
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Using and Disabling Web Console Breadcrumbs
Virtualization
The Virtualization tab provides access to specific views and resources that
are tailored for monitoring virtual devices.
The web console provides an additional module-specific tab for each installed
Orion module. These tabs offer access to views and tools specific to the Orion
module added. For more information about additional Orion modules, see
www.solarwinds.com. For more information about customizing menu bars, see
Customizing Web Console Menu Bars.
Using and Disabling Web Console Breadcrumbs

As you navigate web console views, your location is recorded as a series of links,
or breadcrumbs, to the views you have opened.
Each breadcrumb offers the following navigation options:
l Clicking a breadcrumb opens the corresponding view directly.

l Clicking > next to a breadcrumb opens a clickable list of all other views at
the same navigation level in the web console. For example, if you are on a
Node Details view, clicking > displays a list of other monitored nodes.
Note: Only the first 50 monitored nodes, listed in alphanumeric order by IP
address, are displayed.
Customizing Web Console Breadcrumbs

Dropdown breadcrumb lists are customizable, as shown in the following steps.
To customize the items in a breadcrumb dropdown:
1. Click > at an appropriate level in a breadcrumb to open the dropdown.

2. Click Customize this list.
3. Select a criterion from the menu, and then click Submit.
Note: All items in the customized list will be identical for the selected
criterion.
Disabling Web Console Breadcrumbs

To ensure access is appropriately restricted for account limited users, you may
want to disable breadcrumbs, as indicated in the following procedure.
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To disable web console breadcrumb navigation:
1. Log on to your Orion server using an account with administrative access.

2. Open web.config (default location C:\Inetpub\SolarWinds\) for editing.
3. In the <appsettings> section, locate the following setting:
<add key=”DisableBreadCrumbs” value=”false”/>
4. Change “false” to “true”, as follows:

<add key=”DisableBreadCrumbs” value=”true”/>
5. Save web.config.
Note: If you run the Configuration Wizard after editing this setting, your
changes may be overwritten.
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Administrative Functions of the Orion Web Console
Administrative Functions of the Orion Web

Console
The following sections describe the primary administrative functions performed by
an Orion Web Console administrator.
l Changing an Account Password

l Web Console Administration
l Viewing Secure Data on the Web
l Handling Counter Rollovers
Changing an Account Password

Orion Web Console administrators may change user account passwords at any
time, as shown in the following procedure.
Note: In environments where security is a priority, SolarWinds recommends
against providing a view where users may change their own web console
account passwords.
To change an account password:
1. Log in to the web console as an administrator.

2. Click Settings in the top right corner of the web console.
3. Click Manage Accounts in the User Accounts grouping of the Main
Settings and Administration page.
4. Select the user account with the password you want to change, and then
click Change Password.
5. Complete the New Password and Confirm Password fields, and then click
Change Password.
Web Console Administration

If you are logged in to the web console as an administrator, clicking Settings in
the top right corner of the web console displays the Main Settings and
Administration page, presenting a variety of tools to control the appearance and
delivery of information to Orion Web Console users.
Note: As more Orion modules are added, additional options will be displayed.
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Getting Started with Orion

Before you can start monitoring your network you must designate the network
objects you want your SolarWinds Orion installation to monitor. The Getting
Started with Orion grouping provides direct links to the following discovery-related
views so you can quickly and easily start monitoring your network:
l Discovery Central provides a centralized overview of the types and

number of network objects you are monitoring with your Orion installation.
For more information, see Discovery Central.
l Clicking Network Sonar Discovery opens the Network Sonar Discovery
Wizard. Network Discovery enables you to quickly discover devices across
your entire network for monitoring. For more information, see Network
Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wizard.
l Clicking Add a Node opens the Add Node Wizard directly. For more
information about adding nodes individually, see Adding Devices for
Monitoring in the Web Console.
Node & Group Management

The Node & Group Management grouping of the Settings page gives you access
to the following web console views for managing nodes and groups:
l Clicking Manage Nodes displays the Node Management page, where an

Orion Web Console administrator can immediately add, view, and manage
all network objects currently managed or monitored by your Orion
installation. For more information, see Managing Devices in the Web
Console.
l Clicking Manage Virtual Devices opens the Virtualization Polling Settings
view where you can view both a list of currently monitored Hyper-V or
VMware ESX Servers and a library of the VMware credentials used to
monitor your ESX Servers. For more information, see Monitoring Your
Virtual Infrastructure.
l Clicking Manage Dependencies opens the Manage Dependencies view.
Dependencies allow you to formalize dependent relationships between
monitored objects based on network topology or priority to eliminate the
potential for duplicated or redundant polling and alerting.
l Clicking Manage Agents allows you to create and manage your alerts. For
more information, see Managing Agents.
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Alerts & Reports
l Clicking Manage Groups opens the Manage Groups view. To a greater

degree than previously available with custom properties, groups enable you
to logically organize your monitored network objects. For more information,
see Managing Groups.
l Clicking Manage Custom Properties allows you to create and manager
custom properties that you can use within your Orion platform products. For
more information, see Creating Custom Properties.
l Clicking Manage World Map allows you to manage the nodes you want to
display in the Worldwide Map resource.
l Clicking Manage Pollers allows you to create new pollers or edit existing
pollers to fit the needs of your unique devices. You can also import pollers
created by your peers from thwack.
l Clicking Manage Hardware Sensors allows you to enable or disable
monitoring hardware health sensors in the Orion Web Console. For more
information, see Monitoring Hardware Health.
Alerts & Reports

The Alerts & Reports grouping allows an administrator to access the following
pages:
l Manage Alerts - create and manage web-based alerts. For more

information, see Creating and Managing Alerts.
l Manage Reports - create and manage web-based reports. For more
information, see Creating Reports in the Web Console.
l Manage SMTP Servers - add and manage SMTP servers used to send
email notifications.
l Configure Default Send Email Action - configure the default SMTP server
and email information used with the Send Email alert action. For more
information, see Configuring the Default Email Action.
Product Specific Settings

The Settings grouping of the Settings page gives an Orion Web Console
administrator access to the following settings configuration pages:
l Virtualization Settings allow an Orion Web Console administrator to setup

Virtualization Manager integration, configure virtualization, and view your
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License Summary.
l Web Console Settings allow an Orion Web Console administrator to
customize the function and appearance of both the Orion Web Console and
the charts that are displayed as resources in Orion Web Console views. For
more information about configuring Orion Web Console and Chart Settings,
see Orion Web Console and Chart Settings.
l Agent Settings allow an Orion Web Console administrator to configure
settings relevant for your agents. For more information, see Agent Settings.
Thresholds & Polling

The Thresholds & Polling grouping of the Settings page allows an administrator
to modify poller settings and thresholds for specific statistics.
l Polling Settings define the configuration of polling intervals, timeouts,

statistics calculations, and database retention settings for your Orion polling
engine. For more information about configuring Orion Polling Settings, see
Configuring Polling Engine Settings.
l Virtualization Thresholds allows you to set warning and critical thresholds
specific for the Virtualization module.
l Custom Poller Thresholds allow you to set warning and critical threshold
levels for your custom pollers.
l NPM Thresholds allow you to set warning and critical thresholds specific
for the Network Performance Monitor.
l Orion Thresholds allow you to configure warning and critical thresholds for
nodes and volumes. These thresholds are used in all Orion modules.
For more information about custom poller, NPM, or Orion thresholds, see Orion
Thresholds.
Windows Credentials
Use the Manage Windows Credentials page to create and manage credentials
you use to connect to Windows computers on your network.
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User Accounts
User Accounts
The User Accounts grouping of the Settings page gives a web console
administrator access to the following web console configuration pages:
l Click Manage Accounts to access the view where you can manage
individual Orion accounts and groups.
l Click Accounts List to view a table of existing accounts and appropriate
details, such as assigned rights or last login.
Views
The Views grouping of the Main Settings and Administration page gives an Orion
Web Console administrator access to the following view configuration pages:
l The Manage Views page enables a web console administrator to add, edit,
copy, or remove individual web console views. For more information about
managing Orion Web Console views, see Customizing Views.
l The Add New View page enable you to define new web console views.
l The Created NOC Views link opens the NOC Views page, which displays
the list of current Network Operations Center page and enables you to add
new NOC views.
For more information, see Enabling NOC View Mode.
l The Views by Device Type page gives an Orion Web Console

administrator the ability to designate default views for network devices. For
more information, see Views by Device Type.
Details
The Details grouping of the Settings page provides links to the following pages
containing information about your SolarWinds Orion installation:
Database Details
This is an information-only page that displays details about the SQL Server
database currently used by your SolarWinds Orion installation. In addition to
current version information and configuration settings for both your
SolarWinds Orion server and your database server, this page displays the
total number of monitored objects in the SolarWinds Orion database.
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Polling Engines
SolarWinds Orion supports the implementation of multiple distributed
polling engines. Each engine can monitor and collect data from different
parts of your network. This page shows the status and selected
configuration information for each currently operational polling engine.
Orion Platform Details
This is an information-only page that displays details about your installation
of the common components and resources that all Orion platform products
share, including information about your SolarWinds Orion server, monitored
object counts, and the version numbers of the executables and DLLs
required by any and all installed Orion platform products.
License Details
This is an information-only page that displays details about all Orion
products that you currently have installed. This page also shows the version
numbers of the Orion products you are running and the versions of
associated DLLs. For more, see Maintaining Licenses.
Customize Navigation & Look

The Customize grouping of Settings page offers options to customize the
navigation and appearance of your Orion Web Console on the following pages:
l The Customize Menu Bars page allows an Orion Web Console

administrator to configure the menu bars seen by individual users. For more
information, see Customizing Web Console Menu Bars.
l The Color Scheme page gives a web console administrator the ability to
select a default color scheme for resource title bars. The color scheme
selection takes effect immediately throughout the web console. For more
information, see Changing the Web Console Color Scheme.
l The External Websites page enables an Orion Web Console administrator
to designate any external website as an Orion Web Console view,
appearing in the Views toolbar. For more information, see Creating and
Editing External Website Views.
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Viewing Secure Data on the Web
Viewing Secure Data on the Web

In the interest of security, sensitive network information, such as community
strings, logins, and passwords, is not viewable in the web console. However, if
you have secured your network, you may check Allow Secure Data On Web
(advanced) in the Calculations & Thresholds area of the Orion Polling Settings
page to allow the passage of community strings through the web console.
Note: This setting does not affect the display of custom reports that you export to
the web. For more information, see Creating Reports in the Web Console
Handling Counter Rollovers

The Counter Rollover setting configures NPM to properly handle counter
rollovers. NPM is capable of handling either 32-bit or 64-bit counters, but, by
default, NPM assumes counters are 32-bit. 32-bit counters have a maximum
value of 232, or 4,294,967,296, and 64-bit counters, if they are supported by your
network devices, have a maximum value of 264, or 18,446,744,073,709,551,616.
Note: The 32-bit counters option is designated as Method 1 in the Counter
Rollover field on the Orion Polling Settings page.
To designate the type of counter-handling used by NPM:

2. Click Settings in the top right of the web console.
3. Click Polling Settings in the Thresholds & Polling grouping of the Orion
Website Administration page.
4. If you are using 64bit counters, select Method 2 in the Counter Rollover
field in the Calculations & Thresholds area.
Notes:
l If Method 2 is selected, NPM will intentionally skip a poll if a polled

value is less than the previous polled value to permit counting to 264.
l Orion fully supports the use of 64-bit counters; however, these 64-bit
counters can exhibit erratic behavior in some implementations. If you
notice peculiar results when using these counters, disable the use of
64-bit counters for the problem device and contact the device
manufacturer.
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5. If you are using of 32bit counters, select Method 1 in the Counter

Rollover field in the Calculations & Thresholds area.
Note: If Method 1 is selected, when a rollover is detected, the time between
polls is calculated as (232 – Last Polled Value) + Current Polled Value.
Searching syslogs, traps and objects monitored in the Orion Web

Console globally
NPM 11.5 introduces the technical preview of Orion Global Search. This feature
provides a global search interface in the Orion Web Console and allows you to
search for information contained in traps, syslogs, alerts, events and in the
database of objects monitored in SolarWinds Orion.
(missing or bad snippet)
You can also refine the search filter to get exactly the information you need.
Installing Orion Global Search

To start using Orion Global Search, you need to install it first.
To install Orion Global Search:
l Go to your installation folder, run the Orion Global Search executable, and
complete the installation.
By default, you can find the executable using the following path:
<ProgramData Folder>\SolarWinds\Installers\OGSinstaller.msi
l After you install Orion Global Search, run the Configuration Wizard.
If you want to also search through historical syslogs and traps, select
the option to index existing entries.
If historical syslogs and traps are not relevant for you, you do not have
to index syslogs and traps.
Indexing runs in the background, and can be time-consuming, depending

on the amount of data being indexed.
To uninstall Orion Global Search:
l Go to Program Features (for example via Start > Control Panel > Program
Features), right-click SolarWinds Orion Global Search, and select Uninstall.
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Searching with Orion Global Search
Searching with Orion Global Search

When you are notified about an event or issue, search for textual keywords from
the notification, such as a user name, application impacted, IP address, remote
site name, performance counters or error message.
Example Use Case
When a user reports poor connectivity, you can search for his computer
name or IP address.
To execute a global search:
1. Log on to the Orion Web Console.

2. Enter a keyword into the Search Orion box in the top right corner of the
Orion Web Console and click the Search icon.
This will open the results of the basic search in the Global Search view.
Orion Global Search performs a full text search of the string you enter
into the search field. If you want to search for a certain sequence of
words, enclose the phrase by quotation marks (" ").
You can also use auto-complete of search queries and properties.
3. Refine the search to narrow down items you are interested in.
Adjusting the time period
l To prolong or shorten the time period which is relevant for your

search, select the appropriate item in the Time Period list below the
search line.
l To specify a precise time period, click the links next to From and To
items to define start and end date of the period you are interested in.
Refining filters
Refine the search with filters available by default.
Adding filters
Add more filters.
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Removing filters
Remove an already applied filter.
Locate the property which you want to remove from the search below
the search line and click x to remove it.
4. Display information about individual search result items:

o To display information about an object in the results list, position the
cursor over it. A tooltip displays with relevant information about the
object. For nodes, relevant details might include the status, polling IP
address, machine type, average response time, packet loss, and CPU
load.
o To view events and alerts concerning the object, click the + before the
item in the results list.
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Orion Thresholds
Orion Thresholds
Many of the resources available in the Orion Web Console are capable of
displaying error and warning conditions for the devices on your network. Orion
uses the values provided on the threshold settings pages to determine when and
how to display errors and warnings in the Orion Web Console.
The following sections provide more information about threshold types and
configuration:
l Orion General Threshold Types

l Setting Orion General Thresholds
Orion General Threshold Types

The following device conditions may be configured as Orion General Thresholds:
Avg CPU Load
Monitored network devices experiencing CPU loads higher than the value
set for the Critical Level display in High CPU Load reports and resources.
Gauges for these devices also display as bold red.
Monitored network devices experiencing a CPU load higher than the value
set for the Warning Level, but lower than the value set for the Critical
Level, display as red in High CPU Load reports and resources. Gauges for
these devices also display as red.
Disk Usage
Monitored network devices experiencing a disk usage higher than the value
set for the Critical Level display as bold red in High Disk Usage reports and
resources.
Monitored network devices experiencing a disk usage higher than the value
set for the Warning Level, but lower than the value set for the Critical
Level, display as red in High Disk Usage reports and resources.
Percent Memory Used
Monitored network devices experiencing a percent memory usage higher
than the value set for the Critical Level display in High Percent Utilization
reports and resources. Gauges for these devices also display as bold red.
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Monitored network devices experiencing a percent memory usage higher

than the value set for the Warning Level, but lower than the value set for the
Critical Level, display in High Percent Utilization reports and resources.
Gauges for these devices also display as red.
For each of the above, you can specify whether you want to calculate
exhaustion using average daily values or peak daily values.
Percent Packet Loss
Monitored network devices experiencing a percent packet loss higher than
the value set for the Critical Level display in High Percent Loss reports and
resources. Gauges for these devices also display as bold red.
Monitored network devices experiencing a percent packet loss higher than
the value set for the Warning Level, but lower than the value set for the
Critical Level, display in High Percent Loss reports and resources. Gauges
for these devices also display as red.
Orion calculates percent packet loss using ICMP ping requests made on the
Default Poll Interval. Orion pings monitored devices and records the results
of the ten most recent ping attempts. Percent packet loss is expressed as
the number of failed ping requests, X, divided by the number of ping
requests, 10. For more information about the Default Poll Interval, see
For example, if, at a given point in time, the last ten ping requests made of a
selected device resulted in 2 failures and 8 successes, the percent packet
loss for the selected device at the given time is reported as 2/10, or 20%.
Response Time
Monitored devices experiencing response times longer than the value set
for the Critical Level display in High Response Time reports and resources.
Gauges for these devices also display as bold red.
Devices experiencing response times longer than the value set for the
Warning Level, but shorter than the value set for the Critical Level, also
display in High Response Time reports and resources. Gauges for these
devices also display as red.
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Setting Orion General Thresholds
Orion calculates response time using ICMP ping requests made on the
Default Node Poll Interval. Orion pings monitored devices and records the
results of the ten most recent ping attempts. Average Response Time is
expressed as the average response time of these last 10 ping requests. If
Orion does not receive a ping response within the Default Poll Interval,
Orion will attempt to ping the non-responsive device once every 10 seconds
for the period designated as the Warning Interval. For more information, see
Setting Orion General Thresholds

Orion general thresholds are used for nodes and volumes in all Orion modules.
To set Orion General Thresholds:
1. Log in to the Orion Web Console as an administrator.

3. Click Orion Thresholds in the Thresholds & Polling group of the Main
Settings & Administration page.
Note: For more information about Orion General Thresholds, see Orion
General Threshold Types.
4. Provide appropriate values for Critical Level or Warning Level for selected
thresholds.
Note: For Avg CPU Load, Disk Usage and Percent Memory Used, you
can specify whether you want to calculate exhaustion using average or
peak daily values.
5. Click Submit.
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Customizing Views
Orion Web Console views are configurable presentations of network information
that can include maps, charts, summary lists, reports, events, and links to other
resources. Customized Views can then be assigned to menu bars. With NOC
View Mode enabled, views may be optimized for display in Network Operations
Centers.
Creating New Views

You can customize the Orion Web Console for individual users by logging in as
an administrator and creating new views as shown in the following procedure.
Note: In environments where security is a priority, SolarWinds recommends
against providing a view where users may change their own web console
account passwords.
To create a new view:

2. Click Manage Views in the Views group
3. Click Add.
4. Enter the Name of New View, and then select the Type of View.
Note: The Type of View selection affects how the view is made accessible
to users, and your choice may not be changed later. For more information,
Views by Device Type.
5. Click Submit.
After you have created a new view, the Customize page opens. For more
information, see Editing Views.
Editing Views
The Orion Web Console allows administrators to configure views for individual
users.
To make views and graphs larger for larger screens, resize the columns
dynamically (drag the division bars) and use your browser zoom
controls, such as <Ctrl>+<+> in Chrome.
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Editing Views
The following steps are required to configure an existing view.

To edit an existing view:

2. Click Manage Views in the Views group.
3. Select the view you want to customize from the list, and then click Edit.
4. To add a subview that can be accessed from tabs on the left:
a. Check the Enable left navigation box.

b. Click the Add tab on the left.
c. Enter a name for the tab in the Tab Name field.
d. Click Browse next to the tab Icon, and select an appropriate icon for
this tab.
e. Click Update.
f. You can now add further tabs, or proceed as below.
5. To change the width of a column, enter the width in pixels in the Width
field beneath the column.
6. To add a column, click Add New Column.
7. To add a resource, repeat the following steps for each resource:
a. Click + next to the column in which you want to add a resource.

b. Check all resources you want to add, and click Add Selected
Resources.
Notes:
l Use the Group by: field on the left to limit the resource list or use
the Search field at the top to locate specific resources.
l Resources already in your view will not be checked on this page
listing all web console resources. It is, therefore, possible to pick
duplicates of resources you are already viewing.
l Some resources may require additional configuration. For more
information, see Resource Configuration Examples.
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l Several options on the Add Resources page are added to the list
of resources for a page, but the actual configuration of a given
map, link, or code is not added until the page is previewed.
8. To delete a resource from a column, select the resource, and then click X
next to the resource column to delete the selected resource.
9. To copy a resource in a column, select the resource, and then click
10. To move a resource to another column, use the back and forward arrow
icons next to the resource column to transfer the resource to the previous or
next column.
11. If you are using subviews and want to move a resource to another tab,
click on Move to a different tab to open a window enabling you to move to
a selected tab and column.
12. To rearrange the order in which resources appear in a column, select
resources, and then use the up and down arrow icons to rearrange them.
13. If you have finished configuring your view, click Preview.
Note: A preview of your custom web console displays in a new window. A
message may display in the place of some resources if information for the
resource has not been polled yet.
14. Close the preview window.

15. If you are satisfied with the configuration of your view, click Done.
Note: For more information about adding a customized view to menu bars as a
custom item, see Customizing Web Console Menu Bars. For more information
about assigning your customized view as the default view for a user, see Editing
User Accounts.
Enabling NOC View Mode

Network Operations Center (NOC) View Mode enables you to customize web
console views for optimal display on large network operations center screens.
With NOC View enabled, a web console view cycle through its network
monitoring resources for continually updated, shared viewing.
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Configuring View Limitations
To enable NOC View Mode for an existing view:
1. Click Customize Page in the top right of the view for which you want to
enable NOC View Mode.
2. Check Enable NOC view mode.
3. Click Done.
Configuring View Limitations

As a security feature, the web console gives administrators the ability to apply
device-based view limitations.
The following limitations are defined by default:
Orion Web Console View Limitations
Single Network Group of Nodes System Location Pattern

Node
Node Name System Name Pattern Single Interface (SolarWinds

Pattern NPM)
Machine Type Group of Machine Interface Status (SolarWinds

Pattern Types NPM)
Hardware Single Hardware Interface Alias Pattern

Manufacturer Manufacturer (SolarWinds NPM)
System Location System Contact Pattern Group of Interfaces (SolarWinds

NPM)
System Contact IP Address Pattern Interface Name Pattern

(SolarWinds NPM)
Group of Volumes Device Status Interface Type (SolarWinds

NPM)
Single Machine Single Group Group of Groups

Type
Group Name
Pattern
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The following procedure configures a view limitation.

To enable a view limitation:
1. Click Settings in the top right of the web console, and then click Manage
Views in the Views group of the Orion Website Administration page.
2. Select the view to which you want to add a limitation, and then click Edit.
3. In the View Limitation area of the Customize View page, click Edit.
4. Select the type of view limitation you want to apply, and then click
Continue.
5. Provide or check appropriate strings or options to define the device types to
include or exclude from the selected view, and then click Submit.
Note: The asterisk (*) is a valid wildcard. Pattern limitations restrict views to
devices for which the corresponding fields include the provided string.
Copying Views
When you want to create multiple views based on the same device type, copying
views allows you to create one view, and then use that view as a template to
create other new views. The following steps copy an existing view.
To copy a view:

3. Select the view you want to copy, and then click Copy.
4. To edit a copied view, follow the procedure in Editing Views.
Deleting Views
Deleting views is a straightforward process, as shown in the following procedure.
To delete a view:

3. Select the view you want to delete, and then click Delete.
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Views by Device Type
Views by Device Type

There are vast differences among network objects and the statistics they report,
but the Orion Web Console can make it easier to view network data by displaying
object details by device type, giving you the ability to have a different view for
each unique type of device you have on your network, including routers, firewalls,
and servers. The following steps assign a view by any available device type.
To assign a view by device type:
1. Click Settings in the top right of the web console, and then click Views by
Device Type in the Views group of the Orion Website Administration page.
2. Select available Web Views for the different types of devices that Orion is
currently monitoring or managing on your network.
3. Click Submit.
Resource Configuration Examples

Several resources that may be selected from the Add Resources page require
additional configuration. Included in this section are examples of these resources
and the steps that are required for their proper configuration.
Selecting a Network Map

Network maps created with Orion Network Atlas can give a quick overview of
your network, right from the main web console view. For more information, see the
SolarWinds Orion Network Atlas Administrator Guide.
Note: Clicking the resource title in the title bar menu displays the resource by
itself in a browser window.
The following procedure adds a network map to the Orion Web Console.
To add a network map to the web console:
1. Navigate to the view to which you want to add the map, and then click
Customize Page.
2. Click the plus sign in the appropriate column to open the Add Resource
dialog.
3. Enter "map" in the Search box, and then click Search.
4. Select the box before Map, and then select Add Selected Resources.
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5. Use the arrow icons by the right-hand side of the column to position the
map, and then click Preview to display the map in a separate browser tab.
6. Click Edit in the Map resource title bar.
7. If you do not want to use the default title provided, enter a new Title for
the title bar of the added map.
8. enter a new Subtitle for the added map.
If you want a subtitle,
9. Select from the list of available maps.
10. Select the Zoom percentage at which you want to display the map.
Note: If you leave the Zoom field blank, the map displays at full scale,
based on the size of the column in which the map displays.
11. Click Submit.
Displaying a List of Objects on a Network Map

When your web console view includes a network map, it can be helpful to
maintain a list of network objects that appear on the map. The following
procedure enables a resource listing network map objects.
Note: Click the resource title to display the resource in a new browser window.
To display a list of network map objects:
Customize Page.
dialog.
4. Check the box before List of Objects on Network Map, and then select
Add Selected Resources.
5. Use the arrow icons by the left side of the column to position the resource
and click Preview to display the map in a separate browser tab.
6. Click Edit in the title bar of the List of Objects on Network Map resource.
the header of the objects list.
8. If you want a subtitle, enter a new Subtitle for the added objects list.
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Displaying a Custom List of Maps
9. Select the required network map from the list of available maps, and click
Submit.
Displaying a Custom List of Maps

The web console allows you to populate a custom view with a list of available
network maps. Each map in your custom list, when clicked, opens in a new
window. The following procedure enables a custom network maps list resource.
Note: Click the resource title to display the resource in its own browser window.
To display a custom list of maps:
1. Navigate to the view to which you want to add the list of maps, and then
click Customize Page.
dialog.
4. Select the box before Custom List of All Maps, and then select Add
Selected Resources.
5. Use the arrow icons by the left side of the column to position the resource,
and then click Preview to display the map in a separate browser tab.
6. Click Edit in the title bar of the Custom List of Maps resource.
the header of the maps list.
8. If you want a subtitle, enter a new Subtitle for the custom list of maps.
9. Make sure the maps you want to include in your maps list are checked.
10. Click Submit.
Displaying the Worldwide Map

The worldwide map provides a quick geographical overview of your network at
any level from global down to street. For more information, see The Worldwide
Map.
Note: Click the resource title in the title bar menu to display the resource in its
own browser window.
The following procedure adds the worldwide map to the Orion Web Console.
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To display the worldwide map:
Customize Page.
dialog.
4. Select the box before Worldwide Map, and then select Add Selected
Resources.
5. Use the arrow icons by the column to position the map, and then click
Preview to display the map in a separate browser tab.
6. If the map looks correct, click Done.
7. To customize the way the world map is displayed, click Edit in the
Worldwide Map resource title bar.
the title bar of the added map.
9. If you want a subtitle, enter a new Subtitle for the added map.
Note: Titles and subtitles can be entered as either text or HTML.
10. Enter the required Height. (The default is 400px.)
11. Click Set location and zoom level if you want to change the default
location (the center of the map) and zoom magnitude of the map. You can
also set this manually by clicking Advanced, and entering the latitude and
longitude of the default location and the zoom level.
12. To filter the groups and nodes displayed, click Group and/or Nodes, and
then enter the SWQL for the filters to be used. Click Examples to see a few
simple samples.
13. Click Submit.
Displaying an Event Summary - Custom Period of Time

You may want your web console view to display an event summary for a specified
period of time. The following procedure details the steps to include an event
summary in your web console.
Note: Click the resource title in the title bar menu to display the resource by itself
in a browser window.
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Specifying User-Defined Links
To display an event summary:
1. Navigate to the view to which you want to add the events summary, and
then click Customize Page.
dialog.
3. Enter "event" in the Search box, and then click Search.
4. Select the box before Event Summary, and then select Add Selected
Resources.
5. Use the arrow icons by the column to position the resource, and then click
Preview to display the resource in a separate browser tab.
6. Click Edit in the title bar of the Event Summary resource.
the header of the event summary.
8. If you want a subtitle, enter a new Subtitle for the links list.
9. Select the time period for displaying events the Time Period drop-down list.
10. Click Submit.
Specifying User-Defined Links

The User-Defined Links option can be used to create quick access to external
websites or customized views. URLs of your customized views can be copied
from their preview pages and pasted in a User-Defined Links field. The following
steps enable user-defined links from within your web console.
To enable a user-defined links resource:
1. Navigate to the view to which you want to add the links resource, and then
dialog.
3. Enter "links" in the Search box, and then click Search.
4. Select the box before User Links, and then select Add Selected
Resources.
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6. Click Edit in the title bar of the User Links resource.
the links list.
8. If you want a subtitle, enter a new Subtitle for the links list.
9. Enter the following information for each link you want to define:
a. A link Name and the URL of your link.

b. If you want your links to open in a new browser window, check
Open in New Window.
10. Click Submit.
Specifying Custom HTML

In situations where you have static information that you want to provide in the web
console, use the Custom HTML option. This can also be used to create quick
access to your customized views. The following procedure creates a static
content area within your web console for displaying HTML content.
To specify custom HTML:
1. Navigate to the view to which you want to add the resource, and then click
Customize Page.
dialog.
3. Enter "html" in the Search box, and then click Search.
4. Select the box before Custom HTML, and then select Add Selected
Resources.
6. Click Edit in the title bar of the Custom HTML resource.
the specified content area.
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Specifying an Orion Report
8. If you want a subtitle, enter a new Subtitle for the specified content area.
9. Enter HTML formatted content as required.
10. Click Submit.
Specifying an Orion Report

The web console is able to incorporate reports that you have created in Orion
Report Writer into any view. The following procedure takes a report that you have
created with Report Writer and includes it within a web console view.
To include an Orion report:
1. Navigate to the view to which you want to add the report resource, and then
dialog.
3. Enter "report" in the Search box, and then click Search.
4. Select the box before Report from Orion Report Writer, and then select
6. Click Edit in the title bar of the Report from Orion Report Writer resource.
the included report.
8. If you want a subtitle, enter a new Subtitle for the included report.
9. Select a Report to include from the drop-down.
10. To filter the nodes used to create the included report, enter an
appropriate query in the Filter Nodes field.
Note: Filter Nodes is an optional, advanced, web console feature that
requires some knowledge of SQL queries. Click + next to Show Filter
Examples to view a few example filters.
11. Click Submit.
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Displaying a Custom List of Reports

The web console allows you to populate a custom view with a custom reports list.
When clicked from the list, each report opens in a new window. The following
procedure details the steps required to enable a custom list of network reports.
To display a custom list of reports:
1. Navigate to the view to which you want to add the custom list of reports, and
then click Customize Page.
dialog.
3. Enter "report" in the Search box, and then click Search.
4. Select the box before Report from Orion Report Writer, and then select
6. Click Edit in the title bar of the Report from Orion Report Writer resource.
the header of the reports list.
8. If you want a subtitle, enter a new Subtitle for the custom list of reports.
9. Check the reports that you want to include in your custom list of reports.
Note: To allow a user to view a report included in the custom list, you must
set the report access for the account. For more information, see Configuring
an Account Report Folder.
10. Click Submit.
Filtering Nodes
Your Orion Web Console can maintain a customizable node list for your network.
Node lists can be configured for specific views using SQL query filters. The
following steps set up node filtering for node lists included in web console views.
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Filtering Nodes
To enable filtering on a node list:
1. Navigate to the view to which you want to add the node list, and then click
Customize Page.
dialog.
3. Enter "nodes" in the Search box, and then click Search.
4. Select the box before All Nodes - Table, and then select Add Selected
Resources.
5. Use the arrow icons by the column to position the table, and then click
6. Click Edit in the title bar of the All Nodes – Table resource.
the node list.
8. If you want a subtitle, enter a new Subtitle for the node list.
9. To filter your node list by text or IP address range, provide the text or IP
address range by which you want to filter your node list in the Filter Text
field, as shown in the following examples:
l Type Home in the Filter Text field to list all nodes with "Home" in the
node name or as a location.
l Type 192.168.1.* in the Filter Text field to list all nodes in the
192.168.1.0-255 IP address range.
10. Select the property that is appropriate to the filter text provided above, as
shown in the following examples:
l If you typed Home in the Filter Text area, select Node Name or
Location to list nodes with "Home" in the node name or as a location.
l If you typed 192.168.1.* in the Filter Text area, select IP Address to
list only nodes in the 192.168.1.0-255 IP address range.
11. To apply a SQL filter to the node list, enter an appropriate query in the
Filter Nodes (SQL) field.
Notes:
l Filter Nodes (SQL) is an optional, advanced, web console feature

that requires some knowledge of SQL queries. Click + next to Show
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Filter Examples to view a few example filters.

l By default, node list resources are designed to sort nodes
alphabetically by node caption. This configuration cannot be
overwritten using a SQL filter, so order by clauses included in SQL
filters are redundant and will result in Custom SQL filter
formatting errors.
12. Click Submit.
Grouping Nodes
Your Orion Web Console can maintain a customizable node list for your network.
Node lists can be configured for specific views with node grouping. The following
steps set up node grouping for node lists included in web console views.
To enable grouping on a node list:
1. Navigate to the view to which you want to add the resource, and then click
Customize Page.
dialog.
3. Enter "nodes" in the Search box, and then click Search.
4. Check the box before All Nodes - Tree, and then select Add Selected
Resources.
5. Use the arrow icons by the column to position the tree resource, and then
click Preview to display the resource in a separate browser tab.
6. Click Edit in the title bar of the All Nodes – Tree resource.
the node list.
8. If you want a subtitle, enter a new Subtitle for the node list.
9. Select up to three criteria, in specified levels, for Grouping Nodes within
your web console view.
10. Select whether you want to put nodes with null values In the [Unknown]
group or ungrouped, At the bottom of the list.
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Adding a Service Level Agreement Line to Charts (Orion NPM)
11. If you want to apply a SQL filter to the node list, enter an appropriate
query in the Filter Nodes field.
Notes:
l Filter Nodes (SQL) is an optional, advanced, web console feature

that requires some knowledge of SQL queries. Click + next to Show
Filter Examples to view a few example filters.
l By default, node list resources are designed to sort nodes
alphabetically by node caption. This configuration cannot be
overwritten using a SQL filter, so order by clauses included in SQL
filters are redundant and will result in Custom SQL filter formatting
errors.
12. Click Submit.
Adding a Service Level Agreement Line to Charts (Orion NPM)

The Orion Web Console can display a service level agreement (SLA) line on any
Min/Max/Average bps chart. When you add a customer property named "SLA"
and populate the field with your device SLA values, the Orion Web Console
displays the appropriate line on your charts.
Notes:
l Interface data is only available in SolarWinds NPM.

l The SLA line may not appear immediately. It may take several minutes for
the change to be detected by the Orion web engine.
To add a Service Level Agreement line to Min/Max/Average bps charts:
1. Click Settings.
2. In the Node & Group Management section, click Manage Custom
Properties.
3. Click Add Custom Property.
4. Select Interfaces as the custom property object type, and then click Next.
5. Click SLA in the list of predefined Property Templates, make any required
changes to the fields displayed, and then click Next.
6. Click Select Interfaces.
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7. Select and add all interfaces to which you want to apply the same service
level, and then click Select Interfaces.
8. Enter the SLA value (in bps) in the SLA column for each interface you want
to label with SLA values. For example, type 1544000 for a T1 interface
(1.544 Mbps) or 225000 for a serial connection running at 225 Kbps.
9. To enter a different SLA value for a different set of interfaces, click Add
More, and then repeat interface selection and value population as indicated
previously.
10. Click Submit.
11. Browse to the Interface Details view of one of the interfaces you edited. The
SLA line displays on any chart showing Min/Max/Average bps.
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Using the Orion Web Console Message Center
Using the Orion Web Console Message Center

The Message Center provides a single, customizable view in the web console
where, in a single table, you can review all events, alerts, traps, and Syslog
messages on your network.
To view and configure the Message Center:
1. Click Home > Message Center.

2. To display messages for specific devices, select appropriate device
properties in the Filter Devices area.
3. In the Filter Messages area, select the Time period for the messages you
want to review, and then provide the number of messages you want to
show.
4. To show all messages, including messages that have been
acknowledged, check Show acknowledged in the Filter Messages area.
5. To display only certain types of messages, filter messages as shown in
the following steps:
a. To view alerts, confirm that Show active alerts is checked, and then
select the type of alerts to display.
b. To view event messages, confirm that Show event messages is
checked, and then select the type of events to display.
c. To view Syslog messages, confirm that Show syslog messages is
checked, and then select the Severity and Facility of the Syslog
messages you want to display.
Note: For more information about Syslog severities and facilities, see
Syslog Message Priorities.
d. To view received traps, confirm that Show received traps is
checked, and then select the Trap type and Community String of the
traps you want to display.
e. To view audit events, confirm that Show Audit Events is checked,
and then select the Action type and User corresponding to the audit
events you want to display.
6. Click Apply to update the list of displayed messages.
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Exporting Views to PDF

Many views in the Orion Web Console may be exported directly to portable
document format (.pdf). Views that may be exported display Export to PDF in the
top right corner of the exportable view.
Note: The Export to PDF feature requires IIS Anonymous Access. Confirm that
the IUSR_SERVERNAME user is in the local Users group on your Orion server.
To export a view to PDF:
1. Open the web console view to export, and then click Export to PDF in the
top right corner of the view.
2. If you are prompted to save the .pdf file, click Save.
3. Navigate to an appropriate location, provide an appropriate file name, and
then click Save.
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Creating a Custom Summary View
Creating a Custom Summary View

The Orion Custom Summary View enables you to create a fully customized
object-based view composed solely of resources you have selected. The
following procedure creates a custom summary view in the web console.
To create or edit a custom summary view in the web console:
1. Click Home > Custom Summary.

2. Click Edit in any Custom Object Resource.
3. Provide a Title and Subtitle for the selected Custom Object Resource.
4. Choose an object type from the Choose Object Type dropdown.
5. Click Select Object.
6. On the Select Objects window, use the Group by selection field, as
appropriate, to filter the list of monitored objects.
7. Select one or more object types on which to base the selected Custom
Object resource, and then click the green right arrow to move all objects of
the selected type into the Selected Objects window.
8. Select one or more objects on which to base the selected Custom Object
resource, and then click Submit.
9. The fields displayed and information required depend upon the object type
selected. Complete these fields as appropriate and click Submit.
Note: For more information about customizing available resource types, click
Help in the header of any resource on the Custom Summary view, and then click
the corresponding resource type.
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Creating and Editing External Website Views

With the external website view feature, any administrator can select any external
website and designate it as an Orion Web Console view, as shown in the
following procedure.
To create or edit an external website view in the web console:

2. Click External Websites in the Customize Navigation & Look grouping of
the Orion Website Administration page.
3. If you want to delete an existing external website, click Delete next to the
website you want to delete, and then click OK to confirm the deletion.
4. If you want to add a new external website, click Add.
5. If you want to edit an existing external website, click Edit next to the
name of the website you want to edit.
6. Provide a Menu Title for the external website to display in the Views
toolbar.
7. If you want to include a heading within the view, provide an optional
Page Title to display within the view.
8. Provide the URL of the external website, in http://domain_name
format.
9. Select the Menu Bar to which you want to add the new external website
link.
Note: For more information about customizing menu bars, see Customizing
Web Console Menu Bars.
10. Click OK.
11. Click Preview to view the external website as the web console will display
it.
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Customizing the Orion Web Console
Customizing the Orion Web Console

The following sections provide details for customizing your Orion Web Console:
l Customizing Web Console Menu Bars

l Changing the Web Console Color Scheme
l Changing the Web Console Site Logo
Customizing Web Console Menu Bars

The menu bars displayed at the top of every page may be configured to display
various menu items. You can also define menu items and add them to custom
menu bars.
To customize web console menu bars:

2. Click Customize Menu Bars in the Customize Navigation & Look grouping
of the Orion Website Administration page.
3. If you want to modify an existing menu, click Edit on the menu bar you
want to modify, and then click and drag items between the Available items
list on the left and the Selected items list on the right until the Selected items
list includes all the items you want to include in your edited menu.
Note: Hover over any view title to read a description. Selected items display
from left to right in the edited menu bar as they are listed from top to bottom.
4. If you want to create a new menu bar, complete the following steps:
a. Click New Menu Bar at the bottom of the page, and provide a Name
for the New Menu Bar.
b. Click and drag the items you want to include in your new menu bar
from the Available items list on the left to their correct relative locations
in the Selected items list on the right.
Note: Hover over any view title for a description. Selected items
display from left to right in the new menu bar as listed from top to
bottom.
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5. If you want to add a custom menu item, complete the following steps:
a. Click Edit under the menu bar to which you are adding the custom
item.
b. Click Add at the bottom of the page, and provide the Name, URL, and
Description of your custom menu item.
c. If you want the menu option to open in a new window, check Open
in a New Window.
d. Click OK.
6. If you want to delete a menu item, click and drag the item to delete from
the Selected items list on the right to the Available items list on the left.
Warning: Do not delete the Admin option from the Admin menu bar.
7. If you want to change the location of an item in your menu, click and
drag items to move them up and down in the Selected items list.
8. If you have finished editing your menu bar, click Submit.
Changing the Web Console Color Scheme

The overall color scheme of the Orion Web Console may be changed to any of
several color schemes that are viewable by all users, as shown in the following
procedure.
To change the web console color scheme:

2. Click Color Scheme in the Customize grouping.
3. Select the desired color scheme, and then click Submit.
Changing the Web Console Site Logo

The Orion Web Console can be configured to display your logo instead of the
default SolarWinds banner across the top of every web console page. The
following steps change the default SolarWinds web console banner.
To change the web console banner:
1. Create an appropriately sized graphic to replace the SolarWinds logo.

Notes: The SolarWinds banner file is 271x48 pixels at 200 pixels/inch.
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Changing the Web Console Site Logo
The SolarWinds.com End User License Agreement prohibits the

modification, elimination, or replacement of the SolarWinds.com logo, the
link on the menu bar, or the SolarWinds copyright line at the bottom of the
page.
2. Place your graphic in the images directory.

Note: By default, it is in C:\Inetpub\SolarWinds\NetPerfMon\.
3. Log in to the web console as an administrator, and then click Settings in the
top right of the web console.
4. Click Web Console Settings in the Settings grouping of the Orion Website
Administration page.
5. Ensure the Site Logo box is checked, and click Browse to navigate to the
replace image.
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Orion Web Console and Chart Settings

The Orion Website Settings page allows an Orion Web Console administrator to
set a number of options that apply to the web console user environment.
The following settings are configured on this page:
l Web Console Settings

l Auditing Settings
l Chart Settings
l Other Settings
To configure Orion Website and Chart Settings:
1. Click Settings in the top right of the web console, and then click Web
Console Settings in the Product Specific Settings group.
2. When you finish configuring web console and chart settings, click Submit.
Web Console Settings

The following options are configured on the Orion Web Console Settings page:
l Session Timeout is the amount of time (in minutes) the Orion Web
Console waits through user inactivity before the user is logged out.
l Windows Account Login allows you to select whether or not you want to
enable automatic login with Windows Active Directory credentials. With this
feature enabled, in the future, the current user can log in automatically.
l Page Refresh specifies the amount of time that passes before a web
console page, or view, reloads automatically.
l Site Logo URL is the local path to the banner graphic that appears at the
top of every web console page. For more information about changing the
banner to display your logo, see Changing the Web Console Site Logo.
l NOC View Logo is the local path to the banner graphic that appears at the
top of every NOC view web console page.
l Site Login Text is optional text displayed on the Orion Web Console login
page. The text entered here is seen by all web console users when they log
in. HTML tags are allowed.
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Web Console Settings
l Help Server is the URL of the server where online help for Orion products is
stored. The default location is http://www.solarwinds.com. If you are in an
Internet-restricted network environment but require access to online help,
download the entire online help, copy it to a web server, and then change
the Help Server URL to that of the web server.
l Status Rollup Mode establishes the way the availability status of a
collection of nodes on the node tree or on a map is displayed in the web
console.
There are the following options for when there are nodes of differing
statuses in a selected group:
l Mixed Status shows Warning, the default status, ensures the status
of a node group displays the worst warning-type state in the group. If
none of the group members have a warning-typed state but the group
contains both up and down nodes, a Mixed Availability warning state
is displayed for the whole group. For example, Critical + Down =
Critical, Critical + Warning = Critical, and Up + Down = Mixed
Availability.
l Show Worst Status ensures the worst state in a node group is
displayed for the whole group. For example, Up + Down = Down and
Unreachable + Shutdown = Shutdown.
l Child Status Rollup Mode indicates how the status of any single node on
the node tree or on a map is displayed. You can show the status of the node
and its children, node status and interfaces, if you have Orion NPM
installed, or just node ICMP status.
l Select Show Worst Status to ensure that the worst status of the node
group is displayed for the whole group (e.g. red if any of the nodes are
down).
l Select Show Worst Status (Interfaces only) to ensure that the worst
status of any of the interfaces on a selected node is displayed.
l Select Show Worst Status (Applications only) to ensure that the
worst status of any of the applications on a selected node is displayed.
l Select Show only ICMP Status to only display up/down status for
monitored interfaces.
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l Child Status Display Mode designates how the status of the children of
any single node on the node tree or on a map is displayed. You can show
the status of the node and any of its children with either a static of a blinking
icon. By default, Orion uses a static icon to display the status of child
objects.
l Integration Tips enables you to show or hide the list of products in the How
SolarWinds Products Work Together section of the Settings page.
l Drag and Drop Views enables you to turn on or off the ability to drag
resources around on views.
Auditing Settings
The Enable audit trails option enables you to keep a record of all actions taken
by web console users. Depending on the number of technicians or the activity
level of your installation, this may increase the storage needs of your database.
Chart Settings
The following chart settings may be configured in the Chart Settings section of the
Web Console Settings page:
l Chart Aspect Ratio is the height/width ratio for web console charts. This
ratio should be set between 0.25 and 3.0 to avoid erratic display problems,
though the performance of individual systems may differ.
l Thumbnail Aspect Ratio is the height/width ratio for chart thumbnails.
l 95th Percentile Calculations is a setting that adds annotation lines to
charts at the entered percentile. This value is normally set to 95. For more
information, see 95th Percentile Calculations.
l The Maximum number of data series displayed on chart setting
determines the maximum number of data series that will display on a chart
at the same time. The default value for this setting is 10.
l The actual data points that are used to create a chart may be shown by
checking Show data points on lines.
l Font Size sets the default relative size, Small, Medium, or Large, of the text
that is displayed within charts in the Orion Web Console. This setting is
independent of your browser settings. The font settings in your browser will
affect resource headers and some resource contents.
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Other Settings
Other Settings
The Discovery, Worldwide Map and Active Alert Settings sections provide the
following settings:
l Notify about new removable volumes allows you to indicate whether or

not you want to be notified when removable volumes are added to your
network and discovered during network discovery.
You should configure the default send email action to receive notifications.
For more information about network discovery in Orion, see Discovering
and Adding Network Devices.
l Automatic Geolocation enables automatic geolocation on worldwide
maps when checked.
l Active alerts refresh enables you to specify how often the active alerts grid
page is refreshed.
Active Alerts Settings

Select how frequently you want the active alerts resource to refresh. Any alerts
that trigger within the refresh interval appear when the grid refreshes.
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Using Node Filters

When you are managing or monitoring large numbers of network devices, node
list resources can easily become very large and difficult to navigate. Filters are
optional SQL queries that are used to limit node list displays for easier resource
navigation. SQL queries can be made on any predefined or custom properties.
For more information about defining custom properties, see Creating a Custom
Property.
Note: If you have upgraded to Orion platform version 2015.1.2, your

custom SQL or SWQL query or filter may no longer work correctly. For a
list of database changes from Orion platform version 2014.2 to version
2015.1.2, including new tables, column changes, or data constraint or
data type changes, see the Database Changes spreadsheet.
To apply a node filter:
1. Click Edit in any node list resource.

2. Provide an appropriate SQL query in the Filter Nodes (SQL) field, and then
click Submit.
The following are a few example filters with associated SQL queries.
Note: By default, node list resources are designed to sort nodes alphabetically by
node caption. This configuration cannot be overwritten using a SQL filter, so
order by clauses included in SQL filters are redundant and will result in Custom
SQL filter formatting errors.
l Filter the results to only show nodes that are not Up:
Status<>1
The following are valid status levels:
o 0 = Unknown (current up/down status of the node is unknown)

o 1 = Up (The node is responding to PINGs)
o 2 = Down (The node is not responding)
o 3 = Warning (The node may be responding, but the connection from
the server to the Node is dropping packets)
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Customizing Charts in the Orion Web Console
l Only show Cisco devices: Vendor = 'Cisco'

l Only show devices in Atlanta. (using a custom property named City):
City = 'Atlanta'
l Only show devices beginning with "AX3-": Caption Like 'AX3-*'

l Only show Nortel devices that are Down:
Vendor Like 'Nortel*' AND Status=2
l Only show devices ending in '-TX':

Vendor Like '*-TX'
Customizing Charts in the Orion Web Console

The Orion Web Console provides many charts for all monitored objects, which
may be customize to your own requirements, as covered in the following sections.
l Some charts have an Edit button that enables you to edit titles, time periods
and other details. For more information, see Customizing Charts.
l Other charts have a dropdown menu, enabling you to change the date
range, edit the chart or display raw data. For more information, see
Customizing Custom Charts.
In some cases, the same chart is available in both versions.
Customizing Charts
If the chart you want to customize has an Edit button, clicking it will open the Edit
Resource page. Here you can customize the following fields:
Title
Enter or edit a title for this resource.
Subtitle
Enter or edit an optional subtitle for the resource.
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Depending on the type of chart, some of the following will be available:
Calculated series: Show a trend line

Check this box to display a trend line on the graph. This shows
potential future results as extrapolated from collected historical data.
Note: Due to the broad array of factors that can affect the performance
of devices on your network, are intended as approximate predictions
of future data only.
Calculated series: Show the sum of all data series
Check this box if you want to display the sum of all data series in the
form of stacked bars or lines.
Calculated Series: Show the 95th percentile line
Check this box to show the 95th percentile line. This is a well-known
statistical standard used to discard maximum spikes, based on 5
minute data samples. The calculation gathers these values every 5
minutes for however long you select, throwing away the top 5% so as
to yield the 95th percentile value. For more information, see 95th
Percentile Calculations
Or:
Maximum Number of Items to Display:

Enter the highest number of items you want to display in this chart.
Time periods: Default zoom range
Select the default range of data to be displayed from the dropdown list.
Time periods: Amount of historical data to load
Select the amount of historical data to load from the dropdown list.
Time periods: Sample interval
Select the sample interval to be used from the dropdown list. Each sample
interval is represented on a chart by a single point or bar. Data within a
selected sample interval is summarized automatically.
Advanced: Chart title
Enter a title to appear above the chart.
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Customizing Custom Charts
Advanced: Chart Subtitle

Enter an optional subtitle to appear beneath the chart title. The default is
${ZoomRange], which shows the selected zoom range.
Customizing Custom Charts

If the chart you want to customize has a dropdown menu in its top line, the
following information applies.
Custom Chart Dropdown Menu Options

The dropdown menu of the custom chart resource provides the following options
for viewing and configuring chart data:
l View chart data over the Last 7 Days or over the Last 30 Days
l Select Edit Chart or click on the chart to open the chart resort in a new tab.
l View Chart Data as an HTML format document
l View Chart Data in Excel to see chart data in an Excel™-compatible format
Editing the Chart

If you click Edit Chart from the dropdown menu or click on the chart, the chart
resource is opened in a new tab and you can edit the following:
Chart Titles: Title
Enter a title to be displayed above the chart.
Chart Titles: Subtitle
Enter an optional subtitle to be displayed beneath the title.
Chart Titles: Subtitle #2
Enter a second optional subtitle to be displayed beneath the title.
Time Period: Select a Time Period
Select the time period that you want the chart to cover.
Alternatively, you can enter a specific time period for the chart.
Time Period: Beginning Date/Time
Enter the start date and time for the chart in one of the formats
shown. If you do not enter a time, this will default to 12:00:00 AM.
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Time Period: Ending Date/Time

Enter the end date and time for the chart in one of the formats
shown. If you do not enter a time, this will default to 12:00:00 AM.
Sample Interval
Check this box to display a trend line on the graph. This shows potential
future results as extrapolated from collected historical data.
Note: Due to the broad array of factors that can affect the performance of
devices on your network, are intended as approximate predictions of future
data only.
Chart Size: Width
Enter a custom width, in pixels, for this chart. The default is 640.
Chart Size: Height
Enter a custom height, in pixels, for this chart. Enter 0 to maintain the
original width/height ratio.
Font Size
Select the font size for the chart from the dropdown list.
Trend Line: Show Trend
Check this box to display a trend line on the graph. This shows potential
future results as extrapolated from collected historical data.
Note: Due to the broad array of factors that can affect the performance of
devices on your network, are intended as approximate predictions of future
data only.
Display Chart Data: Raw Data
Click to display or save the data being used in this report as an xls file.
Display Chart Data: Chart Data
Click to display the data in this report as a HTML table in the web browser.
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Custom Object Resources in the Orion Web Console
Custom Object Resources in the Orion Web

Console
The Orion Web Console provides a Custom Object resource that enables you to
configure any of a wide array of resources to display performance data for any
specific monitored objects.
The following sections provide more information about editing a Custom Object
resource, selecting monitored objects, and configuring the data displayed in a
Custom Object resource:
l Editing a Custom Object Resource

l Selecting Custom Objects and Resources
l Available Custom Resources
Editing a Custom Object Resource

The following procedure edits a Custom Object resource.
To edit a Custom Object resource:
1. Click Edit in the header of a Custom Object resource.

2. Edit the resource Title and Subtitle as appropriate.
3. Select an appropriate object type from the Choose Object Type selection
box.
4. Click Select Object to select appropriate monitored objects. For more
information, see Selecting Custom Objects and Resources.
5. Select a Chart to include in your custom object resource.
6. If you want to automatically display nodes related to the current view,
check the corresponding Select object option.
7. If you want to limit the number of data series that are displayed in your
resource, check the Limit Series option, and then select the number of
series to allow.
8. Select whether or not you want to Show Sum in Data Series.
9. Select the Time Period and Sample Interval.
10. If you want to automatically hide the resource when there is no data for it to
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report, select Yes for the Auto-Hide Resource option.

11. If you have completed your edits, click Submit.
Selecting Custom Objects and Resources

The following procedure selects a network object for a selected Custom Object
resource.
Note: The following procedure assumes both that you are editing a custom object
resource and that you are already viewing the Select Orion Nodes view in the
web console.
To select a custom monitored object for a Custom Object resource:
1. In the Group by: field, select an appropriate object grouping criterion.

Note: Defined custom properties are listed for all grouping types.
2. Either check a listed group of objects or expand listed groups to check

included objects, and then click the green arrow ( ) to move selected
objects into the selected objects pane on the right.
3. Check the objects to monitor in selected objects pane on the right.
4. Click Submit.
5. Select the desired resource type in the Select object resource field, and
then configure options as required. For more information about available
resources, see Available Custom Resources.
Available Custom Resources

A Custom Object resource may be configured to provide the same data as any of
a number of Orion Web Console resources for a selected network object:
Notes:
l Resource availability is dependent on the Orion products installed.

l For more information about any available custom resource, click Help in the
resource title to view the corresponding help topic.
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Accessing Nodes Using HTTP, SSH, and Telnet
Accessing Nodes Using HTTP, SSH, and Telnet

The Orion Web Console supports the use of HTTP, SSH, and Telnet protocols for
remote device access if associated applications like PuTTy and FiSSH on your
Orion server are properly registered. For more information, see the MSDN online
help.
Launch remote access applications from any Details view as follows:
l To browse directly to the viewed device using a web browser, click .

l To open a secure shell (SSH) to a monitored device, click .
l To open a Telnet session with a monitored device, click .
Using Integrated Remote Desktop

Sometimes it is necessary to console into a remote server to troubleshoot an
issue. This can be accomplished within the Orion Web Console as follows.
Note: Press Ctrl+Alt+Break to enter/exit full screen mode.
To launch Integrated Remote Desktop:
1. Open the Node Details view for the server you want to view remotely.
Note: The easiest way to open the Node Details view is to click the remote
server you want to view in any All Nodes resource.
2. Click , located at the of the Node Details view.

Note: Depending on the security settings of your browser, you may be
asked to install an ActiveX control for remote desktop viewing. Follow all
prompts to install this required control.
3. Verify the Server IP address or hostname, select an appropriate Screen

Size, and then click Connect.
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Chapter 5: Managing Devices in the
Web Console
Managing all the monitored devices on your network is greatly simplified with the
Node Management feature of the SolarWinds Orion Web Console. Using this tool,
you can easily add and remove devices and quickly view and edit device
properties. Any user that has been granted node management rights can directly
access the Node Management tool either from any All Nodes resource or through
the Orion Website Settings page. For more information about granting node
management rights, see Editing User Accounts. The following sections describe
the various functions that allow you to view and manage all your network devices
from the Orion Web Console.
Note: The All Nodes resource is included on the Orion Summary Home view by
default, but you can include it on any other web console view as well. Confirm
that the All Nodes resource is available on an appropriate Web Console view
before continuing. For more information about adding resources to Orion Web
Console views, see Editing Views.
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Chapter 5: Managing Devices in the Web Console
Adding Devices for Monitoring in the Web

Console
The following procedure shows how to add a device for monitoring in the Web
Console.
Note: This procedure does not cover the addition of objects specifically
monitored by individual Orion platform products. For more information, see the
Administrator Guide for each specific Orion product.
To add a device for monitoring in the Orion Web Console:
1. Log in to the Web Console as an administrator.

3. Click Manage Nodes in the Node & Group Management grouping of the
Orion Website Administration page.
4. Click Add Node on the Node Management toolbar.
5. Provide the hostname or IP Address of the node you want to add in the
Hostname or IP Address field.
6. If the IP address of the node you are adding is dynamically assigned,
check Dynamic IP Address.
7. Select the Polling Method to be used to monitor this node:
a. Select External Node: No Status if you do not want to collect data

from the node. Use this if you want to monitor a hosted application or
other element attached to the node but not the node itself.
b. Select Status Only: ICMP if the node does not support SNMP or
WMI. This will collected only status, response time and packet loss.
c. Select Most Devices: SNMP and ICMP to use the standard polling
method. This is the default method for devices such as switches and
routers, and Linux and UNIX servers. You will need to complete the
following:
i. Select the version of SNMP to use. The default is SNMPv2c.

However, SNMPv1 is supported for older devices, and SNMPv3
for device supporting enhanced security.
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Adding Devices for Monitoring in the Web Console
ii. If you have installed multiple polling engines, select the

Polling Engine you want to use to collect statistics from the
added node.
Note: This option is not displayed if you are only using one
polling engine.
iii. If the SNMP port on the added node is not the Orion default
of 161, enter the actual port number in the SNMP Port field.
iv. If the added node supports 64-bit counters and you want to
use them, check Allow 64-bit counters.
Note: Orion supports the use of 64-bit counters. However, these
high capacity counters can exhibit erratic behavior depending on
manufacturer implementation. If you notice peculiar results when
using these counters, use the Node Details view to disable the
use of 64-bit counters for the device and contact the hardware
manufacturer.
v. For SNMPv1 or SNMPv2c, enter the Community String and, if
required, the Read/Write Community String.
Note: Community Strings are passwords used to authenticate
data sent between the management station and the device. See
the documentation provided for your network device for further
information. (The default for Community String is usually
"public".) Click Test to validate the string or strings entered here.
vi. For SNMPv3, further credentials are required. See the

documentation provided for your network device for further
information.
vii. Click Test to validate.
d. Select Window Servers: WMI and ICMP, to use agentless polling
for Windows servers. You will need to complete the following:
i. Select the credential to be used. You can either select an

existing credential from the dropdown list, or select <New
Credential>.
152
ii. If you are creating a new credential, provide a Credential

name, enter an appropriate User name and Password, and
enter the password again in the Confirm password field.
iii. Click Test to validate.
e. Select Windows Servers: Agent, to use agent software to monitor
Windows hosts in remote or distributed environments, such as the
cloud. The agent software is downloaded and installed when you
complete this page.
i. Select the credential to be used. You can either select an

existing credential from the dropdown list, or select <New
Credential>.
Note: Administrator credentials are needed only for installing the
agent.
ii. If you are creating a new credential, provide a Credential

name, enter an appropriate User name and Password, and
enter the password again in the Confirm password field.
iii. Click Test to validate.
8. If the node hosts a UCS manager, check UCS manager credentials, and
supply the following information:
a. Enter the Port on which the UCS manager listens.

b. Check Use HTTPS, if required.
c. Enter the Username and Password for the device.
d. Click Test to validate this data.
9. To monitor Active Directory users that log on to your network, check
Active Directory Domain Controller, and supply the following information.
a. Select the credential to be used. You can either select existing

credential from the dropdown list, or select <New Credential>.
agent.
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Adding Devices for Monitoring in the Web Console
b. If you are creating a new credential, provide a Credential name,

enter an appropriate User name and Password, and enter the
password again in the Confirm password field.
c. Click Test to validate.
d. Enter the Domain Controller Polling Interval to be used. The default
is 30 minutes.
10. If you are adding a VMware device, check Poll for VMware to ensure that
SolarWinds NPM acquires any data the VMware device provides to SNMP
polling requests, and then complete the following steps to provide required
vCenter or ESX Server credentials. For more information, see
Requirements for Virtual Machines and Servers.

agent.
11. Click Next.
12. If the Choose Resources page is displayed, check the resources and
statistics you want to manage for this node. The following options are
available in the selection toolbar:
l Click All to select all listed resources and statistics for monitoring.
l Click None to clear any selections.
l Click All Volumes to select all listed volumes for monitoring.
l Click All Interfaces to select all listed interfaces for monitoring.
l Click All Active Interfaces to select all active interface for monitoring.
l Click No Interface Statistics to remove any interface statistics.
l After you have selected objects for monitoring, click Next.
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13. If the Add Application Monitors tab is displayed, select any applications
you want to monitor on the selected node. You can filter the applications
displayed using the Show only dropdown list.

c. Click Test to validate, and then click Next to continue.
d. Click Next.
14. If the Add Pollers page is displayed, select the universal device pollers to
add to your selected node, and click Next.
15. If the Add UDT Port page is displayed, you can check the Scan device
for ports box to display a list of UDT ports on the node. By default all are
selected. Select those to be monitored, and then click Next.
16. The Change Properties page is displayed for all polling methods. Here you
can:
l Change the name of the Node. Note: the Polling IP Address and
Polling Method cannot be changed.
l Change the SNMP version and Community Strings or Credential
settings, if the Polling Method is Most Devices: SNMP and ICMP.
l Change the default Node Status Polling, Collect Statistics Every
and Poll for Topology Data Every values, as appropriate.
17. If any Custom Properties have been set up, you can edit these on the
Change Properties page.
18. To override the CPU Load, Memory Usage, Response Time, Percent
Packet Loss Alerting Thresholds, check the corresponding boxes, and
amend the default values. For more information, see Orion General
Threshold Types.
19. If you have Network Configuration Manager installed, there will be an
option to manage the node using NCM. For more information, see the
Network Configuration Administrator Guide.
20. Click OK, Add Node to add the node with these settings.
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Deleting Devices from Monitoring
Deleting Devices from Monitoring

The following procedure deletes devices from the list of monitored nodes.
Warning: Deleting nodes from monitoring automatically stops monitoring of all
applications, interfaces, and volumes on the deleted nodes. An individual event
may be recorded for each deleted network object.
Note: You can select multiple devices to delete at the same time. Additionally,
using the search tool above the node list, you can select multiple interfaces on
different nodes for simultaneous deletion.
To delete devices from monitoring in the Orion Web Console:

4. To delete a node and all its applications, interfaces, and volumes from
monitoring, complete the following steps.
a. Locate the node to delete using either of the following methods:

l Use the search tool above the node list to search your Orion
database for the node you want to delete.
l Select an appropriate Group by: criterion, and then click the
appropriate group including the node to delete.
b. Check the node to delete in the list, and then click Delete on the
toolbar.
5. To delete a monitored application, interface, or volume, use the
following steps.
a. Locate the element to delete using either of the following methods:

l Use the search above the node list to search your Orion
database either for the object to delete or for its parent object to
delete.
l Select a Group by: criteria, and then click the appropriate group
including the parent node of the object to delete.
156
b. Click + to expand the parent node of the object you want to delete.
c. Check the object to delete, and then click Delete on the toolbar.
6. Click OK to confirm deletion.
Viewing Node Data in Tooltips

Node tooltips provide immediate status overviews of monitored nodes. To view a
quick overview of any monitored node in the web console, hover over the device
name. The information in the following tables displays immediately.
Note: You can also view interface data in tooltips.
Node Data
Node Status Current status of the node. (Up, Down, Warning, Unmanaged,
or Unreachable)
Polling IP The IP address currently assigned to the selected node

Address
Machine The vendor icon and vendor description of the selected node
Type
Average The measured average response time of the selected node as

Response of the last node poll
Time
Packet Loss The percent of all transmitted packets that are lost by the
selected node as of the last node poll
CPU Load The percent of available processing capacity on the selected

node that is currently used as of the last node poll
Memory The percent of available memory on the selected node that is

Used currently used as of the last node poll
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Editing Node Properties

The following procedure provides the steps required to edit monitored node
properties using the Node Management utility of the Orion Web Console.
Note: Editing multiple objects in multiple browser tabs in the same session may
result in lost data or database errors. Limit object management activities to a
single browser tab to prevent database errors and data losses.
To edit node properties in the Orion Web Console:
Nodes in the Node & Group Management grouping.
2. Select Nodes from the Show drop-down list, and locate the node to edit
using either of the following methods:
l Use the search tool above the node list to search your Orion database
for either the object you want to edit or the parent node of the volume
you want to edit.
appropriate group including either the node to edit or the parent of the
object to edit.
3. Check the node to edit and click Edit Properties:
4. To rename the node, type the new name in the Name field.
Note: Changing the node name only affects the way the node is identified
on charts and graphs within System Manager and in the Orion Web
Console. It does not impact the node as it is referenced on the network.
5. To change the Polling IP address type the new address in the Polling IP
Address field, or click Select IP Address, select from the list displayed and
click Select IP Address.
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Warning Unlike changing the name of a node, changing the IP address

does affect data collection. Do not change the IP address, unless it has
changed on your network, in which case this allows you to continue
accumulating statistics without having to reconfigure the node.
6. To dynamically assign the IP address of the selected node, check

Dynamic IP Address (DHCP or BOOTP), and then provide the DNS
Hostname and select the appropriate IP Address Resolution format (IPv4
or IPv6) for the selected node.
Note: The IP address will be determined automatically. If the selected
device is dual-stack, IPv4 resolution will be used, by default.
7. To change the view type for displaying details about this node, click on
the View Type field and select the required type from the drop-down list.
8. If you are using SNMP to poll the selected node, you can:
a. Edit the SNMP Version and SNMP Port fields.

b. If you have high-speed interfaces and you are experiencing
frequent counter rollovers, you may wish to enable 64-bit counters.
Confirm that the monitored device supports 64-bit counters and check
the Allow 64-bit Counters checkbox in the Node Details window.
Note: Some vendor implementations of 64-bit counters produce faulty
data. If you are experiencing erratic or incorrect data, you may wish to
disable 64-bit counters by unchecking Allow 64-bit Counters.
c. Edit the Community Strings (for SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c) or

Credentials, Privacy and Authentication settings (for SNMPv3), as
required.
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Warning: Unlike changing the name of a node, changing the IP

address, community string, or SNMP port does affect data collection.
Do not change the IP address, community string, or SNMP port in this
window unless they have changed on your network. Changing these
values in this window allows you to continue to accumulate statistics
for a node without having to reconfigure the node if its IP address,
community string, or SNMP port changes. Changing the SNMP port
applies to statistics polls, Universal Device Pollers, and SNMP trap
collection. For more information about custom MIBs, see “Monitoring
MIBs with Universal Device Pollers” in the SolarWinds Orion Network
Performance Monitor Administrator Guide. For more information on
SNMP traps, see “Monitoring SNMP Traps” in the SolarWinds Orion
Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.
d. Click Test to test your provided SNMP settings.

9. To change the existing polling intervals, provide new intervals in the
Node Status Polling, Collect Statistics and Poll for Topology Data
fields.
10. If there are multiple polling engines in your environment and you want
to change the polling engine to which the selected node is assigned,
click Change Polling Engine, and then select a new polling engine.
11. To add, edit, or delete an existing dependency that includes the
selected node, click Manage Dependencies, and then add, edit, or delete
dependencies, as appropriate. For more information, see Managing
Dependencies.
12. If you have defined custom properties for nodes, you can enter or
change those here, or click Manage Custom Properties to create or
manage custom properties. For more information, see Creating Custom
Properties.
13. If the selected node is a UCS Manager and you want to poll for UCS
data, check Poll for UCS, and then provide the following:
Note: After providing credentials, click Test to confirm that they are valid for
the selected UCS Manager.
l The Port on which the UCS Manager listens to managed UCS objects
l A valid User name and Password
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14. If the node has UDT ports attached, you can poll Layer 3 data by checking
Poll Layer 3 data from device and enter the polling interval in the Layer 3
Polling Interval field.
Note: Check Disable VRF context polling, if required.
15. Edit the Web Browse Template, if required. The default is http://
{{HrefIPAddress}}.
16. To monitor Active Directory users that log on to your network, check
Active Directory Domain Controller, and supply the following information.

credential from the dropdown list, or select <New Credential>. Note:
Administrator credentials are needed only for installing the agent.
d. Enter the Domain Controller Polling Interval to be used. The default
is 30 minutes.
17. To poll for VMware, check Poll for VMware to ensure that Orion acquires
any data the VMware device provides to SNMP polling requests, and then
complete the following steps to provide required vCenter or ESX Server
credentials. For more information, see Requirements for Virtual Machines
and Servers.

credential from the dropdown list, or select <New Credential>. Note:
Administrator credentials are needed only for installing the agent.
18. To override the CPU Load, Memory Usage, Response Time, Percent
Packet Loss Alerting Thresholds, check the corresponding boxes, and
amend the default values. For more information, see Orion General
Threshold Types.
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Promoting a Node from ICMP to SNMP Monitoring
19. If you have Network Configuration Manager installed, there will be an

option to manage the node using NCM. For more information, see the
Network Configuration Administrator Guide.
20. Click Submit.
Promoting a Node from ICMP to SNMP Monitoring

After adding a node to the Orion database as an ICMP only node, you may need
to promote the node to SNMP to start collecting additional statistics. The Node
Management utility of the Orion Web Console can easily promote your node to
SNMP without any loss of historical data.
To promote an ICMP only node to SNMP:
Nodes in the Node & Group Management grouping.
2. Select Nodes from the Show drop-down list, and locate the node to edit
using either of the following methods:
for either the object you want to edit or the parent node of the volume
you want to edit.
appropriate group including either the node to edit or the parent of the
object to edit.
3. Check the node to edit and click Edit Properties:
4. Select Most Devices: SNMP and ICMP in the Polling Method section.
5. Select the version of SNMP to use. The default is SNMPv2c. However,
SNMPv1 is supported for older devices, and SNMPv3 for device supporting
enhanced security.
6. If you have installed multiple polling engines, select the Polling Engine
you want to use to collect statistics from the added node.
Note: This option is not displayed if you are only using one polling engine.
7. If the SNMP port on the added node is not the Orion default of 161,
enter the actual port number in the SNMPPort field.
162
8. If the added node supports 64bit counters and you want to use them,
check Allow 64bit counters.
Note: Orion supports the use of 64-bit counters. However, these high
capacity counters can exhibit erratic behavior depending on manufacturer
implementation. If you notice peculiar results when using these counters,
use the Node Details view to disable the use of 64-bit counters for the
device and contact the hardware manufacturer.
9. For SNMPv1 or SNMPv2c, enter the Community String and, if required,
the Read/Write Community String. Note: The Community String is a
password to authenticate data sent between the management station and
the device. The default is usually "public", otherwise use the strings
provided with the device. Click Test to validate the string or strings entered
here.
10. For SNMPv3, further credentials are required. See the documentation
provided for your network device for further information.
11. Click Test to validate.
12. Click Submit.
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Viewing Node Resources
Viewing Node Resources

The List Resources feature of the Orion Web Console Node Management utility
allows you to immediately see all monitored interfaces, volumes, and interface
charts on a selected node, as shown in the following procedure.
To view a list of all resources present on a node:

3. Locate the node to view using either of the following methods:
for the node you want to view.
appropriate group including the node to view.
4. Check the node to view from the list, and click List Resources on the Node
Management toolbar. The interfaces and volumes for this nodes are
displayed, showing which are being currently monitored.
Scheduling a Node Maintenance Mode Time

Period
When you need to perform maintenance on a node or its components, such as
upgrading firmware, installing new software, or updating security, you may want
to discontinue polling while the device is down for maintenance. Disabling
polling, or setting a node status as Unmanaged, while performing node
maintenance, maintains the accuracy of your data and prevents unnecessary alert
messages. For more information, see
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Setting Device Management States

Monitored devices are regularly polled for operational status. Collected statistics
are displayed in the Orion Web Console. Using the Node Management feature of
the Orion Web Console, the management status of monitored nodes is easily set
or changed, allowing you to either temporarily suspend data collection or resume
polling and statistics collection, as necessary. The following procedure sets or
changes management states for monitored nodes in the Orion Web Console.
Note: Setting a node to an unmanaged state automatically suspends the
management of all interfaces and volumes on the selected node for the period
entered.
To set or change the management state of a node:

3. Locate the node to manage using either of the following methods:
for the device you want to manage.
l Select an appropriate Group by: criteria, and then click the
appropriate group including the node to manage.
4. Check the node to change, and then click Unmanage or Remanage, as
appropriate, for the selected node.
5. If you have selected Unmanage, provide start and end times and dates for
your management suspension, and click OK.
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Unscheduled Device Polling and Rediscovery
Unscheduled Device Polling and Rediscovery

Devices are polled for statistics and status regularly, according to the settings
maintained in the Polling Settings view in the Orion Web Console. For more
information, see Orion Polling Settings. Sometimes, however, it may be
necessary to conduct an unscheduled poll or rediscovery of a monitored device,
as shown in the following procedure.
To perform an unscheduled poll or rediscovery:
1. Log in to the Orion Web Console as an administrator, and then click

Settings in the top right of the web console.
2. Click Manage Nodes in the Node & Group Management grouping.
3. Select Nodes or Interfaces from the Show drop-down list.
4. Locate and check the node or interface you want to poll or locate and check
the node to rediscover, using either of the following methods:
l Use the search tool above the node list to search your Orion database.
l Select an appropriate Group by: criteria, and then click the
appropriate group including either the node or interface you want to
poll or the node you want to rediscover.
5. If you want to poll the selected node or interface, click More Actions >
Poll Now.
6. If you want to rediscover the selected node, click More Actions >
Rediscover.
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Monitoring Windows Server Memory

When SolarWinds Orion polls a Windows server for CPU load and memory
utilization, it pulls the amount of physical memory to define the 100% level, and
then it totals the amount of memory in use by each allocation to compute what
percentage of the physical memory is in use. This can result in memory utilization
readings over 100%, as many applications pre-allocate memory and swap before
it is actually needed.
To work around this, you can also add physical memory as a volume for these
servers within SolarWinds Orion. When monitored as a volume, the values will be
more in line with your expectations.
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Chapter 6: Monitoring Your Virtual
Infrastructure
SolarWinds Orion Integrated Virtual Infrastructure Monitoring (IVIM) built into
SolarWinds Orion lets you monitor today's modern network fabric of virtual
networks, virtualized data centers, and private clouds. The deep visibility into your
virtualized environments helps you ensure that network performance helps and
not hinders your virtualization projects.
SolarWinds IVIM is capable of monitoring Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware ESXi
and ESX Servers versions 4.1 and higher.
For more information about requirements, see Minimum Requirements in the
SolarWinds Virtual Manager documentation.
SolarWinds IVIM features available from the Orion Web Console:
VMware Monitoring
Monitor your entire VMware virtual infrastructure from the highest to the
lowest level: vCenter → datacenter → cluster → ESX hosts → individual
virtual machines. Track availability and performance metrics including CPU,
memory, storage, and network bandwidth utilization.
Virtual Machine Auto-Summary
Automatically discover identify and monitor new virtual machines added to
any VMware host server or updated during vMotion.
Virtualization Alerting and Reporting
SolarWinds Orion's native alerting and reporting capabilities extend
seamlessly to your virtual infrastructure.
For more extensive virtualization monitoring, integrate SolarWinds NPM with
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager. For more information, see Virtualization
Manager at www.solarwinds.com.
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Chapter 6: Monitoring Your Virtual Infrastructure
The following sections provide instructions and details for using SolarWinds IVIM
in the Orion Web Console:
l Requirements for Monitoring ESXi and ESX Servers

l Managing VMware Credentials in the Web Console
l Adding VMware Servers for Monitoring
l Virtualization Summary
l Viewing ESX Host Details
l Configuring virtualization polling settings
For more information about SolarWinds IVIM integrated within the Orion Web
Console, see Using the SolarWinds IVIM in the SolarWinds Virtualization
Manager documentation.
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Requirements for Monitoring ESXi and ESX Servers
Requirements for Monitoring ESXi and ESX

Servers
The following table provides minimal requirements for effectively using
SolarWinds Orion to monitor your VMware ESXi and ESX Servers.
Note: For more information about requirements, see Minimum Requirements in
the SolarWinds Virtual Manager documentation.
Requirement Description
SNMP SolarWinds Orion uses SNMP to monitor all ESXi and ESX
Servers. For more information about enabling SNMP, consult
your ESX or ESXi server vendor documentation.
VMware API VMware API polls most performance data from devices running
ESXi and ESX Server versions 4.1 or newer. For more
information about creating required credentials, see Creating
ESX Server Credentials for SolarWinds Orion.
VMware VMware Tools must be installed on all virtual machines you

Tools intend to monitor. VMware Tools are not required on virtual
machines running on monitored ESXi and ESX servers.
However, installing VMware Tools on virtual machines hosted
by monitored ESXi and ESX Servers allows you to access
additional information, such as IP addresses.
The following table provides a summary of the methods used by SolarWinds

Orion to monitor VMware ESX Servers and their component features.
Features 4 4i 5i
Datacenter VMware API
ESX Cluster VMware API
Virtual Center VMware API
Detection as ESX Server VMware API
Volumes SNMP N/A SNMP
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Features 4 4i 5i
Interfaces SNMP SNMP (partial) SNMP
CPU VMware API
Memory VMware API
Total CPU VMware API

(ESX Details view)
Total Memory VMware API

(ESX Details view)
Network Traffic Utilization VMware API

(ESX Details view)
Guest VM List VMware API

(ESX Details view)
Creating ESX Server Credentials for SolarWinds

Orion
SolarWinds Orion uses the VMware API to poll most of its performance data from
devices running ESX Server versions 4.1 or newer. You must create credentials
on your ESX Servers for the SolarWinds Orion polling engine.
To create the credentials, log on to the ESX server and create a new user.
Note: Credentials created for the NPM polling engine must have read-only rights
as a minimum.
For more information about creating ESX Server credentials, consult your vendor
documentation.
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Managing VMware Credentials in the Web Console
Managing VMware Credentials in the Web

Console
If you have to update the user name or password of a VMware credential, you can
do so from the VMware Credentials Library tab.
To update a VMware credential:
1. Log in to the web console.

2. Click Settings.
3. Click Manage Virtual Devices in the Node & Group Management section.
4. Click the VMware Credentials Library tab.
5. Check the credential you need to update, and then click Edit Credential.
6. Make the necessary updates, and then click OK.
Adding VMware Servers for Monitoring

VMware Vcenter, ESX servers, and virtual machines are added to the Orion
database in the same ways other devices are added for monitoring in the Orion
Web Console.
Polling for VMware Nodes Using the Network Sonar Wizard

The Network Sonar Wizard is the recommended method for adding VM Servers
for monitoring in the Orion Web Console. With Network Sonar Discovery, you can
define all required credentials at once on the Local ESX Credentials for VMware
view. For more information, see Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar
Wizard.
Note: When configuring Network Sonar Discovery, confirm that you check Poll
for VMware on the VMware page of the Network Sonar Wizard. Nodes cannot be
identified as VMware devices unless Poll for VMware is enabled.
To add VMs from the VMware Assets resource:
1. Log in to the Orion Web Console.

2. Click Home > Virtualization.
3. Click the [+] next to any ESX or Vcenter server listed in the Virtualization
Assets resource to expand the list of virtual machines.
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4. Click a virtual machine that is not currently managed by SolarWinds Orion.

Unmanaged VMs are listed in italic type.
5. Click Yes, Manage this Node.
6. If the VM is not running VMware Tools, manually enter the IP address of
the VM in the Hostname or IP Address field.
7. Check additional options required to monitor the VM, and then click Next.
8. Follow the remainder of the Add Node wizard to completion, and then click
OK, Add Node.
Virtualization Summary
The Virtualization Summary view shows the overall status of your virtualized
infrastructure.
To view the Virtualization Summary:

2. Click Home > Virtualization.
The Virtualization Summary view is pre-configured to display relevant resources.
It consists of three subviews:
l Summary
l VMware
l Hyper-V
Each subview contains the following resources, and displays information about
your whole virtual infrastructure, about VMware or Hyper-V only, as indicated by
the subview name.
Virtualization Assets Top 10 Hosts by Percent Memory Used
Virtualization Assets Summary Top 10 Hosts by Network Utilization
VMware vCenters with Problems Top Hosts by CPU Load
Virtual Clusters with Problems Top 10 Hosts by Number of Running VM's
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Viewing ESX Host Details
Hosts with Problems
Guests with Problems
To change any resource properties or contents, click Edit in the resource box.
For more information about virtualization icons used in the resources, see
"Understanding Object Statuses" in the SolarWinds Virtual Manager
documentation.
Viewing ESX Host Details

The ESX Host Details page opens when you click an ESX Host server in the
Virtualization Summary.
This page displays the following resources, by default:
Average Response Time & Packet Loss AppStack Environment

Graph
Virtualization Assets List of Virtual Machines
CPU Load & Memory Utilization Gauge Average Response Time & Packet
Loss
ESX Host Details Min/Max Average CPU Load
Management Top CPU's by Percent Load
Node Details Disk Volumes
Event Summary Active Alerts on This Node
Polling Details Virtual Machine Memory

Consumption
Availability Statistics Virtual Machine Network Traffic
Virtual Machine CPU Consumption
Guests with Problems
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Custom properties for Nodes
For more information about virtualization icons used in the resources, see
"Understanding Object Statuses" in the SolarWinds Virtual Manager
documentation.
To change any resource properties or contents, click Edit in the resource box.
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Configuring virtualization polling settings
Configuring virtualization polling settings

Virtualization polling is performed through the following credentials, based on the
server vendor.
l Hyper-V nodes are accessed with Windows credentials.

l VMware vCenter servers are accessed with local vCenter credentials.
l VMware ESX servers are accessed with local ESX credentials.
Assigning credentials to Hyper-V servers

To assign credentials to Hyper-V servers, perform the following steps:
1. On the Virtualization Polling Settings page, select Hyper-V.

2. Select a Hyper-V server from the list, and then click Edit Properties.
3. Under Polling Method > Windows Servers, choose a credential from the
list, or select New Credential from the list, and then specify a new
credential set.
4. Click Test to verify the credential set, and then click Submit at the bottom of
the page.
Assigning credentials to VMware servers

To assign credentials to VMware servers, perform the following steps:
1. On the Virtualization Polling Settings page, select VMware.

2. Select a VMware server from the list, and then click Assign ESX
Credential.
3. Choose an existing credential from the list, or specify a new credential set.
4. Click Test to verify the credential set, and then click Assign Credential to
assign it to the VMware server.
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Chapter 7: Monitoring Hardware
Health
Monitoring hardware health allows you to get immediate insight into hardware
issues on your network. If you are monitoring selected Cisco, Dell, F5, HP, and
Juniper devices, hardware health can tell you which of these devices are in Up,
Warning, Critical, or Unknown states.
SolarWinds Orion monitors hardware health by polling appropriate hardware
health statistics from a MIB tree on your devices. For Cisco devices, you can
change the currently used MIB. For more information, see Changing MIB Used for
Polling Hardware Health Statistics.
Hardware monitoring is achieved by polling via SNMP. To poll the data, the
hardware health poller must be enabled. For more information, see Enabling
Hardware Health Monitoring.
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Chapter 7: Monitoring Hardware Health
Monitored Hardware Sensors

Sensor Up Warning Critical Unknown
Fan status
Power Supply status
Temperature
Enabling Hardware Health Monitoring

If you add nodes using the Network Sonar Discovery, the hardware health
sensors are automatically enabled for devices that support hardware health
monitoring. For more information, see Network Discovery Using the Network
Sonar Wizard.
When adding individual nodes with the Add Node wizard, you can enable or
disable hardware health monitoring in the wizard.
You can always check whether hardware health statistics are being collected on
the Node Details view for the appropriate device. The Node Details view allows
you to enable or disable hardware health monitoring, as appropriate.
Add Node Wizard

From the Add Node wizard, the option to display Hardware Health of Servers is
available after a node has been defined. Check this box to enable hardware
health monitoring.
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Enabling or Disabling Hardware Health Monitoring for Individual Nodes
Enabling or Disabling Hardware Health Monitoring for Individual

Nodes
You can always enable or disable hardware health monitoring for individual
nodes.
To enable hardware monitoring:
1. Click the Home tab in the Orion Web Console.

2. In the All Nodes group, click the node you want to monitor.
3. In the Node Details group of the Node Details view, click the List
Resources button.
4. Make sure the Hardware Health Sensors box is selected and click
Submit.
To disable hardware monitoring for a node:
1. Navigate back to the List Resources screen for the node (see steps 1-3)
2. Clear the Hardware Health Sensors, then click Submit.
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Enabling and Disabling or Adjusting Hardware

Health Monitors for Individual Nodes
Manage Hardware Sensors page lists all currently monitored sensors. By default,
all sensors available in the selected MIB are monitored on devices for which you
selected that you want to monitor hardware health sensors when adding them into
the Orion database.
You can enable or disable individual sensor, or change thresholds for displaying
hardware health status. For more information about changing thresholds, see
Editing Thresholds for Hardware Health.
Updates Visible After the Next Poll

All changes will be applied in the Orion Web Console with the next poll. To find
out the current polling interval, go to Settings > Polling Settings in the Thresholds
and Polling grouping, and note the Default Interface Statistics Poll Interval.
You can also update the hardware health resources for a node manually. To do
so, go to the appropriate node details view, go to the appropriate node view, and
click Poll Now in the Management resource.
Enabling Hardware Sensors

Hardware health information is collected only for nodes where appropriate
hardware sensors are enabled.
To enable hardware monitoring for a device:
1. Go to Manage Hardware Sensors view (Settings > Node & Group

Management > Manage Hardware Sensors).
2. Find the sensor(s) you want to enable. You can either use the Group by
pane, or use the Search box.
Tip: To find all sensors available on a node, select Node in the Group by
list, and then select the appropriate node.
3. Select the sensor which you want to enable and click Enable.
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Disabling Hardware Sensors
Disabling Hardware Sensors

If you do not want to collect hardware health information for a sensor, or for all
sensors on a node, disable them.
To disable sensors:

3. Select the sensor(s) which you want to enable and click Disable.
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Editing Thresholds for Hardware Health

The hardware states displayed in the Orion Web Console change based on
thresholds set for the sensors. You can either use thresholds available on the
device, set a sensor to always appear to be up or customize thresholds as
appropriate.
After a hardware sensor reaches the appropriate threshold value, it triggers an
event, and the alert "Hardware is in warning or critical state." For more information
about alerts, see Creating and Managing Alerts.
To edit thresholds:

3. Select the sensor(s) for which you want to change thresholds and click Edit
Thresholds.
4. Select how you want to change the selected hardware sensor's status:
Use Orion Defaults
Use thresholds configured on the device. This is the default setting for
Orion sensors.
Force to Up
Display the selected sensor always as UP, ignoring the real data from
the sensor.
Set Custom Thresholds
Use the dynamic query builder to define the status for the selected
sensor.
5. Click Submit to apply your changes.
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Changing MIB Used for Polling Hardware Health Statistics
Changing MIB Used for Polling Hardware Health

Statistics
Hardware sensors information on Cisco devices can be polled using one of the
following MIBs.
l CISCO-ENTITY-SENSOR-MIB (default MIB)

l CISCO-ENVMON-MIB
Each MIB contains different OIDs, and appropriate information for individual
nodes might be included only in one of them. If you thus see inconsistencies
between the actual hardware health and the status shown in the Orion Web
Console, you can change the MIB used for polling hardware health statistics.
You can either change the MIB used for polling hardware health statistics
globally, for all nodes monitored in the Orion database, or you can customize the
MIB for individual nodes.
To change the MIB tree used for polling hardware health globally:
1. Log on to the Orion Web Console as an administrator.

2. Click Settings, and then click Polling Settings in the Thresholds and
Polling grouping.
3. Scroll down to the Hardware Health Polling section and select the
appropriate MIB in the Preferred Cisco MIB list.
4. Click Submit to apply your settings.
This procedure changes the default MIB used for polling all hardware sensors on
all monitored nodes.
To change the MIB for polling hardware health statistics on a node:
1. Open the appropriate Node Details view, and click Edit Node in the
Management resource.
2. Scroll down to the Hardware Health Polling section and select the
appropriate MIB.
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Note: Changing MIB for a node overrides the general settings. Once you
customize the MIB for polling hardware health sensors, it will not be subject to
change if you change the general settings.
Changing Hardware Health Units in Hardware

Health Resources
By default, hardware health resources display temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.
To change the temperature unit used in hardware health resources:

2. Navigate to a node details view.
3. Go to the Current Hardware Health resource, and click Edit.
4. Select the appropriate unit for temperature display (Fahrenheit or Celsius).
The selected unit will be applied in all hardware health resources in the Orion
Web Console. This setting is user-specific, and it is connected with your user
account.
Note: You can also access the temperature unit setting via Settings > Manage
Accounts > select a user > Edit > Hardware Package Settings > select the default
temperature unit (Celsius or Fahrenheit).
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Troubleshooting Hardware Health
Troubleshooting Hardware Health

This section describes possible causes and solutions concerning hardware
resources either not being reported or being reported incorrectly.
Incorrect Hardware Health Statistics
If you can see that Orion Web Console does not display correct status
information about your sensors, you can consider changing the MIB tree
used for polling your Cisco device. For more information, see Changing MIB
Used for Polling Hardware Health Statistics.
Temperature Shown in Unsuitable Units
Temperature statistics can be displayed in degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit.
For more information about changing the temperature units, see Changing
Hardware Health Units in Hardware Health Resources.
Data Is Not Available in Custom Hardware Health Charts
When monitoring hardware health, there might be sensors which do not
report values, just the sensor status. These sensors cannot be displayed in
charts because the data used for creating the chart are missing.
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Chapter 8: Common Orion Tasks
Use the following topics to guide you through the most common network
monitoring and management tasks you can perform with Orion platform products:
l Creating an Alert to Discover Network Device Failures

l Scheduling and Emailing Business Hours Reports
l Creating Geographic or Departmental Views
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Creating an Alert to Discover Network Device

Failures
With alerting, Orion platform products give you the ability to immediately discover
whenever any device on your network is experiencing a problem.
The procedures in the topics below create an alert that uses a custom location
property to alert you to a node failure on your monitored network:
l Creating a Custom Property

l Creating an Alert Using a Custom Property
Creating a Custom Property

The Custom Property Editor allows you to choose from a collection of many
commonly used properties, or to build your own custom properties. Once your
custom property is defined, the Import Wizard allows you to populate your new
property from either a text- or comma-delimited file.
Alternatively, if you only have a few individual changes or additions, you may
choose to make those changes using the Edit view.
The following procedure shows how to create a custom location property that is
applied to monitored nodes.
To create and apply a custom location property:

2. Click Settings in the top right corner of the web console, and then click
Manage Custom Properties in the Node & Group Management grouping.
4. Select Nodes, and then click Next.
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5. Enter NodeLocation as the Property Name, provide an appropriate

Description.
6. If you want this to be a mandatory property required for all nodes, click on
Required.
7. Click Next.
8. Click Select Nodes.
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9. Select all the nodes to which you want to assign the same value for
NodeLocation, and click Add.
10. When all nodes that can be given the same value are selected, click Select
nodes.
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Use a Custom Property in Alerts
11. Enter the NodeLocation for this selection of nodes, and click Submit.
The NodeLocation custom property is now defined for all selected nodes.
12. To add values to other nodes, select NodeLocation, and click View/Edit
Values. Enter the values in the NodeLocation column, and click Save
Changes when completed.

The following example creates multiple alerts using the NodeLocation custom
property defined in Creating a Custom Property. An alert triggers when a node
goes down. Upon triggering, the alert will write to a local log file, send a syslog
message, and send an SNMP trap.
Note: The ${variable} syntax is required for variables.
To create a new alert:
1. Click Settings > Manage Alerts.

2. Select the check box next to Node is down, and then click the Duplicate
& Edit button.
3. Click Trigger Condition, and add a child condition. A child condition
should already exist for a node being down.
4. Select the node object, and choose NodeLocation in the field drop-down.
Enter a comparison and value.
5. Click the Trigger Actions, and then click Add Action.
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6. Select Log the Alert to a file, and then click Configure Action.
a. Enter the log filename in the Alert Log Filename field.
b. In the Message text box, type the following:
Node ${N=SwisEntity;M=Caption} is currently down.
c. Click Add Action.
7. Click Add Action, and select Send a Syslog Message. Click Configure
Action.
a. Type 127.0.0.1 as the Hostname or IP Address of the Syslog
Server, and then type the following in the Message field:
b. Click Add Action.
8. Click Add Action, and select Send SNMP Trap. Click Configure Action.
a. Type 127.0.0.1 as the SNMP Trap Destination, and then type the
following in the Alert Message field:
b. Click Next.
9. Click Summary, and click Submit.
You can test your alert, and view the results of each of your alert actions as
follows.
l You can view results of your Syslog message action in the Web Console or
through the Syslog Viewer on your SolarWinds Orion server.
l To view the results of your SNMP Trap action, click Start > All Programs >
SolarWinds Orion > Syslog and SNMP Traps > Trap Viewer.
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Scheduling and Emailing Business Hours Reports
Scheduling and Emailing Business Hours Reports

Orion Report Writer is a component available to all Orion products. Using Orion
Report Writer with Orion Report Scheduler, you can create reports that you can
then distribute as regularly scheduled emails. The following sections create and
schedule for email delivery an example report of network node availability and
response time during peak business hours.
Creating a Business Hours Report

The following procedure creates a monthly report of network node availability and
response time during peak business hours, defined as between 7:00 AM and 7:00
PM.
To create a business hours node availability and response time report:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting,
and Mapping > Report Writer.
2. In the left pane, click Historical Response Time Reports > Response
Time – Last Month.
3. On the General tab, edit the Report Group, Report Title, and Description
as appropriate.
4. On the Select Fields tab, click Browse (...), and then click Add a new field.
5. In the new field, click the Field asterisk (*), and then select Network
Nodes > Historical Response Time and Availability > Availability.
6. On the Filter Results tab, click Browse (...), and then select Add a new
elementary condition.
7. In the new field, click the first asterisk (*), and then select Date/Time
(Response Time Filtering Only) > Time of Day (24 hour format).
8. Click is equal to, and then select greater or equal.
9. Click the second asterisk (*), and then enter the start time of your peak
business hours in 24-hour hh:mm format (e.g. 07:00).
10. Click Browse (...), and then select Add a new elementary condition.
11. Click the first asterisk (*), and then select Date/Time (Response Time
Filtering Only) > Time of Day (24 hour format).
12. Click is equal to, and then select less.
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13. Click the second asterisk (*), and then enter the end time of your peak
business hours in 24-hour hh:mm format (e.g. 19:00).
Filtering Only) > Day of Week.
16. Click is equal to, and then select not equal.
17. Click the second asterisk (*), and then select Saturday.
Filtering Only) > Day of Week.
20. Click is equal to, and then select not equal.
21. Click the second asterisk (*), and then select Sunday.
22. On the Field Formatting tab, click AVERAGE of Average Response Time,
and then append (ms) to Average Response Time in the Column Header
field.
23. On the Field Formatting tab, click Max of Peak Response Time, and then
append (ms) to Average Response Time in the Column Header field.
24. Click Preview on the right of the Report Designer pane.
25. Click File > Save.
The report is now saved to the Reports folder on your Orion server, and it will
display as a member of the Report Group designated on the General tab of the
Report Designer.
Scheduling and Emailing a Report

The following procedure schedules a selected report for distribution using email.
To schedule an emailed report:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Orion Web Console.
2. Click Reports.
3. Click + as required to locate the report you want to schedule for email.
4. Click the name of the report you want to schedule for email.
5. Copy the URL of the report you want to schedule for email.
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Scheduling and Emailing a Report
and Mapping > Orion Report Scheduler.
7. Click Edit > Add New Job.
8. Provide an appropriate job name for this scheduled report email, and then
click Continue.
9. Paste the URL of the report you want to schedule for email into the link field.
10. If you need to provide Windows login credentials to view the report
you are scheduling, click the NT Account login tab, and then provide the
user account details needed to log in. If you want to create a printable
report that excludes the Orion Web Console banner and menu bar,
11. If the report you are scheduling requires an Orion user account, on the
Orion Web Login tab, check Send Orion Username / Password in URL,
and then provide the required user credentials to view the Orion report.
12. Click Continue.
13. Configure the scheduling for your report job, and then click Continue.
14. Confirm that either Email the Web Page (as HTML) or Email the Web
Page (as PDF) are selected, and then click Continue.
15. Provide required email addresses and a subject in the appropriate fields on
the Email To tab.
16. Provide a name and reply address on the Email From tab.
17. On the SMTP Server tab, type the hostname or IP address and confirm the
port number of the server used to send email from the Orion server.
18. Click Continue.
19. Enter the user name and password for the local Windows account that will
email the report, and then click Continue.
20. Add any additional comments or notes about this job, and then click Finish.
Note: The links in the email report are redirected to the main Orion server. To be
able to access these links, you must have access to the main Orion server.
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Creating Geographic or Departmental Views

Using groups, it is a straightforward process to create custom web console views
displaying information about monitored objects distinguished by geographic or
departmental location. The following procedures create custom views that are
then populated with appropriate group-based resources.
Creating a Custom Group

The following procedure creates a custom group of monitored objects in a defined
geographic location.
To create a custom group:
Manage Groups in the Node & Group Management grouping of the Orion
4. Click Add New Group, and then provide an appropriate Name and
Description for the custom group. For example, a group named Austin
could be described as, All monitored network objects in the Austin
office.
5. Click Next.
6. In the Available Objects pane, check all monitored objects fitting the group
definition. For example, using the example above, select all objects
located in the Austin office.
7. Click Add to Group.
8. Select all monitored objects in the new group pane on the right, and then
click Create Group.
The new group of monitored objects located in the same geographic location is
now listed on the Manage Groups view.
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Creating a Custom View
Creating a Custom View

The following procedure creates a custom view that will be used to display
monitoring information g for devices in a selected group.
To create a custom, group-based view:
4. Click Add New View in the Views grouping of the Orion Website
5. In the Name of New View field, provide a name for the custom view.
6. In the Type of View selection field, select Group Details.
7. Click Submit.
8. To add a resource, repeat the following steps for each resource:
a. Click + next to the column in which you want to add a resource.

b. Check all resources you want to add, and click Add Selected
Resources.
Notes:
l Use the Group by: field on the left to limit the resource list or use
the Search field at the top to locate specific resources.
l Resources already in your view will not be checked on this page
listing all web console resources. It is, therefore, possible to pick
duplicates of resources you are already viewing.
l Some resources may require additional configuration.
l Several options on the Add Resources page are added to the list
of resources for a page, but the actual configuration of a given
map, link, or code is not added until the page is previewed.
9. To change the width of a column, enter the width in pixels in the Width
field beneath the column.
10. To delete a resource from a column, select the resource, and then click X
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11. To copy a resource in a column, select the resource, and then click
12. To move a resource to another column, use the back and forward arrow
icons next to the resource column to transfer the resource to the previous or
next column.
13. If you are using subviews and want to move a resource to another tab,
click on Move to a different tab to open a window enabling you to move to
a selected tab and column.
14. To rearrange the order in which resources appear in a column, select
resources, and then use the up and down arrow icons to rearrange them.
15. If you have finished configuring your view, click Preview.
Note: A preview of your custom web console displays in a new window. A
message may display in the place of some resources if information for the
resource has not been polled yet.
16. Close the preview window.

17. If you are satisfied with the configuration of your view, click Done.
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Chapter 9: Managing Web Accounts
Orion Web Console user accounts, permissions, and views are established and
maintained with the Account Manager in the Settings page.
Note: To prevent issues with web console accounts, your SQL Server should not
be configured with the no count connection option enabled. The no count option
is set in the Default connection options area of the Server Properties >
Connections window of SQL Server Management Studio.
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Creating New Accounts

New web console user accounts may be created by web console administrators.
Note: To maintain administrative privileges, Windows individual and group user
accounts must be defined in the same domain as the SolarWinds server to which
they are given access.
To create a new user account:

2. Click Manage Account in the Accounts grouping of the Orion Website
Administration page, and then click Add New Account.
3. Select the type of account you want to add, and then click Next.
4. If you selected Orion individual account, complete the following steps:
a. Provide a User Name and a Password for the Orion individual

account.
b. Confirm the password, and then click Next.
c. Define user settings and privileges, as appropriate. For more
information, see Editing User Accounts.
5. If you selected Windows individual account, complete the following
steps:
a. Provide the User Name and Password for a user that has
administrative access to your Active Directory or local domain.
b. In the Search for Account area, enter the User name of the Active
Directory or local domain user for whom you want to create a new web
console account, and then click Search.
c. In the Add Users area, select the users for whom you want to create
new web console accounts, and then click Next.
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Creating New Accounts
6. If you selected Windows group account, complete the following steps:

a. Provide the User Name and Password for a user that has
administrative access to your Active Directory or local domain.
b. In the Search for Account area, enter the Group name of the Active
Directory or local domain group for which you want to create a new
web console account, and then click Search.
c. In the Add Users area, select the users for whom you want to create
new web console accounts, and then click Next.
When the new account is created, the Edit User Account view displays, showing
all configurable account options. For more information about editing account
settings, see Editing User Accounts.
Note: For more information about using Windows Pass-through security, Active
Directory, and DirectLink accounts for automatic login to the Orion Web Console,
see Configuring Automatic Login.
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Editing User Accounts

The Edit User Account page provides options for configuring web console user
accounts. On the Edit User Account page, administrators can disable an account,
set an account expiration date, grant administrator and node management rights,
set user view limitations, define a default menu bar, and set several other defaults
defining how a user account views and uses the Orion Web Console.
Note: To reset a password, click Change Password at the bottom of the page.
The following sections and procedures detail the configuration of user accounts.
l User Account Access Settings

l Setting Account Limitations
l Defining Pattern Limitations
l Setting Default Account Menu Bars and Views
l Configuring an Account Report Folder
l Configuring Audible Web Alerts
User Account Access Settings

The following procedure is a guide to setting user account access.
To edit a user account:

3. Click Manage Accounts in the User Accounts grouping of the Orion
4. Select the account that you want to edit, and then click Edit.
5. Set Account Enabled to Yes or No, as appropriate.
Note: Accounts are enabled by default, and disabling an account does not
delete it. Account definitions and details are stored in the Orion database in
the event that the account is enabled at a later time.
6. If you want the account to expire on a certain date, click Browse (…)
next to the Account Expires field, and then select the account expiration
date using the calendar tool.
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User Account Access Settings
Note: By default, accounts are set to Never expire. Dates may be entered in
any format, and they will conform to the local settings on your computer.
7. If you want to allow the user to remain logged-in indefinitely, select Yes
for the Disable Session Timeout option.
Note: By default, for added security, new user accounts are configured to
timeout automatically.
8. If you want to grant administrator rights to the selected account, set

Allow Administrator Rights to Yes.
Notes:
l Administrator rights are not granted by default, but they are required to
create, delete, and edit accounts. User accounts without administrator
rights cannot access Admin page information.
l Granting administrator rights does not also assign the Admin menu
bar to a user. If the user requires access to Admin options, they must
be assigned the Admin view. For more information, see Setting
Default Account Menu Bars and Views.
9. If you want to allow the user to manage nodes directly from the Orion
Web Console, set Allow Node Management Rights to Yes.
Note: By default, node management rights are not granted. For more
information about node management in the Orion Web Console, see
Managing Devices in the Web Console.
10. If you want to allow the user to edit and manage reports directly from
the Orion Web Console, set Allow Report Management Rights to Yes.
Note: By default, report management rights are not granted. For more
information about reports in the Orion Web Console, see Creating Reports
in the Web Console.
11. If you want to allow the user to customize views, set Allow Account to
Customize Views to Yes.
Note: By default, customized view creation is not allowed. Changes made
to a view are seen by all other users that have been assigned the same
view.
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12. Designate whether or not to Allow Account to Clear Events and

Acknowledge Alerts.
13. Select whether or not to Allow Browser Integration.
Note: Browser integration can provide additional functionality, including
access to right-click menu options, depending on client browser
capabilities. Right-click menu options also depend on installing the
SolarWinds Desktop Toolset and running the Toolset Integration Tray
application on each client computer.
14. If you want to enable audible alerts through the client browser, select a
sound from the Alert Sound list.
Note: By default, sounds are stored in the Sounds directory, located at
C:\Inetpub\SolarWinds\NetPerfMon\Sounds. Sounds in .wav format that
are added to this directory become available as soon as the Edit User
Account page refreshes.
15. Provide the maximum Number of items in the breadcrumb list.

Note: If this value is set to 0, all available items are shown in breadcrumb
dropdown lists.
Setting Account Limitations

Account limitations may be used to restrict user access to designated network
areas or to withhold certain types of information from designated users. The
following procedure sets user account limitations.
For more information about creating account limitations, see Creating Account
Limitations.
To set user account limitations:

Accounts in the Accounts group of the Orion Website Administration page.
3. If you want to limit an individual user account, complete the following
steps:
a. On the Individual Accounts tab, check the account you want to limit.
b. Click Edit.
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Setting Account Limitations
c. Click Add Limitation in the Account Limitations section.

d. Select the type of limitation to apply, and then click Continue.
Notes:
l Because Orion NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) initially caches

account limitations, it may take up to a minute for account
limitations related to Orion NTA to take effect in Orion NTA.
l Account limitations defined using the Account Limitation Builder
display as options on the Select Limitation page. Account
limitations can be defined and set using almost any custom
properties.
e. Define the limitation as directed on the Configure Limitation page that
follows. For more information about defining pattern-type limitations,
see Defining Pattern Limitations.
4. If you want to limit an group account, complete the following steps:
Note: Limitations applied to a selected group account only apply to the
group account and not, by extension, to the accounts of members of the
group.
a. On the Groups tab, check the group account you want to limit.
b. Click Edit.
c. Click Add Limitation in the Account Limitations section.
d. Select the type of limitation to apply, and then click Continue.
Notes:

account limitations, it may take up to a minute for account
limitations related to Orion NTA to take effect in Orion NTA.
display as options on the Select Limitation page. Account
limitations can be defined and set using almost any custom
properties.
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e. Define the limitation as directed on the Configure Limitation page that

follows. For more information about defining pattern-type limitations,
see Defining Pattern Limitations.
5. Click Add Limitation in the Account Limitations section.
6. Select the type of limitation to apply from the list, and then click Continue.
Notes:

display as options on the Select Limitation page. Account limitations
can be defined and set using almost any custom properties.
account limitations, it may take up to a minute for account limitations
related to Orion NTA to take effect in Orion NTA.
l Group limitations are not applied until after group availability is
calculated.
7. Define the limitation as directed on the Configure Limitation page that
follows. For more information about defining pattern-type limitations, see
Defining Pattern Limitations.
When limiting user access to certain network objects, try using

limitations to specific objects and avoid pattern limitations. Validating
pattern limitations is more time and performance consuming.
Defining Pattern Limitations

Pattern limitations may be defined using OR, AND, EXCEPT, and NOT operators
with _ and * as wildcard characters. The following examples show how to use
available operators and wildcard characters:
Note: Patterns are not case sensitive.
l foo matches only objects named "foo".

l foo_ matches all objects with names consisting of the string "foo" followed
by only one additional character, like foot or food, but not seafood or
football.
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Setting Default Account Menu Bars and Views
l foo* matches all objects with names starting with the string "foo", like
football or food, but not seafood.
l *foo* matches all objects with names containing the string "foo", like
seafood or Bigfoot.
l *foo* OR *soc* matches all objects containing either the string "foo" or the
string "soc", including football, socks, soccer, and food.
l *foo* AND *ball* matches all objects containing both the string "foo" and
the string "ball", including football but excluding food.
l *foo* NOT *ball* matches all objects containing the string "foo" that do not
also contain the string "ball", including food but excluding football.
l *foo* EXCEPT *ball* matches all objects containing the string "foo" that do
not also contain the string "ball", including food but excluding football.
You may also group operators using parentheses, as in the following example.
(*foo* EXCEPT *b*) AND (*all* OR *sea*) matches seafood and footfall, but not
football or Bigfoot.
Setting Default Account Menu Bars and Views

The Default Menu Bar and Views section provides several options for configuring
the default menu bar and views for your user account. The following procedure is
a guide to setting these options.
To set default menu bar and view options:

Accounts in the Accounts grouping of the Orion Website Administration
page.
3. Select the account that you want to configure, and then click Edit.
4. Scroll down to Default Menu Bar and Views.
5. Select a Home Tab Menu Bar from the available list.
Note: This is the default menu bar displayed when you click Home in the
Orion Web Console. If you are editing a user account that must have
administrator privileges, set the Home Tab Menu Bar to Admin.
206
6. Select a Network Tab Menu Bar from the available list.

Note: This is the default menu bar displayed when you click Network in the
Orion Web Console. If you are editing a user account that must have
administrator privileges, select Admin.
7. Select a Virtualization Tab Menu Bar from the available list.
Note: This is the default menu bar displayed when you click Virtualization
in the Orion Web Console. If you are editing a user account that must have
administrator privileges, select Admin.
8. If you have installed any additional Orion modules, select an Orion Module
Tab Menu Bar from each available list.
Note: This step configures the default menu bar displayed when you click
the tab corresponding to an installed module in the Orion Web Console. If
you are editing an account that must have administrator privileges, select
Admin.
9. Select a Home Page View.
Note: If no Home Page View is specified, the default is designated to be
the same as the page that is specified in the Default Summary View field
below.
10. If the Home Page View you have selected refers to a specific network
device, select a Default Network Device by clicking Edit and selecting
from the list of available devices on the next page.
Note: If the Home Page View you have selected does not require a specific
network device, Orion will select a device to display, automatically.
11. Select a Default Summary View for the account.
Note: This is typically the same as the Home Page View.
12. If you want all reports to be available for the account, select \Reports
from the Report folder list in the Default Menu Bars and Views area.
Note: If you are creating a new user, you must designate the Report Folder
the new account is to use to access Orion reports. By default, no report
folder is configured for new users. The Reports directory is located in the
NPM installation directory: C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\Orion\.
13. If you want to designate default Node, Volume, and Group Details
Views for this account, expand Orion General Settings, and then select
appropriate Node Detail, Volume Detail, and Group Detail Views.
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Configuring an Account Report Folder
14. If you want to designate default Virtualization Summary Manager,

Cluster Details, and Datacenter Details Views for this account, expand
Integrated Virtual Infrastructure Monitor Settings, and then select
appropriate default views.
15. Click Submit.
Configuring an Account Report Folder

Reports may be assigned to an account by creating sub-directories within the
Reports directory. Desired reports are included within the sub-directory, and the
sub-directories are then made available for assignment to an account. This
provides a level of security when reports are included in a view or added as
custom menu items. For more information, see Creating and Editing External
Website Views.
To configure an account report folder:

Accounts in the Accounts group of the Orion Website Administration page.
3. Select the account you want to configure, and then click Edit.
4. If you want all reports to be available for the account, select \Reports
from the Report folder list in the Default Menu Bars and Views area.
Note: If you are creating a new user, you must designate the Report Folder
the new account is to use to access Orion reports. By default, no report
folder is configured for new users. The Reports directory is located in the
NPM installation directory: C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\Orion\.
5. Click Submit.
Configuring Audible Web Alerts

When browsing the Orion Web Console, audible alerts can be sounded
whenever new alerts are generated. When enabled, you will receive an audible
alert the first time, after login, that an alert is displayed on the page. This alert may
come from either an alert resource or the Alerts view. You will not receive audible
alerts if the Alerts view or the alert resource you are viewing is empty.
208
Following the initial alert sound, you will receive an audible alert every time an
alert is encountered that was triggered later than the latest alert that has already
been viewed.
For example, a user logs in and sees a group of alerts with trigger times ranging
from 9:01AM to 9:25AM, and the user receives an audible alert. If the user
browses to a new page or allows the current page to auto-refresh, a new alert
sounds if and only if an alert triggered later than 9:25AM is then displayed.
To enable audible web alerts:

3. Click Manage Accounts in the Accounts grouping of the Orion Website
4. Select the account you want to configure.
5. Click Edit.
6. Select the sound file you want to play when new alerts arrive from the Alert
Sound list.
Note: By default, sounds are stored in the Sounds directory, located at
C:\Inetpub\SolarWinds\NetPerfMon\Sounds. Sounds in .wav format that
are added to this directory become available as soon as the Edit User
Account page refreshes.
7. Click Submit.
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Creating Account Limitations
Creating Account Limitations

The Account Limitation Builder application allows you to create and customize
account limitations for the Orion Web Console. These limitations ensure that
users of the web console can only view the network objects that are pertinent to
their job duties. The following are but a few examples of the uses of account
limitation in the Orion Web Console:
l Limit customer views to specific network nodes

l Limit views by department or functional area
l Limit views by device type or device role
l Limit views based on the geographic location of devices
Orion provides predefined account limitations that use built-in Orion property to
limit user access. For greater flexibility, however, you can use the Account
Limitation Builder to create your own account limitations based on predefined or
custom properties. For more information about enabling account limitations in the
Orion Web Console, see Setting Account Limitations. For more information about
custom properties, see Creating a Custom Property.
Using the Account Limitation Builder

Before you can use the Account Limitation Builder, you must have first created the
custom property that you want to use to limit in the Orion Web Console view. For
more information about custom properties, see Creating a Custom Property. After
you have defined custom properties and populated them with data, you may use
the Account Limitations Builder as directed in the following procedure.
Creating an Account Limitation

The following steps create an account limitation.
To create an account limitation:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Grouping and Access
Control > Account Limitation Builder.
2. Click Start on the splash screen.
3. Click Edit > Add Limitation.
4. Select a Custom Property.
210
Notes:
l If Custom Property is empty, you need to define a custom property.

For more information about custom properties, see Creating Custom
Properties.
l The remaining boxes are populated automatically, based upon your
selection.
5. Choose a Selection Method.
Note: This is the selection format that will appear when you are choosing
values for the account limitation through the web Account Manager. For
more information, see Setting Account Limitations.
6. If you want to include your own description of your account limitation, type
your description over the default text provided in the Description field.
7. Click OK.
Your newly defined account limitation is added to the top of the table view. You
may now use the new limitation in the Orion Web Console Account Manager. For
more information, see Setting Account Limitations.
Deleting an Account Limitation

The following steps delete an account limitation using the Account Limitation
Builder utility.
Note: Although Orion deletes the selected limitations from the table, ensuring that
they will no longer be available through the web Account Manager, if you delete a
limitation using the Account Limitation Builder, all accounts that have been
assigned that limitation will remain limited. Deleting a limitation simply makes it
unavailable for future use in the Orion Web Console.
To delete an account limitation:
Control > Account Limitation Builder.
2. Click Start on the splash screen.
3. Click the row of the limitation that you want to delete.
Note: Use Shift+Click to highlight multiple consecutive rows or Ctrl+Click
to highlight multiple non-consecutive rows.
4. Click Edit > Delete Selected Limitations.
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Chapter 10: Managing Groups and
Dependencies
Dependencies and groups enable you to manage your network effectively.
Groups give you the ability to logically organize monitored objects, regardless of
device type or location, and dependencies allow you to more faithfully represent
what can actually be known about your network, eliminating “false positive” alert
triggers and providing more accurate insight into the state of your network.
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Chapter 10: Managing Groups and Dependencies
Managing Groups
You can manage Orion objects such as nodes, volumes, applications, interfaces,
and even other groups as groups. You create, delete, and modify groups from the
Manage Groups page.
Note: Nesting a group within another does not create a strict parent/child
relationship. You can include any group as a member in any number of other
groups.
To access the Manage Groups page:

3. Click Manage Groups in the Node & Group Management grouping of the
The following sections provide more information about creating and managing
groups in Orion:
l Creating Groups
l Editing Existing Groups
l Managing Group Members
l Deleting Groups
l Managing the Display of Group Status
Creating Groups
Creating a group is a straightforward process of selecting the Orion objects you
want the group to contain. At creation time, you can also decide how you want
SolarWinds Orion to roll up the status of the group members.
It is also possible to specify group members on the basis of shared properties by
adding them with a dynamic query. Orion objects added through dynamic queries
are automatically added or removed from the group.
To create a new group:

213
Creating Groups
3. Click Add New Group.

4. Enter a name for the group in the Name field.
5. Enter a description for the group in the Description field.
6. Click Advanced.
7. Select the Status rollup mode from the drop-down menu. This can be
Show best status, Mixed status show warning or Show worst status.
For more information, see Managing the Display of Group Status.
8. To change the refresh frequency for objects in the group, enter a new
value in the Refresh frequency field.
9. If Custom Properties have been set up for groups, fields for each will
be displayed, allowing you to enter values for this Group.
Note: If you want to create custom properties, click Manage Custom
Properties to do so in a new tab. For more information, see Creating
Custom Properties.
10. Click Next.

11. To manually select objects for this group, follow these steps:
a. From the Show Only drop-down list, select the type of Orion object to
add as a group member.
b. From the Group by drop-down list, select how you want to group
these objects, or select [No Grouping] to display all.
c. Check the checkbox of the Orion objects and click Add to Group.
12. To dynamically select group members based on shared properties,
follow these steps:
a. Click Add dynamic query.

b. Type a name for the query in the Dynamic query object name field.
c. Select an Orion object type from the Orion Object is drop-down list.
d. Click Add Condition, and select the property, argument and value for
each condition you want to use.
Note: Use the question mark (?) character as a multiple character
wildcard. Use the underscore (_) character as a single character
wildcard.
214
e. Click Preview to verify that the dynamic query is selecting your

intended objects.
f. Click Save.
13. Continue adding individual objects or dynamic queries until you have
finished building your group.
14. Click Create Group.
Editing Existing Groups

You can edit the properties of an existing group or add and remove objects.
To edit properties of an existing group:

3. Check the group you want to edit, and then click Edit Properties.
4. Edit the Name and Description of the selected group, as appropriate.
5. Click Advanced.
6. To change the display of the group's status, select the Status rollup
mode from the drop-down menu. This can be Show best status, Mixed
status show warning or Show worst status. For more information, see
Managing the Display of Group Status.
7. To change the refresh frequency for objects in the group, enter a new
value in the Refresh frequency field.
8. If Custom Properties have been set up for groups, fields for each will be
displayed, allowing you to edit values for this Group.
Note: To create custom properties, click Manage Custom Properties to do
so in a new tab. For more information, see Creating Custom Properties
9. To manage the members of the selected group, click Add & Remove
Objects.
10. To manually add objects for this group, follow these steps:
a. From the Show Only drop-down list, select the type of Orion object to
add as a group member.
215
Editing Existing Groups
b. From the Group by drop-down list, select how you want to group
these objects, or select [No Grouping] to display all.
c. Check the checkbox of the Orion objects and click Add to Group.
11. To add a new query to dynamically select objects , follow these steps:
a. Click Add dynamic query.

b. Type a name for the query in the Dynamic query object name field.
c. Select an Orion object type from the Orion Object is drop-down list.
d. Click Add Condition, and select the property, argument and value for
each condition you want to use.
wildcard.
e. Click Preview to verify that the dynamic query is selecting your
intended objects.
f. Click Save.
12. To edit an existing query, follow these steps:
a. Click Edit dynamic query.

b. To edit the query name, edit the Dynamic query object name field.
c. To edit the object type, select the new object type from the Orion
Object is drop-down list.
d. To edit a query condition, edit the property, argument and value as
required.
wildcard.
e. Click Preview to verify that the edited dynamic query is selecting your
intended objects.
f. Click Save.
13. To remove an object or query from a group, select the query or object by
clicking the box before it, and click Remove.
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14. Click Submit to save the edited objects and queries.

15. Click Submit again to save the group.
Managing Group Members

The following procedure manages the objects included within a defined group.
To add and remove the objects of an existing group:
Groups in the Node & Group Management grouping of the Orion Website
3. Check the group you want to edit, and then click Add & Remove Objects.
Deleting Groups
Deleting an existing group is a straightforward process, as shown in the following
procedure.
To delete a group:
1. Click Settings in the top right of the web console

3. Check the group you want to delete, and then click Delete.
Managing the Display of Group Status

The status of any particular group is determined by the status of the members of
the group. There are three methods for determining the status displayed for a
selected group of monitored objects:
Note: For more information, see Status Icons and Identifiers.
l Show Best Status is useful for displaying groups that are defined as
collections of redundant or backup devices. The following table indicates
how the Show Best Status option operates:
217
Managing the Display of Group Status
Note: Compare Group Status results under the Show Best Status option
with results for the same groups of objects under the Show Worst Status
option.
Object States Group Status
(Up, Warning, Down) (Up)
(Warning, Down) (Up)
(Warning, Down, Unknown) (Warning)
l Show Worst Status ensures that the worst status in a group of objects is
displayed for the whole group. The following table indicates how the Show
Worst Status option operates:
(Up, Warning, Down) (Down)
(Warning, Down) (Warning)
(Warning, Down, Unknown) (Down)
l Mixed Status shows Warning ensures that the status of a group displays
the worst warning-type state in the group. If there are no warning-type
states, but the group contains a mix of up and down states, then a Mixed
Availability ( ) warning status is displayed for the whole group. The
following table indicates how the Mixed Status shows Warning option
operates:
(Critical)
(Critical)
(Mixed Availability)
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The following procedure configures the method used to determine group status.
To configure the method used to determine the status of a selected group:
Groups in the Node & Group Management grouping of the Orion Website
2. Check the group you want to edit, and then click Edit Properties.
3. Expand Advanced, and then select a Status rollup mode, as follows:
a. To roll up the worst status of the group members, select Show

Worst Status.
b. To roll up the best status of the group members, select Show Best
Status.
c. To display a warning status if the group members have a mixture
of different statuses, select Mixed Status shows warning.
4. Click Submit.
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Managing Dependencies
Managing Dependencies
Dependencies account for topological constraints on your network. These
constraints may be either the result of the design of a specific device, such as
interfaces on a switch or router, or the result of the physical architecture of the
network itself. The Unreachable status accounts for cases where a device may
appear to be down, but its status is actually indeterminate due to another device
being down or unresponsive.
Interfaces are unique because they cannot be defined as child objects in the
product. SolarWinds products determine the interface status by polling the parent
node. If the parent node is physically down or unresponsive to the selected
polling method, all interfaces on the parent node are reported as Unreachable.
For example, when a switch goes down or becomes unresponsive, all interfaces
on the switch are also unresponsive, even though they may working. The child
interfaces display as Unreachable because their parent node reports as down.
You can also define dependencies among distinct devices, such as a subnet of
devices on your network that depends on a single WAN link to connect with the
rest of your network. If you define a group consisting of the devices in this
dependent subnet, you can define a dependency where the dependent subnet is
a child group to the parent router that serves as the WAN link to the rest of your
network. For more information about groups, see Managing Groups.
Your SolarWinds product can create 1:1 parent/child node

dependencies automatically when you enable Auto Dependencies in
the Polling Settings page.
Dependencies are most useful when designing alerts. If you have an alert
configured to trigger when the status of a monitored object is down, you only want
that alert to trigger if a monitored object is actually down. Without dependencies,
all monitored objects on an unresponsive, monitored node report as down. By
establishing dependencies these child objects display as Unreachable instead of
down, which prevents false down object alerts.
Note: The status of objects in child groups is determined separately from the
related parent object's status.
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Creating a New Dependency

Creating a new dependency is a straightforward process of selecting the parent
and children objects, as shown in the following procedure.
To create a new dependency:

2. Click Manage Dependencies in the Node & Group Management grouping
3. Click Add new dependency.
4. On the Select Parent page, complete the following steps:
a. Use the Show only: and Group by: selection fields to customize the
list of displayed objects and groups.
Note: The properties listed in the Group by: selection field are
dynamic.
b. Select the parent object or group in the main pane, and then click
Next.
Note: If you want to define a dependency so that the reported states of
child objects are dependent on the status of multiple parent objects,
create a group including all parent objects, and then select it on this
view. For more information, see Creating Groups.
5. On the Choose Child page, complete the following steps:
a. Edit the Dependency name, as appropriate.

b. Use the Show only: and Group by: selection fields to customize the
Note: Properties listed in the Group by: selection field are
dynamically dependent on the selection in the Show only: field.
c. Select the child object or group in the main pane, and then click Next.
multiple child objects are dependent on the status one or more
parent objects, create a group including all child objects, and then
select it on this view. For more information, see Creating Groups.
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Editing an Existing Dependency
6. On the Review Dependency view, review the current settings for the
configured dependency.
Notes:
l If any advanced alerts are configured on parent or child objects, they
will be listed on this view. Click + to expand alert details.
l In the event that a parent object is down, alerts configured on any child
objects in a dependency will not trigger because the child object
status is Unreachable.
7. Click Submit to accept the dependency definition.
Editing an Existing Dependency

Editing an existing dependency is a straightforward process, as shown in the
Note: Automatic Dependencies cannot be edited.
To edit an existing dependency:

3. Check the dependency you want to edit, and then click Edit.
4. On the Select Parent page, complete the following steps:
a. Use the Show only: and Group by: selection fields to customize the
b. Select the parent object or group in the main pane, and then click
Next.
child objects are dependent on the status of multiple parent objects,
create a group including all parent objects, and then select it on this
view. For more information, see Creating Groups.
222
5. On the Choose Child page, complete the following steps:
a. Edit the Dependency name, as appropriate.

b. Use the Show only: and Group by: selection fields to customize the
c. Select the child object or group in the main pane, and then click Next.
multiple child objects are dependent on the status one or more parent
objects, create a group including all child objects, and then select it on
this view. For more information, see Creating Groups.
6. On the Review Dependency view, review the current settings for the
configured dependency.
Notes:
l If any advanced alerts are configured on parent or child objects, they
will be listed on this view. Click + to expand alert details.
l If a parent object is down, all alerts configured on any child objects in
a dependency on the down parent object are automatically
suppressed.
7. Click Submit to accept the dependency definition.
Deleting an Existing Dependency

Deleting an existing dependency is a straightforward process, as shown in the
Note: Automatic Dependencies cannot be deleted.
To delete an existing dependency:
Dependencies in the Node & Group Management grouping of the Orion
3. Check the dependency you want to delete, and then click Delete.
4. Click Yes to confirm deletion of the selected dependency.
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Viewing Alerts on Child Objects
Viewing Alerts on Child Objects

In the event that a parent object is down, all advanced alerts configured on any
child objects in a dependency on the down parent object are automatically
suppressed. The following procedure displays all advanced alerts currently
configured on any child objects in a selected dependency.
To view alerts on child objects in a selected dependency:

3. Check the dependency that includes the child object on which the alerts you
want to view are configured, and then click Alerts on Child.
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Chapter 11: Creating and Managing
Alerts
An alert is an automated notification that a network event has occurred, such as a
server becoming unresponsive. The network event that triggers an alert is
determined by conditions you set up when you configure your alert. You can
schedule alerts to monitor your network during a specific time period, and create
alerts that notify different people based on how long the alert has been triggered.
The types of events for which you can create alerts vary, depending on the Orion
platform products you have installed. For example, you can create an alert to
notify you if a node in a specific location goes down or if the network response
time is too slow when you have NPM. If you have installed SAM, you can receive
alerts about application response times or when your Exchange mailbox
database is almost full.
You can create alerts for any monitored object. Most Orion platform products
allow you to alert against at least Interfaces, Volumes, and Nodes.
Use the following topics to get started if you have never used Orion platform
products:
l Alert Preconfiguration Tasks

l Best Practices and Tips for Alerting
l Navigating to the Alert Manager
l Creating New Alerts
l Alert Me When a Server is Down
Use the following topics to get started with web-based alerts if you have upgraded
to Core version 2015.1.2:
l Changes in the Alerting Engine

l Setting Custom Status
l Building Complex Conditions
You can also view our Alert Lab on thwack for community-based alert information.
225
Chapter 11: Creating and Managing Alerts
Alert Preconfiguration Tasks

Some alerts require extra configuration, separate software installations, or
specific information input.
Alert actions that must be set up before creating or configuring alerts include:
l Sending an Email/Page
l Dialing a Paging or SMS Service
l Playing a Sound
l Sending an SNMP Trap
l Creating Text to Speech Output
Note: Make sure there are monitored objects in the SolarWinds Orion database
before creating or configuring alerts. Monitored objects can include items such as
nodes, databases, and applications.
Sending an Email/Page
This action sends an email from the product to a selected recipient. First,
configure the default SMTP server the product uses to send email. You can
change the default SMTP server later or use different SMTP servers for specific
alerts.
Configure the SMTP server in the alert action or from the Settings page. You
need the following information:
l The SMTP host name or IP address

l The SMTP port number
l Whether the SMTP server uses SSL
l The SMTP credentials, if necessary
l Default sender email address
For instructions on creating an action to send an email/page, see Sending an
Email/Page.
Dialing a Paging or SMS Service

This action forwards alerts to a paging or SMS service. Enable this capability by
downloading and installing NotePager Pro from Notepage.net to your
226
Playing a Sound
For instructions on configuring this action, see the NotePage Technical Support
page, at http://www.notepage.net/solar-winds/technicalsupport.htm.
Playing a Sound
The Play a Sound action uses the SolarWinds desktop notification client to play
the sound on your computer when an alert arrives.
You must download and install the client on every computer that you want to play
a sound when an alert arrives. After installing the desktop notification client,
configure which sound you want to play when an alert is received.
Computers that do not have the desktop notification client installed on them do
not play a sound when an alert arrives. If you want an alert notification sound to
play on your desktop or laptop, you must install and configure the desktop
notification client on that computer.
Download the desktop notification client from <Your SolarWinds Orion
server>/DesktopNotificationTool/SolarWinds.DesktopNotificationTool.msi. Run
the installer and follow the on-screen instructions to install the client.
The desktop notification client requires the following information to connect to
your SolarWinds Orion server and receive alerts:
l Orion Server Name or IP Address

l Orion User Name
l Password
You can use the server name and credentials that you use to logon to your
SolarWinds product.
For instructions on creating an action to play a sound, see Playing a Sound.
Sending an SMNP Trap

Configure this action to enable SolarWinds Orion to send an SNMP notification.
Creating this action requires the following information:
l UDP port number

l SNMP version number
l SNMP credentials
For instructions on creating an action to send an SNMP trap, see Sending an
SNMP Trap.
227
Creating Text to Speech Output

The Text to Speech Output action uses the SolarWinds desktop notification client
and your computer's speech synthesizer to convert text messages-to-speech
messages. The action notifies users of new alerts by reading the alert out loud.
This capability is especially helpful for users who are visually impaired or who are
not always at their desks to read alerts onscreen.
Download and install the client on each computer that you want to play a sound.
Then configure which synthesizer you want to play.
For instructions on set up an action to create text-to-speech output, see Using
Text to Speech Output.
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Configuring the Default Email Action
Configuring the Default Email Action

Email alert actions require a designated SMTP server. The Settings page
enables you to configure a default SMTP server and any default sender or
recipient details.
Note: Separate email addresses with a semicolon.
To configure default email alert action settings:
1. Click Settings > Configure Default Send Email Action.

2. Under the Default Recipients heading, provide the email addresses of all
default recipients for any email alert action, like the following:
[email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]
3. Under the Default Sender Details heading, provide the default Name of
Sender and the default Reply Address.
4. Under the Default SMTP Server heading complete the following steps:
a. Provide the Hostname or IP Address of your SMTP Server and the
designated SMTP Port Number, such as 192.168.10.124, port 25.
This is a required field.
b. If you want to use SSL encryption for your alert emails, select Use
SSL.
Note: Opting to use SSL automatically changes the SMTP port
number to 465.
c. If your SMTP server requires authentication, select This SMTP Server
requires Authentication, and then provide requested credentials.
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Navigating to the Alert Manager

Use the Alert Manager to create, edit, delete, enable, or disable alerts. You can
access the Alert Manager in one of four ways:
l Settings Page (Recommended)

l Active Alerts Details
l All Active Alerts Resource
l Node Details
Settings Page (Recommended)

SolarWinds recommends using the Settings page to navigate to the Alert
Manager.
1. Click Settings.
2. Under Alerts & Reports, click Manage Alerts.
All Active Alerts Resource

From the All Active Alerts resource, click Manage Alerts in the right side.
Active Alerts Details

From the Active Alerts Details page, click Manage Alerts in the Management
resource.
Node Details
On the Node Details page, navigate to the All Alerts this Object can trigger
resource.
Click Manage Alerts.
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Best Practices and Tips for Alerting
Best Practices and Tips for Alerting

Use the following best practices and tips to help you configure and test your
alerts.
Use the Out of the Box Alerts as Templates

SolarWinds recommends using the alerts that are included when you install the
product as templates for your new alerts.
Find an alert that is similar to one you want to create and click the Duplicate
& Edit button. Not only does this pre-populate fields for you, but it also allows you
to skip to specify parts of the Alert Wizard that have data you want to change.
Restrict Who Receives Alerts

During your initial evaluation and testing, send alerts to a few people instead of
sending alerts to a large distribution list. This can prevent overloading your email
server while you fine-tune your alerts.
Plan which Devices to Monitor

To reduce the number of alerts sent out, consider which devices are most
important. For example, you may want to receive alerts only for mission critical
interfaces instead of every interface on a device.
Establish Dependencies
Establishing dependencies prevents you from receiving duplicate alerts that stem
from a single network event. For example, you may want to be emailed if servers
in your server farm go down, but if the router goes down and the servers can no
longer be polled, you do not want to receive notifications for all of your servers.
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Creating New Alerts

SolarWinds provides an Alert Wizard to guide you through creating or editing
alerts.
To create a new alert definition, navigate to the Alert Manager, and click Add
New Alert.
You can also select an alert that is similar to the alert you want to create and click
Duplicate & Edit.
Note: You can skip to different steps after you have saved an alert or if you
clicked Duplicate & Edit.
Properties
Provide information about the alert, including its name, severity, how
frequently you want to evaluate the conditions, and if you want to restrict
access to the alert using account limitations.
See Setting Alert Properties for more information.
Trigger Condition
Use the trigger condition to define what event must occur to activate your
alert. Trigger conditions can be as simple as a node going down or as
complex as multiple SQL statements.
Note: While SolarWinds provides a method to create SQL conditions
manually, SolarWinds support is not provided. Visit thwack, SolarWinds'
community website, for support from other users.
See Setting Trigger Conditions and Building Complex Conditions for more
information.
Reset Condition
Use the reset condition to define what must occur to remove an alert
instance from the active alerts list. For example, the "Email me when a
Node goes down" alert automatically resets when the node comes back up.
You can use the built-in reset conditions or create your own.
See Setting Reset Conditions for more information.
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Setting Alert Properties
Time of Day
Schedule when you want to monitor your network for the trigger conditions
you created for the alert. You can create multiple schedules that control
when an alert is enabled or disabled. For example, you can disable an alert
during maintenance windows.
See Setting the Time of Day or Schedule for more information.
Trigger Actions
Use trigger actions to define what happens when the trigger conditions are
met. By default, a triggered alert creates an entry in the Active Alerts
resource with a configurable message.
All other trigger actions, such as Send an Email/Page or Write to a Log,
must be configured.
See the following for more information:
l Setting Trigger Actions

l Available Alert Trigger Actions
Reset Actions
Use reset actions to perform specific tasks when an alert is no longer active,
such as writing to the log that the issue has been acknowledged. Reset
actions are usually used to notify others that the situation has been resolved
or to write the resolution to a log file.
See Setting Reset Actions for more information
Summary
See Reviewing the Alert Summary for more information.
Setting Alert Properties

After creating a new alert, use the Alert Properties to describe the alert, including
which users can view the alert.
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Enter the following information as necessary:

Name of alert definition
This is a required field. SolarWinds recommends a name that describes the
condition and most visible alert action. For example, you can use "Email
NetAdmins when router goes down" as the name of an alert. The name is
displayed in the Alert Manager and can be used to sort your alerts. If you
intend to create a large number of alerts, you may want to consider a
naming convention that allows you to quickly scan through the Alert
Manager.
Description of alert definition
Describe the alert. This is displayed on the Manage Alerts page, so
important information should be near the front.
Enabled (On/Off)
Choose to evaluate the alert immediately after it is created and saved. The
alert is enabled. If you are in the process of refining your alert, you may want
to disable this alert until it is ready for use.
Evaluation Frequency
SolarWinds recommends using intervals longer than 1 minute to evaluate
alert conditions. Shorter frequencies may put an undue burden on your
network performance or computing resources.
If you elect to alert on an event, such as a changed IP address, the condition
is not evaluated by frequency, but by when the change is reported based on
the polling interval.
Reduce the evaluation frequency to decrease your poller and database

loads.
Severity of Alert
This controls the appearance of the alert in the Active Alerts resource and
allows you to group or filter alerts more easily.
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Setting Trigger Conditions
Alert Custom Properties

These help organize your alerts. For example, you can create a
"Responsible Team" custom property and use it to help audit who receives
specific alerts. You must create a custom property for alerts before you can
assign a custom property to an alert.
Use custom properties to group your alerts in the Alert Manager or to

create reports about alerts.
Alert Limitation Category

Use this to restrict who can view the alerts. For example, managed service
providers can restrict alerts to their specific customers. If you create a new
limitation, go to Settings > Users and add the new limitation to the
appropriate user accounts.
Setting Trigger Conditions

The trigger condition is the most complex step in creating an alert. Before you
begin, you may want to revisit the Best Practices and Tips for Alerting topic. To
see an example of completed trigger conditions, see the Alerting When a Server
is Down topic.
Trigger conditions are built using child conditions that are evaluated in order.
Child conditions are represented as a line item under the Actual Trigger
Condition. You can have multiple trigger condition blocks with multiple child
conditions.
Filter your environment to just the objects you want to monitor in The
scope of alert. Use the Show List link to view all of the objects that the
alert monitors.
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To set trigger conditions:
1. Choose what objects you want to monitor in the I want to alert on field.
2. Establish how much of your environment you want to monitor in The scope
of alert.
You can monitor all objects in your environment or filter your environment to
a specific set of objects.
3. Create your trigger condition.
a. Choose if the child conditions must be true or false to trigger the alert.
l All child conditions must be satisfied (AND) - Every child
condition must be met
l At least one child condition must be satisfied (OR) - At least
one child condition must be true
l All child conditions must NOT be satisfied - Every child
condition must be false
l At least one child condition must NOT be satisfied - At least
one child condition must be false
b. Click the + sign to add child conditions.
l Add Single Value Comparison (Recommended) - The child
condition evaluates a single field, like Status
l Add Double Value Comparison - The child condition
evaluates two conditions, such as Status and OS
l Add And/Or block - Adds a sub condition block
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Setting Reset Conditions
Tip: Use the X at the end of each child condition to delete it, or use the
drop-down at the top of the block to delete the entire condition.
c. Select the object you want the child condition to evaluate, and then
select which field you want to evaluate. In the example screenshot, the
object is "Node" and the field is "Status".
Tip: You can evaluate objects based on variables or macros.
d. Select how you want to compare the polled value of the field to the
value entered here, and then enter the value. In the example
screenshot, the comparison is "is equal to" and the value is "Down".
e. To use more complex conditions, such as evaluating when an
application on a specific server is down and different application on
another server is down, enable complex conditions under Advanced
options. See Building Complex Conditions for more information, or
visit thwack, SolarWinds' community website, for support from other
users.
f. Choose how long the condition must exist before an alert is triggered.
This prevents receiving alerts when the alert condition, such as high
CPU utilization, occurs briefly or only once during a certain time
period.
l To immediately send an alert when the condition is met, clear
any selection for Condition must exist for more than.
l To wait before sending an alert, select Condition must exist for
more than, and enter how long the condition must exist. This
option prevents multiple alerts firing if the condition is temporary.
Setting Reset Conditions

Reset conditions remove alerts from Active Alerts. You can also create reset
actions that occur when the reset conditions are met.
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For example, you can create an alert that triggers when nodes in your lab go
down. If node 192.168.4.32 goes down, the alert fires for that specific instance of
the trigger condition and any escalation levels you create will continue until you
reset the alert. Once the alert is reset, all trigger actions stop and a new alert fires
the next time node 192.168.4.32 goes down. If you have created reset actions, the
reset actions fire.
Note: When the alert is reset, escalation actions are halted.
Select one of the following reset conditions:
l Reset this alert when trigger condition is no longer true

(Recommended)
SolarWinds recommends using this reset condition. If the trigger condition is
no longer true when the objects are next polled, this selection will
automatically reset the alert.
You may want to use the Condition must exist for more than option in the
trigger conditions in conjunction with this reset condition. Trigger conditions
that involve volatile components, such as high CPU utilization, can trigger
excessively with this reset condition.
l Reset this alert automatically after

Select this to reset an alert after a set amount of time has passed. If this
interval is less than the amount of time you wait for different escalation
levels, the escalation levels that occur after this interval do not fire. This
reset condition is especially useful to remove event-based alerts from Active
Alerts.
For example, if the trigger conditions still exists after 48 hours, you can use
this to trigger your alert actions again. The alert is reset and triggers as soon
as the trigger condition is detected, which is as soon as the objects are
polled for this example.
l No reset condition - Trigger this alert each time the trigger condition is
met
The alert fires each time the trigger conditions are met.
For example, when the alert for node 192.168.4.32 going down fires, a new
alert for 192.168.4.32 fires every time the node is down when it is polled.
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Setting the Time of Day or Schedule
l No reset condition
The alert is active and is never reset. To re-trigger the alert, the alert must be
manually cleared from the Active Alerts view.
l Create a special reset condition for this alert

Select this to build a specific reset condition.
For example, you can choose to reset the condition when the node has
been up for more than 10 minutes.
See Setting Trigger Conditions or Building Complex Conditions for more
information on creating conditions.

You can configure when an alert monitors your network. By default, alerts monitor
your network for changes all the time.
Note: Alerts must be enabled to allow schedules to run.
To schedule your alert:
1. Select Specify time of day schedule for this alert

2. Click Add Schedule.
You can have multiple schedules for a single alert. For example, you can
schedule the alert to monitor your network during off hours, and disable the alert
during your maintenance windows.
Enter the following information to schedule a monitoring period:
l Schedule Name
This is not required, but may help you organize or troubleshoot your
schedules. If you do not enter a name, a name is automatically generated
from the time period.
l Enable or Disable alert during following time period

If you choose to disable the alert, it is enabled all other times unless
otherwise scheduled.
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l Frequency
Choose when to monitor on a high level, such as daily, weekly, or monthly.
l Enable every
These options change based on the frequency.
l If you selected Daily...

You can choose to enable or disable the alert every few days, up to
every 31 days. You can also select specific business days. For
example, you may want to disable network or disk activity alerts if you
run daily, off-site backups of your critical data.
l Enter a time period
l To monitor or not for the entire 24 hour period, select All Day.
l To monitor or not during a specific time period during the day,

enter a time and click Add Time Period.
l To monitor or not for a time period that spans midnight enter a

time in the From field that is later in the day than the time in the
To field. For example, to schedule an alert between 11PM to
3AM, enter 11PM (or 23:00) in the From field and 3AM (or 3:00)
in the To field.
l If you selected Weekly...

Choose which days the alert is enabled or disabled. You may want to
disable alerts during a weekly maintenance window.

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in the To field.
l If you selected Monthly...

Choose which months the alert is enabled or disabled. This option is
useful when you have quarterly or monthly maintenance windows.
Choose either a specific date or a day.


in the To field.
l Starting on
Choose a date to being the schedule.
l Right now - Start the schedule immediately.
l Specific Date - Select a time and day to begin the schedule.
l Ending on
Choose and end date for the schedule, if necessary.
3. Click Add Schedule to create the schedule.
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Setting Trigger Actions & Escalation Levels

Choose actions that occur whenever the trigger conditions are met. You can also
set up escalations levels so the alert triggers different actions if it has not been
acknowledged quickly enough.
Trigger Actions
By default, what you enter into the Message displayed when this alert is
triggered field is displayed in the All Active Alerts resource.
To add a trigger action:
1. Click Add Action.
2. Select an action from the list.

See Alert Trigger Actions for a complete list of available actions.
3. Click Configure Action.
4. Enter the necessary information for the action.

Each action requires different information. Select from the list of Alert
Trigger Actions for more information per action.
Some actions require extra configuration steps, specific information, or
special software. See Preconfiguration Tasks.
Each action has the following sections:
l Name of action - This is not required, but can make it easier to

organize your Trigger actions.
l Time of Day... - You can choose different actions to occur at different
times of the day or month. For example, if you want to send a page,
you might send it to a different person on weekends or holidays than
during the week.
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Escalation Levels
l Execution settings - You can select both options, neither option, or a

single option.
l Do not execute this action if the alert has been acknowledged
already (Recommended)
l Repeat this action every X minutes until the alert is
acknowledged
Escalation Levels
Escalation levels in Orion platform products refer to user-defined time intervals
between when an alert is activated and when a user acknowledges that alert. You
can configure the alert to perform different actions per escalation level.
Escalation Level 1 contains all initial actions that you want to occur when the
trigger conditions are met and the alert activates.
Escalation Levels 2 and above include all actions you want to occur if no one
acknowledged the alert during the previous escalation levels.
For example, if an alert for a critical server activates and all of the recipient or first-
level responders are out for training and do not acknowledge the alert, then the
actions fire in the second escalation level. These actions may include emailing
managers or other backup staff.
To escalate alerts:
1. In an existing alert, click Trigger Actions.

2. Below the action, click Add Escalation Level.
3. Choose how long you want to wait after the previous escalation level before
performing the actions in the new escalation level.
4. Enter new actions in this escalation level.
You can copy all of the actions as Reset Actions to record that the issue has been
acknowledged or resolved. Click Copy Actions to Reset Actions Tab.
Setting Reset Actions

Choose actions that occur when the reset conditions are met and the alert is no
longer active.
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To add a reset action:

2. Select an action from the list.
See Alert Actions for a complete list of available actions.
3. Click Configure Action.

4. Enter the necessary information for the action.
Each action requires different information. Select from the list of Alert
Actions for more information per action.
Some actions require extra configuration steps, specific information, or
special software. See Preconfiguration Tasks.
Each action has the following sections:
l Name of action - This is not required, but can make it easier to

organize your Trigger actions.
l Time of Day... - You can choose different actions to occur at different
times of the day or month. For example, if you want to send a page,
you might send it to a different person on weekends or holidays than
during the week.
l Execution settings - You can select both options, neither option, or a
single option.
l Do not execute this action if the alert has been acknowledged
already (Recommended)
l Repeat this action every X minutes until the alert is
acknowledged
To perform the same actions as when the alert was triggered, click Copy Actions
From Trigger Actions Tab. Use the copied trigger actions as a base and modify
them to reflect that the alert is no longer active.
Reviewing the Alert Summary

The Summary tab allows you to check your alert definition before you save any
changes.
To modify any section, click Edit next to that section.
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Reviewing the Alert Summary
To integrate your alerts with other SolarWinds products, such as AlertCentral or

Web Help Desk, expand Alert Integration. Select as many variables as you need
to ensure that the variables are correctly translated for the other products to use.
Before you click Submit, review the information box above it. This box lists the
number of objects that will trigger the alert immediately based on your current
trigger condition.
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Commonly Created Alerts

The following is a list of frequently created alerts. The topics walk you through the
easiest method to create the alert and include tips on how to build more complex
alerts.
l Alerting When a Server is Down

l Creating an Alert to Discover Network Device Failures
Alert Me When a Server is Down

Use the following procedure to create an alert that writes to a log and emails a
message to you when a Windows server goes down.

2. Search for "Email me when a Node goes down".
3. Select the check box next to the alert, and click Duplicate & Edit.
4. Enter a name for the alert, such as "Notify me when a Node goes down".
5. Enable the alert.
6. Click Trigger Condition or Next.
7. In The scope of alert, select Only following set of objects.
8. Select Node Machine Type is equal to Windows 2008 Server as the child
condition.>
Tip: You can further refine your scope by entering another AND
condition. For example, you can enter Node IP Address starts with 10.10.45
to restrict the scope of the alert to a specific subnet.
9. The actual trigger condition should be Node Status is equal to Down.

Tip: Select and enter a value for Condition must exist for more than to
prevent being alerted when a node enters the down state frequently within a
set amount of time. This will prevent you from receiving alerts until the node
has been in the down state for longer than the time you have selected.
Ninja Tip: You can further suppress alerts by enabling complex conditions
in the Advanced options. This allows you to choose to wait until multiple
nodes are down before triggering a single alert.
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Alert Me When a Server is Down
10. Click Reset Condition. The default action should be to reset the alert when
the node is up.
11. Click Trigger Actions.
12. Under Trigger Actions, click Add Action.
a. Click Browse (…) to open the default directory.
b. Browse to an appropriate folder, and then type ExampleAlertLog as
the alert log file name.
c. Click Save.
d. In the Message text box, type Node ${N=SwisEntity;M=Caption} is
currently down.
e. Click Add Action.
14. Click Add Escalation Level, and enter 5 minutes to wait for 5 minutes
before escalating to the next level.
15. Click Add Action in Escalation Level 2, and select Send an Email/Page.
Click Configure Action.
a. Enter your email as the recipient.
b. Add a message.
Tip: You can use variables to customize your message. You can also
use a variable that allows you to acknowledge an alert from email
(${N=Alerting;M=AcknowledgeUrl}).
c. Enter your SMTP server information if you have not already done so.
Tip: You can enter a default SMTP server that is used for all your
email in Settings > Configure Default Send Email Action.
d. Go to Execution settings to click Add Action.
e. Click Add Action.
16. Click Copy Actions to Reset Actions Tab, and then click Next.
17. Click Edit next to your logging action, and modify your message to Node
${N=SwisEntity;M=Caption} is back up.
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18. Click Edit next to your email action, and modify your message. You can
also delete the email if you do not want to know if the situation has been
resolved.
19. Click Summary, and review your alert definition.
20. Click Submit.

The following example creates multiple alerts using the NodeLocation custom
property defined in Creating a Custom Property. An alert triggers when a node
goes down. Upon triggering, the alert will write to a local log file, send a syslog
message, and send an SNMP trap.
Note: The ${variable} syntax is required for variables.

2. Select the check box next to Node is down, and then click the Duplicate
& Edit button.
3. Click Trigger Condition, and add a child condition. A child condition
should already exist for a node being down.
4. Select the node object, and choose NodeLocation in the field drop-down.
Enter a comparison and value.
5. Click the Trigger Actions, and then click Add Action.
b. In the Message text box, type the following:
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Viewing Triggered Alerts
7. Click Add Action, and select Send a Syslog Message. Click Configure
Action.
a. Type 127.0.0.1 as the Hostname or IP Address of the Syslog
Server, and then type the following in the Message field:
b. Click Add Action.
8. Click Add Action, and select Send SNMP Trap. Click Configure Action.
a. Type 127.0.0.1 as the SNMP Trap Destination, and then type the
following in the Alert Message field:
b. Click Next.
9. Click Summary, and click Submit.
You can test your alert, and view the results of each of your alert actions as
follows.
l You can view results of your Syslog message action in the Web Console or
through the Syslog Viewer on your SolarWinds Orion server.
l To view the results of your SNMP Trap action, click Start > All Programs >
SolarWinds Orion > Syslog and SNMP Traps > Trap Viewer.
Viewing Triggered Alerts

To view active triggered alerts, click Alerts in the Home view.
You can also add the All Active Alerts resource to any view.
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Acknowledging Alerts
When an alert has triggered and becomes active, you can then acknowledge it.
After an alert is acknowledged, alert actions in higher escalation levels are halted
and the time it was acknowledged and the account that acknowledged it is
recorded. You can also add notes that other users can read.
Depending on your organization, acknowledging an alert can have different
purposes outside of halting further notifications. The most common purposes are
to provide an audit trail or to prevent multiple people from working on the same
issue.
To acknowledge an alert:
1. Log in to the Orion Web Console using an account that has been granted
alert acknowledgment privileges.
2. Click Alerts on the Views toolbar.
3. Click Acknowledge next to the alerts you want to acknowledge.
Tip: Depending on how you configure the email, you can acknowledge an alert
directly from an email notification.
To group active alerts:
1. Use the Group by drop-down to select how you want your alerts grouped.
2. Use the double-arrows on the left to expand or contract the Group by
control.
To filter active alerts:
1. Click the filter icon on the column by which you want to filter alerts.
2. Enter your filter term. The filter appears above the grid.
3. Click the X next to the filter term to remove the filter.
To hide acknowledged alerts:
1. Click More on the right of the grid.

2. Select Hide Acknowledged Alerts.
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Testing Alerts
Testing Alerts
You do not have to actually experience a device failure to confirm that your alerts
are working. The trigger condition is automatically evaluated and trigger and reset
actions can be tested individually.
Testing Trigger Conditions

Alert conditions are automatically evaluated on the Summary tab. Scroll to the
bottom of the page and view the information box above the Submit button.
Testing Trigger or Reset Actions within the Alert

When you simulate actions, the action will be performed once regardless of
whether the trigger condition is true. If the action sends a message to a recipient,
you should reduce the recipient list to yourself and a small number of team
members until you are confident the alert is ready to be enabled in your
production environment.
Note: The Send Email/Page action does not have to fire. You can view what the
message will look like when the trigger or reset action fires without sending a
message.
1. Open an alert you want to test.

2. Click Trigger Actions or Reset Actions.
3. Click Simulate next to the alert action you want to test.
4. Select an object to resolve any variables you have used in your alert action.
5. Click Execute. To test email actions without sending an email, click
Simulate.
Testing Actions in the Action Manager

You can also test actions in the Action Manager. This is part of the Alert
Manager.
Note: The Send Email/Page action does not have to fire. You can view what the
message will look like when the trigger or reset action fires without sending a
message.
1. Select the action you want to test.

2. Click Test.
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3. Select an object to resolve any variables you have used in your alert action.
4. Click Execute. To test email actions without sending an email, click
Simulate.
After the alert test completes, you can view the results of your alert actions.
l To view the results of your email alert action, open EvaluationAlertLog in

your Orion folder, typically <Volume:>\Program Files\SolarWinds\Orion.
l To view results of your Syslog message action, click Start > All
Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Syslog and SNMP Traps > Syslog
Viewer.
l To view the results of your Syslog message action, click Start > All
Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Syslog and SNMP Traps > Trap
Viewer.
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Managing Alerts
Managing Alerts
You can add, edit, enable, disable, import, export, and delete alerts from the Alert
Manager.
Adding and Editing Alerts

Use the Add New Alert or the Duplicate & Edit buttons to create new alerts.
Select an alert and use the Edit Alert button to edit it.
Use the following topics to learn more about creating and editing alerts.
l Creating New Alerts

l Commonly Created Alerts
Enabling and Disabling Alerts

Use the On/Off toggle or select an alert and click Enable/Disable to enable or
disable alerts.
Alerts must be enabled to be evaluated. For example, if an alert is scheduled to
run for a short period of time each year, it must be enabled so the schedule runs.
A disabled alert will not be evaluated, even if it is scheduled to run.
Exporting or Importing Alerts

You can use the Export/Import button to export or import alert definition files.
Alerts are exported to XML and can only be imported from XML.
Important: Confidential information, such as SMTP server credentials, may be
included with the exported XML file. Please check the exported file for such
information or delete the information from the alert before you export it.
SolarWinds customers share their customized alerts in the SolarWinds

thwack community. Visit thwack.solarwinds.com, download and import
alerts by your peers. For example, to import an alert that notifies you if
Cisco ASA fails over, see the following article:
https://thwack.solarwinds.com/docs/DOC-170819.
Deleting Alerts
Use the Delete button to remove an alert.
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Building Complex Conditions

Complex conditions are generally enabled by users who are comfortable with
building normal trigger conditions or who have trialed alerts using the normal
trigger conditions and require more control over the trigger conditions to better
refine the environmental conditions that trigger an alert.
Important: Do not use complex conditions until you have tested the trigger
conditions individually. Creating an alert with complex conditions without testing it
may prevent you from receiving important alerts.
To enable complex conditions:
1. Navigate to the Trigger Condition page.

2. Expand Advanced options.
3. Select Enable complex conditions.
You can use complex conditions to do the following:
l Wait for multiple objects to meet the trigger condition before alerting
l Evaluate multiple condition blocks
l Evaluate multiple object types
Waiting for Multiple Objects to Meet the Trigger Condition

Once you have enabled complex conditions, you can choose to trigger alerts only
when multiple objects meet the trigger condition.
After you have enabled complex conditions, the following option is available in
your trigger condition:
This setting then combines all alerts that would be sent for each object into a
single alert.
Important: Do not use this setting until you are confident that the trigger condition
is correct. This setting can prevent important alerts from triggering.
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Evaluating Multiple Condition Blocks
To trigger an alert only when multiple objects meet the trigger condition:
1. Enable complex conditions.

2. In the trigger condition, select Alert can be triggered if.
3. Enter how many objects must meet the trigger condition before sending an
alert.
Evaluating Multiple Condition Blocks

You can use complex conditions to evaluate multiple condition blocks, or
sections, independently. For example, you may want to create an alert when an
application is down and when your fail-over server is active for more than an hour.
How Condition Blocks Are Evaluated

Condition blocks are evaluated in the order they are created. Take the following
example:
(Condition A) & (Condition B) & (Condition C)
The primary condition block (Condition A), is evaluated first. If the condition is
met, the first secondary condition is evaluated (Condition B). If that condition is
met, the next condition block is evaluated in the same manner until there are no
more condition blocks.
All condition blocks must be met to trigger the alert.
Condition blocks are evaluated using variations of AND, so the trigger condition
in each section must be met.
A condition block can be evaluated at a different time than other condition blocks.
In the example where you want to be alerted if the backup system is active for
more than an hour, you can choose to wait an hour after the primary condition
block, where the application going down is the trigger condition, before evaluating
whether the backup system is still active.
To choose to wait before evaluating a secondary condition block:

2. Click Add Section.
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3. Select And then after from the drop-down menu between the two condition
sections.
4. Choose how long to wait before evaluating the next section.

5. Create the next condition block.
Evaluating Multiple Object Types

To evaluate multiple object types, you should use complex conditions. Complex
conditions can be used to alert on different object types within the same alert. For
example, you can create an alert to notify you when IIS is down and the free
space on the volume is less than 30 GB.
To choose different object types:

2. Click Add Section.
3. Choose a different value in I want to alert on.
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Available Alert Actions
Available Alert Actions

Orion platform products provide a variety of actions to signal an alert condition on
your network. For information on configuring each action, refer to the following list.
The following actions are available:
l Changing Custom Property

l Dialing Paging or SMS Service
l Emailing a Web Page
l Executing an External Program
l Executing a Visual Basic Script
l Logging an Alert to a File
l Logging an Alert to the NPM Event Log
l Managing the resource allocation of a virtual machine
l Deleting a snapshot of a virtual machine
l Moving a virtual machine to a different host
l Moving a virtual machine to a different storage
l Pausing a virtual machine
l Powering off a virtual machine
l Powering on a virtual machine
l Restarting a virtual machine
l Suspending a virtual machine
l Taking a snapshot of a virtual machine
l Playing a Sound
l Restarting IIS Site or Application Pools
l Sending a Windows Net Message
l Sending an SNMP Trap
l Using Get or Post URL Functions
l Sending a Syslog Message
l Sending an Email/Page
l Setting Custom Status
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l Using Text to Speech Output

l Logging an Alert to the Windows Event Log
Changing Custom Property

Use the following procedure to modify a custom property through an alert action.
To configure a custom property action for an alert:
1. When editing or adding an alert, click Add Action.

2. Select the Change Custom Property option, then click Configure Action.
3. Enter a name for the action in the Name of Action field.
4. Under Custom Property Settings:
a. Select the Custom Property Name from the drop down list.
b. Enter a Custom Property Value in the field provided.
c. Optionally click Insert Variable to add variables using the following
procedure:
i. Select a Variable Category, and then select the variable to add.
ii. To define a SQL variable, check Define SQL Variable.
iii. Click [+] next to the name of a variable to add one or more
variables to the Custom SQL Variable window.
iv. When done, click Insert Variable.
6. Expand Time of Day. Use this setting if you want to schedule this action.
This schedule does not affect the overall alert schedule.
a. Select either Schedule is controlled on the alert level, no
additional schedule for this action needed or Use special Time of
Day schedule for this action. If you choose the latter, Click Add
Schedule and then enter the time period over which you want to
activate your alert action, and then select the days on which you want
to activate your alert action.
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Dialing Paging or SMS Service
7. Expand Execution Settings.

a. Check either Do not execute this action if the alert has been
acknowledged already (Recommended) or Repeat this action
every X minutes until the alert is acknowledged. If you choose the
latter, specify the frequency to have this action repeated.
8. When done, click Add Action.
Dialing Paging or SMS Service

If NotePager Pro is installed, SolarWinds can be configured to communicate
alerts using paging and SMS services. For more information about installation
and configuration, see "SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor Integration" at
www.notepage.net.
Emailing a Web Page

The Edit E-mail Web Page Action window includes several sections for
configuration. The following procedure configures an e-mail URL action for an
alert.
To configure an email web page action for an alert:
1. When editing or adding an alert, click Add Action in an Action section of

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Email a Web Page option, then click Configure Action.
4. Under Recipients:
a. Complete the To, CC, and BCC fields.

b. You can optionally edit sender details by expanding [+] Sender
Details and editing the Name of Sender and the Reply Address.
Note: You must provide at least one email address in the To field, and
multiple addresses must be separated with commas. Some pager
systems require a valid reply address to complete the page.
5. Expand Message.
a. Enter the Subject and Message of your alert trigger email/page.

Note: Messaging is disabled if both the Subject and Message fields
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are empty.
b. Optionally click Insert Variable to add variables using the following
procedure:
c. For the Optional Web Server Authentication section, select User
currently logged in, Another user, or No user defined.
6. Expand SMTP Server.
a. Enter the Name of the SMTP Server.

b. Enter the Hostname or IP Address of your SMTP Server and the
designated SMTP Port Number.
Note: The SMTP server hostname or IP address field is required. You
cannot send an email/page alert without identifying the SMTP server.
c. To use SSL/TLS encryption for your alert email, check Use SSL.
d. If your SMTP server requires authentication, check This SMTP Server
requires Authentication.
e. Choose a Secondary SMTP Server from the list, if desired.

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Executing an External Program

Executing an External Program

There are several circumstances where you may want to execute a program
when a specific network event occurs. Use the Edit Execute Program Action
window to specify the executable that should be started when the specified alert
is triggered or reset, as shown in the following procedure.
External programs selected for this action must be executable using a batch file
called from the command line. Programs executed this way run in the
background. However, you can set the SolarWinds Alerting Engine Service to
Interact with Desktop. SolarWinds recommends that scripts and batch files be
placed on the root of c:\ to simplify the path for the batch file.
To configure an alert to execute an external program:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Execute an External Program option, then click Configure
Action.
4. Under Execute an External Program settings:
a. Enter the Network path to external program in the field provided.
For example: Use c:\test.bat, where c:\ is the disk on your
main Orion poller and test.bat is your external program to be
executed.
b. Select either Define User or No User Defined for Optional Windows
Authentication
This schedule does not the overall alert schedule.
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Executing a Visual Basic Script

In some situations, you may want to execute a Visual Basic (VB) script when a
network event occurs. The Edit Execute VB Script Action window is used to
specify the name and complete path of the file that shall be executed when the
specified alert is triggered or reset.
To configure alerts to execute a Visual Basic (VB) script:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Execute an External VB Script option, then click Configure
Action.
4. Under Execute an External VB Script settings:
a. Select a VB Script Interpreter from the drop down list.
b. Enter the Network path to the external VB Script in the field
provided.
For example: Use c:\test.vbs, where c:\ is the disk on your
main Orion poller and test.vbs is your external VB Script to be
executed.
c. Select either Define User or No User Defined for Optional Windows
Authentication
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Logging an Alert to a File
Logging an Alert to a File

SolarWinds can be configured to log alerts to a designated file. The following
procedure logs an alert to a designated file.
To configure an alert log file action for an alert:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Log the Alert to a File option, then click Configure Action.
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4. Under Log to File Settings:

procedure:
c. Enter a maximum log file size in MB (0 = unlimited).
d. Enter the Message of your alert trigger in the field provided.
e. Optionally click Insert Variable to add variables using the following
procedure:
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Logging an Alert to the NPM Event Log

Logging an Alert to the NPM Event Log

You can specify that an alert should be logged to the NetPerfMon (NPM) Event
Log either on the SolarWinds Orion server or on a remote server. The following
procedure logs an alert to the NPM Event Log on a designated server.
To configure alert logging to the NetPerfMon Event Log:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Log the Alert to the NetPerfMon Event Log option, then click
Configure Action.
4. Under Log the Alert to the NetPerfMon Event Log settings:
a. Enter the Message of your alert trigger in the field provided.
procedure:
iii. Click [+] next to the name of the variable to add one or more
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Managing the resource allocation of a virtual machine

This alert management action is available if the integration with Virtualization
Manager is enabled.
To configure an alert to change the allocated resources on a virtual machine,
perform the following procedure:
1. When you are editing or adding an alert, click Add Action in an Action
section of the Alert Wizard.
2. Select Manage VM - Change CPU/Memory Resources, and then click
Configure Action.
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Managing the resource allocation of a virtual machine
4. Under Select Virtual Machine to Manage Resource Allocation, specify

the virtual machine on which you want to adjust the number of CPUs, the
memory capacity, or both.
a. To change the resource allocation of the virtual machine that triggered
the alert, click Execute this action on the VM that triggered this
alert.
Note: This option is only available if the alert is built to trigger for
virtual machines.
b. To change the resource allocation of a different virtual machine, click
Select specific VM from my environment, and then search for the
virtual machine on which you want to execute the action.
5. To power off the virtual machine before changing the resource allocation,
and then power it on again after the resource allocation has been changed,
select the relevant option. If the option is not selected, the action will be
performed live on the virtual machine.
6. Under Specify New Resources, specify whether you want to add more
resources to the virtual machine, or replace the existing resources with new
resources, and then specify the parameters of the new resource or
resources.
a. Select Number of processors, and then specify the number of
processors to allocate to the virtual machine.
b. Select Memory, and then specify the memory capacity to allocate to
the virtual machine.
Day schedule for this action. If you choose the latter, click Add
Schedule, enter the time period over which you want to activate your
alert action, and then select the days on which you want to activate
your alert action.
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a. Select either Do not execute this action if the alert has been
The alert action is now configured in a way that the specified CPU and memory
resources will be allocated to the virtual machine when the alert is triggered.
Deleting a snapshot of a virtual machine

This alert management action is only available if the integration with Virtualization
Manager is enabled.
To configure an alert to delete a snapshot of a virtual machine, perform the
following procedure:
2. Select Manage VM - Delete Snapshot, and then click Configure Action.
4. Under Select Virtual Machine to Delete Snapshot, specify the virtual
machine from which you want to delete a snapshot.
a. To delete a snapshot of the virtual machine that triggered the alert,
click Execute this action on the VM that triggered this alert.
virtual machines.
b. To delete a snapshot of a different virtual machine, click Select
specific VM from my environment, and then search for the virtual
machine on which you want to execute the action.
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Moving a virtual machine to a different host
your alert action.
The alert action is now configured in a way that the snapshot of the specified
virtual machine will be deleted when the alert is triggered.
Moving a virtual machine to a different host

Manager is enabled.
To configure an alert to move a virtual machine to a different host, perform the
following steps:
2. Select Manage VM - Move to a Different Host, and then click Configure
Action.
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4. Under Select Virtual Machine to Move to a Different Host, specify the

virtual machine that you want to move.
a. To move the virtual machine that triggered the alert, click Execute this
action on the VM that triggered this alert.
virtual machines.
l To apply the action only to virtual machines of a specific vendor,
select the relevant option, and then specify whether you want to
perform to action on Hyper-V or VMware virtual machines.
b. To move a different virtual machine, click Select specific VM from my
environment, and then search for the virtual machine on which you
want to execute the action.
5. To power off the virtual machine before moving it to a different host, and
then power it on again after the action has been completed, select the
relevant option. If the option is not selected, the action will be performed live
on the virtual machine.
6. Under Select Target Host, search for the host where you want to move the
selected virtual machine.
your alert action.
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Moving a virtual machine to a different storage
The alert action is now configured in a way that the specified virtual machine will
be moved to a different host when the alert is triggered.
Moving a virtual machine to a different storage

Manager is enabled.
To configure an alert to move virtual machine data to a different storage, perform
the following steps:
2. Select Manage VM - Move to a Different Storage, and then click
Configure Action.
4. Under Select Virtual Machine to Move to a Different Storage, specify the
virtual machine that you want to move.
a. To move the virtual machine that triggered the alert, click Execute this
action on the VM that triggered this alert.
virtual machines.
l To apply the action only to virtual machines of a specific vendor,
select the relevant option, and then specify whether you want to
perform to action on Hyper-V or VMware virtual machines.
b. To move a different virtual machine, click Select specific VM from my
environment, and then search for the virtual machine on which you
want to execute the action.
5. To power off the virtual machine before moving it to a different storage, and
then power it on again after the action has been completed, select the
relevant option. If the option is not selected, the action will be performed live
on the virtual machine.
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6. Under Select Target Datastore, search for the datastore where you want to
move the selected virtual machine.
a. In a VMware environment, select one of the available datastores.
b. In a Hyper-V environment, select one of the available datastores, and
then click either Use the default location to move the virtual machine
to the default location of the datastore, or click Specify custom path,
and then enter a custom location.
your alert action.
be moved to a different datastore when the alert is triggered.
Pausing a virtual machine

Manager is enabled.
This action can only be configured for Hyper-V virtual machines.
To configure an alert to pause a virtual machine, perform the following steps:
2. Select Manage VM - Pause, and then click Configure Action.
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Powering off a virtual machine

4. Under Select Virtual Machine to Pause, specify the virtual machine that
you want to pause.
a. To pause the virtual machine that triggered the alert, click Execute
this action on the VM that triggered this alert.
virtual machines.
b. To pause a different virtual machine, click Select specific VM from
my environment, and then search for the virtual machine on which
you want to execute the action.
your alert action.
be paused when the alert is triggered.
Powering off a virtual machine

Manager is enabled.
To configure an alert to power off a virtual machine, perform the following steps:
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2. Select Manage VM - Power Off, and then click Configure Action.
4. Under Select Virtual Machine to Power Off, specify the virtual machine
that you want to power off.
a. To power off the virtual machine that triggered the alert, click Execute
virtual machines.
b. To power off a different virtual machine, click Select specific VM from
your alert action.
be powered off when the alert is triggered.
Powering on a virtual machine

Manager is enabled.
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Powering on a virtual machine
To configure an alert to power on a virtual machine, perform the following steps:
2. Select Manage VM - Power On, and then click Configure Action.
4. Under Select Virtual Machine to Power On, specify the virtual machine
that you want to power on.
a. To power on the virtual machine that triggered the alert, click Execute
virtual machines.
b. To power on a different virtual machine, click Select specific VM from
your alert action.
be powered on when the alert is triggered.
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Restarting a virtual machine

Manager is enabled.
To configure an alert to restart a virtual machine, perform the following steps:
2. Select Manage VM - Reboot, and then click Configure Action.
4. Under Select Virtual Machine to Reboot, specify the virtual machine that
you want to reboot.
a. To reboot the virtual machine that triggered the alert, click Execute
virtual machines.
b. To reboot a different virtual machine, click Select specific VM from
your alert action.
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Suspending a virtual machine
be restarted when the alert is triggered.
Suspending a virtual machine

Manager is enabled.
To configure an alert to suspend a virtual machine, perform the following steps:
2. Select Manage VM - Suspend, and then click Configure Action.
4. Under Select Virtual Machine to Suspend, specify the virtual machine that
you want to suspend.
a. To suspend the virtual machine that triggered the alert, click Execute
virtual machines.
b. To suspend a different virtual machine, click Select specific VM from
your alert action.
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be suspended when the alert is triggered.
Taking a snapshot of a virtual machine

Manager is enabled.
To configure an alert to take a snapshot of a virtual machine, perform the
following steps:
2. Select Manage VM - Take Snapshot, and then click Configure Action.
4. Under Select Virtual Machine to Take Snapshot, specify the virtual
machine of which you want to take a snapshot.
a. To take a snapshot of the virtual machine that triggered the alert, click
Execute this action on the VM that triggered this alert.
virtual machines.
b. To take a snapshot a different virtual machine, click Select specific
VM from my environment, and then search for the virtual machine on
which you want to execute the action.
your alert action.
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Playing a Sound

The alert action is now configured in a way that a snapshot will be taken of the
specified virtual machine when the alert is triggered.
Playing a Sound
SolarWinds can be configured to play a sound upon alert trigger or reset. This
alert action is frequently used in NOC environments. The SolarWinds Desktop
Notification client must be installed on each computer that you want to play a
sound. The following procedure configures a sound to play for an alert.
To configure a play sound action for an alert:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Play a Sound option, and then click Configure Action.
4. Under Play a sound settings:
a. If not installed, click Download our desktop notification client to

download and install the notification client.
i. From the notification client, select an alert sound.
b. Optionally click Insert Variable to insert variables into the message
body:

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Restarting IIS Site or Application Pools

The following steps configure an alert to Restart an IIS Site/Application Pool on
the trigger or reset action.
To configure SolarWinds to Restart an IIS Site/Application Pool upon alert:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Restart IIS Site/Application Pool option, then click Configure
Action.
4. Expand Restart IIS Site/Application PoolSettings.
a. Select the IIS Action to Perform from the drop down list.
b. Specify the Site/Application Pool to Use, either Taken from alert
trigger or Use a different IIS Server.
Note: If selecting Use a different IIS Server, enter the IIS Server and
the Site/Application Pool from the drop down lists.
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Sending a Windows Net Message
5. Expand Time of Day.

Sending a Windows Net Message

Alerts can be configured to display a pop-up Windows Net Message either on a
specific computer or on all computers in a selected domain or workgroup. The
following steps configure Windows Net messaging for triggered or reset alerts.
Note: The only operating systems supporting Windows Net Messaging on which
SolarWinds supports SolarWinds installations are Windows Server 2003 and
Windows XP. SolarWinds only supports evaluation installations of SolarWinds on
Windows XP.
To send a Windows Net message upon alert:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Send Net Message option, then click Configure Action.
4. Under Send a Net Message settings:
a. Optionally check Send to all Computers in the Domain or

Workgroup.
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b. Enter Computer Name or IP address in the field provided.

Note: You can enter multiple computers or IP addresses by
separating them with commas.
c. Enter the Message of your alert trigger in the field provided.
d. Optionally click Insert Variable to add variables using the following
procedure:
Sending an SNMP Trap

The following steps configure an alert to send an SNMP trap on the trigger or
reset action.
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Sending an SNMP Trap
To send an SNMP trap:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Send SNMP Trap option, then click Configure Action.
4. Under Send SNMP Trap Message:
a. Enter SNMP Trap Destinations in the field provided.
Note: Multiple IP Addresses should be separated by commas or
semicolons.
b. Select a Trap Template from the drop down lists.
5. Enter the Message of your alert trigger in the field provided.
a. Optionally click Insert Variable to add variables using the following

procedure:
iii. Click [+] to add one or more variables to the Custom
SQL Variable window.
6. Expand SNMP Properties.
a. Enter a UDP Port number in the field provided.

b. Select an SNMP Version from the drop down list.
c. Enter the SNMP Community String in the field provided.
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Using Get or Post URL Functions

SolarWinds can be configured to communicate alerts using HTTP GET or POST
functions. As an example, a URL may be used as an interface into a trouble ticket
system, and, by correctly formatting the GET function, new trouble tickets may be
created automatically. The following procedure configures SolarWinds to use
GET or POST HTTP functions to communicate alert information.
To configure SolarWinds to use GET or POST URL functions with alerts:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Send a GET or POST Request to a Web Server option, then
click Configure Action.
4. Under HTTP request settings:
a. Enter a URL in the field provided.
b. Select either Use HTTP GET or Use HTTP POST.
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Sending a Syslog Message

Sending a Syslog Message

SolarWinds can log received alerts to the Syslog of a designated machine. The
following procedure configures an alert to send a message to a designated
Syslog server.
To configure an alert to send a Syslog message:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Send a SysLog Message option, then click Configure Action.
4. Under Send a SysLog message settings:
a. Enter the Hostname or IP Address of the Syslog Server in the field
provided.
Note: Multiple Syslog servers should be separated by commas.
b. Select a Severity and a Facility from the drop down lists.
5. Enter the Message of your alert trigger in the field provided.
a. Optionally click Insert Variable to add variables using the following
procedure:
iii. Click [+] to add one or more variables to the Custom
SQL Variable window.
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The following procedure configures an email/page action for an alert.
To configure an email/page action for an alert:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Send an Email/Page option, then click Configure Action.
4. Under Recipients:
a. Complete the To, CC, and BCC fields.

b. You can optionally edit sender details by expanding [+] Sender
Details and editing the Name of Sender and the Reply Address.
Note: You must provide at least one email address in the To field, and
multiple addresses must be separated with commas. Some pager
systems require a valid reply address to complete the page.
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5. Expand Message.
a. Select the format (Plain text or HTML) for your alert email.
b. Enter the Subject and Message of your alert trigger email/page.
Note: Messaging is disabled if both the Subject and Message fields
are empty.
procedure:
6. Expand SMTP Server.
a. Enter the Name of the SMTP Server.

b. Enter the Hostname or IP Address of your SMTP Server and the
designated SMTP Port Number.
Note: The SMTP server hostname or IP address field is required. You
cannot send an email/page alert without identifying the SMTP server.
c. To use SSL/TLS encryption for your alert email, check Use SSL.
d. If your SMTP server requires authentication, check This SMTP Server
requires Authentication.
e. Choose a Secondary SMTP Server from the list, if desired.
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Setting Custom Status

The following procedure configures a Set Custom Status action for an alert.
The custom status does not affect the actual, polled values. For example, if the
custom status is set to UP, but the server is down or unresponsive, packet loss
continues to be 100%. Alerts based on the status do not trigger in this instance,
but alerts based on a polled value, such as packet loss, do trigger.
Important: When the status is set with an alert, the status does not update to the
actual, polled status. The status must be switched manually to a different status or
configured to use the polled status. Change the status to use the polled status
from the node details page or create a reset action to set the status to use the
polled status.
To configure a custom status action for an alert:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Set Custom Status option, then click Configure Action.
4. Under Change Object Status Manually:
a. Select Change to a specific status if you are creating a trigger
action.
i. If you select, Change to a specific status, select the status from
the drop down list.
b. Select Use polled status if you are creating a reset action.
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Using Text to Speech Output
Using Text to Speech Output

You may specify a phrase that will be spoken upon alert trigger and a separate
phrase for the alert reset. SolarWinds uses Microsoft® Speech Synthesis Engine
version 5.0. If you are under active SolarWinds maintenance, you may also install
and use other text-to-speech engines by visiting the SolarWinds website. The
following procedure configures text-to-speech output for an alert trigger or reset.
Note: Due to restrictions on Windows service applications, the Text to Speech
action is not available to SolarWinds installations on Windows 7 or Windows
Server 2008 and higher.
To configure a text-to-speech output action for an advanced alert:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Text to Speech Output option, then click Configure Action.
4. Under Text to Speech Output settings:
a. If not installed, click Download our desktop notification client to

download and install the notification client.
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i. From the notification client, configure text to speech output.

b. Optionally click Insert Variable to insert variables into the Text field:


Logging an Alert to the Windows Event Log

You may specify that an alert be logged to the Windows Event Log either on the
SolarWinds server or on a remote server. The following procedure logs an alert to
the Windows Event Log on a designated server.
To configure alert logging to the Windows Event Log:

the Alert Wizard.
2. Select the Windows Event Log option, then click Configure Action.
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Logging an Alert to the Windows Event Log

4. Under Event Log Settings:
a. Select either Use Event Log Message on Network Performance

Monitor Server or Use Event Log Message on a Remote Server.
Note: If the latter option is selected, enter the Remote Server Name
or IP Address in the field provided.
b. Enter the Message of your alert trigger.
procedure:


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Changes in the Alerting Engine

As of Orion platform version 2015.1, alerts are no longer created with the desktop-
based, Advanced Alerts Manager or Basic Alerts Manager. Alerts are instead
created and managed in the SolarWinds Orion Web Console.
Alerts that you created in the desktop-based Alert Manager are migrated to the
web-based alerting engine when upgrading to Core version 2015.1. Some alerts
may not be successfully migrated and include information about why they were
not migrated in the migration log. You can view the alert migration logs in the
informational banners displayed after you update your installation.
Changed or removed functionality

The suppression section has not been carried over to web-based alerting. Use
options, such as Condition must exist for more than, in the trigger conditions to
accomplish similar tasks.
Database changes
The following are a list of tables that have been changed that you may be using in
any custom SQL query:
l Engines has been renamed to AllEngines

l Nodes has been split into NodesCustomProperties, NodesData, and
NodesStatistics
l History has been split into table-specific history tables, such as the
AlertHistory table.
The new alerting engine also includes the following new alerting tables:
l AlertActive
l AlertActiveObjects
l AlertConditionState
l AlertHistory
l AlertMigrationLog
l AlertObjects
l AlertSchedules
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Macro or variable changes
For a list of database changes from Orion platform version 2014.2 to version
2015.1, including new tables, column changes, or data constraint or data type
changes, see the online Database Changes spreadsheet.
Macro or variable changes

Some alert variables are also not available. See the Defunct Alert Macros topic
for variables that cannot be used with the new alerting engine.
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Alert Migration to the Web

The Advanced Alert Manager and the Basic Alert Manager are deprecated in
SolarWinds Orion Core 2015.1 and later. A web-based alerting engine replaces
the previous alerting engine and includes new alerting variables. See General
Alert Variables for more information.
To facilitate using the web-based alerting engine, part of the upgrade process
migrates alerts created with the desktop-based alerting engine to the web-based
alerting engine. All alerts are migrated, including alerts that are disabled.
Migration Issues
Some alerts may not be successfully migrated. The migration log records all
alerts that are migrated and includes error messages for alerts that either cannot
be migrated or that are not migrated successfully.
Common reasons that migration may not be successful include:
l Invalid alert variables or macros - See Defunct Alert Variables for a list of
variables that are not supported.
l Invalid conditions - Some conditions are no longer supported.
l Large alert scope - The number of objects that are relevant to an alert may
be too large to migrate.
Limitations to Migrated Alerts

Once an alert has been migrated, you can only view the alert definition through
the web-based Alert Manager. You can no longer click on the alert in the views.
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Integrating Alerts with Other Products
Integrating Alerts with Other Products

Alerts may be shared with selected other SolarWinds products that are not part of
the SolarWinds Orion Platform, such as AlertCentral and WebHelpDesk.
To integrate alerts with other SolarWinds products:
1. On the Alert Summary page, expand Alert Integration.

2. Check Integrate alert with other SolarWinds products and subscribers
(Recommended).
3. Provide an appropriate Alert Subject. You can choose to use this name as
the subject field for the alert.
4. Choose the alert Severity.
Note: This information may be used to determine how a shared alert is
handled by the product to which you are sharing the alert.
5. To include additional alert properties in the alert, click Insert Variable and
choose which properties you want to include.
6. Click Submit.
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Chapter 12: Monitoring Quality of
Experience
Quality of Experience (QoE) is a new dashboard within NPM that allows you to
monitor traffic on your network. QoE uses Packet Analysis Sensor to provide
packet-level traffic information about key devices and applications that you
specify.
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Chapter 12: Monitoring Quality of Experience
Benefits of QoE
With QoE, you can:
l Compare statistics like network response time (TCP Handshake) and

application response time (Time to First Byte) to determine if a perceived
bottleneck is actually on your network, or if you need to call the server team.
l Use data volume trends to pinpoint traffic anomalies and investigate the
cause.
l Monitor "risky" types of traffic.
There are three steps you must complete to start monitoring traffic on your
network:
1. Deploy Packet Analysis Sensors (network and/or server) to Windows nodes

where you want to collect traffic data.
2. In the web console, specify the nodes and applications for which you want
to collect traffic.
Note: Packet Analysis Sensors does not automatically discover nodes and
applications. You must indicate the nodes and applications to monitor
before you will see traffic data in the web console.
3. Allocate appropriate CPU cores and memory for the traffic load for each
sensor.
Traffic data is captured using packet analysis sensors. These sensors collect
packets using either a dedicated Windows SPAN or Mirror port monitor or directly
on your Windows server. Packet Analysis Sensors capture packets from the local
network interface (NIC) and then analyzes collected packets to calculate metrics
for application performance monitoring. These metrics provide information about
application health and allow you to identify possible application performance
issues before they are reported by end-users.
With the ability to analyze packet traffic, QoE provides real observed network
response time (NRT) and application response time (ART). In addition, Packet
Analysis Sensors have the ability to classify and categorize traffic for over 1000
different applications by associated purpose and risk-level.
For more information about specific implementations of QoE, see Common
Packet Analysis Sensor Deployment Scenarios.
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System Requirements
System Requirements
Before you deploy a Packet Analysis Sensor to a device, review the following
minimum system requirements.
You will need administrative privileges for each node or switch.
Sensors can not be installed on 32-bit computers and do not support

communication over https.
Network Packet Analysis Sensors (NPAS)
Hardware/Software Requirements
OS Windows 7 or later, 64-bit
Windows Server 2008 or later, 64-bit
Note: 32-bit operating systems are not supported.
CPU Cores 2 CPU Cores + 1 CPU Core per 100 Mbps
Hard drive space 500 MB
RAM 1 GB + 1 GB per 100 Mbps
(2 GB + 1 GB per 100 Mbps recommended)
Network 1Gbps maximum throughput
Other SPAN, mirror port, or in-line tap on the monitored switch
Server Packet Analysis Sensors (SPAS)
OS Windows 7 or later, 64-bit
Windows Server 2008 or later, 64-bit
Note: 32-bit operating systems are not supported.
CPU Cores 2 CPU Cores + 1 CPU Core per 100 Mbps
Hard drive space 500 MB
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RAM 256 MB + 500 MB per 100 Mbps
(256 MB recommended + 500 MB per 100 Mbps)
Network 1Gbps maximum throughput
Port Requirements
Port # Protocol Direction

Description
17778 TCP Outgoing Used to send information back to your

SolarWinds server.
135 TCP Incoming Used by your SolarWinds server to deploy the

sensors and to apply updates to the sensors.
Port Mirroring Requirements

When deploying a Network Packet Analysis Sensor, you must create a SPAN,
mirror port, or in-line tap on the monitored switch. For virtual switches you may
create promiscuous port groups or a vTap instead. This requires at least one extra
network interface to collect data from the managed network interface, a server to
monitor the copied traffic, and a network cable to connect the mirrored port to the
physical server.
Please view your vendor specific documentation for instructions on how to set up
port mirroring. You can create port mirrors for both physical switches and virtual
switches.
For an example of how to create SPAN, see your switch's documentation.
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How SolarWinds Packet Analysis Sensors Work
How SolarWinds Packet Analysis Sensors Work

SolarWinds provides two types of Packet Analysis Sensors to monitor and
analyze your network traffic.
l Packet Analysis Sensors for Networks (network sensor)—collect and

analyze packet data that flow through a single, monitored switch for up to 50
discrete applications per node
l Packet Analysis Sensor for Servers (server sensor)—collect and analyze
packet data of specific applications that flow through a single node
After a sensor is deployed and configured, it captures packets and analyzes them
to calculate performance metrics for the monitored applications. An included
communication agent allows the sensor to send back sampled packet data to the
Orion server, which includes volume, transactions, application response time, and
network response time for each application on a node. The packet data are then
saved to the Orion database. The information is used to populate your QoE
dashboard. You can configure how long you retain the packet data in the
Database Settings section of the Polling Settings screen.
Network Packet Analysis Sensor (NPAS)
Your network administrator must create a dedicated SPAN, mirror port,

or in-line tap monitor on the physical or virtual switch before you can
deploy or configure a network sensor.
After you deploy and configure the network sensor to the node monitoring the
switch, the sensor captures all packets that flow through the switch and quickly
categorize the packets by application.
Packets that correspond to monitored applications are analyzed for Quality of
Experience metrics, such as response times or traffic volume. Data are then sent
to the Orion server using the SolarWinds communication agent.
Server Packet Analysis Sensor (SPAS)

A server sensor (SPAS) can monitor:
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l a packet traffic on a single node.

l up to 50 applications per node.
A deployed SPAS captures packets to and from the node. It identifies packets that
are sent to or from the monitored application and analyzes them for Quality of
Experience metrics, such as response time or traffic volume. Data are then sent to
the Orion server using the SolarWinds communication agent.
Limitations to Packet Analysis Sensors

The number of nodes you can monitor is limited by the data throughput per node,
the number of cores, and the amount of RAM available on the monitoring server.
Use the following table to review the sensor limitations.
Sensor Limitations Value
Maximum throughput (NPAS and SPAS) 1 Gbps
Maximum number of nodes per sensor (NPAS) 50 nodes
Maximum number of node/application pairs 50,000 pairs

(NPAS and SPAS)
Maximum number of sensors deployed on your 1,000 sensors

network
Maximum number of applications per node/sensor 1,000 applications per

(NPAS and SPAS) node
The system requirements increase for every 100 Mbps of traffic.
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Deploying Packet Analysis Sensors
Deploying Packet Analysis Sensors

Common Packet Analysis Sensor Deployment Scenarios
After you install your Orion platform product, deploy network sensors on a server
dedicated to monitoring a network switch, or deploy server sensors directly on
physical or virtual servers or workstations.
Based on how you want to aggregate the returned QoE metrics, there are three
main deployment scenarios per sensor type.
Aggregation level Sensor Deployment Configuration
I have access to my network (NPAS)
Per application Deploy an NPAS to a port Automatic

mirror that monitors all traffic to
and from the application
Per site Deploy an NPAS to a port Add a sampling of

mirror that monitors all traffic to endpoints to the NPAS
and from the site as managed nodes
Per client Deploy an NPAS to a port Add all of the

mirror that monitors all traffic to endpoints to the NPAS
and from the site as managed nodes
I have access to my application servers (SPAS)
Per application Deploy the SPAS directly on Automatic

the application server
Per site Deploy the SPAS to select Automatic

endpoints
Per client Deploy the SPAS to all Automatic

endpoints
Notes:
l When deploying network and server sensors on the same network, ensure
that you do not monitor the same node with multiple sensors. This impacts
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the QoE metrics.

l All monitored nodes must be managed by your Orion Platform product
before they can be monitored by sensors.
l If the node is managed by your SolarWinds Orion server, applications and
nodes are detected by default. If packet data is not collected, go to Settings
> QoE Settings > Global QoE Settings, and activate the auto-detect
option. You can also manually monitor applications and managed nodes or
ignore them. See Monitoring QoE Applications and Defining Nodes for a
Network Sensor for more information.
Aggregation per application

This deployment scenario provides a broad indication of the overall response
time between computers and the monitored application.
Aggregation with access to network (NPAS)
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Aggregation with access to network (NPAS)
Notes:
l Create a port mirror, SPAN, or network tap on the switch with all the network
traffic to or from the application. See System Requirements for more
information.
l You can monitor multiple applications using the same NPAS.
To deploy the network sensor:
1. Click Settings > QoE Settings > Manage QoE Packet Analysis Sensors
> Add Packet Analysis Sensor.
2. Select the Network option, and then click Add Nodes.
3. Choose the node with the port mirror, SPAN or network tap set up to monitor
your network switch.
4. Assign and test the credentials for the selected node.
5. Click Add Node(s) and Deploy Agent(s) to deploy the network sensor to
the node.
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Aggregation with access to application servers (SPAS)
To deploy from your Web Console:
2. Select the Server option, and then click Add Nodes.
3. Choose the nodes with the application you want to monitor.
4. Assign and test the credentials for each node.
5. Click Add Node(s) and Deploy Agent(s) to deploy an agent on the node.
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Aggregation per site
Aggregation per site

This deployment scenario provides an aggregated response time per monitored
site or network to the application. For example, the response time from your
Detroit office to your datacenter is 1 second, but the response time from Boston to
your datacenter is 7 seconds. If you used the aggregation per application
deployment method, the response time for the application is 4 seconds.
This method requires you to identify users who best represent how the application
is used. You then use the users' computers as data points to monitor with Packet
Analysis Sensors.
Aggregation per site with access to network (NPAS)
Notes:
traffic to or from the site. See System Requirements for more information.
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l Identify a sample set of users whose computers are monitored by the NPAS
the node.
Aggregation per site with access to application servers (SPAS)
Note: Identify a sample set of users whose computers are monitored by the SPAS
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Aggregation per computer
3. Select the sampled set of user computers to monitor.
Aggregation per computer

This deployment scenario provides highly granular response times for the
application because metrics for each computer are recorded.
One or two workstations can be experiencing long response times, which may not
be caught when aggregated per site or per application.
This method requires all workstations to be managed within your Orion Platform
product.
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Aggregation per computer with access to network (NPAS)
Notes:
traffic to or from the site. See System Requirements for more information.
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Aggregation per computer with access to application servers (SPAS)
the node.
Aggregation per computer with access to application servers (SPAS)
3. Select the all user computers to monitor.
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Deploying a Network Sensor

Network sensors must be deployed on any server connected to a switched
SPAN/mirror port or in-line tap.
Notes:
l If you deploy from the Additional Web Console, the node must be reachable
from the main polling engine during deployment. Data from sensors are
directed to the polling engine assigned to the node when the sensor was
deployed.
l Network sensors can monitor up to 50 discrete applications through a single
network interface, but they cannot monitor more than 1 GB throughput.
To deploy a Network sensor:
3. Move the node that monitors your switch to the Selected Nodes panel, and
click Add Selected Node.
6. Expand the network sensor you added, and click Add Nodes to Monitor.
7. Choose which node’s traffic you want to monitor from the switch, and click
Next.
8. Select the specific application to monitor, and click Next. QoE can
automatically detect the first 50 applications, or you can add specific
applications.
When sensor deployment is complete, the installation wizard displays a
message.
To specify manually which nodes and applications to monitor, see Monitoring
QoE Applications and Nodes. Nodes are automatically detected and added by
default.
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Deploying a Server Sensor
Deploying a Server Sensor

These sensors can only monitor the packet traffic of a single application. After you
deploy a server sensor to the application node, the sensor captures packets to
and from the node. It then identifies packets that are sent to or from the monitored
application and analyzes them for Quality of Experience metrics, such as
response time or traffic volume.
To deploy a server sensor:
3. Choose the Windows nodes to which you want to deploy your server
sensors, and then click Add Selected Node.
4. Assign and test credentials for each node on which you want to deploy
sensors.
5. Click Add Node(s) and Deploy Agent(s) to deploy agents.
Notes:
l Deployment may take some time and will run as a background
process.
l QoE automatically chooses settings, including the interface to capture
traffic data and limits to memory and CPU, during agent deployment.
You can change these settings once deployment is complete by
selecting the sensor and clicking Edit.
l When installation is complete, you will see a message in the
notification bar.
l You can confirm the deployment status on the Manage QoE Packet
Analysis Sensors page.
To specify manually which applications to monitor, see Monitoring QoE

Applications. Applications are automatically detected and added by default.
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Removing a Sensor
Removing a sensor from a node is a two steps process. First delete the sensor
using the Web Console, and then remove the communication agent directly from
the node.
To delete the sensor using the Web Console:
1. Click Settings > QoE Settings > Manage QoE Packet Analysis Sensors.
2. Select the node.
3. Click Delete Sensor.
4. Click Delete when prompted.
To remove the agent directly from the node:
1. Logon to the node with administrative credentials.

2. Navigate to Control Panel > Programs and Features.
3. Select SolarWinds Agent.
4. Click Uninstall.
5. Follow the onscreen prompts to completely uninstall the agent.
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Monitoring QoE Applications and Nodes
Monitoring QoE Applications and Nodes

By default, nodes and applications are automatically monitored by QoE when you
deploy a Network or Server Sensor. You can modify this behavior and
automatically filter which nodes or applications are monitored.
See Global QoE Settings for more information on how you can change these
settings.
Note: Server Sensors automatically monitor the top 50 applications on the node
they are installed on based on the global settings. You can change which
applications are monitored after the sensor is deployed.
For more information, refer to the following topics:
l Manage Global QoE Settings

l Monitoring QoE Applications
l Defining Nodes for a Network Sensor
l Ignoring Applications or Nodes
l Defining Custom HTTP Applications
Manage Global QoE Settings

You can control how Packet Analysis Sensors behave by changing the settings
on this page. Settings are distributed to sensors regularly when the agent is
updated. You can manually update an agent from the Manage Agents page.
QoE Applications
Control how you monitor QoE applications for both Network Packet Analysis
Sensors and Server Packet Analysis Sensors.
Auto-detect QoE applications
Use this to detect and monitor traffic associated with all applications that
fulfill the auto-detection rules defined on this page. This is active by default.
You must select applications manually when this option is disabled.
Note: If you automatically detect nodes, you should also automatically
detect applications.
HTTP application domain detection level
Choose how granularly QoE breaks up http traffic to monitor.
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l Top level (http://*) - Monitor all http traffic.

l Second level (http://hostname/*) - Separate and monitor http traffic based
on domains.
l Third level (http://hostname/path1/*) - Separate and monitor http traffic
based on the domain and 1st level directory within each domain.
Add auto-detected applications that are
Further refine the applications that are monitored by choosing to monitor all
application traffic sources, traffic destinations, or all application traffic.
Packet sources and destinations are based on the source or destination
IP address included in the packet.
l Transaction destinations (servers) - Monitor applications that receive

traffic based on the destination IP address of the packet.
l Transaction sources (client) - Monitor applications that generate traffic
based on the source IP address of the packet.
l Either a source or destination - Monitor all application traffic.
For each node, include top X application that have at least Y% of total QoE
traffic.
Filter the number of applications that are monitored to applications that
generate a certain amount of network traffic.
Nodes with QoE Traffic

Control how you monitor QoE nodes for Network Packet Analysis Sensor.
Auto-detect QoE nodes
Use this to detect and monitor the first 50 nodes with network traffic. This is
active by default. You must select nodes manually when this option is
disabled.
Note: If you automatically detect nodes, you should also automatically
detect applications.
Add auto-detected monitored nodes that are
Further refine the nodes that are monitored by choosing to monitor all nodes
that are traffic sources, traffic destinations, or all nodes that generate or
receive network traffic. Packet sources and destinations are based on the
source or destination IP address included in the packet.
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Monitoring QoE Applications
l Transaction destinations (servers) - Monitor nodes that receive traffic

based on the destination IP address of the packet.
l Transaction sources (client) - Monitor nodes that generate traffic based on
the source IP address of the packet.
l Either a source or destination - Monitor all traffic.
Monitoring QoE Applications

Applications are automatically monitored when traffic is detected by the Packet
Analysis Sensor. However, you can manually select specific applications to
monitor. QoE installs with the ability to monitor over 1000 pre-defined
applications, including FTP, RDP, CIFS, SQL, and Exchange. You can also
define your own custom HTTP applications.
Notes:
l Because of the hardware requirements needed to process large amounts of
traffic, SolarWinds recommends that you preferentially monitor business-
critical nodes and applications. For more information about recommended
hardware specifications, see System Requirements.
l You should not assign more than 50 applications to a single node due to
potential performance issues. However, you can monitor up to 1000
applications.
Monitoring Applications Automatically

While QoE sensors automatically detect and monitor applications by default, the
settings may have changed or you may have upgraded from a previous version of
QoE that does not automatically monitor applications.
Note: Only applications that meet the criteria selected in QoE Applications are
monitored automatically.
To monitor application traffic automatically:
1. Click Settings > QoE Settings > Manage Global QoE Settings.
2. Select Active in Auto-detect QoE applications.
3. Change other settings to refine the number of applications you automatically
monitor. See Global QoE Settings for more information on the settings.
4. Click Submit.
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Monitoring Applications Manually

You may choose to add monitored applications manually to QoE.
To select specific applications for monitoring:
1. Click Settings > QoE Settings > Manage QoE Applications.

Notes:
l Applications are only listed if there are monitored nodes. You must
first add a Network or Server Sensor before you can enable any
applications. For more information, see Common Packet Analysis
Sensor Deployment Scenarios.
l Applications listed with the Enabled/Disabled toggle "ON" are
currently being monitored on at least one node.
l Applications can be disabled (the Enabled/Disabled toggle "OFF")
which means that no traffic for the application is currently collected on
any node.
2. Click Add New.
3. Select Choose a pre-configured application.
Note: Applications that are already enabled will not appear in the list.
4. Use the Search or Group By options to find the application you want to
monitor, select it, and then click Next.
5. On the Configure Application view, edit the Category, Risk Level, or
Productivity Rating as necessary, and then click Next.
6. On the Configure Data Collection view, choose the node(s) you want to
monitor for this type of traffic.
Note: Only nodes that have already been specified as nodes to monitor on
the Manage QoE Nodes page appear in this list.
7. Click Next.
8. Review your choices on the Summary page, then click Finish.
Your newly enabled application will appear on the Manage QoE Applications
page in alphabetical order.
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Defining Nodes for a Network Sensor
Defining Nodes for a Network Sensor

Nodes are automatically detected and monitored when network traffic is detected
either originating from or terminating at a node. However, you can manually
specify the nodes instead. After the network sensor has been successfully
deployed, add applications and nodes to monitor. For information about adding
applications, see Monitoring QoE Applications.
Note: You can monitor up to 50 nodes per network sensor.
Adding Nodes Automatically

While Network Sensors automatically detect and monitor nodes by default, the
settings may have changed or you may have upgraded from a previous version of
QoE that does not automatically monitor nodes. QoE automatically monitors the
first 50 nodes with traffic.
Notes:
l Automatic node discovery may not be 100% accurate due to devices with
the same IP addresses in your network.
l Only nodes that meet the criteria selected in Nodes with QoE Traffic are
added automatically.
To monitor nodes automatically:
1. Click Settings > QoE Settings > Manage Global QoE Settings.
2. Select Active in Auto-detect QoE nodes.
3. Change other settings to refine the number of nodes you automatically
monitor. See Global QoE Settings for more information on the settings.
4. Click Submit.
Adding Nodes Manually

You may choose to add monitored nodes manually to a Network Sensor. If a node
is already monitored and you want to monitor it with a different sensor, you must
delete the node from the original sensor before you can add it to the new network
sensor.
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To add nodes for a network sensor to monitor:
1. Navigate to the Manage QoE Packet Analysis Sensors page.

2. Expand the Network sensor that you want to add a node to.
3. Click the Add Node to Monitor button.

4. On the Create QoE Node page, choose the managed nodes you want to
monitor with this network sensor.
5. On the Select QoE Applications page, choose the applications you want to
monitor for these nodes. See Monitoring QoE Applications for more
information.
6. Review your selections on the Summary page.
7. Click Finish.
View the nodes and applications selected by expanding the Network Sensor you
just configured.
Ignoring Applications or Nodes

You can ignore traffic generated by applications or from a specific node.
Ignoring Applications
If you decide that you no longer want to monitor an application, you can disable
discovery or monitoring for that application in the Manage QoE Applications
page.
Note: These settings are on a global level. You cannot turn application discovery
or monitoring on or off for specific sensors.
To ignore network traffic from an application:
1. Log into the web console using an account with administrative privileges.
3. In the Settings grouping, click QoE Settings.
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Ignoring Nodes
4. Click Manage QoE Applications.

5. Toggle Monitoring or Discovery ON or OFF.
Use the following table to determine which combination of settings you want to
use.
Monitoring ON Monitoring OFF
Discovery ON Applications can be Applications can be

automatically discovered automatically discovered, but
and application traffic is application traffic is not
monitored monitored
Discovery OFF Applications cannot be Applications cannot be

automatically discovered, automatically discovered, and
and application traffic is application traffic is not
monitored monitored.
Ignoring Nodes
You can permanently ignore all traffic from specific nodes that you monitor on a
network sensor. This is often used to reassign a node to a different network
sensor.
Note: You cannot add a node back to its original network sensor.
To ignore all network traffic from a node:
1. Log into the web console using an account with administrative privileges.
3. In the Settings grouping, click QoE Settings.
4. Click Manage QoE Packet Analysis Sensors.
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5. Select a network sensor, and click Edit.

6. Select the node you want to remove, and click Delete.
Defining Custom HTTP Applications

In addition to choosing from pre-defined applications, you can also define custom
HTTP applications, and then add them to nodes you are monitoring.
To create a custom HTTP application:
1. Navigate to Settings, then select Manage QoE Applications.

2. Click Add New.
3. On the Select Application page, select Create a new HTTP application,
then click Next.
4. On the Configure Application page, enter the name and description of the
application you’re creating, then choose the Category, Risk Level, and
Productivity Rating appropriate for the application.
5. Set the URL Filter. This specifies the HTTP application traffic to monitor.
When you choose which filter to use in the drop-down, notice that the
example changes to indicate how the accompanying text field will be used.
For example, selecting Hostname contains changes the help text to

http://*...*/path/page.html. Any text you enter will be included in the filter
where the “…” appears.
6. Enter the hostname or URL for your filter, then click Next.
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Defining Custom HTTP Applications
7. On the Specify Nodes page, choose the node(s) you want to monitor for
this type of traffic. Only nodes that have already been specified as nodes to
monitor (on the Manage QoE Nodes page) will appear in this list.
8. Click Next. Review your choices on the Summary page, then click Finish.
9. Your new application will appear on the Manage QoE Applications page
in alphabetical order.
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Advanced Sensor Configuration

Sensors cannot be edited until they are fully deployed. You are notified when
your sensor is deployed, or you can check the Manage QoE Packet Analysis
Sensors page. The status of completely deployed and working sensors is Up.
When you click Edit Sensor, you can configure:
l the monitored interface

l the allocated CPU cores and memory
Configuring the Monitored Interface

When you deploy a sensor, the first available interface is monitored for traffic.
Once the sensor is installed, you can go back and change the monitored
interface, as indicated in the following procedure.
To change the interface monitored by a sensor:
2. Select the sensor to edit.
3. Click Edit Sensor.
4. Select the desired interface from the Interface to capture QoE data drop-
down list.
5. Click Save.
Configuring the Number of CPU Cores and Allocated Memory

When a sensor is deployed, QoE automatically allocates one CPU core and 256
MB of memory to the sensor. After the sensor is installed, you can change the
allocated CPU cores and memory.
For sensors, the memory usage scales with the traffic load. The more flows that
are going on the line, the more memory you need.
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Configuring Thresholds
Number of
CPU Cores Guidelines
1 Not Recommended
2 Suitable for 100 Mbps links
3-4 Gigabit links with low utilization
5-6 Gigabit links with medium utilization
7+ Gigabit links with high utilization
To change the sensor thresholds:
2. Select the sensor to edit.
3. Click Edit Sensor.
4. In the Memory field, select the number of GB you want to allocate to the
sensor.
Note: If you allocate less than the recommended amount of memory, you
may see reduced performance.
5. In the CPU Cores field, select the number of CPU cores you want to
allocate to the sensor.
Note: If you allocate fewer than the recommended number of CPU cores,
you may see reduced performance.
6. Click Save.
Configuring Thresholds
You can modify the application response time (ART), network response time
(NRT), volume, and transaction thresholds that are used to alert you to
irregularities in your network.
Note: It is best to allow the sensors to collect a few days' worth of data before
setting thresholds.
To change the number of CPU cores and memory allocated to the sensor:
1. Click Settings > QoE Settings > Manage QoE Applications.

2. Select the application to edit.
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3. Click Edit.
4. Click Next, and then click Next again.
5. On the Summary page, click the plus sign by Thresholds.
6. Select Override Orion General Thresholds next to each data type.
7. Change the threshold. You can use specific thresholds or you can use a
dynamic threshold based on the baseline established. The default baseline
is seven days, which is configurable in the Orion Polling Settings page.
8. Click Finish.
Packet Analysis Sensor Agents

The software that provides a communication channel between your SolarWinds
server and the monitored object to which you have deployed your Packet
Analysis Sensor is called an agent. Agents are used to provide packet-level traffic
information about key devices and applications that you specify. The agent runs
as a service, and it has a relatively small footprint (under 100MB installed).
For more information, see:
l Agent Requirements
l Deploying an Agent
l Agent Settings
l Managing Agents
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Chapter 13: SolarWinds Orion
Agents
An agent is software that provides a communication channel between the Orion
server and a Windows computer. Agents are used to provide packet-level traffic
information about key devices and applications that you specify. This can be
beneficial in the following situations:
l Allows for polling host and applications behind firewall NAT or proxies
l Polling node and applications across multiple discrete networks that have
overlapping IP address space
l Allows for secure encrypted polling over a single port
l Support for low bandwidth, high latency connections
l Polling nodes across domains where no domain trusts have been
established
l Full end to end encryption between the monitored host and the Orion poller
The agent allows you to monitor servers hosted by cloud based services such as
Amazon EC2, Rackspace, Microsoft Azure, or virtually any other Infrastructure as
a Service (IaaS).
Once deployed, all communication between the Orion server and the agent occur
over a single fixed port. This communication is fully encrypted using 2048 bit TLS
encryption. The agent protocol supports NAT traversal and passing through proxy
servers that require authentication.
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Chapter 13: SolarWinds Orion Agents
Agent Requirements
Before you deploy agents to a target computer, review the following system
requirements.
Notes:
l Agents run as a Windows service

l Agent communication to the Orion Server uses FIPS compatible encryption
l Agents do not work with AppInsight for SQL when the SQL server being
monitored is in a cluster.
l Agents have parity with WMI in collecting information.
Important: JMX polling is not supported using an agent.
Supported Operating Systems

The following operating systems are supported for both 32-bit and 64-bit
computers:

l Windows Server 2008 R2
l Windows Server 2012 R2
l Windows 7, Windows 7 SP1
l Windows 8, Windows 8.1
Important: Workstation operating systems are only supported with the Pro,
Enterprise, and Ultimate editions.
Prerequisites
The following software packages are installed by the agent installer if necessary:
l Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable Package for 32- or 64-bit

l .NET Framework 4.0 (You must install this manually if you are installing an
agent on Windows Core.)
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Agent Resource Consumption
Agent Resource Consumption

The following table details agent resource consumption.
CPU Less than 1% on average under normal operating conditions

(0.24% on average)
Memory Between 10 and 100 MB depending upon the number and types
of jobs
Bandwidth Roughly 20% (on average) of the bandwidth consumed by the

WMI protocol for transmission of the same information
For example, Agent: 1.3 KBPS versus WMI at 5.3 KBPS
Storage 100 MB when installed
A single polling engine can support up to 1,000 agents.
Agent Licensing
Agent software is free. You remain bound by the limits of the license you own
regardless of how information is polled, either via an agent or another protocol.
Accounts and Security Requirements

The VeriSign Root Certificate Authority (CA) must be current. This is required
because the agent software is signed using a VeriSign certificate. To install a
certificate, see Certificates and the Agent.
After the agent is installed, it runs as the Local System account and does not
require administrative permissions to function.
Agent Open Port Requirements

For agent-initiated communications, port 17778 must be opened on the Orion
server (inbound) and allowed by the firewall. It is used on a continual basis once
the agent has been deployed. Communication is initiated outbound from the
agent to the Orion server.
For server-initiated communications, port 17790 must be opened (inbound) on the
remote computer.
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Requirements for Remote Deployment from the Server

If you want to deploy agents from the SolarWinds Orion server, the following
requirements must be met:
l The account used for remote deployment must have access to the
administrative share on the target computer: \\<hostname_or_
ip>\admin$\temp
l User Account Control (UAC) must either be disabled on the target computer,
or the built-in Administrator account must be used
l Approximately 100 MB of available hard drive space on the target computer
Note: Other remote or mass deployment methods do not have the same
requirements.
Open Ports Requirements for Remote Deployment from the Server

The following ports must be open to deploy agents from the SolarWinds Orion
server:
l 135: Microsoft EPMAP (DCE/RPC Locator service). This port is required to

be open on the client computer (Inbound) for remote deployment.
l 445: Microsoft-DS SMB file sharing. This port is required to be open on the
client computer (Inbound) for remote deployment.
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Agent Settings
Agent Settings
The Agent Settings page provides access to all of the settings and tools needed
to install and manage agents. Additional agent settings can be found in the
Control Panel. For more information, see Editing Agent Settings in the Control
Panel.
Navigating to the Agent Settings page:
1. From the web console, navigate to Settings > Agent Settings.
l Manage Agents: Opens the Manage Agents page from which you
can add a new agent, edit, update, or reboot an existing agent. For
more information, see Managing Agents.
l Download Agent Software: Opens the Agent Downloads page from
which you can mass deploy or manually install an agent. For more
information, see Deploying an Agent.
l Define Global Agent Settings: Opens the Global Agent Settings
page from which you can allow automatic agent registration and/or
allow automatic agent updates.
Adjusting Global Agent Settings:
1. From the web console, navigate to Settings > Agent Settings

2. Click Define Global Agent Settings to be taken to the options illustrated
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3. Select your choices. When done, click Submit.
a. Allow automatic agent registration: Selecting this option will

automatically register the agent, verifying communication with the
Orion Server. If this option is disabled, you can register any waiting
agents by navigating to Settings > Manage Agents > Add Agent >
Connect to a previously installed agent.
b. Automatically create node: Agents will automatically be registered
as Orion nodes.
c. Allow automatic agent updates: Selecting this option will allow the
agent software to be automatically upgraded when updates become
available. This process pushes a new version of the agent to client
machines over the agent communication channel (no extra ports or
permissions are needed). Once the agent receives the new version, it
updates itself to the newer version. This process does not require
rebooting.
Note: If automatic updates are disabled and a new version of the
software is installed on the server, it is possible that outdated agents
will not be able to communicate with the server. Ensure that all agent
versions match the version of the server.
d. XX Hours: Allows you to control the length of time the agent will be
displayed as being new in the Manage Agents table.
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Server Initiated Communication
Server Initiated Communication

All communication between your SolarWinds Orion server or additional polling
engine and the agent is initiated by the server, and the agent does not initiate
communication to your SolarWinds Orion server. You do need to have a direct
route from the server with the agent installed to your SolarWinds Orion server or
additional polling engine. To use this communication method, port 17790 must be
open on the remote host's firewall to retrieve information from the agent.
This communication method is also known as a passive agent.
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Agent Initiated Communication

All communication between your Orion server or additional poller and the agent is
initiated by the agent, and your SolarWinds Orion server does not initiate
communication with your agent. You do not need to have a direct route from the
server with the agent installed to your SolarWinds Orion server or additional
poller. To use this communication method, port 17778 must be open on the
SolarWinds Orion server firewall to receive information from the agent.
This communication method is most useful when the agent is installed on a

network separated from your Orion server by one or more NAT devices, and you
have no easy way to connect the two.
This communication method is also known as an active agent.
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Deploying an Agent
Deploying an Agent
Orion supports three methods of deploying an agent to a client computer running
Windows.
1. Have the Orion Server push the agent software to one or more client
computers
2. Mass deploy the agent software to multiple computers using a mass-
deployment technology such as Group Policy
3. Manual installation of the agent on a client computer
For more information, see:
l Deploying Agent Software via Orion Server Push

l Deploying the Agent Manually
l Mass Deploying an Agent
l Packaging the Orion Agent for Deployment with SolarWinds Patch Manager
l Deploying with a Gold Master Image
l Deploying on Windows Core Servers
Deploying Agent Software via Orion Server Push

Selecting this method of deployment allows you to perform a network-wide
deployment from within Orion and does not require the downloading of additional
files. In order for this deployment method to succeed, the Orion server must be
able to communicate with the client computers.
Deploying Agent Software via Orion Server Push:
1. From the web console, click Settings, then click Manage Agents
2. On the Manage Agents page, click Add Agent
3. Select the method you would like to use to add the agent, and then click
Next. Steps for both options follow.
Deploying the Agent on my Network:
Opting to deploy the agent on the network allows you to install the agent on
multiple client computers. To do this, complete the following steps:
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a. On the Deploy Agent on Network page, either enter the IP address or

host name of the Windows computer where you want the agent to be
installed, or select nodes from the list by checking their respective
check boxes, and then click Next.
Note: This field does not accept ranges. It is used to add computers
that are currently not nodes in the system.
b. On the Agent Settings page:
i. Check the box of the computer you selected in the previous step,
then click Assign Credentials
ii. Choose a credential from the drop-down list, or enter new
credentials, then click Submit.
Note: You can assign credentials to multiple locations/nodes at
one time by selecting multiple check boxes.
c. Click Deploy Agent. At this point, Orion is going to install the agent
software
Connecting to a Previously Installed Agent:

This action allows you to connect to agents that have been configured with
Orion Server Initiated communication or if Allow Automatic Agent
Registration has not been enabled. When you connect to an agent, you
first need to select the communication mode that was chosen when the
agent was installed. If the communication mode is server-initiated (passive),
a passphrase (shared secret) was required during installation. This
passphrase needs to be re-entered. To connect to a previously installed
agent, complete the following steps:
a. On the Add Agent page, enter a name for the Agent.

b. Select the agent communication mode.
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Deploying Agent Software via Orion Server Push
c. For Server Initiated Communication, take the following steps:

i. Enter the IP address or hostname where the agent is located.
ii. Enter the passphrase (shared secret).
iii. You can optionally expand Advanced and adjust the following
as needed:
a. Change the agent port number. (This is the port the agent
uses for listening.)
b. Use a proxy by checking its box and selecting a Proxy and
entering its Proxy URL in the fields provided.
c. Use proxy authentication by checking its box, then entering
a Username and Password.
d. For Agent Initiated Communication, select the agent from the Agent
drop-down list.
e. Check Allow automatic agent updates to have the agent
automatically upgraded when upgrading to new versions of Orion
modules that support the agent.
Note: Disabling this option will require you to manually upgrade
agents after upgrading your Orion products and modules.
f. Click Submit to complete the process.
When the connection is successful, the agent will appear in the agent list on the
Manage Agents page.
Troubleshooting Deployment
Following is a list of possible errors with their respective resolutions:
Credential test for deployment fails:
l Ensure that the used account can access the following folder:
\\<hostname_or_ip>\admin$\temp. Also ensure that a folder can be
created at that location.
l Ensure that Remote Procedure Call (RPC), a Windows service, is running
l Ensure the required ports are open
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l If you are using a domain account, use the complete name when entering
credentials. For example:
Domain\Username
Agent deployment fails:
l Ensure there are no other installations in progress. For example, Windows

updates and installations prevents other installations from finishing
successfully. If this is the case, retry agent installation when other
installations have completed.
l On the target machine, check if the SolarWinds Agent service is installed
and running. If it is, the agent may be experiencing connectivity issues with
the Orion server. Ping the Orion server from the client machine and ensure
that port 17778 is open on the Orion server. Also check that the client
machine can connect to the Orion server web interface.
l If possible, try to install the agent manually on the target machine, ensuring
that permissions are set correctly.
Note: Agent deployment failure can also occur if a previous installation or
upgrade is awaiting a reboot. To resolve this issue you will need to reboot
the server before the installation of the agent can proceed on that machine.
Deploying the Agent Manually

Selecting this method of deployment may be helpful in troubleshooting
connectivity issues with another form of agent deployment. This method is also
helpful when the Orion server cannot communicate directly with the endpoint
where the agent will be installed, such as in the case of Active Agent mode.
Deploying the Agent Manually:
1. From the web console, navigate to: Settings > Agent Settings >
Download Agent Software.
2. In the Manual Installer column, click Download .MSI to download the .MSI
file on the source machine, as shown:
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Deploying the Agent Manually
3. Download both the .MSI installer file and the .MST transform file.
Note: If you prefer to install the agent silently, take the following optional two
steps:
a. Right-click cmd.exe and select Run as Administrator.

b. Enter the following command and then press Enter:
msiexec /i Solarwinds-Agent.msi /q
TRANSFORMS=SolarWinds-Agent.mst
4. Once download is complete, copy the .MSI file to the client machine and
then install it by double clicking it and beginning the wizard.
5. During installation, select either Agent Initiated Communication

(Recommended) or Orion Server Initiated Communication. When done,
click Next.
6. Enter the Orion server IP address or Hostname and the Orion

administrator account credentials (Username and Password) during
installation.
7. When done, click Next.
8. When installation is successful, the agent will appear in the agent list on the
Manage Agents page in the web console.
When the installation is successful, the agent will appear in the agent list on the
Manage Agents page.
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Agent is not able to connect to the Orion server.
l Ensure that you can ping the Orion server from the client machine
l Ensure that port 17778 is open on the Orion server and that the client
machine can connect to it
l Ensure that you are using the correct Orion administrator credentials
Mass Deploying an Agent

If you are already using a mass-deployment technology, this deployment method
is an easy way to get agents on a large group of computers.
Note: Polling engine selection is important. When you click Download .MST, the
MST file created includes the polling engine IP address and other vital
information. When you deploy the agent using the MSI file, along with the MST
file on the managed node, the agent will be installed and pointed to the correct
polling engine.
Mass Deploying an Agent:
1. From the web console, navigate to Settings > Agent Settings > Download
Agent Software.
2. In the Mass Deployment Files column, choose the agent communication
mode. This information is included in the automatically generated .MST file.
l For Agent Initiated communication, enter which polling engine you
want the agent to use. You may need to manually enter the polling
engine information if the IP address is different from what the
SolarWinds Orion server reports. This happens when the monitored
host is behind a NAT or proxy device. In these cases, enter the IP
address of the SolarWinds Orion server or the additional polling
engine as it is accessible from the host where the agent will be
installed.
a. To use a predefined polling engine, select Use Connection

Details from Polling Engine, and then choose a polling engine
from the drop-down menu.
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Mass Deploying an Agent
b. To manually enter the polling engine IP address, select Enter

Connection Details Manually, and then enter both the host
name and IP address. The IP address is required. Use the host
name and IP address of the polling engine that the clients know.
l For Server Initiated communications, enter your Agent
Communication Port number. By default, this is port number 17790.
3. Select Mass-Deployment (e.g. Group Policy).
4. Download both the .MSI installer file and the .MST transform file.
Adding the .MST file to a Group Policy:
1. Copy the software installation files (.msi, .mst) to a network share that is
accessible to the hosts you where you wish to deploy the agent software.
2. Configure the permissions on the share to ensure that all required users and
computers have Read access to the installation files.
3. Locate the container in Active Directory (a site, a domain, or an
organizational unit (OU)) where you want to advertise the application and
access the container properties.
4. Click the Group Policy tab.
5. Click New to create a new Group Policy (GPO).
6. Expand the Computer Configuration\Software Settings container in the
GPO to reveal Software Installation, then right-click Software Installation.
7. Select New, and then select Package.

8. Select your MSI package, then select Advanced for the deployment
method.
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9. From the Deployment tab, check the Deployment type/Deployment

options as shown.
Note: Your deployment type/options may be different depending on your
network.
10. From the Modifications tab, select your MST file from the network share.
11. Click OK to complete the setup. The agent is deployed and is registered by
Orion (if auto-registration is enabled as defined in the Agent Settings page).
When the installation is successful, the agent will appear in the agent list on the
Manage Agents page.
Agent deployment fails:
l On the target machine, check if the SolarWinds Agent service is installed

and running. If it is, the agent may be experiencing connectivity issues with
the Orion server. Ping the Orion server from the client machine and ensure
that port 17778 is open on the Orion server. Also check that the client
machine can connect to the Orion Server's web interface.
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Packaging the Orion Agent for Deployment with Patch Manager
l If possible, try to install the agent manually on the target machine, ensuring
that permissions are set correctly.
l If a host name or Fully Qualified Domain Name was used, ensure that it can
be resolved from the client computer.
l If the Orion server or the additional poller is behind a NAT, ensure that the
IP address specified in the creation of the MST file is the correctly routed IP
address the client would use to access the Orion server.

The following guide assumes that you already have a working SolarWinds Patch
Manager infrastructure.
Obtaining the Installer Files:
1. From the web console, log in using administrator credentials, then navigate
to Settings > Agent Settings > Download Agent.
2. In the Mass Deployment Files column, select the appropriate
communication method and enter the information necessary. For more
information, see Mass Deploying an Agent.
3. Download both the MSI and MST files and then save them to a known
location on your Patch Manager Server.
Note: Take note of the latest version listed under the .MSI File. This is
needed for package creation in Patch Manager.
Optional: Rename the SolarWinds Agent files to SolarWinds Agent
<version> for easier tracking.
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Building the Package:
1. Launch SolarWinds Patch Manager.

2. In the navigation pane, navigate to Administration & Reporting\Software
Publishing and then click SolarWinds, Inc. Packages.
3. From the SolarWinds, Inc. Packages Action Pane, click New Package. This
will launch the Patch Manager Package Wizard.
4. In the package information screen, enter the following general information

for the package:
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Field Value Comments
Package Title: SolarWinds Orion Replace “(Version Number)” with

Agent (Version the actual version number of the
Number) MSI agent software. See illustration.
Description: SolarWinds Orion

Agent
Classification: Tools
Vendor: SolarWinds, Inc.
Product: Orion Agent. (This

must be entered
manually the first
time.)
Severity: None
Impact: Normal
Reboot Can request reboot

Behavior:
Note: All other fields can be left empty.
5. Click Next.
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Add Deployment Rules:
1. On the Prerequisite Rules screen, click Add Rule then select Windows
Version as the Rule Type and populate the remaining fields with the
following information:
2. Click OK to save this rule, then click Next.

3. On the Select Package screen, select the Package Type as a Microsoft
Installer File (.msi) and then select I already have the content for the
package locally on my network.
4. Click the browse icon and locate the MSI File for the Orion Agent. The
Download URL field will automatically populate.
5. The GUID product code is extracted from the MSI and displayed for review.
Copy the GUID product code that will be used later.
Note: The GUID is detected from the installer. Use the one displayed in
your environment.
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6. Check Includes additional files with the package and then click the
button to the right to open the Package Content Editor.
7. Within the Package Content Editor, click Add Files and browse to the
MST File for the Orion Agent.
8. Click OK to close the Package Content Editor. To confirm that you want to
add these files to the cache, Click Yes.
9. Select None for the Binary Language.
10. In the Command Line field, enter: TRASNFORMS=(MST FILE NAME)
(Example:“TRANSFORMS=SolarWinds_Agent_1.0.0.866.mst”)
11. Click Next.

12. On the Applicability Rules screen, click Add Rule, then select Create MSI
Rule.
13. Select Rule Type: Product Installed and then check Not Rule.
14. Enter the product code (without the braces) and leave all other fields empty.
15. On the Installed Rules screen, click OK to save the rule, and then click
Next.
16. Click Add Rule, then select Basic Rule.
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17. For the Rule Type, select File Version with Registry Value.
a. For the Registry Key, enter: HKEY_LOCAL_
MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\SolarWinds\Agent
b. For the Registry Value, enter: InstallDir
c. For the Comparison, select Equal To.
d. For the Version, enter the version number for the agent. (For example:
1.0.0.866).
18. Click OK to save the rule, then click Next. Review the Summary Page and
enter any notes at the bottom.
19. Click Next to save, then click OK.
Note: You will be presented with a progress bar as the file is being
packaged and uploaded. Upon completion, you will get a Package Saved
dialog box.
Publishing the Package:
1. Within the SolarWinds, Inc. Packages view in Patch Manager, highlight the
SolarWinds Orion Agent package that was created.
2. In the SolarWinds Orion Agent Action Pane, click Publish Packages.
3. Accept the default selections, or choose a specific WSUS server for

publication.
4. Click Next.
5. You will be notified that the package has been published.
6. Click Finish to close the Publishing Wizard.
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Deploying with a Gold Master Image
The Package for the SolarWinds Orion Agent has now been packaged and
published to your WSUS server.
For more information on Approving and Deploying software, please see the
SolarWinds Patch Manager Administration Guide.
Deploying with a Gold Master Image

A Gold Master Image is used when you want to maintain a master image that is
copied when a new server is provisioned. This is useful for virtual machines,
physical servers, and cloud instances. Whenever a new server is brought online
using this image, the agent will already be installed.
To install the agent offline, take the following steps:
1. From the web console, navigate to Settings > Agent Settings > Download
Agent Software.
2. In the Mass Deployment Files column, choose the agent communication
mode. This information is included in the automatically generated files.
l For Agent Initiated communication, enter which polling engine you
want the agent to use. You may need to manually enter the polling
engine information if the IP address is different from what the
SolarWinds Orion server reports. This happens when the monitored
host is behind a NAT or proxy device. In these cases, enter the IP
address of the SolarWinds Orion server or the additional polling
engine as it is accessible from the host where the agent will be
installed.
a. To use a predefined polling engine, select Use Connection
Details from Polling Engine, and then choose a polling engine
from the drop-down menu.
b. To manually enter the polling engine IP address, select Enter
Connection Details Manually, and then enter the host name
and IP address. The IP address is required. Use the host name
and IP address of the polling engine that the clients know.
l For Server Initiated communications, enter your Agent
Communication Port number. By default, this is port number 17790.
3. Select Gold Master Image and then click Download Zip.
4. Extract the contents of the .zip file.
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5. Double click Setup.bat.

6. The installation wizard begins.
7. Click Next.
8. Select an installation folder by clicking Change…, or accept the default
path, and then click Next.
9. When installation is complete, click Finish.
If you are deploying a Server initiated agent, take the following steps to enable
agent communication with your SolarWinds Orion server.
To enable Server initiated communication on deployed agents:
1. From the web console, navigate to Settings > Manage Agents.

2. Click Add Agent > Connect to a previously installed agent.
3. Enter a name for the Agent
4. Select Server Initiated Communication.
5. Enter the IP address of the node where the agent is deployed as well as the
port number for the agent (Default value is 17790.)
6. Click Submit.
Deploying on Windows Core Servers

If installing the agent on a Windows Core Server, .Net 4.0 is required to be
manually installed.
Important: Make sure that your computer has the latest Windows service pack
and critical updates installed.
To Install the Agent on a Windows Core Server:
1. Right-click cmd.exe and click Run as Administrator.
2. Turn on WoW64 by entering the following command:

Start /w ocsetup ServerCore-WOW64
3. Turn on the.NET 2.0 layer by entering the following command:

Start /w ocsetup NetFx2-ServerCore
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Deploying Agents in the Cloud
4. Turn on .NET 2.0 layer for WoW64 by entering the following command:
Start /w ocsetup NetFx2-ServerCore-WOW64
5. Download the .NET Framework from the following location:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=22833
Note: By default, no web browser is installed with Windows Core. Consider
using FTP or a flash drive to import the necessary files.
6. Once the .NET Framework is installed, you may need to reboot the host
server. The agent can then be deployed to the host server and operate
normally.
Deploying Agents in the Cloud

Agents can be deployed in the cloud for use with Amazon Web Services,
Microsoft Azure, and other third party cloud storage services. Use the following
topics to learn about deploying an agent in common cloud storage services:
l Manually Deploy an Agent on Amazon Web Services

l Automatically Deploy an Agent on Amazon Web Services
l Automatically Deploy an Agent on Microsoft Azure
Manually Deploy an Agent on Amazon Web Services

You can manually deploy agents to a virtual machine using RDP and install both
the .MSI installer file and the .MST transform file.
Requirements for manual agent deployment:
l Agent Initiated Communication: The poller must have a public IP address

which is visible from the node that will have the agent installed. Port 17778
must be open on the poller.
l Server Initiated Communication: The node where the agent will be
installed must have a public IP address. Port 17790 must be open.
You can manually deploy the agent in one of two ways:
l Silently via the Command Line Interface

l Manually using the Interactive Wizard
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To manually install the .MSI and .MST files via the Command Line Interface:
1. From the Web Console, navigate to: Settings > Agent Settings >
2. In the Mass Deployment Files column, download both the .MSI installer file
and the .MST transform file by clicking their respective buttons.
3. Open a command prompt in the administrator context. (Right-click cmd.exe

and select, Run as Administrator.)
4. Enter the following command and then press Enter:

msiexec /i "SolarWinds-Agent.msi"
TRANSFORMS="SolarWinds-Agent.mst"
Deploying the Agent Manually using the Interactive Wizard:
2. In the Manual Installer column, click Download .MSI to download the .MSI
file on the source computer.
3. Once download is complete, copy the .MSI file to the client machine and
then install it by double clicking it and beginning the wizard.
4. During installation, select either Agent Initiated Communication

(Recommended) or Orion Server Initiated Communication. When done,
click Next.
5. Enter the Orion server IP address or Hostname and the Orion

administrator account credentials (Username and Password) during
installation.
6. When done, click Next and complete the wizard as needed.
Automatically Deploy an Agent on Amazon Web Services

You can automatically deploy an agent from Amazon Web Services.
To automatically deploy an agent on Amazon Web Services:
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Automatically Deploy an Agent on Amazon Web Services
3. Once download is complete, login to your AWS S3 account.
4. From the Amazon Web Services console, click S3 under the Storage &
Content category.
5. Click, Create Bucket to create a storage space for both the .MSI installer
file and the .MST transform file.
6. Click on the newly created bucket in the list.
7. Click Actions > Upload > Add Files to upload both the .MSI installer file
and the .MST transform file. When selected, click Start Upload.
8. On your virtual machines, create a custom PowerShell script to be used on
each virtual machine where you want the agent installed. This script will run
on the virtual machines when it is launched for the first time, downloading
and executing the agent.
Note: For information on creating a PowerShell script, refer to the following
article:
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/UsingConfig_
WinAMI.html#user-data-execution.
9. Login to your Amazon Web Services account:
Note:Steps 10-11 can also be accomplished via the API or AWS
Command Line Interface.
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10. To create an instance, take the following steps:

a. From the Amazon Web Services console, click EC2 under the
Compute header.
b. Expand Instances from the Navigation Bar¸ and then click Instances.
c. Click, Launch Instance.
d. Select a Windows computer from the list by clicking, Select.
e. Check the box of the desired Windows computer.
f. Click Next: Configure Instance Details.
g. Expand Advanced Details.
h. Paste you PowerShell script in the User Data text box with the As
Text option selected.
i. Complete the wizard as needed, or click Review and Launch.
11. For instances that are already created, take the following steps:
a. Stop the instance where you want to deploy the agent
b. Right-click the instance and navigate to Instance Settings >
View/Change User Data.
c. Paste you PowerShell script in the text box as Plain Text.
Automatically Deploy an Agent on Microsoft Azure

You can automatically deploy an agent from Microsoft Azure.
To Automatically Deploy Agents to Virtual Machines on Microsoft Azure:
1. From the web console, navigate to: Settings > Agent Settings >
3. Upload both the .MSI installer file and the .MST transform file to your Azure
Blob Storage. (You can use AzCopy to upload files to Azure Storage:
http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/storage-use-
azcopy/)
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Automatically Deploy an Agent on Microsoft Azure
4. Create a custom PowerShell script to be used on each virtual machine

where you want to install the agent. This script should be set to execute the
downloading of the agent software to the virtual machine when the virtual
machine is launched for the first time. For information on creating a
PowerShell script, refer to section titled, Use Case 1: Uploading files to a
container in the default account in the following article:
http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2014/04/24/automating-vm-customization-
tasks-using-custom-script-extension/
5. Add your custom PowerShell script to virtual machines manually on last

step of their creation in the Azure management portal, as shown:
Note: This step can also be accomplished via the API or AWS Command
Line Interface.
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Managing Agents
Most tasks related to managing agents can be done from the Manage Agents
page, located on the Settings page. From this page, you can check agent
connection and deployment status.
Important: ICMP is a low level messaging protocol. Because of its simplicity, it is
not possible to accurately record the same response time values using a different
protocol. For example: An agent node reports a response time in the range 490-
850 ms, but typical ICMP response time is about 150 ms.
The following tools for the Manage Agents page are listed below:
Manage Agent Toolbar:
l Add Agent: Takes you to the Add Agent page, allowing you to choose to
deploy the agent on a network, or connect to a previously installed agent.
l Edit Settings: Takes you to the Edit Agent Settings page, allowing you to
adjust the agent name and automatic updating.
l Delete: Allows you to delete the selected agent. Deleting an agent from
within this toolbar or the Manage Nodes page provides you the option to
remotely uninstall the agent.
l Choose Resources: Displays a list of resources and statistics to monitor.
This is only available for agents that are also nodes.
l For a Single Agent: This will take you to the List Resources page,
allowing you to choose items on the node you wish to monitor.
l For Multiple Agents: From here, Orion will discover available
resources on the agents you have selected using Network Sonar
Discovery. From here, you can choose items on the nodes you wish to
monitor
l Manage as Node: This will manage the agent as a new node by navigating
to the Add Node page with pre-configured agent details.
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Managing Agents
l More actions:
l View installed agent plug-ins: Displays a dialog detailing the
following: Node, Agent Status, Connection Status, Plug-in, Status, and
Plug-in version.
l View installed plug-ins report: Generates a report detailing the
following: Node Status, Agent DNS Name, Automatic Update
enabled, Connection Status, Agent Status, Agent Version, Plugin,
Plugin status, and Plugin Version.
l Retry agent installation: Will attempt to install the agent in the event
of a file transfer timeout due to network connectivity issues.
l Reboot Agent Machine: Reboots the server that hosts the selected
agent.
Note: This button is disabled by default. It becomes enabled when the
installation of an agent requires a system reboot.
l Update: Updates the agent software to the latest version available.
Note: This button is disabled by default. It becomes enabled when:
l Automatic updates for the agent is disabled.
l The selected agent requires an update.
l Reconnect to passive agent: The server will try to re-establish the
connection to the passive agent in the event the connection was lost
and automatic reconnection failed. This can also be used for
connecting to an agent that was deleted but not uninstalled.
The available columns for the Manage Agents page are listed in the following
table:
Agent/Node Name or IP address of the listed node.
Agent Current status of the listed agent.

Status Agent Status can be as follows:
l Connected/OK: Everything is working

l Unknown: Agent is connected but no communication is
received
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l Update Available: Agent version is older than the version

on server and should be updated.
l Update in Progress: Agent is currently being updated.
l Reboot Required: Agent needs to be rebooted in order to
finish the installation of plugins.
l Reboot in Progress: Agent is currently being rebooted.
Once reboot is complete, the agent should finish
installation of plugins.
l Reboot Failed: Agent cannot be rebooted. It may be
temporarily offline or there may be some other issue.
l Plugin Update Pending: A plugin on the agent has an
older version than the one that is on the server and should
be updated.
Connection Current connection status of the listed agent.

Status Connection status can be as follows:
l Connected/OK: Connected
l Unknown: The agent management service is not running
l Service not Responding: The agent management
service is running, but the agent is not connected
l Deployment Pending: An agent deployment is going to
start, but has not started
l Deployment In Progress: The agent is being deployed to
the target node
l Deployment Failed: Agent deployment failed for various
reasons
l Invalid Response: The status displayed if the agent
responds in an unexpected manner
l Waiting for Connection: The agent was approved, but
has yet to connect to the Orion Server
Registered Date when the agent was added to the agent management
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Editing Agent Configuration
On system.
Mode Agent communication type:
l Agent initiated: The agent initiates the connection to the

agent management system.
l Server initiated: The agent behaves as a web server and
the agent management system initiates the connection.
Version Version of the agent software. This is helpful in determining

which agents should be updated.
For more information, see Agent Requirements.
Editing Agent Configuration

Editing an agent's configuration may be necessary if you experience problems
and need to collect diagnostics.
To change these settings, take the following steps:
1. From the web console, navigate to Settings > Agent Settings > Manage
Agents.
2. On the Manage Agents page, select an agent and then click Edit Settings.
3. Check Allow automatic agent updates to allow automatic updates to the
agent.
4. Expand the Troubleshooting heading.
a. Optional: Select a Log level.
b. Click Download to download the most recent troubleshooting files, or
click Collect new diagnostics to generate current diagnostics.
5. When done, click Submit.
Tracking Your Polling Method

If different nodes are using different polling methods, you may want to keep track
of which node is using which polling method for troubleshooting purposes. There
are several methods you can use to identify the polling method of nodes:
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l On the Node Details page (View individually)

l On the Application Details page (View individually)
l On the Manage Nodes page (View as a list)
l Creating a report to identify Agent usage
Identifying the polling method from the Node Details page:
1. From the web console, navigate to the Home tab.

2. In the All Nodes resource, expand a node tree and click a node to be taken
to the Node Details page.
3. On the Polling Details resource, find the Polling Method field, as shown:
Identifying the polling method from the Application Details page:
1. From the web console, navigate to the Application tab.

2. In the All Applications resource, expand an application tree and click an
application to be taken to the Application Details page.
3. In the Management resource, click Edit Application Monitor.
4. Expand the Advanced tree to reveal the polling method being used.
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Tracking Your Polling Method
Identifying the polling method from the Manage Nodes page:
1. From the web console, navigate to Settings > Manage Nodes.

2. If not already visible, add the Polling Method field by clicking >> at the top-
right of the table, as shown:
Note: Once added, the fields can be sorted by clicking their respective
column heads.
Creating a report to identify Agent usage:
1. From the web console, navigate to Home > Reports.
2. Search for Agent in the Search box.

3. Select the Agent Inventory report.
4. Click View Report, as shown above.
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5. Your report should look similar to the following:
Installed Agent Plug-in Status

Use the following table to understand the agent plug-in status.
Status Meaning
The plug- The plug-in is installed, working correctly, and communicating

in is with no problems.
installed
Installation The plug-in is waiting to be deployed. It may be waiting for the

Pending computer it is installed on to reboot or because some other
process on the remote host has interrupted the installation
process.
Unknown The status is unknown due to networking interruptions,

communication problems with the agent, or because the plug-in is
no longer installed.
Error The plug-in may have installed incorrectly or failed to load.
In The plug-in is either being installed or uninstalled.

Progress
If you think a plug-in should be available and cannot find it in the list of installed
plug-ins, you may need to check your purchased products or manually update
your agent. New plug-ins and updates to existing plug-ins are installed when an
agent is updated. It may take a few minutes before the status changes.
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Editing Agent Settings in the Control Panel
Editing Agent Settings in the Control Panel

If the agent loses connectivity to the Orion server, or is unable to connect after
being manually installed, you can still configure the agent's settings via the
Windows Control Panel that will allow the agent to re-connect to the Orion server.
Settings for the agent for the local computer can be found in the Windows Control
Panel. This is installed on the server where the Agent is installed.
Editing Agent Settings with the Control Panel:
1. Navigate to Start > Control Panel > Orion Agent Settings.

2. Double-click the Orion Agent Settings icon.
3. Select and Agent Communication Mode:
l Agent initiated Communication: Also known as an Active Agent.
l Server Initiated Communication: Also known as a Passive Agent.
4. Complete the Connection Settings field as necessary to your environment.
Note: A field for an Agent Passphrase (shared secret) is provided for

security. When the agent is installed, you must set a passphrase. When the
SolarWinds Orion server connects to that agent, it verifies the passphrase to
successfully connect.
l Both Agent initiated Communication and Server Initiated

Communication offer the use of an optional proxy. To access the
proxy settings, click Proxy Settings. Fill out the fields as needed and
then click OK.
5. When done, Click OK.
Connecting to a Previously Installed Agent

You can connect to agents that you have installed previously or modify the
agent's assigned polling engine. The steps are different depending on the agent
communication mode. You should confirm the agent communication mode before
you try to connect to it.
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To connect to a agent using agent initiated communication:
1. On the Add Agent page, enter the name of the agent you want to connect to.
2. Select Agent-initiated communication.
3. Select the agent from the Agent drop-down list.
4. Expand Advanced to change the proxy.
5. Select Allow automatic agent updates to have the agent automatically
upgraded when upgrading to new versions of SolarWinds modules that
support the agent.
Note: Disabling this option will require you to manually upgrade agents
after upgrading your SolarWinds products and modules.
6. Click Submit to complete the process.
Manage Agents page.
To connect to a agent using server initiated communication:
1. On the Add Agent page, enter the name of the agent you want to connect to.
2. Select Server initiated communication.
3. Enter the IP address or hostname of the remote computer on which the
agent is installed.
4. Expand Advanced to change the default port number, assign the agent to a
different poller, or use a proxy to connect to the agent.
5. To view the poller, click Advanced.
6. Select Allow automatic agent updates to have the agent automatically
upgraded when upgrading to new versions of SolarWinds modules that
support the agent.
Note: Disabling this option will require you to manually upgrade agents
after upgrading your SolarWinds products and modules.
7. Click Submit to complete the process.
Manage Agents page.
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Changing Agent Communication Modes
Changing Agent Communication Modes

You can change how the SolarWinds agent communicates with the
To switch between Server initiated mode and Agent initiated mode:
1. For nodes polled through the agent, from the web console, navigate to the
Node Details page:
a. Home > Node.
b. From the Management resource, click Edit Node.
c. Select the WMI option, enter your WMI credentials, and then click
Submit.
2. Navigate to the Agent Management page and delete the Agent record:
a. From the web console, navigate to Settings > Manage Agents.
b. Check the box next to the Agent you want to uninstall, and then click
Delete on the toolbar. Confirm deletion when prompted.
3. Install the Agent in the desired mode.
a. From the web console, navigate to Settings > Manage Agents > Add
Agent > Deploy the agent on my network.
b. Select the desired node by checking its box, then click Next.
c. Assign credentials then select the agent mode, Agent or Passive.
l Active: The Agent initiates communication with the server on
port 17778. This port must be opened on the server firewall so
the Agent can connect. No change to the Agent firewall is
required.
l Passive: The Agent waits for requests from the server on a
specified port. This port must be opened on the Agent
computer's firewall so the server can connect. No change to the
server firewall is required.
d. Click Deploy agent.
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4. Once the Agent is installed, navigate to the Node Details page:

a. Home > Node.
b. From the Management resource, click Edit Node.
c. Change the polling method from WMI to Agent, then click Submit.
Changing the Agent Port

To change the default port for agent communication:
1. On the server with the agent, edit the following configuration file using a text
editor:
c:\Program Files (x86)
\SolarWinds\Orion\AgentManagement\SolarWinds.AgentMan
agement.ServiceCore.dll.config
2. Change the port number in the following tag to the desired port number:
<agentManagementServiceConfiguration
messagingPort="17778" />
3. Save your changes. Once the port is changed, the agent can start using the
new port number.
4. Restart the SolarWinds Orion Module Engine service.
Notes:
l If you installed the agent manually, you can change the port number during
installation through the wizard in the web console.
l If you deployed the agent from the server, the port number is set
automatically.
l If you used the .MST file for deployment for mass-deployment, you will need
to download a new .MST file from the server after the port number was
changed.
To change the default port on agents that have already been deployed:
1. The port number can be changed by navigating to Start > Control Panel >
Orion Agent Settings.
2. In Orion Agent Settings, enter a new port number in the field provided.
3. Click OK.
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Certificates and the Agent
Certificates and the Agent

The Verisign Root Certificate Authority (CA) must be current. This is required
because the agent software is signed using a Verisign certificate. If your
certificate is not current, you will need to manually download the Root CA
certificate and install it into the Local Computer\Trusted Root Certification
Authority store on the server hosting the agent. The entire Verisign root certificate
package can be downloaded from the following link.
http://www.verisign.com/support/roots.zip.
Installing a new Certificate:
1. Open a new Microsoft Management Console (MMC) by navigating to Start,

then type MMC followed by Enter.
2. In the MMC, click File > Add/Remove Snap-in…
3. Add the Certificates Snap-in.
4. Select Computer Account, and then click Next.

5. Ensure Local Computer is selected. (The computer this console is running
on).
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6. Click Finish.
7. Click OK to add the snap-in into the MMC window.
8. Expand the certificate store tree.
9. Right click the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store.
10. Select All Tasks/Import to import the previously downloaded certificate(s).
11. Follow the prompts of the wizard to import the certificate(s).
12. Verify the VeriSign Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority – G5
certificate is present in the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store (It
is recommended that you import all missing Root CA certificates).
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Using the Agent Polling Method
Using the Agent Polling Method

An agent is software that provides a communication channel between the
SolarWinds Orion server and a Windows computer. Agents are used to
communicate the information that SolarWinds plug-ins collect to the
SolarWinds Orion server. For more information about the polling method, see
Choosing Your Polling Method.
When the Agent Polling Method is selected, an agent is deployed to the node and
installed using the credential you have selected. After the agent is installed, it
operates under a local account.
Using the Network Sonar Wizard to Check Agent Polled Nodes

Agent discovery allows you to keep nodes that utilize the agent up to date.
Checking this box allows the Orion server to find new volumes, interfaces, and
other objects on nodes that use the agent.
While normal discovery finds new nodes and adds them to the Orion server, this
is not true for nodes using the agent. Agent discovery is simply an extension to
the standard discovery process.
A discovery profile may contain:
l Nodes using both the agent and non-agent nodes;

l Non-agent nodes
l Agent nodes
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Agent Performance Counters

The following performance counters are associated with the agent:
SolarWinds: Agent Service
l Messages Sent: This counter displays the number of messages sent to the
Agent Management Service.
l Messages Received: This counter displays the number of messages
received from the Agent Management Service.
l Exchange Received: This displays the number of times the Exchange
Receive method was called.
l Exchange Sent: This displays the number of times the Exchange Send
method was called.
SolarWinds: Agent Management Service
l Messages Sent to Agent Count: Number of messages sent to the Agent.

l Messages Received From Agent Count: Number of messages received
from the Agent.
l Incoming Timed Out Messages Count: Number of incoming messages
that timed out before being processed by the recipient.
l Outgoing Timed Out Messages Count: Number of outgoing messages
that timed out before they were sent to the target agent.
l Incoming Failed Messages Count: Number of incoming messages that
failed to be processed.
l Outgoing Failed Messages Count: Number of outgoing messages that
failed to be processed.
l Total Agents Fully Connected: Number of Total Agents Fully Connected.
l Active Agents Fully Connected: Number of Active Agents Fully
Connected
l Passive Agents Fully Connected: Number of Passive Agents Fully
Connected.
l Passive Agents Disconnected: Number of Passive Agents Disconnected.
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SolarWinds: Agent Management Service
l Total Agents Connected To Messaging Hub: Number of Agents

Connected To the Messaging Hub.
l Total Agents Connected To Files Hub: Number of Agents Connected To
the Files Hub.
l Messages Processed Per Second: Messages processed/sec.
l Incoming Messages Processed Per Second: Incoming messages
processed/sec.
l Outgoing Messages Processed Per Second: Outgoing messages
processed/sec.
l Incoming Processing Queue Size: Number of messages waiting in the
incoming processing queue.
l Outgoing Processing Queue Size: Number of messages waiting in the
outgoing processing queue.
l Incoming Persistence Queue Size: Number of messages waiting in the
incoming persistence queue.
l Outgoing Persistence Queue Size: Number of messages waiting in the
outgoing persistence queue.
l Incoming SignalR Messages: Number of messages received from
SignalR.
l Outgoing SignalR Messages: Number of messages passed to SignalR for
sending.
l Incoming Exchange Queue Size: Number of messages in the incoming
queue with Exchange items.
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Troubleshooting Agents
The most common issues with agents occur when they are installed or when you
configure them. Agents may also be unable to connect to the SolarWinds Orion
server or the server may not be able to connect to the agents.
For more troubleshooting information, use the following topics:
l Troubleshooting Your Agent Installation

l Troubleshooting Agent Configuration
l Troubleshooting Agent Connections
For information about what a plug-in status means, see Installed Agent Plug-in
Status.
Troubleshooting Your Agent Installation

If your agent does not deploy correctly, use the following questions to help you
troubleshoot the issue. You can also install the agent manually on the target
computer.
Are you installing other software on the target computer?
Some software installations, such as Windows Updates, prevent other
installations from finishing successfully.
Install the agent when the other installations have completed.
Is the target computer waiting to be restarted?
Deployment can fail when the computer is waiting to be restarted after
installing software.
Restart the computer and try again.
Is the SolarWinds Agent server already installed and running on the target
computer?
The agent may have connectivity issues.
Can you ping the SolarWinds Orion server or connect to the Web Console
from the target computer?
The SolarWinds agent requires port 17778 to be open on the server.
Verify that the Orion server can ping the computer that has the agent is
installed.
Note: This is not required for server initiated agents.
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Troubleshooting Agent Configuration
Do you use group policies in your organization?

You may have a network policy that interferes with deploying agents.
Troubleshooting Agent Configuration

The following sections will help you identify and correct Agent errors concerning
configuration.
Passive Agent: Connection Refused

Error: Connection refused.
Resolution: Specify an Agent shared secret to connect to a passive Agent or
specify a proxy. Also, verify that the agent port is accessible.
Passive Agent: Agent is not running in passive mode

Error: Agent is not running in passive mode.
Information: The agent is running in agent initiated communication mode and
you cannot connect to it.
Resolution: Switch the communication mode to server initiated communication.
You can uninstall and reinstall the agent from the server or manually re-install it.
You can also change the communication mode on the remote host by opening the
Control Panel, and then opening the Orion Agent Settings item.
Invalid Agent Version

Error: Agent is not running in passive mode.
Information: Agent version is empty or zero. This indicates that something is
wrong with the agent.
Resolution: Re-install the agent.
Agent GUID is Different

Error: Agent GUID is different than the requested ID.
Information: That means that the agent is probably connected to another Orion
server or is broken.
Resolution: Re-install the agent.
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Troubleshooting Agent Connections

If your agent and your SolarWinds Orion server cannot communicate, the agent
cannot respond to queries or the SolarWinds Orion server cannot receive data
from the agent.
Note: You need access to the remote host for most troubleshooting steps.
Use the following questions to help you troubleshoot the connection issue:
Is the agent service running?
You can check the Manage Agents page for the Agent Status or logon to
the remote host with the agent installed on it to check the status.
If the agent is not running or has stopped, start the SolarWinds Agent
Service.
Are all plug-ins installed correctly?
Select the agent in the Manage Agents page and click More Actions
> View installed agent plug-ins.
If there is a problem with a plug-in, restart the agent. The agent checks for
new plug-ins when it restarts.
Do the communication modes match between the agent and the server?
On the remote host, open the Control Panel, and then open the Orion
Agent Settings item. The communication mode listed there must match the
communication mode in the Manage Agents page on the SolarWinds Orion
server.
If the modes do not match, change one to match the other.
Does the server initiate communication?
Logon to the server host and attempt to ping the remote host.
Server initiated communication requires port 17790 to be open on the
remote host.
Does the agent initiate communication?
Logon to the remote host and attempt to ping the server.
Agent initiated communication requires port 17778 to be open on the server.
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Use the following table to understand the agent plug-in status.
Status Meaning
The plug- The plug-in is installed, working correctly, and communicating

in is with no problems.
installed
Installation The plug-in is waiting to be deployed. It may be waiting for the

Pending computer it is installed on to reboot or because some other
process on the remote host has interrupted the installation
process.
Unknown The status is unknown due to networking interruptions,

communication problems with the agent, or because the plug-in is
no longer installed.
Error The plug-in may have installed incorrectly or failed to load.
In The plug-in is either being installed or uninstalled.

Progress
If you think a plug-in should be available and cannot find it in the list of installed
plug-ins, you may need to check your purchased products or manually update
your agent. New plug-ins and updates to existing plug-ins are installed when an
agent is updated. It may take a few minutes before the status changes.
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Chapter 14: Monitoring Network
Events in the Web Console
Orion automatically logs all events that occur to any monitored devices on your
network. These events are then displayed in the Orion Web Console, so you can
view and acknowledge them as your network management policies require.
Use the following topics to perform these actions:
l Viewing Event Details in the Web Console

l Acknowledging Events in the Web Console
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Chapter 14: Monitoring Network Events in the Web Console
Viewing Event Details in the Web Console

Orion logs network events and lists them in the readily customizable Events view
of the Web Console. Events are shown in order of occurrence, and they may be
viewed by device, date and time, and event or device type.
Note: The Network Event Log is maintained as part of the Nightly Database
Maintenance plan defined within the Database Settings area of the Orion Polling
Setting page in the Orion Web Console. Records are kept for the number of days
specified in the Events Retention field (the default is 30 days). For more
information, see Orion Polling Settings.
To view event details in the Web Console:
2. Log in to the Orion Web Console, and then click Events in the Views
toolbar.
3. If you want to filter your events view by object, select the Network
Object or Type of Device to which you want to limit your view in the Filter
Devices area.
4. If you want to limit your events view to show only events of a specific
type, select the appropriate Event Type in the Filter Events area.
5. If you only want to see events from a specific period of time, complete
either of the following options:
l Select a predefined period from the Time Period menu.
l Select Custom from the Time Period menu, and then click the
appropriate fields to provide Begin and End dates and times.
6. In the Show X Events field, provide the maximum number of events you
want to view.
7. If you want to show all events, including events that have already been
cleared, check Show Cleared Events.
8. Click Refresh to complete your events view configuration.
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Acknowledging Events in the Web Console
Acknowledging Events in the Web Console

Acknowledging network events is straightforward in the Web Console, as shown
in the following procedure.
To acknowledge events in the Web Console:
2. Log in to the Orion Web Console, and then click Events in the Views
toolbar.
3. Provide appropriate filter criteria for the displayed events. For more
information, see Viewing Event Details in the Web Console.
4. Click Refresh to ensure that all selected view criteria take effect.
5. Check individual events to acknowledge or click Select All.
6. Click Clear Selected Events.
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Chapter 15: Network Maps
Maps provide a visual representation of your network in your Web Console.
You can create geographical maps with nodes or node groups on it with the
Worldwide Map.
You can create network maps or diagrams with Network Atlas.
Use the following topics to learn more:
l The Worldwide Map

l Network Atlas Maps
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The Worldwide Map

The Worldwide Map resource enables you to represent nodes and groups of
nodes on a realistic geographical map that can be displayed on Orion Web
Console views. When a map is viewed in the console, you can zoom in and out,
view concise information pop-ups for nodes and groups, and access Node detail
pages by double clicking an object.
Note: Only one Worldwide map can be created, but can be included in as many
console views as required. However, in each console view the Worldwide Map
can have its own title, and you can apply filters to show a different selection of
objects.
Setting up the Worldwide map

You can add nodes and groups of nodes to the Worldwide map automatically or
manually. If you decide to add objects automatically, GPS co-ordinates and street
address information, held within each node's Custom Properties, is used to
determine each object's location. Objects that do not have this information can be
added manually.
To automatically add objects to the Worldwide map:
1. Click Settings in the top right of the Orion web console.

2. Click Web Console Settings in the Product Specific Settings section.
3. Scroll down to the Worldwide Map Settings settings, and select the
Automatic Geolocation checkbox.
4. Click Submit.
5. Click Manage World Map in the Node & Group Management section.
If objects have been automatically located they will be displayed on the
world map within an hour.
Note: If you try to drag an automatically placed object to another location on
the map, a warning message is displayed to inform you that the object will
be treated as a manually placed object once it is moved.
To manually add objects to the Worldwide map:
1. Click Settings.
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Map objects
3. Click Place objects on the map manually, and click on the map where you
want to place the node or group.
4. Select Groups or Nodes from the Show drop-down, and how to display
these objects from the Group by drop-down.
5. Check the required nodes or groups in the Available Objects column.
6. Enter a name for this location in the Name of Location field, if required.
7. Click Place on Map.
Note: If the icon in not displayed in exactly the right place, you can drag-
and-drop it into the correct location, or click Edit Location and amend the
Latitude and Longitude coordinates.
Map objects
The icons used on the Worldwide map are shown below:
Single node Click to open this node's details page.
Click to open the Worldwide map, showing

A group or nodes at the same a description of the nodes within the group
location in the right column. Click on a node
description to open the node's details page.
Multiple nodes closely
Zoom in to see individual nodes.
located
To edit a map object:
1. Click Settings.
3. Click on the object. The icon will change from blue to orange to show it has
been selected. The location name and Node name are displayed in the right
column.
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4. To change the object or the name of the location:

a. Select the object on the map to display the column on the right, and
click Edit at the top of the column.
b. To change the object, click X next to the current object for this
location, then select a new object from the Available Objects list.
c. To change the name of the location, replace the text in the Name of
location field.
d. Click Save changes.
5. To move the object to a precise location:
a. Click Edit Location.
b. Enter the co-ordinates in the Latitude and Longitude fields.
c. Click Save.
6. Click Submit.
To remove a map object:
1. Click Settings.
3. Move the cursor over the object to display pop-up information, and ensure
you have the correct object.
4. Click on the object to select it, and click Remove from map.
5. On the confirmation popup, click Yes, Remove Selection.
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Network Atlas Maps
Network Atlas Maps

Orion Network Atlas is a powerful tool for creating custom maps and network
diagrams. The maps created in Orion Network Atlas enable users to view a
graphical depiction of their network in the Orion Web Console. You can also use
the maps to create network documentation, which can then be printed and
exported as needed.
Map objects may include monitored NPM nodes, interfaces, and volumes; SAM
applications and components; nested maps; and network links. The numerous
presentation options for your network maps include the following:
l A large set of predefined background colors, textures, and images is

available for you to use in your maps. You can also provide your own
custom background graphics.
l Real-time weather or natural disaster maps may be projected directly onto
your network maps using linked web graphics as a background.
l The shape, size, color, and style of map links may be customized to
illustrate the status or the relative bandwidth of associated objects.
l Map objects may be presented in a unique set of graphical styles to portray
network status.
l Maps may be nested to selectively reveal increasing levels of map detail,
and the status of nested map child objects may be bubbled up to the parent
map.
Orion Network Atlas is also fully compatible with all network maps created with
Orion Map Maker used with earlier versions of Orion products. For more
information, see the SolarWinds Orion Network Atlas Administrator Guide.
For information on adding Network maps to your Console views, see Selecting a
Network Map.
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Chapter 16: Creating and Viewing
Reports
SolarWinds provides you with a wide array of predefined reports for each Orion
module, and a web-based interface that enables you to customize these
predefined reports and create your own reports, which can be printed or exported
in a variety of formats.
In addition to using the Orion Web Console to view and create reports, you can
also use the Orion Report Writer to maintain legacy reports created prior to the
introduction of the Web Console Report Interface.
The following sections provide detailed information related to creating, viewing,
and managing SolarWinds reports:
l Predefined Orion Reports

l Viewing, Creating, Exporting, Importing, Editing and Scheduling Reports in
the Orion Web Console
l Reports and Account Limitations
l Exporting and Importing Reports
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Chapter 16: Creating and Viewing Reports
Predefined Orion Reports

Your SolarWinds installation comes with many predefined reports that can be
used as soon as there is data to be reported on.
To view the list of available reports in the Web Console:
2. On the Home tab, click Reports.
To view the list of predefined reports in the Report Writer:
These predefined reports are sufficient for most needs, but for specialized
requirements, these can be easily customized. You can also create entirely new
report layouts. For more information, see Viewing, Creating, Exporting, Importing,
Editing and Scheduling Reports in the Orion Web Console.
Note: Legacy reports created prior to the introduction of the Web Console report
interface can only be edited using the Report Writer. For more information, see
Using Report Writer.
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Viewing, Creating, Exporting, Importing, Editing and Scheduling Reports in the
Viewing, Creating, Exporting, Importing, Editing

and Scheduling Reports in the Orion Web
Console
The Reports tab in the Orion Web Console enables you to view, edit, create,
export, print and schedule reports for your SolarWinds Orion installation.
Note: The Orion Web Console does not allow you to edit legacy reports created
with the Orion Report Writer. Use the Report Writer to edit these. For more
information, see Using Report Writer.
Creating Reports in the Web Console

Highly customizable reports, featuring the same charts, tables, gauges and
resources available in web console views, can be created directly from the web
console.
There are two ways to create a new report in the web console:
l Modify an existing web-based report. Add new content to and/or edit the
existing content of an existing report. This is the recommended approach for
new users. See Modifying an Existing Web-Based Report.
l Create a completely new report. Select the layout and contents for the
report. See Creating a New Web-Based Report.
Modifying an Existing Web-Based Report

Modifying an existing web-based report is often the simplest way to generate a
new report. This can be as easy as adding a new resource (a table or chart) to the
report. You can also edit information about each resource, such as its title.
Advanced users can create their own tables and charts.
To modify an existing web-based report:

2. Click Home > Reports.
3. Click Manage Reports in the upper right.
4. Select Report Origin in the Group by dropdown in the left pane, and select
Web-based from the list below.
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5. Select the report to use as the basis for your new report, and click Edit
Report to display the Layout Builder view.
6. To change the size of your report, either click Fit to window width to fit
the modified report to the current browser window, or enter a new value, in
pixels (px), in the Report width field.
7. In the Header area:
l Edit the Title and Subtitle, if required.
l To replace the current logo, confirm that Logo is checked, and then
click Browse for logo to select your new logo.
8. In the Content area:
a. If you want to change the layout, either select the Page Layout from
the drop-down list on the left, or select the required number of Layout
columns.
Note: If you already have content in the report you should be careful
when removing columns.
b. Click Add Content to add appropriate elements to columns. You can
also delete or edit existing content.
Note: For more information, see Adding Content to a Web-Based
Report Column.
9. To change the footer in your report, confirm that Footer is checked, and
complete the following steps.
a. To include the report creation date in the footer, confirm Creation
date is checked.
b. To provide custom text in the footer, confirm Custom text is
checked, and enter the text.
10. Click Next to display the Preview view.
11. If the preview is how you want the report to be, click Next to display the
Properties view.
12. If not, click Back, and make the required edits, as covered in previous
steps.
13. To mark this report as one of your Favorite Reports, check My Favorite
Reports. Marking a report as a favorite promotes it to the top of any reports
list in which it appears.
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Modifying an Existing Web-Based Report
14. Enter an appropriate Report Description.

15. Select an appropriate Report Category.
Note: This report will be included in the selected Group by category on the
Manage Reports view.
16. If there are any defined custom properties that may apply to this report,
they are listed in the Custom Properties area. Provide appropriate values for
all listed custom properties.
17. Enter any comments appropriate for this report in the Comments box. In
addition to providing information, you can use this to group reports on the
Manage Report page.
18. To apply or change limitations for this report, expand Report Limitation,
and then select an appropriate Report limitation category.
Note: Access to web-based reports can be restricted. Users can be
assigned specific report limitation categories, and may only view reports
that are in these categories.
19. Click Next to display the Schedule Report view.
20. To schedule this report to be generated, emailed, saved and/or printed
at set times:
a. Select Schedule this report to run regularly.
b. If you have already set up report schedules, click Assign
Schedule, and select from the list.
c. If you need to set up a new schedule, click Create new schedule.
For more information, see Creating a Report Schedule While Creating
or Editing a Report.
21. If you do not want to schedule this report, check No schedule needed.
22. Click Next to display the Summary view.
23. To preview the report, click Preview Report.
24. To change any of the settings, click Edit to return to the appropriate page.
25. To create and display the report after saving, click Show created report
after saving.
26. Click Submit.
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Creating a New Web-Based Report

While modifying an existing web-based report is often the simplest and the most
direct way to create a new report, you can easily create an entirely new web-
based report.
To create a new web-based report:

3. Click Manage Reports.
4. Click Create New Report.
5. Select and add the first resource to be added to the first column of your
report. For more information, see Adding Content to a Web-Based Report
Column.
6. Click Select and Continue. The Layout Builder view is displayed with the
selected resource added. You can edit this and add further content later.
7. To change the size of your new report, either click Fit to window width to
fit the new report to the current browser window, or enter a new value, in
pixels (px), in the Report width field.
8. In the Header area, configure your new report as follows:
a. Enter a Title and Subtitle.

b. To replace the default logo, confirm that Logo is checked, and click
Browse for logo to select your new logo.
9. In the Content area, configure your new report as follows:
a. Either select the required Page Layout from the selector on the right
or provide the number of Layout columns.
b. For each column, click Add Content to add resources to your report.
For more information, see Adding Content to a Web-Based Report
Column.
c. Click Add section to add further rows of content to this report.
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Creating a New Web-Based Report
10. To include a footer in your report, confirm that Footer is checked, and
complete the following steps:
l To include the report creation date in the footer, confirm that
Creation date is checked.
l To provide custom text in the footer, confirm that Custom text is
checked, and then provide the custom text you want to include.
11. Click Next to display the Preview view.
12. If the preview is not how you want your report to be, click Back, and
make the required edits.
13. If the report preview is acceptable, click Next to display the Properties
view.
14. To store this report as one of your Favorite Reports, check My Favorite
Reports. Marking a report as a favorite promotes it to the top of any reports
list in which it appears.
15. Provide an appropriate Report Description.
16. Select the appropriate Report Category.
Note: This report will be included in the selected Group by category on the
Manage Reports view.
17. If there are any defined custom properties that may apply to this report,
they are listed in the Custom Properties area. Provide appropriate values for
all listed custom properties.
Note: You may leave any custom property field blank, but your SQL
database will record the field as 'empty' because SQL does not recognize
NULL as a valid entry.
18. Enter any comments appropriate for this report in the Comments box. In
addition to providing information about your report, you can use this to group
reports on the initial Report page.
19. To apply or change limitations for this report, expand Report Limitation,
and then select an appropriate Report limitation category.
Note: Web-based reports can be restricted to specific users. Users may be
assigned specific report limitation categories, and they may only view
reports that are in the same report limitation category.
20. Click Next to display the Schedule Report view.
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21. To schedule this report to be generated, emailed, saved and/or printed

at set times:
a. Select Schedule this report to run regularly.

b. If you have already set up report schedules, click Assign
Schedule, and select from the list.
c. To set up a new schedule, click Create new schedule. For more
information, see Creating a Report Schedule While Creating or
Editing a Report.
23. If you do not want to schedule this report, check No schedule needed.
24. Review the report configuration. Click Edit to return to any sections you
want to amend or click Submit to save the report.
Adding Content to a Web-Based Report Column

You can include any web console resource in your new report, as described
below.
Note: The following procedure assumes you are already creating or editing a
report in the web console report Layout Builder. For more information, see
Creating Reports in the Web Console.
To add content to a web-based report column:
1. On the Layout Builder view, click Add Content in the column to which you
want to add a new report resource.
2. Select a criterion in the Group by: field.
Note: The Classic category grouping provides the most comprehensive
list of available resources.
3. Select the resource group from the list in the left pane.
4. Select the resource from the list in the main pane.
5. Click Select and Continue.
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Adding a Custom Chart or Table to a Web-Based Report Column
6. If the resource is designated to work only with a specific object or

objects:
a. Select the required object(s) from the left pane.

b. To give a specific name to this data source, rather than accepting the
default, enter it in the Selection Name field.
c. Click Add to Layout.
7. If you are an advanced user and want to add a Custom Chart or Table,
see Adding a Custom Chart or Table to a Web-Based Report Column.
8. Once you have added content to a column, it is displayed with an Edit
Resource button. Depending on the selected resource, clicking this button
will enable you to change the title, subtitle and various other fields and
settings.
Note: For resources and charts that report on a specific object or objects,
you can select the object(s) from a drop-down list.
9. If you want to add a further row to your report, click Add section. You can
now add content to this row as described above.
Note: Resources can be dragged between columns and sections.
10. Click Next to preview the report.

Advanced users can create custom charts or tables for inclusion in their web-
based reports, as described in the following procedure. Because the Orion
platform generates such a wealth of data, you need to ensure that you know
exactly what data you are using, from which instances it originates from, and what
you do with them to ensure that your custom charts and tables show meaningful
results.
To add a custom chart or table to a web-based report column:
1. Click Add Content in the column to which you want to add a custom chart.
2. Select Type in the Group by: field.
3. Select Reports from the list in the left pane.
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4. Select Custom Chart or Custom Table as required from the list in the main
pane, and click Select and Continue.
5. Select:
l Specific Objects (static selection) if you know precisely which
objects you want to include in your chart or table.
Note: This is the most straightforward selection method, and
recommended for new users. It is also the preferred method for
relatively permanent network objects.
l Select Dynamic Query Builder to select objects based on object
properties.
Note: This is the preferred selection method for groups of objects of a
specified type that may change over time. "All Cisco nodes in Austin"
is an example of a group best defined using the Dynamic Query
Builder.
l Select Advanced DataBase Query (SQL, SWQL) only if you are
comfortable querying your SolarWinds database directly, using SQL
or SWQL.
6. If you selected the Specific Objects (static selection) method, select
objects as shown in the following steps:
a. Select the object type to chart from the Show drop-down.

b. Select the grouping criterion from the Group by drop-down.
c. Expand the groups displayed, if necessary, then check the object(s) to
use.
7. If you selected the Dynamic Query Builder method, define objects as
shown in the following steps:
a. Select the type of selector query you want to use (Basic or

Advanced).
Note: Though the Advanced Selector provides access to all network
object characteristics, the Basic Selector provides access to a
smaller subset of the most frequently used network object
characteristics.
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b. To use the Basic selector:
i. Select the type of objects to report on from the I want to report

on drop-down.
ii. Select whether All child conditions must be satisfied (AND)
or if only At least one child condition must be satisfied (OR).
iii. Select a property of the monitored object, a conditional relation,
and provide a value.
iv. Click Add Simple Condition if you want to add another
condition.
c. To use the Advanced Selector:
i. Select the type of objects to report on from the I want to report

on drop-down.
ii. Select whether All child conditions must be satisfied (AND)
or if only At least one child condition must be satisfied (OR).
iii. For each condition you want to add, select the condition type by
clicking on the green plus symbol (+). You can add a Simple
Condition where you specify a monitored object property, a
conditional relationship and a value, an Advanced Condition
where you select two monitored object properties and a
conditional relationship, or a nested And/Or block.
8. If you selected the Advanced Database Query (SQL. SWQL), provide a
selection query, as follows:
a. Select the Query Type (SWQL or SQL).

Note: For more information about SWQL and SQL queries, click How
to use SWQL / SQL.
b. Enter a query, and then click Preview Results to confirm that your
query provides expected results.
9. In each case enter a name for this selection in the Selection Name field if
you don't want to use the default name and click Add to Layout.
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10. You now need to edit the chart or table to specify the data series or columns
you want to use and other settings. This is covered in Editing a custom chart
and Editing a custom table.
To add additional custom charts or tables:
1. If you add further custom charts or tables, you will be asked if you want to
use objects you selected previously or make a new object selection.
l Click Use previously specified objects and select the objects from
the drop-down to use the previously selected objects.
l Click Create new object selection and continue from Step 5 above to
specify new objects.
To edit a custom chart:
Once you have specified the objects to be reported on for a chart, you need to
select the data series to be used.
1. For the custom chart you want to edit, select the time period to be reported
on from the From drop-down.
2. Click Edit Chart.
3. Enter a Title and Subtitle as required.
4. Click Add Data Series.
5. Select the Object to report on, then how you to group data pertaining to this
object.
Note: The groups available and the data series within these groups will
depend on the object selected.
6. Select the Data Series Name from the list in the right pane, and click Add
Data Series.
7. For additional settings for each data series, click More. Here you can:
l Edit the Display name for this data series
l Select a custom Color for this data series
l Show the 95th percentile line for this data series
l Show Trend for this data series
8. Repeat steps 4 to 7 to add further data series.
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9. Enter a Custom label for the Left axis.

10. Select the Units displayed, and Chart type, and check the Show the sum
of all data series, if required.
11. Select the Sample Interval. This can be from once a minute to once a
week. Data within each sample interval is summarized so that a single point
or bar is plotted for each of these periods. Note: It is possible to select a
sample interval that is longer than the reporting period.
12. To filter the data used in the chart:
a. Either:
l Select Show only limited number of top records and enter
how many of the top records to be used.
l Select Show only limited % of top records and enter the top
percentage of the top records to be used.
b. Select how you want to sort this selection of records from the Sort
records by drop-down. The choices shown here will depend on the
data series selected.
c. Select either Ascending or Descending from the Sort order drop-
down.
d. Select the Data aggregation method required.
e. Click Advanced if you want to sort records using a secondary field.
13. You can set up additional data series using the right axis. This allows you to
superimpose two charts using different labels, units, and chart type.
Note: You cannot use a separate time period or filter results settings for the
right axis series.
14. Click Submit to return to the Add Report page.

To edit a custom table:
Once you have specified the objects to be reported on for a table, you need to
select the data series to be used.
1. For the custom table you want to edit, select the time period to be reported
on from the From drop-down.
2. Click Edit Table.
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3. Enter a Title and Subtitle as required.

4. Click Add Column.
5. Select the Object to report on, then how you want to group data pertaining
to this object.
Note: The groups available and the data series within these groups will
depend on the object selected.
6. Select the Database column names from the list in the right pane, and
click Add Column.
7. For additional settings for a column, click Advanced. Here you can:
l Edit the Display name for this column.
l Check Hide this column in the resulting table, if you want to use this
column when querying the database but do not want to show it. For
example, you may want to use this column's data in the time-based
settings but not show the data in the table.
l Check Allow HTML tags, if you want to use any HTML tags retrieved
from the database for this column.
l Select the Display settings to be used for this column. This applies
the selected formatting to the data in this column. The applicability of
the formatting depends on the data. For example, if the column is Last
Boot, you can show the date of the last boot or how many days ago it
was. Similarly, if the column is Vendor and the display setting is
Vendor icon, the vendor name will be replaced by the vendor logo, if
available.
l Select the Data aggregation method to use for this column, if you
want to summarize your data by time period.
l Select the Alignment for this data. This can be left, right or center.
8. To add further columns, click on the green plus sign in the table layout
section, and repeat steps 5 to 7.
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9. To restrict data in your table to a specific time period, select Yes from
the Time-based settings drop-down.
Note: You can only do this if your table contains a column with historical
data.
a. Select the column to use to specify the time period from the Date/Time
column in this table is drop-down.
b. Select the Sample Interval. This is used to summarize your data by
time period.
10. To sort results in your table:
a. Select the column you want to sort by from the Sort results by drop-
down.
b. Select how you want to sort the column. This can be Ascending or
Descending.
Note: You can sort further, using the remaining columns in the same
way.
11. To group results in your table:
a. Select the column you want to sort by from the Group results by drop-
down.
Note: You can group further, using the remaining columns in the same
way.
12. To filter the results in your table, either:

13. Select Show only the top __ records and enter the number of records to
show
14. Select Show only the top __ % of records and add the percentage of
records to show
15. Click Submit to return to the Add Report page.
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Scheduling Reports
Schedules enable you to set up report actions to occur at specific times. These
actions let you generate reports and print them, save them to disk or email them to
selected recipients. You can create schedules for single or multiple reports or
assign reports to existing schedules. In addition, you can add URLs to the
schedules, so that screen captures of specific websites at the time the reports
were generated are included.
l Reports can be assigned to schedules either when they are being edited or
created, or in the Schedule Manager.
l Schedules can be created from the Report Manager, the Schedule Manager
or from within the creation or editing of a report.
Creating a Report Schedule While Creating or Editing a Report

You can directly assign a report to a schedule while editing the report.
To create a new schedule while creating or editing a report:
1. Click on the Schedule Report tab to display the Schedule Report view.
2. Click Schedule this report to run regularly.
3. Click Create new schedule in the dropdown.
4. Enter an appropriate Schedule Name and Description.
5. Click Add Frequency and then complete the following steps:
a. Enter a name for this frequency.

b. Select:
l Specific Date(s) to select specific dates and times
l Daily to schedule the report actions to run every day
l Weekly to schedule the report actions to run once or more a
week
l Monthly to select the month and the day of the month to run the
report actions.
c. If you selected Specific Date(s), select the date(s) and time(s) when
you want the scheduled report actions to occur and then click Add
Frequency.
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Note: Click Add Time to select additional dates and times.
d. If you selected Daily, complete the following steps:
i. Select the number of days between scheduled report actions.

Note: to run the report on work days, select Business Day (Mon
- Fri).
ii. Select the time(s) to run your report actions.

Note: Click Add Time to add additional dates and times.
iii. If you do not want the schedule to start immediately upon

completion, select Specific Date(s) in the Starting On field,
and then select the date and time when you want the schedule
to start.
iv. If you want the schedule to end at some point, check Ending
On, and then select the date and time when you want the
schedule to end.
v. Click Add Frequency.
e. If you selected Weekly, complete the following steps:
i. Check the days of the week to run the report actions.

ii. Select the time(s). You can click Add Time to add additional
dates and times.
and then select the date and time to start.
On, and then select the date and time for it to end.
v. Click Add Frequency. You can add multiple frequencies, if
required.
f. If you selected Monthly, complete the following steps:
i. Select the months, days and times when you want to run your
report actions.
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ii. If you do not want the schedule to start immediately upon

and then select the date and time when you want the report
schedule to start.
iii. If you want the schedule to end at some point, check Ending
On, and then select the date and time when you want the report
schedule to end.
iv. Click Add Frequency.
6. Click Add Action, and select the action (Email, Print, or Save to Disk) to
be executed on the configured schedule, and then click Configure Action.
7. Enter a Name for the action.
8. If you selected Email:
a. In the To field, enter the email addresses of all recipients, separated

by semicolons.
b. If you need to add CC or BCC addresses, click CC and/or BCC, and
enter the email addresses of these recipients.
c. To change the default name and address of the sender, click "-"
and enter the appropriate Name of Sender and Reply Address.
d. Click Message, and enter the Subject and Message for the email.
You can compose the message as HTML or Plain Text.
e. If you also want a printable version of your emailed reports, check
Retrieve a Printable Version of Reports.
f. Check the format(s) in which you want to provide the emailed report:
PDF, CSV, Excel, or HTML.
g. To include the URL of the emailed report so recipients can
access it remotely, check Include Report's URL
h. Click SMTP Server.
i. If you have already configured an SMTP server, select the Name of
SMTP Server, and then click Save.
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j. If you have not already configured an SMTP server, select Add

New Server, and then complete the following steps:
i. Provide the Hostname or IP Address of your SMTP Server and

the designated SMTP Port Number.
Note: The SMTP server hostname or IP address field is
required. You cannot send an email without identifying the
SMTP server.
ii. If you want to use SSL encryption for your emailed report,
check Use SSL. This changes the SMTP port number to 465.
iii. If your SMTP server requires authentication, check This
SMTP Server requires Authentication, and then provide
requested credentials.
k. Click Add Action.
9. If you selected Print:
a. Provide a Windows User name, using domain\username format,

and Password for a user with access to the printer on which you want
to print your report.
b. Click Printer Settings.
c. Click Select, and then select the printer to which you want to send the
report.
d. Click Select.
e. Enter the number of Copies, the Layout, whether you want Color or
Black and white printing, and the Margins to be applied.
f. Click Add Action.
10. If you selected Save to Disk:
a. Enter the Network Share Location where you want to save the
report.
b. If you also want a printable version of your saved report, check
c. Enter the Windows User name, using domain\username format,
and Password for a user with access to the Network Share Location.
401
d. Select the format(s) in which you want to provide the saved report
(PDF, CSV, or Excel).
e. Click Add Action. You can add multiple actions.
Creating, Assigning and Editing Report Schedules in Report Man-

ager
The section contains procedures for the following scheduling tasks:
l Creating a new schedule

l Editing a schedule
l Assigning a report to a schedule
l Unassigning a report from a schedule
To create a new schedule from the Manage Report page:
1. Select the report for which you want to set up a schedule.

2. Click on Schedule Report > Create New Schedule to display the
Properties view.
3. Enter an appropriate Schedule Name and Description of Report
Schedule.
4. To add addition reports to this schedule, click Assign another Report,
select the report(s) to be included in this schedule, and click Assign Report
(s).
5. To assign webpages to this schedule, so that a snapshot of the selected
website is included with the reports, click Assign Webpage and enter the
URL in the field displayed. You can assign multiple webpages. Remember
to start each with http:// or https:// as appropriate.
6. To specify a user account so that its limitations are applied to this
schedule, expand Advanced Settings, click Another User and enter the
User name or Account ID and Password.
7. Click Next to display the Frequency view.
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Creating, Assigning and Editing Report Schedules in Report Manager
8. Click Add Frequency and then complete the following steps:
a. Enter a name for this frequency.

b. Select:
l Specific Date(s) to select specific dates and times
l Daily to schedule the report actions every day
l Weekly to schedule the report actions once or more a week
l Monthly if you want to select the month and the day of the month
to schedule the report actions.
c. If you selected Specific Date(s), select the date(s) and time(s) when
you want the scheduled report actions to occur and click Add
Frequency.
Note: Click Add Time to select additional dates and times.
d. If you selected Daily, complete the following steps:
i. Select the number of days between scheduled report actions.

Note: To run the report on work days, select Business Day
(Mon - Fri).
ii. Select the time(s) to run your report actions.


and select the date and time when you want the schedule to
start.
On, and select the date and time when you want the schedule to
end.
v. Click Add Frequency.
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e. If you selected Weekly, complete the following steps:
i. Check the days of the week to run the report actions.

ii. Select the time(s). You can click Add Time to add additional
dates and times.
and then select the date and time to start.
On, and then select the date and time for it to end.
v. Click Add Frequency. You can add multiple frequencies, if
required.
f. If you selected Monthly, complete the following steps:
i. Select the months, days of the month and times at which you
want to run this schedule.
ii. If you do not want the schedule to start immediately, select

Specific Date(s) in the Starting On field, and then select the
date and time when you want the report schedule to start.
iii. To set an end date and time for the schedule, check Ending
On, and then select the date and time when you want the report
schedule to end.
iv. Click Add Frequency.
9. Click Next to display the Actions view.
10. Click Add Action, and select the action (Email, Print, or Save to Disk) to
be executed on the configured schedule, and then click Configure Action.
11. Enter a Name for the action.
12. If you selected Email:
a. In the To field, enter the email addresses of all recipients, separated

by semicolons.
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Creating, Assigning and Editing Report Schedules in Report Manager
b. To add CC or BCC addresses, click CC and/or BCC, and enter the

email addresses of these recipients.
c. To change the default name and address of the sender, click "-"
and enter the appropriate Name of Sender and Reply Address.
d. Click Message, and enter the Subject and Message for the email.
You can compose the message as HTML or Plain Text.
e. If you also want a printable version of your emailed reports, check
f. Check the format(s) in which you want to provide the emailed report:
PDF, CSV, Excel, or HTML.
g. To include the URL of the emailed report so the recipients can
access it remotely, check Include Report's URL.
h. Click SMTP Server.
i. If you have already configured an SMTP server, select the Name
of SMTP Server, and click Save.
j. If you have not already configured an SMTP server, select Add
New Server, and complete the following steps:
i. Provide the Hostname or IP Address of your SMTP Server and
the designated SMTP Port Number.
Note: The SMTP server hostname or IP address field is
required. You cannot send an email without identifying the
SMTP server.
ii. To use SSL encryption for your emailed report, check Use
SSL. This changes the SMTP port number to 465.
iii. If your SMTP server requires authentication, check This
SMTP Server requires Authentication, and provide requested
credentials.
k. Click Add Action.
13. If you selected Print:
a. Provide a Windows User name, using domain\username format,

and Password for a user with access to the printer on which you want
to print your report.
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b. Click Printer Settings.

c. Click Select, and then select the printer to which you want to send the
report.
d. Click Select.
e. Enter the number of Copies, the Layout, whether you want Color or
Black and white printing, and the Margins to be applied.
f. Click Add Action.
14. If you selected Save to Disk:
a. Enter the Network Share Location where you want to save the
report.
b. If you also want a printable version of your saved report, check
c. Enter the Windows User name, using domain\username format,
and Password for a user with access to the Network Share Location.
d. Select the format(s) in which you want to provide the saved report
(PDF, CSV, or Excel).
e. Click Add Action. You can add multiple actions.
16. If the schedule summary is correct, click Create Schedule.
17. The schedule is display in the Schedule Manager.
To edit a schedule
1. Click the Schedule Manager tab.

2. Select the schedule you want to edit and click Edit Schedule.
3. The Properties view for the schedule is displayed.
To assign a report to a schedule or multiple schedules
1. Select the report you want to assign.

2. Click Schedule Report > Assign Existing Schedule.
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The Report Scheduler
3. Confirm that you want to assign the report by selecting the schedule or
schedules in the Assign existing schedule list and clicking Assign
Schedule(s).
To unassign a report from a schedule or multiple schedules
1. Select the report you want to unassign.

2. Click Schedule Report > Unassign Schedule.
3. Confirm that you want to remove the report by selecting the schedule or
schedules in the Unassign schedule from report list and clicking
Unassign Schedule(s).
The Report Scheduler

The Report Scheduler provides a list of all report schedules that have been set up
for your Orion web-based reports. You can create, edit, run and delete schedules
from this page, and assign reports to schedules.

3. Click Manage Reports in the upper right.
4. Click the Schedule Manager tab.
5. To create a schedule, click Create New Schedule. The Add Report
Schedule page is displayed. For more information, see Creating, Assigning
and Editing Report Schedules in Report Manager.
6. To edit a schedule, select the schedule and click Edit Schedule. The Edit
Report Schedule page is displayed. For more information, see Creating,
Assigning and Editing Report Schedules in Report Manager.
7. To run a schedule immediately, select the schedule and click Run Now.
The selected schedule is run.
8. To delete a schedule, select the schedule and click Delete. You are asked
to confirm that you want to delete the schedule.
9. To assign a report or reports to a schedule, select the schedule and click
Assign to a Report. Select the report(s) to be assigned to this schedule
and click Assign Report(s).
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Reports and Account Limitations

SolarWinds reports respect Orion Web Console account limitations. For security,
by default, reports are not available to users with limited accounts unless an Orion
administrator specifically provides access. The following procedure creates a
reports folder for an account-limited user and configures the account-limited user
to access Orion reports from it.
Note: For more information about creating user accounts, Creating New
Accounts. For more information about applying account limitations to user
accounts, Setting Account Limitations.
To allow account-limited users access to reports:
1. Open the Orion Reports folder.

Note: All reports created or predefined in Orion Report Writer are, by
default, stored, in C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\Orion\Reports.
2. Create a new folder using the name of the account-limited user.

3. Copy the reports you want the account-limited user to see from the Orion
Reports folder into the new, account-limited user folder.
7. Click Manage Accounts in the Accounts grouping of the Orion Website
8. Select the account-limited user, and then click Edit.
9. In the Default Menu Bar and Views section, select the Report Folder you
created in the Orion Reports folder for the account-limited user.
10. Click Submit.
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Exporting and Importing Reports
Exporting and Importing Reports

You can export reports in several formats from both the Orion Web Console and
the Orion Report Writer. You can also import reports, previously exported as XML
files, back into the Orion Web Console.
Exporting Reports
The most appropriate format for exporting a report depends on how you want to
use the exported file. The different formats, in which Orion reports can be
exported, are shown below.
Orion Web Console Orion Report Writer
XML a
Excel a a
PDF a a
HTML and MHTML a
Image (BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, a

etc.)
Exporting Reports as Excel and PDF from the Orion Web Console
The most common formats for exporting reports have their own icons on the Orion
Web Console’s report page. You can view and edit Excel files as spreadsheets.
You can create read-only files using the PDF export that retain the exact
formatting used in the original report.
To export a report as Excel or PDF:
3. Click on Manage Reports in the upper right corner.
4. Click on the required report.
5. Click on either Export as Excel or Export as PDF, as appropriate.
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Note: The Export to Excel button is only displayed if the report contains
only custom table resources. Other resources cannot be converted to the
Excel format.
Exporting Reports from the Orion Report Writer

The Orion Report Writer provides an export menu that enables you to save you
report in all formats listed above except XML. To export to XML, you need to use
the SolarWinds Orion Web Console.
To export a report from the Orion Report Writer:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting
and Mapping > Orion Report Writer.
2. Click on the report you want to export.
3. Click File > Export.
4. Click on the required file format.
5. Type a name for the exported file.
6. Click Save.
Exporting and Importing Reports as XML

You can save reports from the Orion Web Console in XML form and import them
back if needed.
To export a report as XML:
4. Click on the Type column header, to display the web-based reports first.
5. Click on the required report, then click on Export/Import, and then click
Export Report.
6. Click Open or Save, depending whether you want to view or save the
report.
Note: You may be asked to supply the name of the program you want to use to
view XML files.
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Exporting and Importing Reports as XML
To import an XML file using the Orion Web Console Writer:
4. Click on the Type column header, to display the web-based reports first.
5. Click on Export/Import, and then click Import Report.
6. Navigate to the required XML file, and then click Open.
7. The file will be imported and its name displayed at the top of the list of
reports.
8. Note that if you import a report with the same name as an existing report, it
will be prefixed with “Copy of”.
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Chapter 17: Monitoring Syslog
Messages
Syslog messages are one type of real-time notification that network devices can
send in response to designated network events. Orion provides the SolarWinds
Syslog Service, allowing Orion to receive Syslog messages from any monitored
network device. The SolarWinds Syslog Service also has the ability to open
multiple connections to your SQL server, so it can handle large numbers of
simultaneously incoming Syslog messages from all your monitored devices.
Orion uses the SolarWinds Syslog Service to listen on UDP port 514 for incoming
Syslog messages. Received messages are then decoded and stored in the Orion
database. Until they are acknowledged, Syslog messages are available for
viewing either in the web console Syslog view or in the Syslog Viewer
application. The Syslog view in the Orion Web Console provides quick access to
current messages, filtered by any or all of the following criteria:
l Name or type of network object sending the message.

l Message Severity, Facility, Type, or Pattern
l Time Period in which the message was sent.
The Syslog Viewer application also allows you to tailor your view of Syslog
messages using fully customizable rules. Additionally, the Syslog Viewer gives
you the ability both to search your Orion database and to configure
Syslog-specific alerts for received Syslog messages.
Notes:
l When configuring your network devices to send Syslog messages, confirm

that messages are sent to the IP address assigned to your Orion server. To
ensure the proper configuration of a network device for Syslog messaging,
refer to the documentation supplied by the device vendor.
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Chapter 17: Monitoring Syslog Messages
l As a benchmark, a typical SolarWinds installation can process

approximately 1 million Syslog messages per hour, which is equivalent to
about 300 Syslog messages per second. Higher capacity can only be
achieved with significant hardware improvements over minimum
SolarWinds requirements.
Configuring the Orion Syslog Port

Orion listens for Syslog messages on port 514 (UDP). You can configure this port
in the SyslogService.exe.config file, as indicated in the following procedure.
Note: Running the Configuration Wizard will revert any and all changes made to
the SyslogService.exe.config file. If you run the Configuration Wizard, you must
repeat this procedure to restore your required port setting.
To configure the Syslog port:
1. Log on to your Orion server using an account with administrative privileges.

2. Open SyslogService.exe.config in a text editor.
Note: By default, SyslogService.exe.config is located in C:\Program
Files\SolarWinds\Orion\Orion\SyslogService\.
3. Locate the following line:
<add key="UDPListenPort" value="514">
4. Edit value="514" as required to indicate the port on which your monitored

devices are configured to send Syslog messages to your Orion server.
5. Save SyslogService.exe.config.
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Syslog Messages in the Web Console
Syslog Messages in the Web Console

The Orion Web Console provides both Syslog-specific resources and a Syslog
view that provides a table of Syslog messages received by your Orion server. The
following sections provide an overview of available Syslog resources and
procedures for viewing and acknowledging Syslog messages within the Orion
Web Console.
Syslog Resources
NPM provides the following Syslog-related resources for inclusion within web
console views.
Advanced Syslog Counts
Every Syslog message has a designated severity. For more information
about Syslog severities, see Syslog Severities. The Advanced Syslog
Counts resource groups by severity all Syslog messages received by the
currently viewed node. For each severity, this resource provides the number
of received Syslog messages.
Advanced Syslog Parser
The Advanced Syslog Parser resource provides a comprehensive view of
the Syslog messages most recently received by the viewed node. The most
recent messages of each severity are listed. For more information about
Syslog severities, see Syslog Severities.
Advanced Syslog Summary
The Advanced Syslog Summary resource groups by message type all
Syslog messages received by the currently viewed node, where the
message type is encoded in the Syslog message packet. For each
message type, this resource provides the severity, the hostname or IP
address of the message originator, and the total number of Syslog
messages received.
Last 25 Syslog Messages
The Last 25 Syslog Messages resource provides a list of the last 25 Syslog
messages that have been sent by monitored network devices to the viewed
node. For each message, this resource presents the date and time the
message was sent, the hostname and IP address of the device sending the
message, and the message text.
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Clicking the hostname, IP address, or message text opens the

corresponding Object Details page, providing extensive diagnostic
information about the monitored network object sending the message.
Clicking Edit opens the Edit Last 25 Syslog Messages page where you can
set the maximum number of displayed messages, select the time period for
viewing messages, and establish filters to limit the messages this resource
displays. For more information, see Using Node Filters.
Syslog Summary
The Syslog Summary resource lists the number of Syslog messages
received by the viewed node from monitored network devices over a
specified period of time.
Viewing Syslog Messages in the Web Console

You can customize the list view by using the following procedure to select your
preferred message grouping criteria.
To view Syslog messages in the Web Console:
2. Log in to the Orion Web Console, and then click Syslog in the Views
toolbar.
3. If you want to view Syslog messages for a specific Syslog enabled
network object, specify the selected object in the Network Object field.
Note: Only objects that have sent a Syslog message to the Orion server will
be listed in this field.
4. If you want to filter your Syslog messages table by device type, select
the type to which you want to limit your view in the Type of Device field.
5. If you want to filter your Syslog messages table by severity, select the
severity level to which you want to limit your view in the Select Severity
field.
Note: For more information, see Syslog Severities.
6. If you want to filter your Syslog messages table by facility, select the
facility to which you want to limit your view in the Select Facility field.
Note: For more information, see Syslog Facilities.
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Acknowledging Syslog Messages in the Web Console
7. If you want to limit your Syslog messages table to show only

messages of a designated type, type the appropriate string in the
Message Type field.
8. If you want to limit your Syslog messages table to show only
messages containing a designated pattern, provide the appropriate
string in the Message Pattern field.
Note: An asterisk (*) is required as a wildcard character, both before and
after the pattern string, unless the provided pattern is the beginning of the
message, the end of the message, or the full message.
9. If you only want to see Syslog messages from a specific period of time,
select a time period from the Time Period menu.
10. Confirm the number of messages displayed in the Show Messages field.
11. If you want cleared or acknowledged messages to remain in the
Syslog view, check Show Cleared Messages.
12. Click Refresh to update the Syslog messages list with your new settings.
Acknowledging Syslog Messages in the Web Console

Acknowledging Syslog messages is straightforward in the Orion Web Console,
as shown in the following procedure.
To acknowledge Syslog messages in the Orion Web Console:
3. Click Syslog in the Views toolbar.
4. Provide filter criteria for the Syslog messages table. For more information,
see Viewing Syslog Messages in the Web Console.
5. Click Refresh to ensure that all selected view criteria take effect.
6. Check the messages you want to acknowledge, and then click Clear
Selected Messages.
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Using the Syslog Viewer

Orion also provides the standalone Syslog Viewer application for viewing and
acknowledging Syslog messages on your network. Syslog Viewer collects
Syslog messages from your network and presents them in a readily reviewable
and searchable list so that you can easily monitor your network. The following
sections provide a guide to using the Syslog Viewer application for viewing,
acknowledging, and triggering alerts in response to Syslog messages on your
network.
To open the Syslog Viewer, click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion >
Syslog and SNMP Traps > Syslog Viewer.
Viewing and Acknowledging Current Messages

The Syslog Viewer makes it easy to view and acknowledge messages. The
following procedure views and then acknowledges current Syslog messages.
To view and acknowledge current Syslog messages:
1. Click View > Current Messages.

2. Acknowledge current messages using either of the following methods:
l Right-click any message, and then select Acknowledge Selected.
l Add an Acknowledged column to the Syslog Viewer, and then check
each message that you want to acknowledge. For more information,
see Syslog Server Settings.
Searching for Syslog Messages

Collected Syslog messages may be searched within Syslog Viewer. The
following steps both search for Syslog messages and format search results.
To search the Syslog message list:
1. Click View > Search Messages.

2. Enter appropriate search criteria.
3. Click Search Database.
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Syslog Server Settings
4. If you want to group messages for easier navigation, select the type of
grouping from the Grouping list.
Note: Messages can be acknowledged in the search results just as they
can be acknowledged in the Current Messages view. For more
information, see Syslog Server Settings.
5. If you want to limit the number of messages that are shown, enter or
select a number in the Maximum number of messages to display field.
6. If you want to view messages that meet your search criteria as they
arrive, select a number for the Auto Refresh every number seconds field.
Note: Auto Refresh is only available when you are viewing current
messages. The Date/Time Range must be set to Today, Last 24 Hours,
Last 2 Hours, or Last Hour.
Syslog Server Settings

Use the following procedure as a guide to starting and configuring the Syslog
Viewer.
To start and configure the Syslog Viewer:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Syslog and SNMP
Traps > Syslog Viewer.
2. Click File > Settings.
3. Click the General tab in the Syslog Server Settings window.
4. Adjust the Maximum number of messages to display in Current
Messages view slider to set the number of messages you want to display.
5. If you want to Automatically Refresh the Current Messages View, check
the option accordingly, and then set the refresh rate with the middle slider.
6. Adjust Retain Syslog messages for how many days? to set the length of
time Syslog messages should stay in the database.
7. Click the Displayed Columns tab.
8. Use the arrow keys to select and order the fields of information you want to
see in the Current Messages view.
Note: You can make it easier to acknowledge Syslog messages by
selecting the Acknowledged column to add to your view.
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9. If you want to wrap Syslog message text in the Current Messages view,
check Word wrap long messages.
10. If you do not expect to use Syslog Server as your primary viewer for
Syslog messages, select the Message Parsing tab, and then check the
following options:
l Remove embedded Date/Time from Syslog Messages
l Remove Message Type from Syslog Messages
l Remove Domain Name from DNS Lookups.
Note: The following data points are saved within the Syslog tables in your
Orion database. Removing the added data from each record helps you to
proactively reduce the size of your database.
Configuring Syslog Viewer Filters and Alerts

The Syslog Viewer can be configured to signal Orion alert actions when Syslog
messages that are received from network devices match defined rules. The steps
in the following procedure establish rules that filter Syslog messages and initiate
alert actions as you determine.
Note: Syslog rules may not be applied to nodes in an unmanaged state.
To configure Syslog Viewer filters and alerts:
Traps > Syslog Viewer.
3. Click Alerts/Filter Rules.
4. If you are creating a new rule, click Add New Rule.
5. If you are editing an existing rule, select the rule, and then click Edit
Selected Rule.
6. On the General tab, complete the following steps:
a. Provide or edit the Rule Name.

b. Check Enabled.
c. Select appropriate servers from the Apply this Rule to list.
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Configuring Syslog Viewer Filters and Alerts
d. Enter the IP addresses or subnets to which this rule applies in the

Source IP Addresses area.
Note: Use the examples provided on this tab to ensure that the list of
source IP addresses is properly formatted.
7. If you want to limit the rule to only messages from specific hosts,
domains, or hostname patterns, on the DNS Hostname tab enter a DNS
Hostname Pattern.
Notes:
l The DNS Hostname Pattern rule is case-sensitive.

l When Use Regular Expressions in this Rule is checked, you may
use regular expressions in place of "like" statements. For more
information about using regular expressions in NPM, see Regular
Expression Pattern Matching.
8. If you want to limit the rule to only specific message types or text within
a Syslog message, on the Message tab enter rules as appropriate for
Message Type Pattern and Syslog Message Pattern.
Notes:
l Use the examples listed on this tab to format the list properly.
l When Use Regular Expressions in this Rule is checked, regular
expressions can be used in place of "like" statements. For more
9. If you want to apply specific severity or facility types, on the Severity /
Facility tab check the severity and facility types you want to apply.
Note: By default, all message severities and facilities are selected. For
more information about Syslog severities and facilities, see Syslog
Message Priorities.
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10. If you want to limit rule application to within a specific period of time,
select the Time of Day tab, check Enable Time of Day checking, enter the
time period, and then check the days of the week on which to apply the rule.
Notes:
l Enabling Time of Day checking creates more overhead for the CPU.
l Messages received outside the specified timeframe will not trigger
alerts.
11. If you want to suppress alert actions until a specified number of
messages arrive that match the rule, complete the following procedure:
Note: When Suspend further Alert Actions for is checked, alert actions
are not sent until the specified amount of time has expired. Once the time
period has expired, only new alerts are sent. All alerts suppressed during
the time period are discarded.
a. Select the Trigger Threshold tab, and then check Define a Trigger
Threshold for this Rule.
b. Enter option values as appropriate.
12. Configure Syslog alert actions on the Alert Actions tab, as shown in the
following steps:
a. If you are associating a new action to the rule, click Add New
Action. For more information about available actions, see Available
Syslog Alert Actions.
b. If you want to edit an existing action for the rule, select an action
from the list, and then click Edit Selected Action.
c. Configure the action as appropriate. For more information about
available actions, see Available Syslog Alert Actions.
Note: Syslog alerts use a unique set of variables. For more
information about available Syslog variables, see Syslog Alert
Variables.
d. If you need to delete an action, select the action, and then click
Delete Action.
e. Use the arrow buttons to set the order in which actions are performed.
Note: Actions are processed in the order listed, from top to bottom.
f. Click OK to save all changes and return to Syslog Viewer Settings.
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Available Syslog Alert Actions
13. Use the arrow buttons to arrange the order in which the rules are applied.
Note: Rules are processed in the order they appear, from top to bottom.
Available Syslog Alert Actions

The following list provides definitions of the actions available for each Syslog
alert type. For more information about how to assign alert actions, see
Configuring Syslog Viewer Filters and Alerts.
Discard the Syslog Message
Allows you to delete unwanted Syslog messages sent to the Syslog server.
Tag the Syslog Message
Allows you to add a custom tag to received Syslog messages. Ensure you
include the Tag column in the viewer when assigning a tag.
Modify the Syslog Message
Modify the severity, facility, type, or contents of a Syslog message.
Log the Message to a file
Allows you to specify a file and a series of variables with which to tag
Syslog messages sent to the file. Ensure you have already created the log
file you want to use. The alert cannot create a file.
Windows Event Log
Write a message to local or remote Windows Event Logs.
Forward the Syslog message
Specify the IP address or hostname and the port to forward a Syslog event.
Send a new Syslog message
Trigger a new Syslog message, sent to a specific IP address or hostname,
on a specific port, with a customizable severity, facility, and message.
Send an SNMP Trap
Allows you to send a trap to an IP address following a specific trap template
and using a specific SNMP community string.
Play a sound
Allows you to play a sound when a matching Syslog message is received.
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Text to Speech output

Define the speech engine, speed, pitch, volume, and message to read.
Execute an external program
Allows you to specify an external program to launch using a batch file. This
action is used when creating realtime change notifications in Orion.
Execute an external VB Script
Allows you to launch a VB Script using the selected script interpreter engine
and a saved script file.
Send a Windows Net Message
Allows you to send a net message either to a specific computer or to an
entire domain or workgroup.
Note: The only operating systems supporting Windows Net Messaging on
which SolarWinds supports Orion installations are Windows Server 2003
and Windows XP. SolarWinds only supports evaluation installations of
Orion on Windows XP.
Send an E-mail / Page
Send an email from a specified account to a specified address, using a
specific SMTP server, and containing a customizable subject and message.
Stop Processing Syslog Rules
Stops the processing of Syslog rules for the matching Syslog message.
Forwarding Syslog Messages

The Syslog message forwarding action allows you to forward received Syslog
messages. Additionally, if you have WinPCap version 3.0 or higher installed on
your NPM server, you can forward Syslog messages as spoofed network packets.
The following procedure configures available options for forwarded Syslog
messages.
Note: The following procedure assumes you are editing a Forward the Syslog
Message alert action. For more information about Syslog alert actions, see
Configuring Syslog Viewer Filters and Alerts.
To configure the forward syslog message action:
1. Provide the hostname or IP address of the destination to which you want to

forward the received Syslog message.
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Forwarding Syslog Messages
2. Provide the UDP Port you are using for Syslog messaging.
Note: The default is UDP port 514.
3. If you want to retain the IP address of the source device, complete the
following steps:
a. Check Retain the original source address of the message.

b. If you want to designate a specific IP address or hostname as
the Syslog source, check Use a fixed source IP address (or
hostname), and then provide the source IP address or hostname.
c. If you want to spoof a network packet, check Spoof Network
Packet, and then select an appropriate Network Adapter.
4. Click OK to complete the configuration of your Syslog forwarding action.
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Syslog Alert Variables

The following variables can be used in Syslog alert messages. Each variable
must begin with a dollar sign and be enclosed in curly braces as, for example,
${VariableName}. Syslog alerts also support the use of Node alert variables. For
more information on the use of variables, see Orion Variables and Examples.
Syslog Date/Time Variables
Syslog Date/Time
Variable Description
${AbbreviatedDOW} Current day of the week. Three character abbreviation.
${AMPM} AM or PM corresponding to current time (before or after

noon)
${D} Current day of the month
${DD} Current day of the month (two digit number, zero

padded)
${Date} Current date. (Short Date format)
${DateTime} Current date and time. (Windows control panel defined

"Short Date" and "Short Time" format)
${DayOfWeek} Current day of the week.
${DayOfYear} Numeric day of the year
${H} Current hour
${HH} Current hour. Two digit format, zero padded.
${Hour} Current hour. 24-hour format
${LocalDOW} Current day of the week. Localized language format.
${LongDate} Current date. (Long Date format)
${LocalMonthName} Current month name in the local language.
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Other Syslog Variables
Syslog Date/Time
${LongTime} Current Time. (Long Time format)
${M} Current numeric month
${MM} Current month. Two digit number, zero padded.
${MMM} Current month. Three character abbreviation.
${MediumDate} Current date. (Medium Date format)
${Minute} Current minute. Two digit format, zero padded.
${Month} Full name of the current month
${N} Current month and day
${S} Current second.
${Second} Current second. Two digit format, zero padded.
${Time} Current Time. (Short Time format)
${Year2} Two digit year
${Year} Four digit year
Syslog Variable Description
${Application} SolarWinds application information
${Copyright} Copyright information
${DNS} Fully qualified node name
${Hostname} Host name of the device triggering the alert
${IP_Address} IP address of device triggering alert
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${Message} Status of device triggering alert
${MessageType} The name of the triggered alert
${Severity} A network health score indicating node states as follows:

INTERFACE_UNKNOWN = 1
INTERFACE_WARNING = 1
INTERFACE_DOWN = 1000
NODE_UNKNOWN = 1000000
NODE_WARNING = 1000000
NODE_DOWN = 100000000
The Up score for Nodes and Interfaces is zero.
${Version} Version of the SolarWinds software package
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Syslog Message Priorities
Syslog Message Priorities

Included at the beginning of each Syslog message is a priority value. The priority
value is calculated using the following formula:
Priority = Facility * 8 + Severity
Syslog Facilities
The facility value indicates which machine process created the message. The
Syslog protocol was originally written on BSD Unix, so Facilities reflect the
names of UNIX processes and daemons, as shown in the following table.
Note: If you are receiving messages from a UNIX system, consider using the
User Facility as your first choice. Local0 through Local7 are not used by UNIX
and are traditionally used by networking equipment. Cisco routers, for example,
use Local6 or Local7.
Number Source Number Source
0 kernel messages 12 NTP subsystem
1 user-level messages 13 log audit
2 mail system 14 log alert
3 system daemons 15 clock daemon
4 security/authorization messages 16 local use 0

(local0)
5 messages generated internally by 17 local use 1

Syslog (local1)
6 line printer subsystem 18 local use 2

(local2)
7 network news subsystem 19 local use 2

(local3)
8 UUCP subsystem 20 local use 2

(local4)
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Number Source Number Source
9 clock daemon 21 local use 2

(local5)
10 security/authorization messages 22 local use 2

(local6)
11 FTP daemon 23 local use 2

(local7)
Syslog Severities
The following table provides a list of Syslog severity levels with descriptions and
suggested actions for each.
Number Severity Suggested Actions
0 Emergency A "panic" condition affecting multiple applications,

servers, or sites. System is unusable. Notify all
technical staff on call.
1 Alert A condition requiring immediate correction, for

example, the loss of a backup ISP connection. Notify
staff who can fix the problem.
2 Critical A condition requiring immediate correction or

indicating a failure in a primary system, for example,
a loss of a primary ISP connection. Fix CRITICAL
issues before ALERT-level problems.
3 Error Non-urgent failures. Notify developers or

administrators as errors must be resolved within a
given time.
4 Warning Warning messages are not errors, but they indicate

that an error will occur if required action is not taken.
An example is a file system that is 85% full. Each
item must be resolved within a given time.
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Syslog Severities
Number Severity Suggested Actions
5 Notice Events that are unusual but are not error conditions.
These items might be summarized in an email to
developers or administrators to spot potential
problems. No immediate action is required.
6 Informational Normal operational messages. These may be

harvested for network maintenance functions like
reporting and throughput measurement. No action is
required.
7 Debug Information useful to developers for debugging an

application. This information is not useful during
operations.
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Chapter 18: Monitoring SNMP Traps
SNMP traps signal the occurrence of significant events by sending unsolicited
SNMP messages to a monitoring device. The SolarWinds Trap Server listens for
incoming trap messages on UDP port 162 and then decodes, displays, and stores
the messages in the Orion database. The SolarWinds Trap Service allows Orion
to receive and process SNMP traps from any type of monitored network device,
and, because the SolarWinds Trap Service is multi-threaded, it can handle large
numbers of simultaneously incoming traps. As a benchmark, a typical SolarWinds
installation can process approximately 500 traps per second.
Note: Higher capacity can only be achieved with significant hardware
improvements over minimum SolarWinds requirements.
You can view SNMP traps in the Trap Viewer application. The Trap Viewer
application allows you to configure trap-specific alerts, to view and search traps,
and to apply powerful trap filtering.
Note: When configuring devices to send SNMP traps, confirm that traps are sent
to the IP address assigned to the Orion server. To ensure proper configuration,
refer to the documentation supplied by the vendor of your devices.
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The SNMP Trap Protocol

SNMPv1 (Simple Network Management Protocol), SNMPv2c, and SNPMv3,
along with the associated Management Information Base (MIB), allow you to take
advantage of trap-directed notification. When monitoring a large number of
devices, where each device may have a large number of its own connected
objects, it can become impractical to request information from every object on
every device. Each managed device can notify the Orion SNMP Trap Server of
any issues without solicitation. In this configuration, a problem device notifies the
server by sending a message. This message is known as a trap of the event. This
message is known as a trap of the event. After receiving the event, the Trap
Viewer displays it, allowing you to choose to take action or automatically trigger
an action based on the nature of the event.
Note: When using SNMPv3 for polling a device and receiving traps from it,
confirm that the same authentication type (auth, noauth, or priv) is configured for
both polling and traps.
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Viewing SNMP Traps in the Web Console
Viewing SNMP Traps in the Web Console

Customize the Traps view as shown in the following procedure.
To view SNMP traps in the Web Console:
2. Click Traps in the Views toolbar.
3. If you want to filter your traps table view by device, select the device to
which you want to limit your view in the Network Object field.
4. If you want to filter your traps table by device type, select the device
types you want to view in the Type of Device field.
5. If you want to limit your traps table to show only traps of a designated
type, select the appropriate type in the Trap Type field.
6. If you want to limit your traps table to show only traps originating from
a specific IP address, type the IP Address in the Source IP Address
field.
7. If you want to limit your traps table to show only traps with a
designated community string, select the appropriate community string in
the Community String field.
8. If you only want to see traps from a specific period of time, select the
time period from the Time Period menu.
9. Confirm the number of traps displayed in the Show Traps field.
10. Click Refresh to update the Traps view with your new settings.
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Using the Trap Viewer

After the monitored devices on your network are configured to send traps to the
Orion server, configure the Orion Trap Viewer to display received trap information,
as shown in the following sections.
Notes:
l To ensure proper configuration of your network devices, refer to the

documentation supplied by the vendor of your network devices.
l The Orion Trap Viewer receives traps on UDP port 162.
Viewing Current Traps

Trap Viewer makes it easy to view trap messages, as shown in the following
steps.
To view current trap messages:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWindsOrion > Syslog and SNMP
Traps > Trap Viewer.
2. Click View > Current Traps.
3. Click a column header to order listed traps by the selected trap
characteristic.
4. Configure the Trap Viewer by clicking and dragging columns to order the
presentation of trap characteristics.
Searching for Traps

Collected trap messages may be searched within Trap Viewer. The following
steps both search for trap messages and format the search results list.
To search the trap message list:
2. Click View > Search Traps.
3. Enter appropriate search criteria, and then click Search Database.
4. If you want to group messages for easier navigation, select the type of
grouping from the Grouping list.
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Trap Viewer Settings
5. If you want to limit the number of messages that are shown, enter or
select a number in the Maximum number of messages to display field.
6. If you want to view messages that meet your search criteria as they
arrive, select a number for the Auto Refresh every number seconds
field.
Note: Auto Refresh is only available when you are viewing current
messages. The Date/Time Range must be set to Today, Last 24 Hours,
Last 2 Hours, or Last Hour.
7. If you want to hide the search criteria pane, toggle the pane open and
closed by clicking the double up arrows in the top right of the page.
Trap Viewer Settings

Use the following procedure to start and configure the Trap Viewer.
To start and configure the Trap Viewer:
3. On the General tab, configure the following Trap server settings:
a. Position the top slider to set the Maximum number of traps to

display in Current Traps view.
b. If you want SolarWinds NPM to Automatically Refresh the Current
Traps View, check the option accordingly, and then position the
middle slider to set the refresh rate.
c. Position the Retain Trap messages for how many days? slider to
set the length of time that traps remain in the database.
4. On the Displayed Columns tab, use the arrow keys to select and order the
fields of information you want to see in the Current Traps view.
5. If you do not need the domain name from your trap messages, check
Remove Domain Name from DNS Lookups on the Message Parsing tab.
Note: Checking this option will remove the domain name from your trap
messages, and this will help to reduce the size of your database.
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Configuring Trap Viewer Filters and Alerts

The Trap Viewer can be configured to trigger SolarWinds NPM alert actions when
received trap messages match defined rules. The following steps establish rules
to filter trap messages and initiate alert actions as you determine.
Notes:
l With the exception of the asterisk (*) wildcard, SolarWinds recommends

against using non-alphanumeric characters in filter definitions.
l Trap rules are not applied to unmanaged nodes.
To configure Trap Viewer filters and alerts:
2. Click File > Settings, and then click the Alerts / Filter Rules tab.
3. If you are creating a new rule, click Add Rule.
4. If you are editing an existing rule, click Edit Rule.
5. Click the General tab.
6. Enter a Rule Name, and then check Enabled to enable the rule.
7. Select appropriate servers from the Apply this Rule to list.
8. Enter the IP addresses or subnets to which this rule applies.
Note: Use the examples listed on this tab to format the list properly.
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Configuring Trap Viewer Filters and Alerts
9. If you want the rule limited to messages from specific hosts, domains,
or hostname patterns, click DNS Hostname, and then enter a DNS
Hostname Pattern.
Notes:
l The DNS Hostname Pattern rule is case-sensitive.

l When Use Regular Expressions in this Rule is checked, regular
expressions can be used in place of “like” statements. For more
When Use Regular Expressions in this Rule is checked, regular
expressions can be used in place of “like” statements. For more information
about using regular expressions in NPM, see Regular Expression Pattern
Matching.
10. If you want the rule limited on the basis of content within the Trap
Details field, click Trap Details, and then enter a Trap Details Pattern.
Note: When Use Regular Expressions in this Rule is checked, regular
Matching.
11. If you want the rule limited to specific community strings, click
Community String, and then enter appropriate patterns in the Community
String Pattern field.
Note: When Use Regular Expressions in this Rule is checked, regular
Matching.
12. Click Conditions, and then generate trigger conditions as follows:
l Select appropriate object identifiers and comparison functions from
the linked context menus.
l Click Browse (…) to Insert an “OR” condition, to Insert an “AND”
condition, or to Delete a condition as necessary.
13. If you want to limit rule application to within a specific period of time,
click Time of Day, check Enable Time of Day checking, enter the time
period, and then select days of the week on which to apply the rule.
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Notes:
l Enabling Time of Day checking creates more overhead for the CPU.
l Messages received outside the specified timeframe will not trigger
alerts.
14. If you want to suppress alert actions until a specified number of traps
arrive that match the rule, click Trigger Threshold, check Define a Trigger
Threshold for this Rule, and then enter option values as appropriate.
Note: When Suspend further Alert Actions for is checked, alert actions
are not sent until the specified amount of time has expired. Once the time
period has expired, only new alerts are sent. All alerts that are suppressed
during the time period will never be sent.
15. Click Alert Actions.

16. If you are associating a new action to the rule, click Add New Action,
and then select an action from the list to configure.
17. If you are editing an existing action for the rule, select an action from the
list, click Edit Action, and then configure the action.
18. Use the arrow buttons to set the order in which actions are performed.
Note: Actions are processed in the order they appear, from top to bottom.
19. If you need to delete an action, select the action, and then click Delete
Action.
20. Click OK to save all changes and return to Trap Viewer Settings.
21. Use the arrow buttons to arrange the order in which the rules are applied.
Note: Rules are processed in the order they appear, from top to bottom.
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Trap Alert Variables

The following variables can be used in trap alert messages with the Orion Trap
Server. Each variable must begin with a dollar sign and be enclosed in curly
braces as, for example, ${VariableName}.
Note: Trap alerts may also use any valid node variables. For more information
about node alert variables, see Orion Variables and Examples.
Trap Date/Time Variables
Trap Date/Time
${AbbreviatedDOW} Current day of the week. Three character

abbreviation.
${AbbreviatedMonth} Current month of the year. Three character

abbreviation.
${AMPM} AM or PM corresponding to current time (before or

after noon)

padded)
${Date} Current date. (MM/DD/YYYY format)
${DateTime} Current date and time. (MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM format)
${Day} Current day of the month
${H} Current hour
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Trap Date/Time
${LongDate} Current date. (DAY NAME, MONTH DAY, YEAR

format)
${LongTime} Current Time. (HH:MM:SS AM/PM format)
${MMMM} Full name of the current month
${MediumDate} Current date. (DD-MMM-YY format)
${MediumTime} Current time. (HH:MM AM/PM format)
${MonthName} Full name of the current month
${Time} Current Time. (HH:MM format)
Other Trap Variables
Trap Variable Description
${Community} Node community string
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${Hostname} Host name of the device triggering the trap
${Message} Message sent with triggered trap and displayed in Trap

Details field of Trap Viewer
${MessageType} Name or type of trap triggered
${Raw} Raw numerical values for properties sent in the

corresponding incoming trap.
${RawValue} Raw numerical values for properties sent in the

corresponding incoming trap. The same as ${Raw}.
${vbData1} Trap variable binding value
${vbName1} Trap variable binding name
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Chapter 19: Creating Custom
Properties
Custom properties are user-defined fields such as country, building, asset tag, or
serial number, that you can define, associate with monitored network objects, and
store in your SolarWinds database. After properties are added, they are available
for use throughout the Orion Web Console.
Note: Custom properties must use the Latin1 character set.
A few examples of how custom properties may be used are as follows:
l Add information to nodes, such as contact, owner, or support contract

l Add a custom property that is used as an account limitation on nodes
l Add a custom property to nodes for grouping them on the web or in a report
l Add a custom property and display it as an annotation on a chart
A collection of the most commonly used properties is provided with your
SolarWinds Orion installation, but it is easy to create additional custom properties
to meet your precise requirements. For more information, see Creating a Custom
Property.
Once a custom property is defined, the Import Wizard allows you to populate it
from either a text- or comma-delimited file. For more information, see Importing
Custom Property Data.
Alternatively, if you want to apply a property to only a few objects, you may
choose to do this using the Edit view. For more information, see Editing Custom
Properties.
You may also create external records by exporting custom properties from
selected objects as a spreadsheet. For more information, see Exporting Custom
Property Data.
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Chapter 19: Creating Custom Properties

The following procedure shows how to create a custom property in SolarWinds
Orion products using Orion Platform 2012.2 and higher.
Note: Older versions of SolarWinds Orion Platform Services used the Custom
Property Editor application to create and manage custom properties. The Custom
Property Editor is not accessible through the Orion Web Console..
To create a custom property:

3. Click Manage Custom Properties in the Node & Group Management
grouping.
5. Select the object type for the property you are creating, and click Next.
Note: The object types available depend on the SolarWinds Orion products
installed, but all installations will allow you to create Node and Volume
custom properties.
6. To create a property based on a predefined template, click the

appropriate Property Template.
Note: Property templates provide generic suggestions in the Property
Name and Description fields and an appropriate custom property Format.
7. Edit the Property Name and Description fields, as appropriate.

Note 1: Property names must be unique for an object type. For example,
you can have separate Comment properties for Nodes, Volumes, and other
object types.
Note 2: Property names are not case-sensitive. You cannot, for example,
have properties called Comment and comment for the same object type.
8. Select the Format for the property. If Text is selected, you can click Edit to
specify a maximum length.
9. Check the Required property box if this property must be provided for all
objects.
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10. To restrict the values that other, non-administrative users can select
for the property, check Restrict values, and enter values, as follows:
a. Enter an appropriate Value.

b. Click Add Value.
c. Repeat until you have entered all valid property values.
d. To delete a provided property value, click X next to the property to
delete.
11. If creating a custom property for Nodes, select the Usage for the property.
12. Click Next.
13. Click Select <Objects>, then, using one of the following methods, sort the
objects to which the property can be applied:
l Select an appropriate Group by: criterion, and click the group that
includes the objects to which you want to apply this property
l Use the search tool to search for the objects to which you want to
apply the selected property
14. Check the objects to which you want the selected custom property to apply.
Note: Click > to expand listed objects to view available child objects.
15. Click Add to add the checked objects to the Selected <Objects> list.
16. In the Selected <Objects> list, check the objects to which you want the
selected property to apply, and click Select <Objects>.
17. For the selected objects, enter or select the required value.
18. If you are editing a property with restricted values, and want to add a
new property value, select Add new value from the drop-down menu, and
enter the New value.
19. To apply the selected property to a different group of objects, click Add
more, select objects as indicated above, and click Submit.
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Removing Custom Properties

Custom properties are easily removed, as shown in the following procedure.
To remove a custom property:

grouping.
4. Check each property you want to remove, and click Delete.
5. Confirm your selection by clicking Delete when prompted.
Importing Custom Property Data

Once you have defined custom properties, you can import corresponding values
from a formatted external document. For example, you may already possess a
spreadsheet listing the asset tags of all your network nodes, and you may like to
have this information available for reporting and publication in the web console. In
this scenario, Asset Tag is added as a custom property, and then the import
wizard is used to populate the asset tag values from the spreadsheet. The
following steps outline the process for importing custom properties data.
Note: Your data should be formatted as a table and at least one column title
should match an existing object property (for example, IP Address).
To import custom property data:

grouping.
4. Click Import Values.
5. Click Browse, navigate to your custom property data file, and click Open.
6. Select the object type for which you are importing values from the Import
values for drop-down.
7. Click Next.
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Importing Custom Property Data
8. For each detected Spreadsheet Column in your data, select the

corresponding Orion Database Column, and then select the appropriate
Relationship between the indicated columns. This can be either matches
or imports to.
l Select matches to indicate columns in the spreadsheet that
corresponds to existing columns in the Orion database (e.g. IP
Address, MAC address).
l Select imports to to import the data in the spreadsheet column to the
selected Orion database column.
Note: This option overwrites any existing data in the corresponding in
the custom properties.
l Select imports to and select <No match found, ignore> for any
spreadsheet column you don't want imported.
l Select Create this custom property now to open the Add Custom
Property in a new browser tab if you need to create a custom property
for this spreadsheet column.
9. Click Import.
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Exporting Custom Property Data

Once you have defined custom properties, you may export your custom property
data for selected monitored objects as a spreadsheet. For example, you may want
to create a single spreadsheet that lists the asset tags of all your network nodes.
The following steps outline the process for exporting custom property data.
To export custom property data:
1. Log in to the Orion Web Console using an account with administrative

privileges.
2. Click Settings in the top right corner of your web console.
group.
4. Check the custom properties you want to export, and click Export values.
Note: You can only select custom properties for a single object type.
5. If you want to export custom property data for specific objects of the
type previously selected, click Select <Objects>, and select the desired
objects.
6. Check the database columns you want to export. You can also change
which custom properties you want to export here.
7. Select the file type to use for your exported data. This can be .csv, .txt, .html.
or xls.
8. Click Export.
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Custom Property Editor Settings
Custom Property Editor Settings

The Custom Property Editor Settings window allows you to customize the display
for nodes and volumes.
Note: Orion Network Performance Monitor users may also customize the display
for interfaces.
To configure Custom Property Editor settings:
Control > Custom Property Editor.
3. Click Node Editing and check the system properties you want to see in the
Edit Node Properties window. Repeat for Volume Editing.
4. If you want to enable Auto-Search, click Auto-Search, and then check
Enable Auto-Search. Note: With Auto-Search enabled, the current column
is searched as you type. Select a cell, and then press Enter to edit its
contents. With Auto-Search disabled, typing will begin editing the cell.
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Editing Custom Properties

The Custom Property Editor allows you to easily enter or modify custom
properties. If you are entering a large amount of data it can be easier to import the
values from a spreadsheet using the Import feature. For more information, see
Importing Custom Property Data.
To edit a custom property:

Manage Custom Properties in the Node & Group Management grouping.
3. Click the check boxes for the properties to be edited. You can only edit
properties of one object type at a time.
4. Click in cells in the table that you want to edit, and then enter or modify the
cell contents, as required.
5. To filter data displayed by column, click the filter symbol before the
column name, and enter the text to be filtered on in the pop-up box.
6. When you have added or edited the values, click Save Changes.
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Using Filters in the Custom Property Editor Edit View
Using Filters in the Custom Property Editor Edit

View
Filtering is available in the Edit Custom Properties windows for all devices, and
you can apply filters to manipulate available data views. Custom Property Editor
allows you to edit the text within custom property fields to which a filter is applied.
The following procedures show how to use filters within Custom Property Editor.
Creating Custom Properties Filters

The following procedure creates a custom properties filter.
Note: Orion Network Performance Monitor users may also create filters for
interface custom properties.
To create a filter:
1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWindsOrion > Grouping and Access
2. Click Properties > Edit Object Properties, where Object is Node or
Volume, as appropriate.
3. Click Filter Active or No Active Filter, and then click Apply Filter.
Note: The text of the Filter Active / No Active Filter button changes
dynamically, indicating the filter status for the currently viewed data.
4. Click the hyperlinked text to select the appropriate criteria.
5. Click the ellipsis, and then select from the following options:
l Select Add a new elementary condition to generate a condition that
is based on a direct comparison of network object data fields.
l Select Add a new advanced elementary condition to generate a
condition based on a comparison of device data fields and values.
l Select Add a new complex condition to define a condition that filters
other defined conditions.
l Select Delete current condition to remove a selected condition.
Note: The lists of available linked descriptors are dynamically generated in
consideration of all other variables within the same condition. Click Browse
(…) to select a condition type.
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Select Move current condition forward or Move current condition

backward to change the order of your conditions accordingly.
6. Continue to click hyperlinked text and use the cascading menus to select
filtering criteria.
7. If you have completed the configuration of your filter, click OK.
Note: The Edit Object Properties view changes, based upon the selected
filter, and the text of the Filter Active / No Active Filter now displays “Filter
Active”, indicating that the filter is being applied to the currently viewed
properties.
Removing Custom Properties Filters

The following procedure removes a custom properties filter.
Note: Orion Network Performance Monitor users may also remove filters for
interface custom properties.
To remove a filter:
2. Click Properties > Edit Object Properties, where Object is Node or
Volume, as appropriate.
3. Click Filter Active, and then click Remove Filter.
Note: The Edit Object Properties view now displays all custom properties.
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Chapter 20: Managing the Orion
Database
All Orion network monitoring and management products use a Microsoft SQL
Server database to store web console settings and collected network
performance and configuration data.
Your Orion installations provides two utilities that allow you to perform the most
commonly required database tasks without having to access either the Microsoft
SQL Server or its associated tools. These are the Database Manager and
Database Maintenance tools, and their use is covered in the first part of this
chapter.
The rest of this chapter gives a brief guide to creating a database maintenance
plan using the Microsoft SQL management tool and how to backup and restore
your database if you need to upgrade or move the SQL server.
Database Manager
The Database Manager enables you to add SQL servers to your Orion
configuration. It also lets you view database information, perform queries
and edit database values. For more information, see Using Database
Manager.
Database Maintenance
The Database Maintenance utility allows you to summarize, clean, and
compact your Orion database. For more information, see Database
Maintenance.
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Chapter 20: Managing the Orion Database
Using Database Manager

The Database Manager is used to add addition servers to your Orion
configuration, perform queries, view database and table details, export data, and
edit database values. The following procedures cover these basic database
management operations.
For more advanced database maintenance, it is recommended that you use the
Server Management Studio provided with Microsoft SQL Server to back up, clear
historical maintenance records and perform other maintenance. For more
information, see Creating a Maintenance Plan with SQL Server Management
Studio.
Adding a Server
If you have not already designated a backup or supplementary database for use
with Orion, you can use the following steps to add a SQL server. Once added,
your selected server and associated databases are displayed in the tree structure
in the left pane of Database Manager.
To add a SQL server using the Database Manager:
Database Manager.
2. If you have a default server and wish to use it, click Add default server.
3. To select a server, complete the following steps:
a. Click Add Server.

b. Select or enter the SQL Server instance you want to use in
server/instance format.
c. Select the appropriate authentication method, enter your credentials,
and click Connect.
Viewing Database Details

The two tabs displayed in the Database Details view of the Database Manager
show the database properties and tables.
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Viewing Table Details
To view database details:
Database Manager.
2. If the SQL Server hosting your Orion database is not listed in the left
pane, you must add the SQL Server hosting your Orion database. For
more information, see Adding a Server.
3. Click + in the left pane to expand the SQL Server hosting your Orion
database, and then right-click the database.
Note: The default database name is SolarWindsOrion.
4. Click Database details.
Notes:
l The Properties tab shows general statistics and descriptions of the

selected database.
l The Tables tab lists the tables and their respective sizes.
5. If you have not yet made a backup of the database, the Last Backup field
on the Properties tab is blank. For more information, see Creating a
Maintenance Plan with SQL Server Management Studio.
Viewing Table Details

The Database Manager Table Details window provides property, column, and
index information about the selected table. You can also query the selected table
directly from the Table Details window.
To access table details:
Database Manager.
2. If the SQL Server hosting your Orion database is not listed in the left
pane, you must add the SQL Server hosting your Orion database. For more
information, see Adding a Server
3. Click + in the left pane to expand the SQL Server hosting your Orion
database, and then click + to expand your Orion database.
Note: The default database name is SolarWinds Orion.
4. Right-click a table to view, and then click Table details.
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Note: The Properties tab includes general statistics relating to the selected
table size and creation date. The Columns tab lists keys, column names,
size and data types in the selected table. The Indexes tab shows indexes
used in the table.
5. To execute a query, right-click on the table name, and then click Query
Table. The SQL query displayed lists the contents of the table. Users
familiar with writing SQL queries can edit this query as required. Click
Execute to run this query.
6. To edit the data within a table:
a. Right-click on the table name, and click Query Table.

b. Click Execute to run the query, which lists the contents of the table in
the Results page.
c. Click Enable table editing. You can now edit the data fields within the
table as required.
Warning! Table editing should only be performed by a database
administrator or other expert user. Changes made here can
jeopardize the integrity of your data. It is recommended that you
use the Settings with your Orion Web Console to make any
necessary changes to database settings and values.
7. To export a table, right-click on the table name, and click Export to CSV.
You will be asked to enter a name for the comma separated value file
created.
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The primary tasks involved in maintaining your SolarWinds database are data
summarization and database compaction. Data summarization occurs
automatically as a regular part of the automated maintenance program. However,
you can also run database maintenance as required from the Windows Start
menu.
Running Database Maintenance

Database maintenance consists of a series of data summarizations to optimize
the size of your Orion database. Data summarization gathers the collected
network data for a defined period, calculates statistics from the data, and then
discards the data itself while retaining the statistics.
Database maintenance is run automatically every day at a specified time.
To specify when Data Maintenance is run:
1. From the Orion Web Console, click Settings, and then click on Polling
Settings in the Thresholds and Polling section.
2. Scroll down to the Database Settings section, and enter the time you want
Data Maintenance to take place in the Archive Time field.
To launch Data Maintenance manually:
Database Maintenance.
2. Click Start.
Note: Administrative privileges are required to run Database Maintenance.
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Best Practices for Managing Your Orion Database

As your SQL database matures, or after adding new Orion products, your
database may become larger than you originally estimated or might slow
unexpectedly. Several factors may cause these issues. This section explores the
most common issues and explains how to correct the issues.
Managing Database Growth in the Orion Web Interface

The most common issues with SolarWinds Orion databases are related to the
database size. Properly managing size can help you avoid issues with storage
capacity and database performance. A primary factor in database size is the data
retention settings available in SolarWinds Orion. Each SolarWinds Orion Product
allows you to manage the data rollup periods and the data retention limit. The
impact of adjusting any of these data retention and rollup windows will be roughly
proportional to the effect the Orion Product has on the database size. When
considering expanding a data retention period, you may be able to make small
changes and examine the impact on size and performance as you approach the
desired new limit.
Not all of the data rollup periods are adjustable. Typically, you can alter one
intermediate data rollup period and the limit for data retention.
The impact of altering data retention can be summarized by this rule: The shorter
the data interval, the greater the effect the setting will have on the database size.
l Extending the detailed data retention will have the largest potential impact
on database size and performance.
l Extending hourly retention will have a lesser effect.
l Extending daily retention will have the least effect.
This is due to the summarization of detailed data into hourly data increments and
then into daily data increments. Each SolarWinds Orion Product allows similar
data retention options and the above guidelines should be followed for each
product.
Troubleshooting Your Orion Database

Two of the most common symptoms of database issues are degraded Orion
performance, and errors related to the inability to connect to the database.
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Troubleshooting Your Orion Database
Note: This section covers only the basics of determining a database issue as the
issue pertains to interaction with Orion. It is not intended as an SQL
troubleshooting guide.
In the Orion database, the single most important SQL server performance
measurement is disk queue length. Queue length is a measurement of the SQL
writes that are waiting to be written to disk. When disk queues start lengthening
and there is a steady load on the SQL writes, the queues may grow so large that
write requests get dropped. This may lead to gaps in data and will affect the
overall performance of the SQL server. A good rule of thumb is that disk queue
length should not exceed two times the number of effective spindles in the SQL
storage. The effective spindle count is the number of striped spindles. For a RAID
10 direct attached storage unit with eight total disks, the effective spindle count is
four. Four of the spindles in this array are the primary striped array and the other
four are a secondary striped mirror of the four primary spindles. Since no
performance gain is achieved by mirroring disks, only the primary striped set is
used to measure performance.
For additional information on database performance, see the Managing Orion
Performance Technical Reference (PDF).
When errors occur that point to a loss of the connection to the database the
following steps can help isolate the issue:
1. Ping the SQL server from the Orion server to check network connectivity.
2. Open SQL Server Management Studio or the Orion Database Manager and
attempt to connect to the database.
3. If both of the above are successful, run the Orion Configuration Wizard
against the database by selecting Database in the first wizard screen.
Ensure that you are using the proper database credentials.
4. Open the Orion web UI to test connectivity again.
5. Test opening an ODBC connection from the Orion server using a Microsoft
utility such as ODBCPing.
If all of this fails, then the issue is a failure with the SQL server. At this point, you
will need to go directly to the SQL server and begin troubleshooting.
Troubleshooting SQL is very specific for each version and implementation, and it
is recommended that you consult the Microsoft Support site and search for
information pertaining to your version.
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Upgrading Your Database

At some point, you may need to upgrade or move your Orion database. For
example, you may have to change your version of Microsoft SQL Server or move
your data to a different server. This section gives information on backing up your
current database, reinstalling it on a new server and then reconfiguring Orion to
use this database.
Requirements
Before you attempt to modify or back up your existing database, ensure:
l The new database server is installed correctly.

l The SQL Browser Service is running on the server to which you are moving
your existing database. This service runs on UDP port 1434, and it may be
blocked by internal firewalls.
l You have the sa password for both your existing Orion database server and
your new database server.
l You have the credentials to an account with administrator rights on both
your existing Orion database server and your new database server.
l You have scheduled a maintenance window during which you can safely
shut down your Orion services. You need to stop data collection to ensure
that your backup file matches your last active database state.
Stopping Orion Services

Before you back up your database, it is important to stop the Orion services that
are currently writing to the database. This ensures that you do not have data
inconsistencies when you bring your new database server online.
To stop Orion services:
2. Expand Services.
3. Click each service, except the SQL Server service, and click Stop.
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Creating a Database Backup
Notes:
l If you have more than one Polling Engine, you will need to stop each
additional Polling Engine before continuing.
l Do not stop the SQL Service. The SQL Service needs to be running in
order to make the necessary changes to the database.
4. Click File > Exit.
Creating a Database Backup

When your Microsoft SQL Server was installed, the database management utility,
Management Studio, should also have been installed. You can use this utility to
create and install backups of your Orion database.
The procedures for backing up your database is similar for each version and can
be found at the Microsoft Support website:
l SQL Server 2014

l SQL Server 2012
l SQL Server 2008 R2
l SQL Server 2008
While these external links were correct at the time of writing, they cannot be
guaranteed after this. If the required page has been moved, go to the Microsoft
Support page and search for the version of the SQL server you are using.
Restoring a Database Backup

After you have backed up your Orion database, you can now restore it on the new
server. This should be done with the management tool associated with the new
server.
The procedures for restoring your database is similar for each version and can be
found at the Microsoft Support website:
l SQL Server 2014

l SQL Server 2012
l SQL Server 2008 R2
l SQL Server 2008
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While these external links were correct at the time of writing, they cannot be
guaranteed after this. If the required page has been moved, go to the Microsoft
Support page and search for the version of the SQL server you are using.
Updating Orion to Use New Database

After you have restored your Orion database backup file, you must update your
Orion server to recognize the restored database on the new database server, as
shown in the following procedure.
Note: SolarWinds recommends that you use SQL Server Authentication with the
sa login and password to ensure that Orion can always access your SQL Server
database, even if it is hosted remotely on a separate server.
To update Orion to use a new database:
1. Log on to your Orion server.

2. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Configuration and
Auto-Discovery > Configuration Wizard.
Note: In older versions of Orion, the correct path may be Start > All
Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Configuration Wizard.
3. Check Database, and then click Next.

4. Specify your new database server in the SQL Server field.
5. To use SQL authentication, check Use SQL Server Authentication, and
then provide the appropriate credentials.
Note: SolarWinds recommends that you use the sa login and password for
your database server to ensure that you are able to properly configure the
Orion database user account.
6. Click Next.
7. Select Use an existing database, select or type the existing database
name, and then click Next.
8. If you are prompted to use the existing database, click Yes.
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Creating a Maintenance Plan with SQL Server Management Studio
9. Select Create a new account, and then provide a New Account name.
Notes:
l Creating a new account ensures that Orion has required access to

your migrated database
l The New Account must be a member of the securityadmin server
role
l The sysadmin role and the sa user account are always members of
securityadmin
10. Provide and confirm an account Password.
11. Click Next to start database configuration, and then click Finish to exit the
Configuration Wizard.
Creating a Maintenance Plan with SQL Server

Management Studio
While it is not within the scope of this Administration Guide to cover the use of the
any of the Microsoft SQL Server and its associated tools, the following procedures
gives a brief guide to configuring a daily Orion database maintenance plan using
the SQL Server management tool provided with your server.
Notes:
l Your specific environment may require additional configuration.

l You may need to contact your database administrator to gain access to SQL
Server Management Studio for your Orion database.
l The following procedure clears historical maintenance records and creates
a backup of your Orion database. In general, however, SolarWinds
recommends that you contact your database administrator and reference the
Microsoft documentation provided with SQL Server for instructions on using
SQL Server Management Studio to manage your Orion database.
To use SQL Server Management Studio to manage your Orion database:
1. Click Start > Microsoft SQL Server > SQL Server Management Studio.
2. Click View > Object Explorer.
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3. Expand the SQL Server instance containing your Orion database in the
Object Explorer pane on the left.
Note: Expand the Databases folder for any instance to confirm included
databases. By default, the Orion database is named SolarWinds Orion.
4. Expand the Management folder, right-click the Maintenance Plans folder,
and then click Maintenance Plan Wizard.
Note: The Maintenance Plans folder will only be visible if you have
Administrator rights.
5. Click Next to start the SQL Server Maintenance Plan Wizard.
6. Provide an appropriate Name and Description for your maintenance plan.
7. Click Browse (…) next to the Server field.
8. Check your SQL Server\Instance, and then click OK.
Note: If your SQL Server\Instance is not in the list, provide it manually.
9. Select the authentication type that is used to connect to the SQL server,
and, if required, provide appropriate User name and Password credentials.
Note: Use the same authentication type and credentials you provided in the
Orion Configuration Wizard to access your Orion database.
10. Check Clean Up History and Back Up Database (Full) Note: When a task
is clicked, the Maintenance Plan Wizard provides a brief task description.
11. Click Next.
12. Set the order of task execution, top to bottom, by selecting tasks and clicking
Move Up and Move Down as needed.
Note: The following steps assume the Clean Up History task precedes the
Back Up Database (Full) task.
13. Click Next when the task execution order is set.
14. On the Define Cleanup History Task view, check the types of historical data
to delete, and then set the threshold age for historical data removal.
15. Click Next.
16. On the Database Back Up (Full) view, complete the following steps:
a. Click the Databases field.

b. Select These databases.
c. Check your Orion database.
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Creating a Maintenance Plan with SQL Server Management Studio
17. Click OK.

18. Select Database in the Backup component area.
19. In the Destination area, complete the following steps:
a. Select Disk.
b. Select Create a backup file for every database.
c. Click Browse (…) to select an appropriate database backup file
destination with sufficient free space.
20. Click Next.
21. On the Select Plan Properties view, click Change.
22. Configure the database maintenance job schedule as follows:
a. Provide an appropriate Name for the new job schedule.

b. Select Recurring as the Schedule type.
c. Check Enabled, and then select Daily in the Occurs field.
d. Provide an off-peak network usage time in the Occurs once at field.
e. Select a Start date, and then select No end date.
23. Click OK.
24. Click Next, and then check Write a report to a text file.
25. Click Browse (…) to select an appropriate maintenance report file
destination.
26. Review wizard results, click Finish, and then, when the wizard successfully
finishes, click Close.
For further information on using SQL server Management Studio, visit the
Microsoft Support Website at http://support.microsoft.com.
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Chapter 21: Managing Orion Polling
Engines
To ensure that your polling engines are optimized to run at peak performance,
you will need to occasionally tune them. If you use more than one polling engine,
you will need to balance the load so that each engine can perform optimally.
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Chapter 21: Managing Orion Polling Engines
Viewing Polling Engine Status in the Web

Console
The Orion Web Console provides the Polling Engines view, giving you immediate
insight into the performance of all polling engines in your Orion installation.
To display the Polling Engine view:

2. Click Polling Engines in the Details group.
For more information about configuring the settings, see Configuring Polling
Engine Settings.
Configuring Polling Engine Settings

Settings for your Orion polling engine are configured on the Orion Polling Settings
view within the Orion Web Console.
To open the Orion Polling Settings view:

2. Click Polling Settings in the Settings group.
For more information, see Orion Polling Settings.
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Orion Polling Settings
Orion Polling Settings

The following poller settings are configurable on the Orion Polling Settings view.
Note: Depending on the Orion products and modules you have installed,
additional Polling Settings may be available. For more information about
module-specific polling settings, see your SolarWinds Orion Administrator Guide.
l Polling Intervals
l Polling Statistics Intervals
l Dynamic IP Address and Hostname Resolution
l Database Settings
l Network
l Calculations & Thresholds
Polling Intervals
The following settings configure default polling intervals. To apply poller settings,
click Re-Apply Polling Intervals.
You can improve SolarWinds NPM performance by entering longer

polling intervals.
Default Node Poll Interval

Devices are regularly polled to determine status and response time on this
designated interval. By default, this interval is 120 seconds.
Default Interface Poll Interval
Interfaces are regularly polled to determine status on this designated
interval. By default, this interval is 120 seconds.
Default Volume Poll Interval
Volumes are regularly polled to determine status on this designated interval.
By default, this interval is 120 seconds.
Default Rediscovery Interval
Your entire network is polled on this interval to detect any re-indexed
interfaces. Monitored network devices are also checked for IOS upgrades
permitting EnergyWise support. By default, this interval is 30 minutes.
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Note: In Orion platform products released prior to Orion NPM version 10.1,
the minimum interval allowed is 1 minute. Beginning with Orion NPM
version 10.1, the minimum rediscovery interval is 5 minutes. The default
rediscovery interval must be set to at least 5 minutes before you can change
polling interval settings.
Lock custom values
This option is enabled by default. When enabled, all polling customizations
made on the Polling Settings view are automatically saved.
Polling Statistics Intervals

The following settings configure default polling intervals for device statistics. To
apply poller settings, click ReApply Polling Statistic Intervals.
Note: Depending on the Orion products and modules you have installed,
additional Polling Settings may be available. For more information about any
module-specific polling settings, see your SolarWinds Orion Administrator Guide.
Default Node Topology Poll Interval
Topology data are regularly polled on this interval. By default, this interval is
30 minutes. To reduce network load, you may want to increase this polling
interval.
Default Node Statistics Poll Interval
Device performance statistics are regularly polled on this interval. By
default, this interval is 10 minutes.
Default Interface Statistics Poll Interval
Interface performance statistics are regularly polled on this interval. By
Default Volume Statistics Poll Interval
Volume performance statistics are regularly polled on this interval. By
Dynamic IP Address and Hostname Resolution

The Default IP Address Resolution setting determines the type of IP address
resolution that is used when a dual-stack monitored device returns both IPv4 and
IPv6 addresses. By default, IPv4 is used.
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Database Settings
Database Settings
The following options configure Orion database maintenance and retention
settings.
Consider how long you need to archive monitored data. Shortening

retention periods can improve the database performance.
Archive Time
The Archive Time is the time of day when Orion database maintenance
occurs. For more information, see Database Maintenance.
Auditing Trails Retention
All audit trails data is kept for the period of time designated as the Auditing
Trails Retention period. By default, this period is 365 days.
Detailed Statistics Retention
All statistics collected on any basis shorter than 1 hour are summarized into
hourly statistics after the period of time designated as the Detailed Statistics
Retention period. By default, this period is 7 days. This setting specifies the
retention period for node statistics such as availability and response time.
Hourly Statistics Retention
All statistics collected on any basis shorter than 1 day but longer than 1 hour
are summarized into daily statistics after the period of time designated as
the Hourly Statistics Retention period. By default, this period is 30 days.
This setting specifies the retention period for node statistics such as
availability and response time.
Daily Statistics Retention
All statistics in the Orion database that are collected on a daily basis are
kept for this designated period of time. By default, this period is 365 days.
This setting specifies the retention period for node statistics such as
availability and response time.
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Baseline Data Collection Duration

This setting specifies the number of days of data that will be included in the
baseline. The default is 7 days. The value specified here should not be
greater than the value specified in the Detailed Statistics Retention setting.
This setting applies to nodes and interfaces as well.
Interface Baseline Calculation Frequency
The frequency with which the interface baseline calculation is performed.
The baseline for nodes is calculated every time when database
maintenance is performed.
Detailed Interface Availability Statistics Retention
All interface statistics collected on any basis shorter than 1 hour are
summarized into hourly statistics after the period of time designated as the
Detailed Interface Availability Statistics Retention period. By default, this
period is 7 days.
Hourly Interface Availability Statistics Retention
All interface statistics collected on any basis shorter than 1 day but longer
than 1 hour are summarized into daily statistics after the period of time
designated as the Hourly Interface Statistics Retention period. By default,
this period is 30 days.
Daily Interface Availability Statistics Retention
All interface statistics in the Orion database that are collected on a daily
basis are kept for this designated period of time. By default, this period is
365 days.
Detailed Wireless Statistics Retention
All wireless statistics collected on any basis shorter than 1 hour are
Detailed Wireless Statistics Retention period. By default, this period is 3
days.
Hourly Wireless Statistics Retention
All wireless statistics collected on any basis shorter than 1 day but longer
than 1 hour are summarized into daily statistics after the period of time
designated as the Hourly Wireless Statistics Retention period. By default,
this period is 14 days.
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Database Settings
Daily Wireless Statistics Retention

All wireless statistics in the Orion database that are collected on a daily
basis are kept for this designated period of time. By default, this period is
180 days.
Detailed UnDP Statistics Retention
All UnDP statistics collected on any basis shorter than 1 hour are
Detailed UnDP Statistics Retention period. By default, this period is 3 days.
Hourly UnDP Statistics Retention
All UnDP statistics collected on any basis shorter than 1 day but longer than
1 hour are summarized into daily statistics after the period of time
designated as the Hourly UnDP Statistics Retention period. By default, this
period is 14 days.
Daily UnDP Statistics Retention
All UnDP statistics in the Orion database that are collected on a daily basis
are kept for this designated period of time. By default, this period is 180
days.
Events Retention
All network events data is deleted from the Orion database after the period
of time designated by the Events Retention has passed after the event
ending time. By default, this period is 30 days.
Syslog Messages Retention
All received Syslog messages are kept for the period of time designated. By
default, this period is 7 days.
Trap Messages Retention
All received trap messages are kept for the period of time designated. By
default, this period is 30 days.
Max Alert Execution Time
If it takes longer than the value specified here for an alert to execute, Orion
will disable the alert. Alert execution time includes the amount of time
required to trigger any configured alert actions.
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Alert Acknowledge URL Text

Users with alert acknowledgment rights will see the text provided as a link
to acknowledge an associated alert.
Allow alert actions for unmanaged objects
If this option is enabled, the Alerting Engine will execute alert actions for all
monitored objects that trigger alerts, including monitored objects that are
temporarily unmanaged. By default, this option is disabled.
Discovery Retention
All configured discovery profiles are kept for the period of time designated.
By default, this period is 60 days. For more information about discovery
profiles, see Discovering and Adding Network Devices.
Downtime History Retention
All records of downtime is retained in your database for the period of time
designated. By default, this period is 30 days.
Network
The following settings configure ICMP and SNMP requests.
ICMP Timeout
All ICMP (ping) requests made by the Orion poller time out if a response is
not received within the period designated. By default, this period is 2500ms.
ICMP Data
This string is included within all ICMP packets sent by Orion.
SNMP Timeout
All SNMP requests made by the Orion poller time out if a response is not
received within the period designated. By default, this period is 2500ms.
SNMP Retries
If a response to an SNMP poll request made by the Orion poller is not
received within the configured SNMP Timeout, the Orion poller will conduct
as many retries as designated by this value. By default, this value is 2.
UCS API Timeout
All UCS API requests made by the Orion poller time out if a response is not
received within the period designated. By default, this period is 240
seconds.
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Calculations & Thresholds
Perform reverse DNS lookup

If you want Orion to perform reverse DNS lookups on monitored DHCP
nodes, confirm that this option is checked. By default, reverse DNS lookup
for DHCP nodes is enabled.
Calculations & Thresholds

The following settings designate methods for calculating availability and
transmission rate baselines, select the node warning level and counter type, and
indicate security preferences for community strings and other potentially sensitive
information in the web console.
Availability Calculation (advanced)
This setting designates the type of calculation performed to determine
device availability. For more information, see Calculating Node Availability.
Baseline Calculation (advanced)
When enabled, baselines for the transmission rates of the various elements
of your network are calculated upon startup. This baseline is used as a
starting point for any comparison statistics. For more information, see
Calculating a Baseline.
Enable Auto Dependencies
This settings allows your SolarWinds Orion server to collate topology
information from your networked devices and create dependency links
between relevant devices.
Allow Secure Data on Web (advanced)
In the interest of security, sensitive information about your network is not
available in the Orion Web Console. If your network is properly secured,
check this option to allow users to view community strings and other
potentially sensitive information within the web console.
Note: This setting does not affect the display of custom reports that you
export to the web.
Node Warning Level
Devices that do not respond to polling within this designated period of time
display as Down in the web console. By default, this value is 120 seconds.
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Counter Rollover
This option sets the type of counter used. For more information, see
Handling Counter Rollovers.
Default Assigned IP Address
In the event that DNS resolution fails for a monitored node, the IP address
provided in this setting will be recorded as the node IP address. If blank, no
IP address will be stored.
Disable HTML Encoding for Polled Data
HTML encoding provides added security for polled data in the web console.
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Calculating Node Availability
Calculating Node Availability

The Availability Calculation setting on the Orion Polling Settings view provides a
choice between the following two methods for determining device availability.
Node Status
The default method is based upon the historical up or down status of the selected
node. The selected node is polled for status on the Default Node Poll Interval
defined on the Orion Polling Settings view. For more information, see Orion
Polling Settings.
If the selected node responds to a ping within the default interval, the node is
considered up, and a value of 100 is recorded in the Response Time view. If the
node does not respond to a ping within the default interval, the node is
considered down and a value of 0 is recorded in the Response Time view. To
calculate node availability over a selected time period, the sum of all Response
Time table records for the selected node over the selected time period is divided
by the selected time period, providing an average availability over the selected
time period.
Percent Packet Loss

The second method is a more complicated calculation that effectively bases the
availability of a selected node on its packet loss percentage. As in the Node
Status method, the selected node is polled for status. If it responds within the
Default Node Poll Interval defined on the Orion Polling Settings view, a value of
100 is averaged with the previous 10 availability records. For more information,
see Orion Polling Settings.
The result of the Percent Packet Loss calculation is a sliding-window average. To
calculate node availability over a selected time period, the sum of all results in the
Response Time table for the selected node over the selected time period is
divided by the selected time period, providing an average availability over time.
Note: The Percent Packet Loss method introduces a historical dependency into
each availability node record. In general, it is best to leave calculations based on
Node Status unless you specifically need node availability based on packet loss.
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Calculating a Baseline
Much of the raw data that Orion polls from monitored network objects is provided
initially as counter values. For example, one of the values that SolarWinds NPM
polls from interfaces is ifInOctets, which returns the number of bytes the polled
interface has received since the device last booted. While this value can be
useful information in itself, generally, from a network performance monitoring
standpoint, it is more useful to know the rate of bytes received by the interface.
In order to determine a rate, two values are required. On a new install or after a
shutdown, when the SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor service starts,
there is no current network data in your Orion database. In this situation, by
default, your SolarWinds Orion server calculates a baseline for the transmission
rates of the various elements of your network. To calculate this baseline, all
network resources are polled immediately upon startup, and then, as soon as the
initial poll is complete, the network is polled again.
The resulting two sets of data are used to calculate a performance baseline. If you
do not need statistics immediately, or if you do not want your SolarWinds Orion
server to calculate a baseline at startup, disable baseline calculation by setting
the Baseline Calculation option to False. For more information about configuring
the settings on this view in addition to configuring all other available polling
engine variables, see Configuring Polling Engine Settings.
Note: Baseline calculation requires significant data gathering and processing.
Until baseline calculation is completed, both SolarWinds Orion server
performance and the CPU performance of some of network routers may be
adversely affected.
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Orion Baseline Data Calculation
Orion Baseline Data Calculation

Using the baselining feature, you can display baselines on different charts in the
Orion Web Console. In the Orion Web Console, you can define general static
thresholds for every entity, and you can base alerts on the global static
thresholds. However, you can also override the global threshold, and specify a
custom dynamic baseline threshold on an entity per entity basis.
The baseline is calculated based on the normal historical distribution of data,
taking the mean and standard deviations into account. Baselines can be used to
detect and alert on deviations from the average values. Baselines can be
calculated automatically, and can be applied as soon as sufficient statistical data
becomes available. You can also recalculate baselines on demand.
SolarWinds Orion platform products have always provided performance statistics
and threshold comparisons in the web console to give you a clear picture of
network performance. In any sort of performance analysis baselines are critical to
establishing useful and valid performance benchmarks and expectations against
which current performance can be measured. Statistical baseline data calculation
is a feature that significantly improves the accuracy and validity of established
performance benchmarks. As a result, the Orion Web Console can provide better
quality information. By performing statistical analysis on collected data,
SolarWinds is able to provide data that is both more accurate and better able to
indicate when and where there are performance issues on your network. The
baseline statistics are recalculated on a custom basis, and they are used to define
thresholds for use in web console charts and alerts.
What Data is Affected?

The following types of data are subject to statistical baseline data calculation:
Nodes Interfaces Volumes
CPU Load Received (Incoming) Errors & Percent Disk

Discards Usage
Percent Memory Transmitted (Outgoing) Errors &

Used Discards
Response Time Received (Incoming) Percent

Utilization
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Nodes Interfaces Volumes
Percent Loss Transmitted (Outgoing) Percent

Utilization
When Are Baselines Calculated?

By default, node baseline calculations are performed daily, and interface baseline
calculations are performed weekly, on Sunday. Only the interface baseline
calculation schedule may be edited in the Database Settings section of the Orion
Polling Settings view. The node baseline calculation schedule is not
customizable.
To customize the schedule of interface baseline data calculation:

privileges.
2. Click Settings in the top right.
3. In the Settings grouping, click Polling Settings.
4. Under the Database Settings, select the desired Interface Baseline
Calculation Frequency.
5. If you want to change the default amount of data that is used to make the
interface baseline calculation, enter the desired number of days to include
as the Baseline Data Collection Duration.
Note: The Baseline Data Collection Duration cannot exceed the Detailed
Statistics Retention that is configured in the same section.
6. Click Submit.
Why Are Only Interface Baselines Customizable?

In most monitored environments, the number of monitored interfaces is much
larger than the number of nodes. Performing daily baseline calculations on nodes
will not, in most environments, potentially affect performance as much as
performing the same calculations for all monitored interfaces.
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Setting the Node Warning Level
Setting the Node Warning Level

A device may drop packets or fail to respond to a poll for many reasons. Should
the device fail to respond, the device status is changed from Up to Warning. On
the Orion Polling Settings view, you can specify the Node Warning Level, which
is the length of time a device is allowed to remain in the Warning status before it
is marked as Down. During the interval specified, the service performs "fast
polling" to continually check the node status.
Note: You may see events or receive alerts for down nodes that are not actually
down. This can be caused by intermittent packet loss on the network. Set the
Node Warning Interval to a higher value to avoid these false notifications. For
more information about packet loss reporting, see Managing Packet Loss
Reporting.
To set the Node Warning Level:

rights.
2. Click Settings in the upper right of the web console, and then click Polling
Settings in the Settings group of the Orion Website Administration view.
3. In the Calculations and Thresholds group, set the Node Warning Level to an
appropriate interval, in seconds.
Note: The default Node Warning Level interval is 120 seconds.
4. Click Submit.
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Managing Packet Loss Reporting

To manage the amount of network-wide packet loss reported by Orion, configure
the Response Time Retry Count for your polling engine. This setting designates
the number of times Orion retries ICMP pings on a monitored device before
packet loss is reported.
Note: This configuration change requires an insertion into your Orion database. If
possible in your environment, SolarWinds recommends installing and using the
SQL Server Management Studio to perform this insertion.
To configure the Response Time Retry Count for your polling engine:
1. Create a full backup of your Orion database.

2. On your Orion server, click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion >
Advanced Features > Orion Service Manager.
3. Click Shutdown Everything.
4. On your Orion database server, click Start > All Programs > Microsoft
SQL Server > SQL Server Management Studio.
5. Select your Orion database Server name.
6. Select an appropriate Authentication type, provide any required
credentials, and then click Connect.
7. Expand Databases > OrionDatabaseName > Tables, and then click New
Query.
8. Type the following query into the empty SQL query field:
Note: Specify your own custom values for Maximum, CurrentValue, and
DefaultValue.
INSERT INTO [OrionDatabaseName].[dbo].[Settings] (SettingID, Name,
Description, Units, Minimum, Maximum, CurrentValue, DefaultValue)
VALUES (‘SWNetPerfMon-Settings-Response Time Retry Count’,
‘Response Time Retry Count’, ‘Number of times Orion retries ICMP
pings on a monitored device before reporting packet loss’, ‘’, 1,
Maximum, CurrentValue, DefaultValue)
9. Click Execute, and then close SQL Server Management Studio.

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Deleting Polling Engines

11. Click Start Everything.
Deleting Polling Engines

If there are any polling engines in your SolarWinds environment that are not
currently assigned any monitored objects, you can delete them directly from the
Polling Engine details view.
Notes:
l This method for deleting polling engines from your SolarWinds environment
is only available for polling engines to which there are no longer any
assigned objects for monitoring.
l If you want to delete an existing polling engine to which monitored objects
are currently assigned, use Node Management to reassign monitored
objects to other polling engines, as necessary, and then delete the polling
engine as indicated in this procedure.
To delete a polling engine:
1. Log in to the Orion Web Console as a user with administrative rights.

3. Click Polling Engines in the Settings group.
4. If the Elements listing for the polling engine you want to delete reports
"0 elements assigned", click Delete unused polling engine.
5. Confirm the polling engine deletion by clicking Yes, delete.
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Chapter 22: Using Orion Scalability
Engines
Orion scalability engines, including Additional Polling Engines and Additional
Web Servers, can extend the monitoring capacity of your SolarWinds installation.
Requirements and recommendations will vary from product to product. Refer to
the Administrator Guide for your specific product for more information.
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Chapter 22: Using Orion Scalability Engines
Scalability Engine Requirements

Scalability engine requirements are generally the same as the requirements for a
primary polling engine. For more information, see Orion Requirements.
Note: SNMP access must be allowed to all SolarWinds polling engines. For more
information, see the installation instructions in the Administrator Guide for your
SolarWinds product.
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Scalability Engine Guidelines by Product
Scalability Engine Guidelines by Product

The following sections provide guidance for using scalability engines to expand
the capacity of your SolarWinds installation.
Note: Requirements and recommendations will vary from product to product.
Refer to the Administrator Guide for your specific product for more information.
l DameWare in Centralized Mode

l Database Performance Analyzer (DPA)
l Engineer's Toolset on the Web
l Enterprise Operations Console (EOC)
l IP Address Manager (IPAM)
l Log and Event Manager (LEM)
l NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
l Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
l Network Performance Monitor (NPM)
l Patch Manager (SPM)
l Quality of Experience (QoE)
l Server & Application Monitor (SAM)
l Serv-U FTP Server and MFT Server
l Storage Resource Monitor (SRM)
l User Device Tracker (UDT)
l Virtualization Manager (vMan)
l VoIP & Network Quality Manager (VNQM)
l Web Performance Monitor (WPM)
DameWare in Centralized Mode
DameWare Scalability Engine Guidelines
Scalability Options 150 concurrent Internet Sessions per Internet Proxy

5,000 Centralized users per Centralized Server
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DameWare Scalability Engine Guidelines
10,000 Hosts in Centralized Global Host list

5 MRC sessions per Console
Database Performance Analyzer (DPA)
Database Performance Analyzer (DPA) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Scalability Options Less than 20 database instances monitored on a

system with 1 CPU and 1 GB RAM
20-50 database instances monitored on a system with
2 CPU and 2 GB RAM
51-250 database instances monitored on a system
with 4 CPU and 4 GB RAM
Engineer's Toolset on the Web
Engineer's Toolset on the Web Scalability Engine Guidelines
Scalability Options 45 active tools per Engineer's Toolset on the Web

instance
3 tools per user session
1 active tool per mobile session
10 nodes monitored at the same time per tool
48 interfaces monitored at the same time per tool
12 metrics rendered at same time per tool
Enterprise Operations Console (EOC)
Enterprise Operations Console (EOC) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Stackable No
Pollers
Available?
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IP Address Manager (IPAM)
Enterprise Operations Console (EOC) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Poller No
Remotability
Available?
Primary Poller 25k elements per Orion server

Limits
Scalability Maximum of 25k elements per Orion server

Options Maximum 1 million elements on 75 primary SolarWinds NPM
servers (i.e. 1 NPM server + 1 APE). For more information,
see Network Performance Monitor (NPM).
WAN and/or Minimal monitoring traffic is sent between the primary NPM
Bandwidth server and any APEs that are connected over a WAN. Most
Considerations traffic related to monitoring is between an APE and the
SolarWinds database.
Other See "Section 4 — Deployment Strategies" of NetFlow Basics

Considerations and Deployment Strategies
IP Address Manager (IPAM)
IP Address Manager (IPAM) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Scalability Options 3 million IPs per SolarWinds IPAM instance
Log and Event Manager (LEM)
Log and Event Manager (LEM) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Scalability Options Maximum 120 million events per day

10,000 rule hits per day
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NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Stackable Pollers No
Available?
Poller Remotability No
Available?
Primary Poller Limits For more information, see Network Performance

Monitor (NPM).
Scalability Options For more information, see Network Performance

Monitor (NPM).
WAN and/or 1.5 - 3% of total traffic seen by exporter

Bandwidth
Considerations
Other Considerations See "Section 4 — Deployment Strategies" of

NetFlow Basics and Deployment Strategies
Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Network Configuration Manager (NCM) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Available?
Available?
Primary Poller Limits ~10k devices
Scalability Options One APE for every 10k devices, for NCM versions 7.1
and higher
Maximum of 30k devices per primary SolarWinds NCM
instance (i.e. NCM server + 2 NCM APEs)
Integrated standalone mode
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Network Performance Monitor (NPM)
Network Configuration Manager (NCM) Scalability Engine Guidelines
WAN and/or None

Bandwidth
Considerations
Other Considerations None
Network Performance Monitor (NPM)
Network Performance Monitor (NPM) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Stackable Yes. Up to three total polling engines may be installed on a

Pollers single server (i.e. one primary NPM polling engine with one
Available? or two additional polling engines or three additional polling
engines on the same server).
Note: A stack requires only 1 IP address, regardless of the
number of APEs
Poller Yes, for NPM versions 10.4 and higher

Remotability Note: Poller remotability is a feature that enables the local
Available? storage, using MSMQ, of up to ~1 GB of polled data per poller
in the event that the connection between the polling engine
and the database is temporarily lost.
Primary Poller ~12k elements at standard polling frequencies:

Limits
l Node and interface up/down: 2 minutes/poll
l Node statistics: 10 minutes/poll
l Interface statistics: 9 minutes/poll
25-50 concurrent Orion Web Console users
SNMP Traps: ~500 messages per second (~1.8 million
messages/hr)
Syslog: 700-1k messages/second (2.5 - 3.6 million
messages/hr)
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Network Performance Monitor (NPM) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Note: If you are monitoring more than ~100,000 elements,

consider using SolarWinds Enterprise Operations Console.
Scalability One polling engine for every ~12k elements

Options Maximum of 100k elements per primary SolarWinds NPM
server (i.e. 1 NPM server + 9 APEs). For more information
about licensing, see "How is SolarWinds NPM licensed?"
WAN and/or Minimal monitoring traffic is sent between the primary NPM
Other How much bandwidth does SolarWinds require for

Considerations monitoring?
For hardware requirements, see Orion Server Hardware
Requirements in the SolarWinds Orion NPM Administrator
Guide.
Patch Manager (SPM)
Patch Manager (SPM) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Scalability 1,000 nodes per automation server

Options 1,000 nodes per SQL Server Express instance (SQL Server
does not have this limitation)
Quality of Experience (QoE)
Quality of Experience (QoE) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Scalability Options 1,000 QoE sensors

50 application per sensor
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Server & Application Monitor (SAM)
Server & Application Monitor (SAM)
Server & Application Monitor (SAM) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Stackable Yes, for SAM version 6.2 and higher. Two polling engines
Pollers can be installed on a single server
Available?
Poller Yes, for SAM versions 5.5 and higher

Remotability Note: Poller remotability is a feature that enables the local
in the event that the connection between the polling engine
and the database is temporarily lost.
Primary Poller ~8-10k component monitors per polling engine

Limits 25-50 concurrent Orion Web Console users
Scalability One APE for every 8-10k component monitors

Options Maximum of 150k component monitors per primary
SolarWinds SAM installation (i.e. 1 SAM server + 4 APEs).
You can use up to 14 APEs.
For more information about licensing, see Why are you
licensing by monitors instead of by servers?
WAN and/or Minimal monitoring traffic is sent between the primary SAM
SolarWinds database. Bandwidth requirements depend on
the size of the relevant component monitor. Based on 67.5 kB
/ WMI poll and a 5 minute polling frequency, the estimate is
1.2 Mbps for 700 component monitors. For more information,
see How do SNMP and WMI polling compare?
Note: WMI is best suited for environments where latency is <
100ms.
Other WMI Security Blog

Considerations
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Serv-U FTP Server and MFT Server
Serv-U FTP Server and MFT Server Scalability Engine Guidelines
Scalability Options 500 simultaneous FTP and HTTP transfers per

Serv-U instance
50 simultaneous SFTP and HTTPS transfers per
Serv-U instance
For more information, see the Serv-U Distributed
Architecture Guide.
Storage Resource Monitor (SRM)
Storage Resource Monitor (SRM) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Stackable No. One APE instance can be deployed on a single host.

Pollers
Available?
Poller Yes
Remotability Note: Poller remotability is a feature enabling the local
in case the connection between the polling engine and the
database is temporarily lost.
Primary Poller 20k disk per poller

Limits 25-50 concurrent Orion Web Console users
Scalability 1 APE per 10k disk polled

Options
WAN and/or Minimal monitoring traffic is sent between the primary SRM
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User Device Tracker (UDT)
User Device Tracker (UDT)
User Device Tracker (UDT) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Available?
Available?
Primary Poller Limits 100k ports
Scalability Options One APE per 100k additional ports

Maximum of 500k port per instance (1 main poller
and 4 additional)
WAN and/or Bandwidth None

Considerations
Other Considerations UDT version 3.1 supports the ability to schedule

port discovery.
In UDT version 3.1 the Max Discovery Size is
2,500 nodes/150,000 ports
Virtualization Manager (vMan)
Virtualization Manager (vMan) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Scalability 3000 VMs*

Options 700 Hosts
75 Clusters
1800 Datastores
*By using federated collectors, you can monitor 10,000 or more
VMs. For information about federated collectors, see the
Virtualization Manager documentation.
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VoIP & Network Quality Manager (VNQM)
VoIP & Network Quality Manager Scalability Engine Guidelines
Stackable No
Pollers
Available?
Poller No
Remotability
Available?
Primary Poller ~5,000 IP SLA operations

Limits ~200k calls/day with 20k calls/hour spike capacity
Scalability One APE per 5,000 IP SLA operations and 200,000 calls per
Options day
Maximum of 15,000 IP SLA operations and 200,000 calls
per day per SolarWinds VNQM instance (i.e. SolarWinds
VNQM + 2 VNQM APEs)
WAN and/or Between Call Manager and VNQM: 34 Kbps per call, based
Bandwidth on estimates of ~256 bytes per CDR and CMR and based
Considerations on 20k calls per hour
Other None
Considerations
Web Performance Monitor (WPM)
Web Performance Monitor (WPM) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Available?
Poller Remotability No, but recordings may be made from multiple locations
Available?
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Web Performance Monitor (WPM)
Web Performance Monitor (WPM) Scalability Engine Guidelines
Primary Poller Dozens of recordings per player

Limits
Scalability Options One APE per dozens additional recordings, with the
complexity of transactions determining the limits per
player
WAN and/or None

Bandwidth
Considerations
Other None
Considerations
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Scalability Engine Deployment Options

The following sections discuss common scalability engine deployment options:
l Centralized Deployment
l Distributed Deployment
l Centralized Deployment with Remote Polling Engines
Centralized Deployment
This is the simplest deployment option, as there is only one SolarWinds Orion
server, and software is only installed in the Primary region. This option is well
suited to environments where most of the monitored nodes are located in a single,
primary region and where other regional offices are much smaller. This
deployment is optimal when the following conditions apply:
1. The remote office is not large enough to require a local SolarWinds Orion
server instance or polling engine.
2. There are not enough monitored nodes to require a local SolarWinds Orion
server instance or polling engine.
3. You prefer to have a central point of administration for the SolarWinds Orion
server.
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Centralized Deployment
In a typical centralized deployment, the primary SolarWinds Orion server polls all
data that is then stored centrally in the database server. Both the primary
SolarWinds Orion server and the database server are in the Primary Region. To
view data Regional Operators in each region must log into the Orion Web
Console in the primary region, where your Orion platform products are installed.
Additional Web Servers are available and may be installed in secondary regions.
If an Additional Web Server is deployed, a Regional Operator can log into a local
web console to view all network data.
A reliable static connection is required between the primary region and all
monitoring regions. This connection continually transmits monitoring data. The
quantity of bandwidth consumed will depend on many factors, including the type
and number of SolarWinds Orion platform products that are installed and the
types and quantity of monitored elements. It is difficult to precisely estimate
bandwidth requirements, as each SolarWinds monitoring environment is unique.
496
Notes:
l All nodes are polled from a single SolarWinds Orion server instance in the
Primary Region, and all data is stored centrally on the database server in
the primary region.
l Each installed module will need to have enough available licenses to cover
all regions.
l All KPI’s, such as Node Response Times, will be calculated from the
perspective of the Primary Orion Server. For example, the response time for
a monitored node in Region 2 will be equal to the round trip time from the
Primary Orion Server to that node.
Distributed Deployment
This is the traditional SolarWinds Orion distributed deployment option, comprising
separate instances of SolarWinds Orion platform products installed locally in
each region with the Enterprise Operations Console (EOC) available as a top
level dashboard to access data across all related instances.
This option is well suited to organizations with multiple regions or sites where the
quantity of nodes to be monitored in each region would warrant both localized
data collection and storage. It works well when there are regional teams
responsible for their own environments, and when regional teams need autonomy
over their monitoring platform. This option gives regional operators this autonomy
and the ability to have different modules and license sizes installed in each
region to match individual requirements. While the systems are segregated
between regions, all data can still be accessed from the centrally located
Enterprise Operations Console (EOC).
497
Distributed Deployment
Each region is licensed independently, and data are polled and stored locally in
each region. Modules and license sizes may be mixed and matched accordingly.
In the example provided,
l Region 1 has deployed NPM SLX, SAM AL1500, UDT 50,000, and three
additional polling engines
l Region 2 has deployed NPM SL500, NTA for NPM SL500, UDT 2500, and
three additional polling engines
l Region 3 has deployed NPM SL100 only and three additional polling
engines
As in this example, if EOC is used as a centralized dashboard to access data
stored regionally, the following considerations apply:
l A reliable static connection is required between EOC and all monitoring

regions.
498
l Each SolarWinds Orion server is incrementally polled for current status and
statistics only. EOC does not store historical data. Because it only performs
incremental polling for current status and statistics, the bandwidth used by
EOC is not considered to be significant.
Notes:
l Each region is managed, administered, and upgraded independently. For

example, node, user, alert, and report creation, deletion and modification
are performed separately in each region. Certain objects, such as alert
definitions, Universal Device Pollers, and Server and Application Monitor
templates can be exported and imported between instances.
l Each region can scale independently by adding additional polling engines
as required.
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Centralized Deployment with Remote Polling Engines

This option combines the benefits of a centralized Orion instance with the
flexibility of localized data collection. Management and administration is done
centrally on the primary server. This is well suited to organizations that require
centralized IT management and localized collection of monitoring data.
In a centralized deployment with remote polling engines, additional polling

engines poll data locally in each region, and the polled data is then stored
centrally on the database server in the primary region. Regional Operators in
each region log into the Orion Web Console in the Primary Region where the
primary SolarWinds Orion server is installed to view data.
500
Additional Web Servers are available and may be installed in secondary regions.
Using an Additional Web Server, a Regional Operator can then log into a local
web console to view all network data.
Notes:
l The combination of the Primary Orion Server, database server and all
remotely deployed polling engines is considered to be a single SolarWinds
Orion instance.
l This single instance is being managed and administered centrally. For
example, node, user, alert, and report creation, deletion and modification is
performed centrally on the Primary Orion Server only.
l When nodes are added, the user selects the polling engine to which the
node is assigned. All data collection for that node is then performed by that
polling engine, and nodes can be re-assigned between polling engines, as
required.
l A reliable static connection must be available between each region.
o This connection will be continually transmitting MS SQL Data to the
Orion Database Server; it will also communicate with the Primary
Orion Server.
o The latency (RTT) between each additional polling engine and the
database server should be below 300ms. Degradation may begin
around 200ms, depending on your utilization. In general, the remote
polling engine is designed to handle connection outages, rather than
high latency. The ability to tolerate connection latency is also a
function of load. Additional polling engines polling a large number of
elements may be potentially less tolerant of latency conditions.
o To calculate the bandwidth requirement for a remote polling engine,
consider the following example. If the additional polling engine polls
800 SNMP nodes, each node containing 12 interfaces and two
volumes, then the data flow between the polling engine and the
database server is approximately 300 KB/s. This calculation only
considers the polling activity with disabled topology, and does not
take into account the bandwidth requirement associated with syslogs,
traps and alerts.
501
l Each polling engine uses Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ).

o This allows data to be cached locally on the additional polling engine
servers in the event of a connection outage to the Orion Database
Server.
o The amount of data that can be cached depends on the amount of disk
space available on the polling engine server. The default storage
space is 1 GB. A general guideline is that up to one hour of data can
be cached. When the connection to the database is restored, the Orion
Database Server is updated with the locally cached data. The
synchronization occurs in a FIFO order, meaning that the oldest data
is processed first. This means that after the connection is restored, a
period of time elapses before the most up-to-date polling data appears
instantly in the database.
o If the database connection is broken for a longer time and the collector
queue becomes full, the newest data is discarded until a connection to
the database is re-established.
o Data queuing is supported for modules that use the collector.
l Regional Operators in each region will log into the Orion Web Console in
the Primary Region where you SolarWinds Orion platform products are
installed to view data.
l An optional Additional Web Server is available, and it can be installed in
secondary regions. Regional operators can then log into their local web
consoles.
l All KPIs, such as Node Response Times, will be calculated from the
perspective of each regional Additional Polling Engine. For example, the
response time for a monitored node in Region 2 will be equal to the round
trip time from the Additional Polling Engine in Region 2 to that node.
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Installing Additional Polling Engines

The installation and initial configuration of a new Additional Polling Engine
follows the same steps as the installation and configuration of a primary
SolarWinds polling engine, with the following additional considerations:
l The most recent installer is available in your SolarWinds Customer Portal

within the Orion_Additional_Polling_Engine_version.zip archive.
l If you want to monitor or manage devices polled by an additional polling
engine in any Orion module, you must install the additional polling engine
for the appropriate module. For more information, see the SolarWinds
documentation for your Orion module.
l Individual licenses must be activated for each polling engine in a stackable
poller installation.
l If you have configured an alert with a Send Email action to trigger on a node
monitored by an additional polling engine, confirm that the additional polling
engine has access to your SMTP server.
To install an Orion Additional Polling Engine:
1. Launch the appropriate executable, which you have downloaded from the
SolarWinds website.
Notes:
l The executable extracts to a folder containing an HTML readme, an
Installer Guide, and Additional Polling Engine installers for all Orion
products that support Additional Polling Engines.
l Launch the installer that corresponds to the SolarWinds product
installed on your primary SolarWinds Orion server.
l If you have multiple Orion products installed on your primary
SolarWinds Orion server, install the additional polling engine for each
product to ensure full functionality.
2. On the Welcome window of the Compatibility Check, provide the following
information:
l The Hostname or IP Address of your primary SolarWinds Orion
server.
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Activating Stackable Poller Licenses
l The User name and Password of a user with administrative

privileges to the Orion Web Console on your primary SolarWinds
Orion server.
3. Click Next, and then complete the installation as you would on a primary
Activating Stackable Poller Licenses

When installing additional polling engines in a stacked poller installation,
licenses must be activated using the Smart Bundle installer.
Choose from the scenarios below:
1. Main Orion Server + Stackable Pollers

a. Use Full Installer to install main poller.
b. Use Smart Bundle to install stackable poller(s). The license will be
initiated on the first screen.
2. Additional Polling Engine + Stackable Pollers
a. Use Smart Bundle to install Additional Polling Engine. This will install
bits for all needed modules/products (unless something is not
included by Smart Bundle).
b. Use Smart Bundle to install stackable poller(s). The license will be
asked on the first screen
3. Add stackable Pollers to existing APE (could be installed by previous Smart
Bundle or regular APE installer).
a. Use Smart Bundle to install any missing or out-of-date modules. If

some modules are not included in the Smart Bundle, it will provide
instruction for you to download a regular Additional Poller installer and
install the missing parts.
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Frequently Asked Questions

The following questions address some common issues encountered when using
scalability engines with a SolarWinds installation.
Does each module have its own polling engine?
No, any additional polling engine may have all relevant modules installed
on it, and it will perform polling for all installed modules. An additional
polling engine essentially works in the same way as your primary polling
engine on your main server.
If I am monitoring with both NPM and SAM, do I need to install a NPM polling
engine and a separate SAM polling engine?
No, any additional polling engine may have all relevant modules installed
on it, and it will perform polling for all installed modules. An additional
polling engine essentially works in the same way as your primary polling
engine on your main server.
Are polling limits cumulative or independent? For example, can a single
polling engine poll 12k NPM elements AND 10k SAM monitors together?
Yes, a single polling engine can poll up to the limits of each module
installed, providing sufficient hardware resources are available.
Are there different size license available for the Additional Polling Engine?
No, the Additional Polling Engine is only available with an unlimited
license.
Can you add an Additional Polling Engine to any size module license?
Yes, you can add an Additional Polling Engine to any size license.
Note: Adding an Additional Polling Engine does not increase your license
size. For example, if you are licensed for an NPM SL100, adding an
additional polling engine does not increase the licensed limit of 100
nodes/interfaces/volumes, but the polling load is spread across two polling
engines instead of one.
Will an Additional Polling Engine allow me to monitor overlapping IP’s?
Yes, you will be able to add nodes with the same IP Address to separate
polling engines allowing you to monitor overlapping IP Addresses.
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Chapter 23: Configuring Automatic
Login
The Orion Web Console allows you to log in using any of the following methods:
l Windows Active Directory Authentication, available in all Orion products

released after SolarWinds NPM version 10.1.
l Windows Pass-through Security. If you choose to employ Windows Pass-
through Security, SolarWinds NPM users can be authenticated through
Windows Security, with no need to log in using a separate SolarWinds NPM
Account or User Name and Password. For more information, see Using
Windows Pass-through Security.
l DirectLink. If a DirectLink account is activated, any URL referring directly to
an Orion Web Console page will bypass the Orion Web Console login page
by logging the user into the DirectLink account. For more information, see
Using the DirectLink Account.
l URL Pass-through. For more information, see Passing Login Information
Using URL Parameters.
SolarWinds NPM prioritizes user login in the following manner:
1. Windows Active Directory Authentication is enabled. To enable Windows

Active Directory Authentication, check the Windows Authentication option
when configuring the Orion Web Console in the Configuration Wizard.
2. The Account or User ID and Password passed on the URL.
3. The Account or User ID and Password entered on the login.aspx page.
4. The Windows User if IIS NT Security is enabled, logging the user in using
NT Security.
5. The Windows Domain to which the User belongs, for example,
Development\Everyone.
6. The presence of a DirectLink Account.
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Chapter 23: Configuring Automatic Login
Using Windows Pass-through Security

On all Orion products released before Orion NPM version 10.1, you may take
advantage of the Windows Pass-through Security functionality when IIS NT
Security is enabled. Orion users can be authenticated through Windows Security,
with no need to log in using a separate Orion account or User Id and Password.
Pass-through Security can be configured to employ either Domain or Local
computer security. Both may also be used at the same time. The Orion Platform
Account or User ID and Passwords must then be set up to match the Account or
User ID and Passwords that are used for the Domain and/or Local computer
security. Use the following procedure to enable IIS NT Security for logging in to
the Orion Web Console with Windows Pass-through Security.
Notes:
l With the release of Orion NPM 10.1, Orion Web Console users may be
authenticated using Active Directory.
l When authenticating users with Windows Security, ensure your Orion
server uses the NetBIOS domain name, instead of the fully qualified domain
name.
To enable IIS NT security for Windows Pass-through Security:
1. If you are using NT Domain Authentication Format for pass-through

accounts, create these pass-through accounts in the Orion Web Console
Account Manager using Domain\UserID as the User Name, as follows:
l Washington\Edward
l StLouis\Bill
Note: For more information about creating accounts using the Orion Web
Console Account Manager, see Creating New Accounts.
2. If you are using Local Computer Authentication Format for

passthrough accounts, create these accounts in the Orion Web Console
Account Manager using Computer\UserID as the User Name, as follows:
l SolarWindsS2\Edward
l Server3\JonesR
Note: For more information about creating accounts using the Orion Web
Console Account Manager, see Creating New Accounts.
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Using Windows Pass-through Security
3. Click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Internet
Information Services (IIS) Manager.
4. If you are using Windows Server 2003, complete the following steps:
a. Expand Internet Information Services > Local Computer > Web

Sites in the left pane.
b. Select SolarWinds NetPerfMon.
c. Click Action > Properties.
d. Click the Directory Security tab.
e. Click Edit within the Authentication and access control area.
f. Clear Enable anonymous access.
g. Check Integrated Windows authentication in the Authenticated
access group.
h. Click OK to close the Authentication Methods window.
i. Click Apply, if available, and then click OK to close the SolarWinds
NetPerfMon Properties window.
j. Collapse Internet Information Services > Local Computer > Web
Sites.
k. Collapse Internet Information Services > Local Computer in the left
pane.
l. Click Action > All Tasks > Restart IIS.
m. Confirm that Restart Internet Services on Local Computer is
selected, and then click OK.
n. Close the IIS Manager.
5. If you are using Windows Server 2008, complete the following steps:
a. Click Start > Administrative Tools > Server Manager.

b. Expand Roles.
c. Click Web Server (IIS).
d. In the Role Services area, confirm that Web Server > Security >
Windows Authentication is installed.
508
e. If Windows Authentication is not installed, click Add Role

Services, check Web Server > Security > Windows Authentication,
click Next, and then complete the service installation.
f. Click Start > Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services
(IIS) Manager.
g. Select your Orion server in the left pane.
h. Click Authentication in the IIS group of the main pane.
i. Right-click Anonymous Authentication, and then click Disable.
j. Right-click Windows Authentication, and then click Enable.
k. Click your Orion server, and then click Restart in the Actions pane.
6. Close the IIS Manager.
Log in to the Orion Web Console using the Windows account credentials
you have already established.
509
Passing Login Information Using URL Parameters
Passing Login Information Using URL Parameters

The user ID and password can be passed as parameters within the URL. This
allows you to create a favorite or bookmark within a browser, or on your desktop.
Create a favorite with a link in the following form to pass the login information:
http://DOMAIN/Orion/Login.aspx?AccountID=USER&Password=PASSWOR
D
Provide the hostname or IP address of your Orion server as the DOMAIN. Provide
your Orion User ID as the USER, and then provide your Orion user account
password as the PASSWORD.
Warning: HTTP requests are not encrypted, so User IDs and Passwords sent in
HTTP requests are not secure. For more information about enabling HTTPS on
your Orion server, consult www.microsoft.com.
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Using the DirectLink Account

Enabling a DirectLink account allows you to make direct hyperlinks to specific
web console views available to individuals who do not already have Orion Web
Console user accounts. Any URL referring directly to an NPM web page
bypasses the login screen, logging the user into the DirectLink account. The
DirectLink account is created like any other account, and it can include custom
views and account limitations. For more information web console accounts, see
Creating New Accounts.
To enable a DirectLink account for the Orion Web Console:

Accounts in the Accounts grouping.
3. Click Add.
4. Type DirectLink as the new User Name.
5. Type a Password, confirm it, and then click Submit.
6. Edit DirectLink account options, as necessary, for your installation of Orion
Network Performance Monitor. For more information about editing account
options, see Editing User Accounts.
7. Create a custom view to be used as the home page of the DirectLink
account. For more information, see Creating New Views.
8. Specify the new DirectLink view as a default view in Account Manager. For
more information, see Editing User Accounts.
9. If you would like to limit the DirectLink account to specific devices or
device types, see Setting Account Limitations.
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Chapter 24: Orion Product Family
The SolarWinds Orion family of products delivers easy-to-use, scalable solutions
to meet your network, systems, and storage monitoring and management needs.
The following sections provide more information about individual products in the
Orion family:
l Monitoring Network Performance (Orion NPM)

l Monitoring Network Application Data (SAM)
l Managing IP Addresses (IPAM)
l Managing IP Service Level Agreements (SolarWinds VoIP and Network
Quality Manager)
l Monitoring NetFlow Traffic Analysis Data (NTA)
l Orion Scalability Engines
l Using an Orion Additional Web Server
l Orion Failover and Disaster Recovery
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Monitoring Network Performance (Orion NPM)

Orion Network Performance Monitor (Orion NPM) delivers comprehensive fault
and network performance management that scales with rapid network growth and
expands with your network monitoring needs, allowing you to collect and view
availability and real-time and historical statistics directly from your web browser.
While monitoring, collecting, and analyzing data from routers, switches, firewalls,
servers, and any other SNMP-enabled devices, Orion NPM successfully offers
you a simple-to-use, scalable network monitoring solution for IT professionals
juggling any size network. Orion NPM does not require a team of consultants and
months of unpleasant surprises to get Orion NPM up and running because Orion
NPM far more intuitive than conventionally complex enterprise network
management systems. In less than an hour, you can have cost-effective, realtime
visibility into the health of the devices on your network, ensuring that can keep
your systems running at peak performance. Out of the box, Orion NPM monitors
the following critical performance metrics for devices on your network:
l Network availability
l Bandwidth capacity utilization
l Buffer usage and errors
l CPU and memory utilization
l Interface errors and discards
l Network latency
l Node, interface, and volume status
l Volume usage
These monitoring capabilities, along with a fully customizable web-based
interface, alerting, reporting engines, and flexible expansion capabilities, make
the SolarWinds Orion Platform the easiest choice you will make involving your
network performance monitoring needs.
For more information about monitoring network performance with SolarWinds
Orion Network Performance Monitor, see the SolarWinds Orion Application
Monitor Administrator Guide at www.solarwinds.com.
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Monitoring Network Application Data (SAM)
Monitoring Network Application Data (SAM)

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) provides focused application
monitoring for network engineers, but it is much more than merely up/down status
checks and process monitoring. By allowing you to create and monitor your own
custom collection of monitored components, SAM provides an open field of
opportunity to the network engineer. With SAM you can focus monitoring on your
core services while easily ensuring application outages do not originate in the
network. SAM provides the following features to help:
l Network service monitoring

l General TCP port monitoring
l WMI and SNMP process monitoring
l Service monitoring
l User experience monitoring using HTTP or HTTPS content checking
Built on the proven capabilities and solid architecture of SolarWinds Orion
Platform Services, you know your current needs will be met and, as your needs
grow, both the Orion platform and SAM will scale with you.
For more information about monitoring network applications with SolarWinds
Server & Application Monitor, see the SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
Administrator Guide at www.solarwinds.com.
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Managing IP Addresses (IPAM)

IP Address Manager (IPAM) is an NPM module that leverages the intuitive point-
and-click interface of the Orion Web Console to allow you to easily investigate IP
address space issues. By periodically scanning the network for IP address
changes, IPAM maintains a dynamic list of IP addresses and allows engineers to
plan for network growth, ensure IP space usage meets corporate standards, and
reduce IP conflicts. Using IPAM, network engineers can discover non-responsive
IP addresses, coordinate team access to your IP space, and track network
changes.
Built on enterprise Orion Platform Services, IPAM allows network engineers to
create, schedule, and share IP space reports from a single reporting engine.
Finally, network engineers can monitor network devices for fault, performance,
configuration, and now IP address health indicators.
l Manage your entire IP infrastructure from an intuitive web console

l Consolidate your IP addresses into a single repository
l Keep better records by periodically scanning your network for IP address
changes
l Create, schedule and share reports on the IP address space percent
utilization
l Keep network devices up by identifying and eliminating IP address conflicts
l Coordinate team access to your address space with role-based access
control and track changes
l Identify non-responsive IP addresses to optimize your IP space
For more information about IP Address Manager, see the SolarWinds IP Address
Manager Administrator Guide at www.solarwinds.com.
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Managing IP Service Level Agreements (SolarWinds VoIP and Network Quality
Managing IP Service Level Agreements

(SolarWinds VoIP and Network Quality Manager)
SolarWinds VoIP and Network Quality Manager offers an easy-to-use, scalable IP
SLA network monitoring solution that can integrate seamlessly with other
SolarWinds products on the Orion platform.
Internet Protocol Service Level Agreement (IP SLA) technology offers a cost-
effective and efficient response to the needs of enterprises of all sizes. As a
network manager, you face more than the simple question of whether your
network is up or down. You need to know specific quality of service
measurements for your network. VoIP and Network Quality Manager gives you
the tools to quickly test the fitness of your current network and then determine and
track quality of service on your network over time.
SolarWinds VoIP and Network Quality Manager leverages the proven
functionality of SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) by adding IP
SLA-specific data collection and presentation tools that enable IP SLA network
monitoring and real-time status reporting. As a module of NPM, VoIP and Network
Quality Manager maintains the function of NPM while allowing you to narrow your
network management and monitoring focus to the IP SLA-capable devices of your
wider network. VoIP and Network Quality Manager is also available as a
standalone solution which still leverages the underlying NPM technology to
discover and monitor your nodes.
For more information about SolarWinds VoIP and Network Quality Manager, see
the SolarWinds VoIP and Network Quality Manager Administrator Guide at
http://www.solarwinds.com/.
Why Install VoIP & Network Quality Manager

Internet Protocol Service Level Agreement (IP SLA) technology offers a
cost-effective and efficient response to the needs of enterprises of all sizes. As a
network manager, you face more than the simple question of whether your
network is up or down. You need to know specific quality of service measures for
your network, and you need to know them both historically and in real time.
SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager gives you the tools to quickly test
your current network fitness and then determine and track quality of service on
your network over time.
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SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager leverages the proven functionality
of NPM, adding a number of IP SLA-specific data collection and presentation
tools that enable IP SLA network monitoring and realtime status reporting.
Because it is a module of NPM, SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager
maintains the function of NPM while allowing you to narrow your network
management and monitoring focus to the IP SLA-capable devices of your wider
network.
What SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager Does

SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager provides a full-featured solution
that gives you the ability to monitor and report both real-time and historical
performance statistics for your IP SLA-capable network. SolarWinds VoIP &
Network Quality Manager offers the following features to help you manage your
entire network.
l Quality of Service (QoS) Monitoring with Cisco IP SLA Operations

l Custom Charts and Gauges
l Custom Alerts and Actions
l Custom Reporting
l Call Manager Monitoring
For more information about SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager, see the
SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager Administrator Guide at
www.solarwinds.com.
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Monitoring NetFlow Traffic Analysis Data (NTA)
Monitoring NetFlow Traffic Analysis Data (NTA)

NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) is an NPM module providing an easy-to-use,
scalable network monitoring solution for IT professionals who are juggling any
size Cisco NetFlow-enabled network. NetFlow-enabled Cisco routers and
switches provide a wealth of IP-related traffic information. NTA collects this
NetFlow data, correlates the data into a useable format, and then provides this
data, along with detailed network performance data collected by NPM, as easily
read graphs and reports on bandwidth use in and to your network. These reports
help you monitor bandwidth, track conversations between internal and external
endpoints, analyze traffic, and plan bandwidth capacity needs.
NTA also provides the same flow data analysis capabilities for devices using
sFlow and J-flow packets.
For more information about NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, see the SolarWinds
NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Administrator Guide at www.solarwinds.com.
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Orion Scalability Engines

Orion Scalability Engines allow you to scale the monitoring and management
capabilities of your primary Orion installation as your enterprise network expands
and your network management needs change. For more information about using
SolarWinds scalability engines, see the SolarWinds Technical Reference,
"Scalability Engine Guidelines".
SolarWinds offers the following scalability engine options for SolarWinds NPM:
l Distribute polling across multiple servers with Additional Polling Engines.

l Enable more users to access the Orion Web Console with Orion Additional
Web Servers. For more information, see Using an Orion Additional Web
Server.
l Protect against monitoring outages with the Orion Failover Engine and Hot
Standby Server. For more information, see Orion Failover and Disaster
Recovery.
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Using an Orion Additional Web Server

The Orion Additional Web Server enables remote access to the Orion Web
Console from a location other than your primary Orion server. With an Additional
Web Server installed, remote users can view the primary Orion Web Console
without deploying an entire Orion installation or excessively taxing the resources
of your primary SolarWinds server. The following procedure installs the Orion
Additional Web Server.
To install an Orion Additional Web Server:
1. If you downloaded the Orion Additional Web Server executable from

the SolarWinds website, navigate to your download location, and then
launch the executable.
2. If you received the Orion Additional Web Server executable on
physical media, browse to the executable file, and then launch it.
Note: The executable extracts to a folder containing an HTML readme, an
Installer Guide, and Additional Web Server installers for all Orion products
that support Additional Web Servers.
3. Launch the installer that corresponds to the Orion product installed on your
primary server.
Note: To ensure full functionality if you have multiple products installed on
your main SolarWinds server, install the Additional Web Server for each
product.
4. On the Welcome window of the Compatibility Check, provide the following
information:
l The Hostname or IP Address of your main Orion server.
l The User name and Password of a user with administrative
privileges to the Orion Web Console on your main Orion server.
5. Click Next.
6. If you are prompted to install requirements, click Install, and then
complete the installation, including a reboot, if required.
Notes:
l Downloading and installing Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 may

take more than 20 minutes, depending on your existing system
configuration.
520
l If a reboot is required, after restart, you may need to launch the

installer again. If the installer launches automatically, click Install to
resume installation, and then click Next on the Welcome window.
7. Review the Welcome text, and then click Next.
8. Accept the terms of the license agreement, and then click Next.
9. If you want to install the Orion Additional Web Server to a folder other
than the indicated default, click Browse, and then provide a different
destination folder on the Choose Destination Location window.
10. Click Next on the Choose Destination Location window.
11. Confirm the settings on the Start Copying Files window, and then click
Next.
12. Click Finish when the Orion Network Performance Monitor Setup Wizard
completes.
13. If you are evaluating NPM, click Continue Evaluation.
14. If you are installing a production version of an NPM Additional Web
Server, click Enter Licensing Information, and then complete the
following procedure to license your NPM installation:
a. If you have both an activation key and access to the internet,

select the first option, I have internet access and an activation
key…, enter your Activation Key, and then click Next.
Note: If you are using a proxy server to access the internet, check
I access the internet through a proxy server, and then provide the
Proxy address and Port.
b. If you do not have access to the internet from your designated
NPM server, select This server does not have internet access…,
click Next, and then complete the steps provided.
15. If the Configuration Wizard does not start automatically, click Start > All
Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Configuration and Auto-Discovery >
Configuration Wizard.
16. Click Next on the Welcome tab of the Configuration Wizard.
17. Select or type the SQL Server used by your primary Orion server.
18. If you are using Windows NT Integrated Security, select Use Windows
Authentication, and then click Next.
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19. If you are using a SQL Server login and password, complete the
following steps:
a. Select Use SQL Server Authentication.

b. Provide your Login and Password.
c. Click Next.
20. Select or type the Database Name that is connected to your Orion server,
and then click Next.
21. If a dialog appears that says that multiple polling engines have been
detected, click OK to continue database upgrade/verification.
22. When the database structure validation completes, click Next.
23. Specify a SQL account User Name and Password for the polling engine
and web site to use to access the database, and then click Continue.
Note: If you already have a SQL account, you can specify the credentials for
that account.
24. To set up the web console, click Next on the Create Website tab, and then
complete the following procedure:
a. Specify the IP Address of the local server on which you are installing
the new web-only interface.
b. Specify the TCP Port through which you want to access the web
console.
Note: If you specify any port other than 80, you must specify that port
in the URL that is used to access the web console. For example, if you
specify an IP address of 192.168.0.3 and port 8080, your URL is
http://192.168.0.3:8080.
c. Specify the volume and folder in which you want to install the web
console files, and then click Continue.
25. If you are asked to overwrite an existing website, click Yes.
26. When the new web console has been created, click Continue.
28. Enter the local IP address in the Address bar.
29. If you already have an Admin account and password, enter them in the
respective fields, and then click Login.
Note: You can log in without a password using Admin as the Account ID.
522
30. Confirm that the new Additional Web Server displays the same view for the
same account, as used both locally and on your primary Orion server.
31. If you intend to install either Orion NetFlow Traffic Analyzer or Server &
Application Monitor on this Orion Additional Web Server, complete the
following steps to install the required Additional Web Server components.
a. Using your SolarWinds Customer ID and Password, log in to the

Customer Port at http://www.solarwinds.com/customerportal/.
b. Click Additional Components in the Customer Portal menu on the
left.
c. Click Download Orion NPM Components.
32. If you intend to use Server & Application Monitor with this Orion
Additional Web Server, complete the following steps.
a. Click Application Performance Monitor Additional Web Console—

v2 in the Additional Components – Orion v8 and v9 section, and then
click Save.
b. Browse to an appropriate location, and then click Save.
c. When the download completes, click Open.
d. Launch the executable, and then complete the configuration wizard.
33. If you intend to use Orion NetFlow Traffic Analyzer with this Orion
Additional Web Server, complete the following steps.
a. Click Application NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Additional Web

Console—v3 in the Additional Components – Orion v8 and v9
section, and then click Save.
b. Browse to an appropriate location, and then click Save.
c. When the download completes, click Open.
d. Launch the executable, and then complete the configuration wizard.
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Orion Failover and Disaster Recovery
Orion Failover and Disaster Recovery

Depending on the version of NPM you currently have installed, SolarWinds
provides either of two failover and disaster recovery solutions: Hot Standby
Engine and Orion Failover Engine. The Hot Standby Engine provides limited
failover protection for NPM installations older than version 10.0. For NPM version
10.0 and higher, SolarWinds offers the Orion Failover Engine, which can protect
your primary NPM installation and any installed modules.
For more information about the Orion Failover Engine, see the SolarWinds Orion
Failover Engine Administrator Guide and related documentation provided at
http://www.solarwinds.com/support/failoverengine/FailoverEngineDoc.aspx.
For more information about the Orion Hot Standby Engine, see the SolarWinds
Knowledge Base article, "Installing, Configuring, and Testing a Hot Standby
Engine".
Using a Hot Standby Engine

For versions prior to Orion NPM 10.0, the Orion Hot Standby Engine is available
as an additional product to provide seamless backup service for Orion polling
engines.
Note: For installations of Orion NPM version 10.0, the Orion Failover Engine is
recommended. To provide failover and disaster recovery protection for Orion
NPM versions 10.1 and higher, the Orion Failover Engine is required. For more
information about the Orion Failover Engine, see the SolarWinds Orion Failover
Engine Administrator Guide and related documentation provided at
http://www.solarwinds.com/support/failoverengine/FailoverEngineDoc.aspx.
In the event of an Orion server failure, the designated hot standby system
immediately assumes monitoring, data collection, and basic alerting
responsibilities for that server. If the Orion server becomes operational again, the
Hot Standby Engine returns monitoring control to the Orion server.
Warning: Orion Hot Standby Engines do not currently provide all the same data
to custom pollers and Universal Device Pollers that may have been collected
previously from the failed Orion server. Likewise, Orion Hot Standby Engines are
not currently capable of collecting data and computing network performance
statistics for EnergyWise, VMware ESX, or wireless devices.
The following graphic shows how an Orion Hot Standby Engine assumes the
polling duties of any one failed Orion server.
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Note: A single Hot Standby Engine can serve as failover protection for multiple
Orion servers and polling engines simultaneously, but a single Hot Standby
Engine can only assume the monitoring functions of a single failed Orion server at
any given time.
Installing a Hot Standby Engine

Orion Hot Standby Engine installation is nearly identical to the installation of a
standard Orion server, as shown in the following procedure.
Notes:
l To ensure optimal performance, your Orion Hot Standby Engine should not
be any older than the latest version of any of the Orion servers the Hot
Standby Engine is supporting.
l For the same version, hardware and software requirements for both the
Orion server and Orion Hot Standby Server are equivalent. For more
information, see Orion Requirements.
To install a Hot Standby Engine:
1. Install and configure an Orion server on your network. For more information
about installing and configuring Orion, see the Administrator Guide for your
SolarWinds Orion product.
2. Log on to the server you want to use as the Hot Standby server.
Note: The Hot Standby Engine must be installed on a server other than the
primary Orion NPM server.
525
Installing a Hot Standby Engine
3. Download or copy the Hot Standby Engine installer to an appropriate

location on the server you want to use as the Hot Standby Server.
4. If you downloaded the Hot Standby Engine from the SolarWinds
website, navigate to the download executable file, and then launch it.
5. If you received Hot Standby Engine on physical media, browse to the
executable file, and then launch the executable.
6. If you are prompted to install any required components such as
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, click Install, and then complete installation
of the required additional components.
7. Review the Welcome text, and then click Next.
8. Agree to the license agreement, and then click Next.
9. Provide an installation destination folder on the Choose Destination
Location window, and then click Next.
10. Click Next on the Start Copying Files window.
11. Click Enter Licensing Information.
Note: You need your customer ID and password to successfully install the
key. For more information, see Activating SolarWinds Licenses.
12. Click Continue when the license is successfully installed, and then click
Finish on the Installation Complete window.
13. Click Next on the Welcome window of the Configuration Wizard.
14. Select or type the address of your SQL Server.
15. If you are using Windows NT Integrated Security, select the available
option, and then click Continue.
16. If you are using a SQL Server UserID and password, select the available
option, type a username and password, and then click Continue.
17. Select Use an existing database.
18. Provide the name of the Existing Database that your primary Orion NPM
server is currently using, and then click Next.
Note: The Hot Standby Engine is designed to take the place of a failed
server, so both the Orion NPM polling engine and standby polling engines
must point to the same database in order to maintain network monitoring.
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19. Select Use an existing account.

20. Provide an Existing Account and Password for the polling engine and
web site to use to access the database, and then click Next.
21. If you need to specify a particular IP Address for your Orion NPM
installation, provide the IP address of the web server that you want to use
for the web console.
Note: SolarWinds recommends that you retain the default IP address
setting of All Unassigned, unless your environment requires the
designation of a specific IP address for your Orion Web Console.
22. Specify both the port through which you want to access the web console
and the volume and folder in which you want to install the web console files.
Note: If you specify any port other than 80, you must include that port in the
URL used to access the web console. For example, if you specify an IP
address of 192.168.0.3 and port 8080, the URL used to access the web
console is http://192.168.0.3:8080.
23. Click Next.

24. If you are prompted to create a new directory, click Yes.
25. Check the services to install on the Hot Standby server, and then click Next.
Note: Selecting all available services will ensure that all network monitoring
functions are maintained if and when the server fails.
26. Click Next to start configuration.

27. When SolarWinds services have been installed, click Finish.
28. If you are prompted to send a request to start the Hot Standby polling
service, click Yes.
Note: The configuration wizard stopped all polling engines when you
configured the Hot Standby server.
Monitor Polling Engines.
30. Confirm that both your primary Orion server and the Hot Standby server are
listed as Responding in the Monitor Polling Engines window.
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Configuring a Hot Standby Engine
Note: Click an Orion NPM server to view server information in the lower half
of the Monitor Polling Engines window.
Configuring a Hot Standby Engine

The Hot Standby server that you have installed and assigned has the ability to
both alert you when it assumes the Orion server role and continue to alert you as
long as the original server is stopped. However, the transition from the stopped
Orion server to the Hot Standby Engine is not necessarily immediate, as the delay
between primary failure and hot standby assumption is variable.
The following steps configure the Hot Standby Engine alerts and delays.
To configure a Hot Standby Engine:
Monitor Polling Engines.
2. Click your Hot-Standby server from the list in the top pane of the Monitor
Polling Engines window.
Note: The lower pane provides current information about the selected
server.
3. Click Configure Hot-Standby.
Note: The default view of the Hot-Standby tab in the Configure Hot-Standby
Server window provides a list of the servers for which the currently selected
server is a hot standby.
4. Check the Orion server for which you are installing the Hot Standby Engine.
5. If you want to enable an alert action for when the hot standby server is
employed, click Fail-Over Notifications, and then click Add New Action.
6. Click Fail-Over Timing, and then position the top slider to set the delay
between the stopping of the Orion server and the starting of your Hot-
Standby server.
7. If you set an alert action that you want to alert continuously, as long as
the Hot-Standby server is enabled, check Continuously send Fail-Over
notifications…, and then position the bottom slider to set the delay
between the stopping of the Orion server and the starting of your Hot-
Standby server.
8. Once you have completed configuring your Hot Standby Engine, click OK.
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Testing a Hot Standby Engine

After you have installed, assigned, and configured your Hot Standby Engine, test
that it works properly with the following steps.
Warning: Testing a Hot Standby Engine requires you to power off an Orion
server on your network. SolarWinds recommends you conduct any testing in off-
peak usage periods to minimize potential uptime interruption.
To test a Hot Standby Engine:
1. Confirm that the SQL database you are maintaining with Orion is not on the
same physical server as your primary Orion server.
2. On your Hot Standby Server, click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds
Orion > Advanced Features > Monitor Polling Engines.
3. On your Hot Standby Server, Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds
Orion > Orion Web Console.
4. Turn off your primary Orion server.
5. Confirm that the Hot Standby server has assumed Orion server duties by
reviewing results from the Monitor Polling Engines window and the Orion
Web Console. The lower pane of the Monitor Polling Engines window
provides a number of helpful entries for determining engine state, including:
Server Type, Hot-Standby For…, and Last Fail-Over.
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Appendix A: References
This appendix provides troubleshooting information and reference material.
Use the following to navigate directly to the information you want:
l Troubleshooting
l Orion Variables and Examples
l Status Icons and Identifiers
l 95th Percentile Calculations
l Regular Expression Pattern Matching
l Required SolarWinds Account Permissions
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Troubleshooting
If you have problems with an Orion product, the causes are usually related to an
incorrect configuration or corrupted files. The following suggestions can often
clear up these problems.
Back Up Your Data

As a first step in any troubleshooting procedure, you should back up your Orion
database.
For more information about creating database backups, see the section, "Creating
Orion Database Backup Files" in the SolarWinds NPM online documentation.
Verify Program Operation

SolarWinds Orion runs many components at the same time to deliver a view of
your network status.
Confirm that the following components are running:
l Services:
o Message Queuing
o Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service
o SolarWinds Alerting Engine service
o SolarWinds Collector Data Processor, Management Agent, and
Polling Controller services
o SolarWinds Information Service
o SolarWinds Job Engine and Job Engine v2
o SolarWinds Job Scheduler
o SolarWinds Orion Product services
o SolarWinds Orion Information Service
o SolarWinds Orion Module Engine
o SolarWinds Syslog and Trap Services
l SQL Server
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l Internet Information Service (IIS)
l SolarWinds Web Console
Stop and Restart

Many problems disappear when programs are restarted. Stopping and restarting
Internet Information Service (IIS) may eliminate web page problems. Problems
with polling or data gathering may be eliminated by stopping and restarting Job
Engine or Collector services using the available shutdown tool that you can
locate as follows:
Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Advanced Features > Orion
Service Manager.
For a complete refresh of the system, reboot the computer.
Run the Configuration Wizard

Running the Configuration Wizard, which refreshes files on the web server and
performs checks on the structure of your database, may solve many problems.
Note: Before you run the Configuration Wizard, you should close all open
applications.
Working with Temporary Directories

The following sections provide procedures for moving Windows and SQL Server
temporary directories to optimize Orion server performance and resources.
l Moving the SQL Server Temporary Directory

l Redefining Windows System Temporary Directories
Moving the SQL Server Temporary Directory

The SQL Server temporary directory, tempdb, where temporary database objects
generated during table creation and sorting are stored, is typically created in the
same location on your Orion database server as the master, model, and msdb
databases. Moving the tempdb database to a physical drive separate from your
Orion database can significantly improve overall system performance.
For more information about moving the SQL Server 2008 temporary directory,
tempdb, see "Moving System Databases – Example A: Moving the tempdb
Database".
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Redefining Windows System Temporary Directories
Redefining Windows System Temporary Directories

Following established Windows standards, the SolarWinds Orion installer may
use Windows User and System TEMP and TMP variable directories as temporary
scratch spaces for file expansion and execution. If you do not have the required
scratch space available in the default User or System TEMP and TMP directories,
use the following procedure to redefine your default locations.
Note: Regardless of where you actually install SolarWinds Orion, some common
files may be installed where the operating system of your Orion server are
located.
To redefine default system temporary directories:
1. Log on to your Orion server as a user with administrative rights.

2. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
3. Click Advanced, and then click Environment Variables.
4. Select the variable name representing the directory you want to redefine,
click Edit, and then provide a new path as the Variable value for the
selected temporary directory variable.
Slow Performance on Windows Server 2008

If Orion is installed on Windows Server 2008 and there are any devices on your
network, between your Orion server and your database server, that do not support
RFC 1323, the TCP window size auto-tuning feature of Windows Server 2008
may prevent your Orion server from successfully connecting with your Orion
database.
This TCP auto-tuning feature is intended as a network-sensitive restriction,
applied by the receiver—your SolarWinds Orion server—on the amount of data it
is allowed or able to receive. If any devices along the network path between your
Orion server and your Orion database do not support the TCP window scaling
detailed in RFC 1323, the allowed size of the TCP window in packets sent to your
Orion server may not match the TCP window size reported by packets sent from
your Orion server. This mismatch may lead to failed connections between your
Orion server and your Orion database. The following procedure disables this TCP
auto-tuning feature, resetting the TCP receive window to 64kB.
533
To disable tcp auto-tuning:
1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories.

2. Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
3. If you are prompted by User Account Control, click Continue to open
the elevated command prompt.
Note: In some cases, having User Account Control (UAC) enabled on
Windows Server 2008 can lead to installation errors. For more information
about disabling UAC, see the article "Disabling User Account Control
(UAC)" in the SolarWinds Knowledge Base.
4. At the prompt, enter the following:

netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled
5. Close the command prompt window, and then restart your Orion server.
Error When Creating New Group

If you try to create a new group and you receive an error message about MSDTC,
you should enable the MSDTC service on your SolarWinds Orion server and your
SQL server.
This is an intermittent issue that is resolved by enabling MSDTC.
For information, see this Microsoft
article: https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/MSDTC-Service-enable-3e159891.
534
Orion Variables and Examples
Orion platform products, including the Alert Manager, the Traps Viewer, the
Syslog Viewer, and Network Atlas can employ Orion variables. These variables
are dynamic and, in the case of alerts, parse when the alert is triggered or reset.
As of Orion Platform version 2015.1, variables have changed to a more flexible
format. The previous implementation was SQL based, and the new version is
based on SolarWinds Information Service (SWIS). For example, the variable
${ResponseTime} is now ${N=SwisEntity;M=ResponseTime}.
Tip: Check your version number by scrolling to the bottom of the page in the Orion
Web Console.
Variable Construction
Variables are designated by a $ and enclosed in {brackets}. There are three
attributes per variable, but only two are necessary.
Note: All variables are available in the variable picker in the Orion Web Console.
You do not need to create or enter variables manually.
${N=context;M=macroName;F=format}
N
This is the context of the variable and required. You can use the following
contexts:
l Alerting - uses variables specific to alerting

l OrionGroup - uses variables specific to groups
l SwisEntity - uses variables specific to the objects you monitor in the
context of the alert
l Generic - uses variables specific to general environmental properties
M
This is the variable or macro name and required. You can use entity names
from the SWIS.
535
F
This converts the data to a user-friendly format. Use formats that correlate to
the data. For example, use DateTime with AcknowledgedTime, not with
ObjectType. You can convert data to specific formats using the variable
picker.
Variable Modifiers
Variables can be modified by using any of the variable modifiers in the following
table.
Variable
Modifier Description
-Raw Displays the raw value for the statistic. For example, if
Transmit Bandwidth is set to 10 Mbps, then the raw value
would be“10000000”. The cooked value would be “10
Mbps”.
-Previous Displays the previous value for the statistic before the Alert
was triggered
-Cooked Displays the cooked value for the statistic. For example, if
Transmit Bandwidth is set to 10 Mbps, then the raw value
would be “10000000” and cooked value would be “10
Mbps”.
- Displays the previous cooked value for the statistic before

PreviousCooked the Alert was triggered
Add modifiers to variables by the following examples below:

${N=context;M=Modifier(macroName)}
${N=Alerting;M=Previous(AcknowledgedBy)}
Alert Variables
General Alert Variables
The following are valid, general alert variables.
536
General Alert Variables
General Variable Description
${N=Alerting; M=AlertID} The ID of the alert
${N=Alerting; The name of the alert from the alert field Name
M=AlertName} of alert definition in Alert Properties
${N=Alerting; The description of the alert from the alert field

M=AlertDescription} Description of alert definition in Alert
Properties
${N=Alerting; The URL used to get more information about the

M=AlertDetailsURL} triggered alert
${N=Alerting; The alert message from the alert field Message

M=AlertMessage} displayed when this alert is triggered in
Trigger Actions
${N=Alerting;M=DownTime} The amount of time the alert has been active
${N=Alerting; The object type that the alert is monitoring

M=ObjectType}
${N=Alerting; M=Severity} The severity of the alert from the alert field
Severity of Alert in Alert Properties
${N=Alerting; M=LastEdit} The last time the alert definition has been edited
${N=Alerting; Acknowledged status

M=Acknowledged}
${N=Alerting; Who the alert was acknowledged by

M=AcknowledgedBy}
${N=Alerting; Time the alert was acknowledged

M=AcknowledgedTime}
${N=Alerting; M=Notes} Information from the Notes field when you

acknowledge alerts through the Web Console
537
General Variable Description
${N=Alerting; Count of triggers

M=AlertTriggerCount}
${N=Alerting; Date and time of the last event for this alert.
M=AlertTriggerTime} (Windows control panel defined “Short Date”
and “Short Time”)
${N=Generic; SolarWinds application information

M=Application}
${N=Generic; M=Copyright} Copyright information
${N=Generic; M=Release} Release information
${N=Generic; M=Version} Version of the SolarWinds software package
It is possible to use previous generation variables, for example ${NodeName}.

However, when using the variable picker, the new format is displayed by default.
Previous generation variables can only be entered manually.
Note: Some variables are no longer valid. See Defunct Alert Variables.
Date Time
The following are valid date and time variables.
Date/Time Variable Description
${N=Generic; AM/PM indicator

M=AMPM}
${N=Generic; Current day of the week. Three character

M=AbreviatedDOW} abbreviation.
${N=Generic; M=Day} Current day of the month
${N=Generic; M=Date; Current date. (Short Date format)

F=Date}
538
Date Time
${N=Generic; Current date and time. (Windows control panel

M=DateTime; defined “Long Date” and “Long Time” format)
F=DateTime}
${N=Generic; Current day of the week.

M=DayOfWeek}
${N=Generic; Numeric day of the year

M=DayOfYear}
${N=Generic; M=Hour} Current hour
${N=Generic; M=HH} Current hour. Two digit format, zero padded.
${N=Generic; Last two hours

M=Past2Hours}
${N=Generic; Last 24 hours

M=Past24Hours}
${N=Generic; Last seven days (Short Date format)

M=Last7Days;F=Date}
${N=Generic; Last hour

M=PastHour}
${N=Generic; Current day of the week. Localized language format.

M=LocalDOW}
${N=Generic; Current month name in the local language.

M=LocalMonthName}
${N=Generic; Current date. (Long Date format)

M=LongDate}
${N=Generic; Current numeric month

M=Month}
${N=Generic; M=MM} Current month. Two digit number, zero padded.
539
${N=Generic; Current month. Three character abbreviation.

M=AbbreviatedMonth}
${N=Generic; Full name of the current month

M=MonthName}
${N=Generic; Current date. (Medium Date format)

M=MediumDate}
${N=Generic; Current minute. Two digit format, zero padded.

M=Minute}
${N=Generic; Current second. Two digit format, zero padded.

M=Second}
${N=Generic; M=Time} Current Time. (Short Time format)
${N=Generic; Today (Short Date format)

M=Today; F=Date}
${N=Generic; M=Year} Four digit year
${N=Generic; Two digit year

M=Year2}
${N=Generic; Yesterday (Short Date format)

M=Yesterday; F=Date}
Group Variables
The following are valid group variables.
Group Variable Description
${N=OrionGroup; URL of the Group Details view for a

M=GroupDetailsURL} selected group
540
Group Variables
${N=OrionGroup; Interval on which group membership is

M=GroupFrequency} evaluated and group snapshots are
taken.
${N=OrionGroup; M=GroupID} Designated identifier for a defined

group
${N=OrionGroup; Display name of group member type:

M=GroupMemberDisplayName} Node, Volume, Component,
Application, etc.
${N=OrionGroup; Display name of multiple group

M=GroupMemberDisplayNamePlural} members of a type: Nodes,
Components, Applications, etc.
${N=OrionGroup; Full name of a group member,

M=GroupMemberFullName} including location
${N=OrionGroup; Name of a group member

M=GroupMemberName}
${N=OrionGroup; Percent availability of a group member

M=GroupMemberPercentAvailability} when group member status is Up,
Warning, or Critical and 0% if status is
anything else.
${N=OrionGroup; Unique identifier of group member

M=GroupMemberSnapshotID} snapshot.
${N=OrionGroup; Identifier assigned to a group member

M=GroupMemberStatusID} indicating its status. For more
information see Status Values.
${N=OrionGroup; Name of group member status. For

M=GroupMemberStatusName} more information see Status Values.
541
${N=OrionGroup; Uri used by SolarWinds Information

M=GroupMemberUri} Service (SWIS) to refer to the selected
group member within the web console.
${N=OrionGroup; M=GroupName} Name of the group.
${N=OrionGroup; M=GroupOwner} Orion product appropriate to the group

type
${N=OrionGroup; 100% when group status is Up,

M=GroupPercentAvailability} Warning, Critical and 0% if status is
anything else.
${N=OrionGroup; Name of roll-up logic calculator that

M=GroupStatusCalculatorID} evaluates status of group based on
member statuses. (0 = Mixed, 1 =
Worst, 2 = Best)
${N=OrionGroup; Name of roll-up logic calculator that

M=GroupStatusCalculatorName} evaluates status of group based on
member statuses. (Mixed, Worst,
Best)
${N=OrionGroup; M=GroupStatusID} Identifier assigned to a group

indicating its status. For more
${N=OrionGroup; M=GroupStatus} Name of group status. For more

${N=OrionGroup; A list of all group members that are not

M=GroupStatusRootCause} Up
SQL Query
Any value you can collect from the database can be generated, formatted, or
calculated using a SQL query as a variable. To use a SQL query as a variable in
Orion platform products, use ${SQL:{query}} as shown in the following example
that returns the results of the SQL query:
542
Status Values
Select Count(*) From Nodes:

Note: SolarWinds does not support SQL queries directly. Visit our user forums on
thwack for help from our community.
Status Values
When using the ${N=SwisEntity; M=Status} variable with a monitored object,
status values are returned, as appropriate. The following table provides a
description for each status value.
Status Value Description
0 Unknown
1 Up
2 Down
3 Warning
4 Shutdown
5 Testing
6 Dormant
7 Not Present
8 Lower Layer Down
9 Unmanaged
10 Unplugged
11 External
12 Unreachable
14 Critical
15 Partly Available
16 Misconfigured
543
Status Value Description
17 Could Not Poll
19 Unconfirmed
22 Active
24 Inactive
25 Expired
26 Monitoring Disabled
27 Disabled
28 Not Licensed
29 Other
30 Not Running
Node Variables
The following are valid node variables.
Node Variable Description

${N=SwisEntity;M=AgentPort} Node SNMP port
number
${N=SwisEntity;M=Node.Allow64BitCounters} Node allows 64-bit
counters (1), or not
(0)
${N=SwisEntity;M=AvgResponseTime} Average node
response time, in
msec, to ICMP
requests
${N=SwisEntity;M=BlockUntil} Day, date, and time
until which node
polling is blocked
544
Node Variables

${N=SwisEntity;M=BufferBgMissThisHour} Device-dependent
count of big buffer
misses on node in
current hour,
queried with MIB
1.3.6.1.4.9.2.1.30
${N=SwisEntity;M=BufferBgMissToday} Device-dependent
count of big buffer
misses on node in
current day,
queried with MIB
1.3.6.1.4.9.2.1.30
${N=SwisEntity;M=BufferHgMissThisHour} Device-dependent
count of huge
buffer misses on
node in current
hour, queried with
MIB
1.3.6.1.4.9.2.1.62
${N=SwisEntity;M=BufferHgMissToday} Device-dependent
count of huge
buffer misses on
node in current
day, queried with
MIB
1.3.6.1.4.9.2.1.62
${N=SwisEntity;M=BufferLgMissThisHour} Device-dependent
count of large
buffer misses on
node in current
hour, queried with
MIB
1.3.6.1.4.9.2.1.38
545
${N=SwisEntity;M=BufferLgMissToday} Device-dependent
count of large
buffer misses on
node in current
day, queried with
MIB
1.3.6.1.4.9.2.1.38
${N=SwisEntity;M=BufferMdMissThisHour} Device-dependent
count of medium
buffer misses on
node in current
hour, queried with
MIB
1.3.6.1.4.9.2.1.22
${N=SwisEntity;M=BufferMdMissToday} Device-dependent
count of medium
buffer misses on
node in current
day, queried with
MIB
1.3.6.1.4.9.2.1.22
${N=SwisEntity;M=BufferNoMemThisHour} Count of buffer
errors due to low
memory on node in
current hour
${N=SwisEntity;M=BufferNoMemToday} Count of buffer
errors due to low
memory on node in
current day
546
Node Variables

${N=SwisEntity;M=BufferSmMissThisHour} Device-dependent
count of small
buffer misses on
node in current
hour, queried with
MIB
1.3.6.1.4.9.2.1.14
${N=SwisEntity;M=BufferSmMissToday} Device-dependent
count of small
buffer misses on
node in current
day, queried with
MIB
1.3.6.1.4.9.2.1.14
${N=SwisEntity;M=Caption} User friendly node
name
${N=SwisEntity;M=Community} Node community
string
${N=SwisEntity;M=Contact} Contact information
for person or group
responsible for
node
${N=SwisEntity;M=CPULoad} Node CPU
utilization rate at
last poll
${N=SwisEntity;M=CustomPollerLastStatisticsPoll} Day, date, and time
of last poll attempt
on node
${N=SwisEntity;M=CustomPollerLastStatisticsPollSuccess} Day, date, and time
that node was last
successfully polled
547
${N=SwisEntity;M=NodeDescription} Node hardware
and software
${N=SwisEntity;M=DNS} Fully qualified
node name
${N=SwisEntity;M=DynamicIP} If node supports
dynamic IP
address
assignment via
BOOTP or DHCP
(1); static IP
address return (0)
${N=SwisEntity;M=EngineID} Internal unique
identifier of the
polling engine to
which node is
assigned
${N=SwisEntity;M=GroupStatus} Filename of status
icon for node and,
in Orion NPM, its
interfaces
${N=SwisEntity;M=IOSImage} Family name of
Cisco IOS on node
${N=SwisEntity;M=IOSVersion} Cisco IOS version
on node
${N=SwisEntity;M=IP_Address} Node IP address
${N=SwisEntity;M=IPAddressType} Node IP address
version (IPv4 or
IPv6)
${N=SwisEntity;M=LastBoot} Day, date and time
of last node boot
548
Node Variables

${N=SwisEntity;M=LastSync} Time and date of
last node database
and memory
synchronization
${N=SwisEntity;M=Location} Physical location of
node
${N=SwisEntity;M=MachineType} Node manufacturer
or distributor and
family or version
information
${N=SwisEntity;M=MaxResponseTime} Maximum node
response time , in
msec, to ICMP
requests
${N=SwisEntity;M=MemoryUsed} Total node memory
used over polling
interval
${N=SwisEntity;M=Stats.MinResponseTime} Minimum node
response time , in
msec, to ICMP
requests
${N=SwisEntity;M=NextPoll} Day, date and time
of next scheduled
node polling
${N=SwisEntity;M=NextRediscovery} Time of next node
rediscovery
${N=SwisEntity;M=NodeID} Internal unique
identifier of node
${N=SwisEntity;M=PercentLoss} ICMP packet loss
percentage when
node last polled
549
${N=SwisEntity;M=PercentMemoryUsed} Percentage of total
node memory used
over polling
interval
${N=SwisEntity;M=PollInterval} Node polling
interval, in seconds
${N=SwisEntity;M=RediscoveryInterval} Node rediscovery
interval, in minutes
${N=SwisEntity;M=ResponseTime} Node response
time, in
milliseconds, to
last ICMP request
${N=SwisEntity;M=SNMPv3Credentials. SNMPv3 read/write
RWAuthenticationKey} credential
authentication key
${N=SwisEntity;M=SNMPv3Credentials. States if the
RWAuthenticationKeyIsPassword} SNMPv3 read/write
credential
authentication key
is the password
RWAuthenticationMethod} credential
authentication
method
RWContext} security context
information
RWPrivacyKey} credential key
550
Node Variables

${N=SwisEntity;M=SNMPv3Credentials. States if the
RWPrivacyKeyIsPassword} SNMPv3 read/write
credential privacy
key is the
password
RWPrivacyMethod} credential privacy
encryption method
${N=SwisEntity;M=SNMPv3Credentials. User friendly name
RWUsername} for SNMPv3
read/write
credential
551
${N=SwisEntity;M=Severity} A network health
score determined
additively by
scoring the status
of monitored
objects. In Orion
NPM 1 point is
provided for an
interface in a
warning state,
1000 points for a
down interface,
and 1 million points
for a down node. In
SAM, 100 points is
provided for an
application in a
warning state, 200
points for an
application in
critical state, 500 is
status is unknown,
and 1000 for a
down application.
${N=SwisEntity;M=SNMPv3Credentials. SNMPv3
AuthenticationKey} authentication key
${N=SwisEntity;M=SNMPv3Credentials. States if node

AuthenticationKeyIsPassword} SNMPv3
authentication key
is password
${N=SwisEntity;M=SNMPv3Credentials. SNMPv3
AuthenticationMethod} authentication type
552
Node Variables

${N=SwisEntity;M=SNMPv3Credentials. Group or domain of
Context} user with SNMPv3
access to node
${N=SwisEntity;M=SNMPv3Credentials. SNMPv3 credential
PrivacyKey} key
${N=SwisEntity;M=SNMPv3Credentials. States if node

PrivacyKeyIsPassword} SNMPv3 credential
key is the
password
${N=SwisEntity;M=SNMPv3Credentials. SNMPv3 credential
PrivacyMethod} key type
${N=SwisEntity;M=SNMPv3Credentials. User friendly name

Username} for SNMPv3
credential
${N=SwisEntity;M=SNMPVersion} States the version
of SNMP used by
the node
${N=SwisEntity;M=StatCollection} Statistics collection
frequency, in
minutes
${N=SwisEntity;M=Status;F=Status} Numerical node
status. For more
information, see
Status Values.
${N=SwisEntity;M=StatusDescription} User friendly node
status
${N=SwisEntity;M=StatusLED} Filename of node
status icon
553
${N=SwisEntity;M=SysName} String reply to
SNMP SYS_
NAME OID request
${N=SwisEntity;M=SysObjectID} Vendor ID of the
network
management
subsystem in OID
form. Clearly
determines the
type of node.
${N=SwisEntity;M=SystemUpTime} Time, in
hundredths of a
second, either
since network
monitoring started
(WMI) or since the
monitored device
rebooted (SNMP).
${N=SwisEntity;M=TotalMemory} Total node memory
available
${N=SwisEntity;M=UnManaged} States if node is
currently
unmanaged
${N=SwisEntity;M=UnManageFrom} Day, date, and time
when node is set to
“Unmanaged”
${N=SwisEntity;M=UnManageUntil} Day, date, and time
when node is
scheduled to be
managed
${N=SwisEntity;M=Vendor} Node manufacturer
or distributor
554
Defunct Alert Variables

${N=SwisEntity;M=VendorIcon} Filename of node
vendor logo
Defunct Alert Variables

The following variables are no longer valid:
l ${Property} - The property the alert is monitoring. You can select a new
variable with the specific property you want to view.
l ${TriggeredValue} - The value that triggered the alert. You can select a
new variable with the specific property you want to view.
l ${AlertStartTime} - When the alert active. You can use the Time of Day
scheduler to control when the alert is active.
l ${AlertEndTime} - When the alert is no longer active. You can use
the Time of Day scheduler to control when the alert is not active.
l ${ObjectSubType} - Determines if the node supports SNMP or is ICMP-
only. You can use Node.ObjectSubType as the macro name.
Example Messages Using Variables

The following examples illustrate messages that you can create using variables.
You can use variables in the message body or the subject. You can also use
variables in alert conditions.
SolarWinds recommends using the variable picker by clicking Insert Variable.
Message with resolved

Message with variables variables
Previous reboot was at Previous reboot was at

${N=SwisEntity;M=Previous(LastBoot)}. 10/29/2014 12:02:00
PM.
Alert: The SNMP Community string used to query Alert: The

${N=SwisEntity;M=Caption} has been changed SNMP Community string
from ${N=SwisEntity;M=Previous(Community)} used to query Houston_
to ${N=SwisEntity;M=Community}. backup has been
changed from 1234 to
555
Message with resolved
Message with variables variables
5678.
Alert: ${N=SwisEntity;M=Caption} has Alert: DevOP_VMs has

exceptionally high response time. Average exceptionally high
Response Time is response time. Average
${N=SwisEntity;M=AvgResponseTime} and is Response Time is 1200
varying from ms and is varying from
${N=SwisEntity;M=MinResponseTime} to 500 ms to 1700 ms.
${N=SwisEntity;M=MaxResponseTime}.
Current packet loss for Current packet loss for

${N=SwisEntity;M=Caption} is MainWebServer is 43%.
${N=SwisEntity;M=PercentLoss}. Average Average Response time
Response time is is 500 ms and is varying
${N=SwisEntity;M=AvgResponseTime} and is from 200 ms to 800 ms.
varying from
${N=SwisEntity;M=MinResponseTime} to
${N=SwisEntity;M=MaxResponseTime}.
You can also manually add a repeater when you expect multiple objects to be
included in an alert. For example, if you have an alert set up to notify you when 5
nodes go down, you can use <<< >>> to repeat both text and variables. See the
examples below.
This message with no repeater displays every node that is down in a separate
sentence: ${N=SwisEntity;M=Caption} is
${N=SwisEntity;M=Status;F=Status}.
This message displays only the text included in the repeater, in this case each
node that is down: <<< ${N=SwisEntity;M=Caption}>>> is
${N=SwisEntity;M=Status;F=Status}.
This message displays each node that is down and the status of each node: <<<
${N=SwisEntity;M=Caption} is ${N=SwisEntity;M=Status;F=Status}.>>>
Note: When using a repeater, you cannot use the PREVIOUS variable.
556
Using Macro Formatters
Using Macro Formatters

Be aware that using macro formatters can significantly change the macro result.
For example:
${N=Generic;M=Date;F=Date} - Tuesday, December 2, 2014
${N=Generic;M=Date;F=OriginalValue} - 12/2/2014
These formatters are available in the UI from the macro variable picker, and a
different set of formatters is available depending on the variable value type.
Syslog Alert Variables

The following variables can be used in Syslog alert messages. Each variable
must begin with a dollar sign and be enclosed in curly braces as, for example,
${VariableName}. Syslog alerts also support the use of Node alert variables. For
more information on the use of variables, see Orion Variables and Examples.
Syslog Date/Time Variables
Syslog Date/Time
${AbbreviatedDOW} Current day of the week. Three character abbreviation.
${AMPM} AM or PM corresponding to current time (before or after

noon)

padded)
${Date} Current date. (Short Date format)
${DateTime} Current date and time. (Windows control panel defined

"Short Date" and "Short Time" format)
${H} Current hour
557
Syslog Date/Time
${LongDate} Current date. (Long Date format)
${LocalMonthName} Current month name in the local language.
${LongTime} Current Time. (Long Time format)
${MediumDate} Current date. (Medium Date format)
${Month} Full name of the current month
${N} Current month and day
${Time} Current Time. (Short Time format)
558
${Hostname} Host name of the device triggering the alert
${Message} Status of device triggering alert
${MessageType} The name of the triggered alert
${Severity} A network health score indicating node states as follows:

INTERFACE_UNKNOWN = 1
INTERFACE_WARNING = 1
INTERFACE_DOWN = 1000
NODE_UNKNOWN = 1000000
NODE_WARNING = 1000000
NODE_DOWN = 100000000
The Up score for Nodes and Interfaces is zero.
${Version} Version of the SolarWinds software package

The following variables can be used in trap alert messages with the Orion Trap
Server. Each variable must begin with a dollar sign and be enclosed in curly
braces as, for example, ${VariableName}.
Note: Trap alerts may also use any valid node variables. For more information
about node alert variables, see Orion Variables and Examples.
559
Trap Date/Time Variables
Trap Date/Time
${AbbreviatedDOW} Current day of the week. Three character

abbreviation.
${AbbreviatedMonth} Current month of the year. Three character

abbreviation.
${AMPM} AM or PM corresponding to current time (before or

after noon)

padded)
${Date} Current date. (MM/DD/YYYY format)
${DateTime} Current date and time. (MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM format)
${Day} Current day of the month
${H} Current hour
${LongDate} Current date. (DAY NAME, MONTH DAY, YEAR

format)
${LongTime} Current Time. (HH:MM:SS AM/PM format)
560
Trap Date/Time
${MMMM} Full name of the current month
${MediumDate} Current date. (DD-MMM-YY format)
${MediumTime} Current time. (HH:MM AM/PM format)
${MonthName} Full name of the current month
${Time} Current Time. (HH:MM format)
${Community} Node community string
${Hostname} Host name of the device triggering the trap
561
${Message} Message sent with triggered trap and displayed in Trap

Details field of Trap Viewer
${MessageType} Name or type of trap triggered
${Raw} Raw numerical values for properties sent in the

corresponding incoming trap.
${RawValue} Raw numerical values for properties sent in the

corresponding incoming trap. The same as ${Raw}.
${vbData1} Trap variable binding value
${vbName1} Trap variable binding name
562
Status Icons and Identifiers
Orion platform products use icons as a visual language to describe the status of
items that your product tracks, such as nodes, interfaces, events, or alerts. In the
case of alerts and events, further information is provided with the icon in the
resource.
Status icons are used with individual items and collections of items (such as a
collection of nodes). You can also control how the status for collections are
displayed.
Status Indicators
The following table lists Orion icons with associated status indications, status
types, and numerical status identifiers, proceeding from the worst to the best to
the informative.
Note: Status levels of type Ignore are not displayed in any status rollup mode.
Icon Status Indication Type ID
Node or Interface (Orion NPM) is Down (Polling request Error 2

timed-out)
Shutdown Error 4
Lower Layer Down Error 8
Unreachable Error 12
Node is in a Warning state as a result of dropped Warning 3

packets or a down interface (Orion NPM)
Critical Warning 14
Mixed Availability Warning 15
Misconfigured Warning 16
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Could Not Poll Warning 17
Unconfirmed Warning 19
Polling Engine Shutdown, Monitoring Stopped, System Warning --

Error, or Fail Over
System Warning; Node, Interface (Orion NPM), or Warning --

Volume Changed; Interface Reappeared (Orion NPM);
Network Baseline Started/Completed
Node or Interface (Orion NPM) is Up OK 1
Dormant OK 6
Active OK 22
Inactive OK 24
Expired OK 25
Unknown Ignore 0
Node or Interface (Orion NPM) is Unmanaged Ignore 9
Interface is Unplugged but not Down (Orion NPM) Ignore 10
Node is defined as External Ignore 11

(Node is not monitored by Orion NPM, but an application
on the node may be monitored by Orion SAM.)
Monitoring Disabled Ignore 26
Disabled Ignore 27
Not Licensed Ignore 28
Informational N/A --
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Status Rollup Mode
Volume Reappeared
Monitoring Started, Service Started, or Fail Back N/A --
Node, Interface (Orion NPM), or Volume Removed N/A --

Interface Shutdown (Orion NPM)
Node Added N/A --

Interface or Volume Added (Orion NPM System
Manager)
Interface (Orion NPM) or Volume Added (Web Console) N/A --
Node Rebooted N/A --
Interface Enabled (Orion NPM) N/A --
Interface Remapped (Orion NPM) N/A --
Volume Remapped N/A --
Interface (Orion NPM) or Volume Disappeared N/A --
Status Rollup Mode

In the Orion Web Console, the Status Rollup Mode designates how the
availability status of a collection of nodes on the node tree or on a map is
displayed in the web console. You can modify the Status Rollup Mode in the
Settings > Web Console Settings page.
Three options are available for the case when there are nodes or applications
with different status levels in the selected group:
l Show Best Status is most useful for displaying groups that are defined as
collections of redundant or backup devices. The following table indicates
how the Show Best Status option operates:
Note: Compare Group Status results under the Show Best Status option
with results for the same groups of objects under the Show Worst Status
option.
565
(Up, Warning, Down) (Up)
(Warning, Up) (Up)
(Warning, Down, Unknown) (Warning)
l Show Worst Status ensures that the worst status in a group of objects is
displayed for the whole group. The following table indicates how the Show
Worst Status option operates:
(Up, Warning, Down) (Down)
(Warning, Up) (Warning)
(Warning, Down, Unknown) (Down)
l Mixed Status shows Warning ensures that the status of a group displays
the worst warning-type state in the group. If there are no warning-type
states, but the group contains a mix of up and down states, then a Mixed
Availability ( ) warning status is displayed for the whole group. The
following table indicates how the Mixed Status shows Warning option
operates:
(Critical)
(Critical)
(Mixed Availability)
566
95th Percentile Calculations
Calculation of the 95th percentile, a well-known statistical standard used to
discard maximum spikes, is based on 5 minute data samples. The calculation
gathers these values every 5 minutes for however long you select, throws away
the top 5%, yielding the 95th percentile value at the beginning of the list.
Consider the following example of how the 95th percentile is calculated for a 10
hour work day from 8am to 6pm (600 minutes):
1. Over the 10 hours, the following 120 values were collected for inbound
traffic (Mb/s):
0.149 0.623 0.281 0.136 0.024 0.042 0.097 0.185 0.198 0.243 0.274 0.390
0.971 0.633 0.238 0.142 0.119 0.176 0.131 0.127 0.169 0.223 0.291 0.236
0.124 0.072 0.197 0.105 0.138 0.233 0.374 0.290 0.871 0.433 0.248 0.242
0.169 0.116 0.121 0.427 0.249 0.223 0.231 0.336 0.014 0.442 0.197 0.125
0.108 0.244 0.264 0.190 0.471 0.033 0.228 0.942 0.219 0.076 0.331 0.227
0.849 0.323 0.221 0.196 0.223 0.642 0.197 0.385 0.098 0.263 0.174 0.690
0.571 0.233 0.208 0.242 0.139 0.186 0.331 0.124 0.249 0.643 0.481 0.936
0.124 0.742 0.497 0.085 0.398 0.643 0.074 0.590 0.771 0.833 0.438 0.242
0.092 0.376 0.231 0.627 0.249 0.663 0.181 0.636 0.224 0.342 0.697 0.285
0.108 0.211 0.074 0.490 0.271 0.133 0.338 0.242 0.519 0.376 0.331 0.227
2. When reordered from high to low:

0.971 0.942 0.936 0.871 0.849 0.833 0.771 0.742 0.697 0.690 0.663 0.643
0.643 0.642 0.636 0.633 0.627 0.623 0.590 0.571 0.519 0.497 0.490 0.481
0.471 0.442 0.438 0.433 0.427 0.398 0.390 0.385 0.376 0.376 0.374 0.342
0.338 0.336 0.331 0.331 0.331 0.323 0.291 0.290 0.285 0.281 0.274 0.271
0.264 0.263 0.249 0.249 0.249 0.248 0.244 0.243 0.242 0.242 0.242 0.242
0.238 0.236 0.233 0.233 0.231 0.231 0.228 0.227 0.227 0.224 0.223 0.223
0.223 0.221 0.219 0.211 0.208 0.198 0.197 0.197 0.197 0.196 0.190 0.186
0.185 0.181 0.176 0.174 0.169 0.169 0.149 0.142 0.139 0.138 0.136 0.133
0.131 0.127 0.125 0.124 0.124 0.124 0.121 0.119 0.116 0.108 0.108 0.105
0.098 0.097 0.092 0.085 0.076 0.074 0.074 0.072 0.042 0.033 0.024 0.014
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3. Drop the first 6, as these equal the top 5% of the values:
0.771 0.742 0.697 0.690 0.663 0.643 0.643 0.642 0.636 0.633 0.627 0.623
0.590 0.571 0.519 0.497 0.490 0.481 0.471 0.442 0.438 0.433 0.427 0.398
0.390 0.385 0.376 0.376 0.374 0.342 0.338 0.336 0.331 0.331 0.331 0.323
0.291 0.290 0.285 0.281 0.274 0.271 0.264 0.263 0.249 0.249 0.249 0.248
0.244 0.243 0.242 0.242 0.242 0.242 0.238 0.236 0.233 0.233 0.231 0.231
0.228 0.227 0.227 0.224 0.223 0.223 0.223 0.221 0.219 0.211 0.208 0.198
0.197 0.197 0.197 0.196 0.190 0.186 0.185 0.181 0.176 0.174 0.169 0.169
0.149 0.142 0.139 0.138 0.136 0.133 0.131 0.127 0.125 0.124 0.124 0.124
0.121 0.119 0.116 0.108 0.108 0.105 0.098 0.097 0.092 0.085 0.076 0.074
0.074 0.072 0.042 0.033 0.024 0.014
4. The 95th percentile is 0.771.
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Regular Expression Pattern Matching
When editing comparison criteria, the following regular expressions can be used
for pattern matching. Examples are provided at the end of this section.
Characters
Character Description Example
Any character All characters except the listed special a matches a

except characters match a single instance of
[,\,^,$,.,|,?,*,+, themselves.
(,),
\ (backslash) A backslash escapes special characters to \+ matches +

followed by suppress their special meaning.
any of
[,\,^,$,.,|,?,*,+,
(,),
\xFF where FF Matches the character with the specified \xA9 matches ©
are 2 ASCII/ANSI value, which depends on the when using the
hexadecimal code page used. Can be used in character Latin-1 code
digits classes. page.
\n, \r and \t Match an LF character, CR character and a \r\n matches a

tab character respectively. Can be used in DOS/Windows
character classes. CRLF line
break.
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Character Classes or Character Sets [abc]
Character
Classes or
Sets Description Example
[ (opening Starts a character class. A character class

square matches a single character out of all of the
bracket) possibilities offered by the character class. Inside
a character class, different rules apply. The rules
in this section are only valid inside character
classes. The rules outside this section are not
valid in character classes, except \n, \r, \t and
\xFF
Any All characters except the listed special [abc]

character characters. matches a,
except ^,-,],\ b or c
add that
character to
the possible
matches for
the character
class.
\ (backslash) A backslash escapes special characters to [\^\]]

followed by suppress their special meaning. matches ^
any of ^,-,],\ or ]
- (hyphen) Specifies a range of characters. (Specifies a [a-zA-Z0-9]

except hyphen if placed immediately after the opening [) matches
immediately any letter
after the or digit
opening [
570
Anchors
Character
Classes or
Sets Description Example
^ (caret) Negates the character class, causing it to match a [â-d]

immediately single character not listed in the character class. matches x
after the (Specifies a caret if placed anywhere except after (any
opening [ the opening [) character
except a, b,
c or d)
\d, \w and \s Shorthand character classes matching digits 0-9, [\d\s]

word characters (letters and digits) and matches a
whitespace respectively. Can be used inside and character
outside character classes that is a
digit or
whitespace
Anchors
Anchors Description Example
^ (caret) Matches at the start of the string to which the regular ^.

expression pattern is applied. Matches a position rather matches
than a character. Most regular expression flavors have a in
an option to make the caret match after line breaks (i.e. abc\ndef.
at the start of a line in a file) as well. Also
matches
d in
"multi-
line"
mode.
571
Anchors Description Example
$ (dollar) Matches at the end of the string to which the regular .$

than a character. Most regular expression flavors have f in
an option to make the dollar match before line breaks abc\ndef.
(i.e. at the end of a line in a file) as well. Also matches Also
before the very last line break if the string ends with a matches
line break. c in
"multi-
line"
mode.
\A Matches at the start of the string to which the regular \A.

expression pattern is applied to. Matches a position matches
rather than a character. Never matches after line breaks. a in abc
\Z Matches at the end of the string to which the regular .\Z

than a character. Never matches before line breaks, f in
except for the very last line break if the string ends with abc\ndef
a line break.
\z Matches at the end of the string to which the regular .\z

than a character. Never matches before line breaks. f in
abc\ndef
Quantifiers
Quantifiers Description Example
? (question Makes the preceding item optional. The optional item abc?
mark) is included in the match, if possible. matches
ab or abc
572
Quantifiers
?? Makes the preceding item optional. The optional item abc??

is excluded in the match, if possible. This construct is matches
often excluded from documentation due to its limited ab or abc
use.
* (star) Repeats the previous item zero or more times. As .*

many items as possible will be matched before trying matches
permutations with fewer matches of the preceding "def"
item, up to the point where the preceding item is not "ghi" in
matched at all. abc "def"
"ghi" jkl
*? (lazy Repeats the previous item zero or more times. The .*?
star) engine first attempts to skip the previous item before matches
trying permutations with ever increasing matches of "def" in
the preceding item. abc "def"
"ghi" jkl
+ (plus) Repeats the previous item once or more. As many .+

items as possible will be matched before trying matches
permutations with fewer matches of the preceding "def"
item, up to the point where the preceding item is "ghi" in
matched only once. abc "def"
"ghi" jkl
+? (lazy Repeats the previous item once or more. The engine .+?
plus) first matches the previous item only once, before matches
trying permutations with ever increasing matches of "def" in
the preceding item. abc "def"
"ghi" jkl
{n} where n Repeats the previous item exactly n times. a{3}

is an matches
integer >= aaa
1
573
{n,m} Repeats the previous item between n and m times. a{2,4}

where n >= Will try to repeat m times before reducing the matches
1 and m >= repetition to n times. aa, aaa
n or aaaa
{n,m}? Repeats the previous item between n and m times. a{2,4}?

where n >= Will try to repeat n times before increasing the matches
1 and m >= repetition to m times. aaaa,
n aaa or
aa
{n,} where Repeats the previous item at least n times. Will try to a{2,}
n >= 1 match as many items as possible before trying matches
permutations with fewer matches of the preceding aaaaa in
item, up to the point where the preceding item is aaaaa
matched only m times.
{n,}? where Repeats the previous item between n and m times. a{2,}?
n >= 1 The engine first matches the previous item n times matches
before trying permutations with ever increasing aa in
matches of the preceding item. aaaaa
Dot
Dot
. (dot) Matches any single character except line . matches x or most

break characters \r and \n. any other character
574
Word Boundaries
Word Boundaries
Word
Boundary Description Example
\b Matches at the position between a word character .\b

(anything matched by \w) and a non-word character matches
(anything matched by [^\w] or \W) as well as at the start c in abc
and/or end of the string if the first and/or last characters
in the string are word characters.
\B Matches at the position between two word characters \B.\B

(i.e., the position between \w\w) as well as at the matches
position between two non-word characters (i.e., \W\W). b in abc
Alternation
Alternation
| Causes the regular expression engine to match abc|def|xyz

(vertical bar either the part on the left side or the part on the matches
or “pipe”) right side. Can be strung together into a series of abc, def or
options. xyz
| The vertical bar has the lowest precedence of all abc(def|xyz)

(vertical bar operators. Use grouping to alternate only part of matches
or “pipe”) the regular expression. abcdef or
abcxyz
Regular Expression Pattern Matching Examples

The following examples illustrate general uses of regular expression pattern
matching.
snmp-server community public
Finds any line that includes the text snmp-server community public.
There can be text before and/or after the string on the same line.
575
service tcp-keepalives-in.*\n(.*\n)*.*service tcp-keepalives-out
Finds the first line service tcp-keepalives-in and then looks for service
tcp-keepalives-out on any line after that. The regular expression string .*\n
(.*\n)*.* is used to search any number of lines between strings.
access-list 105 deny.*tcp any any eq 139 log
Finds the line with access-list 105 deny, followed by any number of
characters of any type, followed by tcp any any eq 139 log on the same
line. The regular expression string .* finds any character and any number of
characters on the same line. This expression can be used to find spaces,
tabs, numbers, letters, or special characters.
ntp clock-period \d*
Finds any line that includes ntp clock-period, followed by any number. The
regular expression string \d* will find any number at any length, such as 3,
48, or 2394887.
user \x2a
Finds any line that includes user *. The regular expression string \x,
followed by a hexadecimal value, specifies an individual character. In this
example, \x2a represents the asterisk character, which has a hexadecimal
value of 2a.
The following examples illustrate the use of SQL string and regular expression
pattern matching in Syslog messages and rules.
Web Console and Syslog Viewer (Search Messages tab)

Regular expression search for syslog messages is not currently supported.
Matching is only available on simple SQL string patterns, where ? or _ are used
to indicate single, replaced characters and where * or % are used to indicate zero
characters or to delineate multiple characters, as indicated in the following
examples:
IP Address filter:
l 192.168.74.* - IP addresses in range 192.168.74.1 -

192.168.74.255
l 192.168.74.? (or 192.168.74._) - IP addresses in range
192.168.74.1 - 192.168.74.9
576
Syslog Rules
l *.168.74* (or %.168.74%) - IP addresses containing .168.74

l %.74.25 (or *.74.25) - IP addresses ending with .74.25
Message Type filter:
l orion* (or orion%) - message type starts with "orion"

l message???? - message type starts with "message" plus any 4 symbols,
like "message1234"
l %orion% (or *orion*) - message type contains "orion"
Message Pattern filter:
l syslog message from 192.168.* - message starts with "syslog

message from 192.168."
l *Server_ * messages containing the word "Server" and any symbol
before the space.
Syslog Rules
Syslog rules allow you to filter matching messages using a Regex pattern or
simple SQL string patterns, provided the Use regular expressions option is
enabled. Regular expressions may be used in syslog message filtering, as
follows:
DNS Hostname pattern
l .*domain.com$ - DNS name ends with domain.com

l Ôrion.* - DNS name starts with Orion.
l .*Orion.* - DNS name contains Orion
Message Type Pattern
l ^[A,B,C] - message type starts with A, B or C.

l ^[0-9].*log$ - message type starts with number value from 1 to 9 and
ends with log.
Message Pattern
l .*[^0-9]10.0.0.1[^0-9].* - message contains IP address

10.0.0.1
577
l Ôrion.*[^0-9]10.0.0.1[^0-9].* message starts with Orion and
contains IP address 10.0.0.1.
Note: ".*" could be omitted at both the end and the beginning of the
expression.
578
Required SolarWinds Account Permissions
Required SolarWinds Account Permissions

The following table lists account permissions SolarWinds requires to specific
folders on your server.
Acces
s
Level Account Folder the account needs to access
read NETWORK C:\Program Files (x86)\SolarWinds\Orion\

SERVICE
read IUSR C:\Program Files (x86)\SolarWinds\Orion\
read C:\Program Files (x86)\SolarWinds\Orion\

Administrat
or
read NETWORK
SERVICE C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Te
mporary ASP.NET Files
read IUSR
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Te
mporary ASP.NET Files
write NETWORK C:\ProgramData\Application Data\SolarWinds

SERVICE
write NETWORK C:\InetPub\SolarWinds\web.config

SERVICE
write NETWORK C:\Windows\TEMP

SERVICE
read NETWORK C:\Windows\TEMP

SERVICE
write Authenticat C:\ProgramData\Application Data\SolarWinds\Logs

ed Users
read NETWORK C:\
579
Acces
s
Level Account Folder the account needs to access
SERVICE
The following table lists account permissions SolarWinds requires to specific

certificates on your server.
Access Certificate the account needs to

Level Account access
read NETWORK SolarWinds-Orion

SERVICE
read NETWORK SolarWinds-Orion

SERVICE
read Administrator SolarWinds-Orion
read SYSTEM SolarWinds-Orion
read NETWORK SolarWinds Job Scheduler

SERVICE
read NETWORK SolarWinds Job Scheduler

SERVICE
read Administrator SolarWinds Job Scheduler
read SYSTEM SolarWinds Job Scheduler
Using Report Writer

Before using Report Writer, you must have collected at least a few minutes' worth
of data in a database populated with devices you want to monitor. A variety of
reports are included with Report Writer, and icons that precede report names
distinguish available report types. The following procedure starts Report Writer.
Important: This functionality is replaced by web-based reports, though legacy
reports must be edited in Report Writer.
580
Preview Mode
To start Report Writer:
3. In the General tab of the Report Writer Settings window, select either of the
following as a default viewing mode:
Note: You can toggle between Preview and Report Designer modes at any
time by clicking Preview or Design, respectively, on the toolbar.
l Preview displays the report as it will appear in printed form. For more
information, see Preview Mode.
l Report Designer is the report creation and editing interface. For more
information, see Design Mode.
4. If you want to separate the data for individual network objects with
horizontal lines, click Report Style, and then check Display horizontal
lines between each row.
5. Click OK to exit Report Writer Settings.
For more information about creating reports in Report Writer, see Creating and
Modifying Reports in Report Writer.
Preview Mode
Preview mode shows a report as it will print. When you open a report in Preview
mode, or switch to Preview mode from Design mode, Orion runs the query to
generate the report, and then Report Writer displays the results.
The Preview window toolbar provides the following actions and information:
l Current page number and total number of pages in the report.

l Page navigation buttons: First Page, Page Up, Page Down, and Last Page
l Zoom views
Note: Double-click a preview to zoom in and double-right-click to zoom out.
l Print report
581
Design Mode
Use Design mode to create new reports and modify or rename existing reports.
The options available for creating and modifying reports are the same. Design
mode options are also dynamic, based upon the type of report, included report
data, and report presentation. The options available depend on the type of report
being designed, but all reports require that you select the data to include and
decide how that data will be sorted, ordered, filtered, and presented.
Creating a Scheduled Report Job

The following procedure creates a scheduled report job for regularly printed or
emailed reports.
To schedule a report:
2. Click Reports, and then lick + as required to locate the report you want to
schedule.
3. Click the name of the report you want to schedule, and then copy the URL of
the report you want to schedule.
and Mapping > Orion Report Scheduler.
5. Click Edit > Add New Job.
6. Provide a job name for this scheduled report, and then click Continue.
7. Paste the URL of the report you want to schedule into the link field.
8. If you need to provide Windows login credentials to view the report
you are scheduling, click the NT Account login tab, and then provide the
user account details needed to log in.
9. If you want to create a printable report that excludes the Orion Web
Console banner and menu bar, on the Orion Web Login tab, check
Retrieve a Printable Version of this Page.
10. If the report you are scheduling requires an Orion user account, on the
Orion Web Login tab, check Send Orion Username / Password in URL,
and then provide the required user credentials to view the Orion report.
11. Click Continue.
12. Configure the scheduling for your report job, and then click Continue.
582
Creating and Modifying Reports in Report Writer
13. If you want to email the report, complete the following procedure:
a. Confirm that either Email the Web Page (as HTML) or Email the Web
Page (as PDF) are selected, and then click Continue.
b. Provide required email addresses and a subject in the appropriate
fields on the Email To tab.
c. Provide a name and reply address on the Email From tab.
d. On the SMTP Server tab, type the hostname or IP address and confirm
the port number of the server used to send email from the Orion server.
e. Click Continue.
14. If you want to print the report, complete the following steps:
a. Select Print the Web Page, and then click Continue.
b. Select the Printer, Orientation, and number of Copies you want to
print.
c. Click Continue.
15. Enter the user name and password for the Windows account that will email
the report.
16. Click Continue.
17. Add any additional comments or notes about this job, and then click Finish.
Creating and Modifying Reports in Report Writer

Use the following procedure to modify or create reports in Report Writer.
To open a report with Report Writer:
1. To modify an existing report, click an existing report from the inventory in

the left pane of the main Report Writer window.
2. To create a new report, click File > New Report.
3. Select the type of report that you would like to create, and then click OK.
Each report offers different configuration options, so, depending on the report,
some formatting tabs described in the following sections may not be available.
583
Notes:
l The SQL query used to generate a report may be viewed in an additional

tab. Click Report > Show SQL to add a read-only SQL tab to the Design
window.
l A preview of your report is also available at any time. Click Preview to enter
Preview Mode, and then click Design to return to Design Mode.
See the following documents for more information about configuring reports in
Report Writer:
l General Options Tab

l Select Fields Options Tab
l Filter Results Options Tab
l Top XX Records Options Tab
l Time Frame Options Tab
l Summarization Options Tab
General Options Tab

The General tab is displayed by default, showing titling and display options.
To configure General options:
1. Specify the Report Group, Report Title, Subtitle, and Description.

Note: If you use an existing report group name, the new report is added to
that existing group in the left pane of the main window.
2. Select the display Orientation of your report.

3. If you are configuring an historical report and you do not want to
group data by days, clear Group historical data by days.
Note: By default, data in some availability and historical reports is grouped
by days when displayed in the Orion Web Console. Data grouping by days
is not viewable in Report Viewer.
4. If you do not want to make this report available on your Orion Web
Console, clear Make this Report available from the Orion website.
584
Select Fields Options Tab
Note: By default, most reports are made available for display in the Orion
Web Console. Customizing Views.
Select Fields Options Tab

The Select Fields tab allows you to select the data fields in a report.
To select and configure fields:
1. Click Select Fields.

2. If you are creating a new report or adding fields to an existing report,
click the ellipsis, select Add a new field, and then dynamically define each
new report field as follows:
a. Click the asterisk after Field:, and then select the type of information to
include in the current report field.
b. If you want to sort the data in the current field, click the sort
asterisk and select a sort order.
c. If you want to perform an operation on the data in the current
field, click the function asterisk and select an operation.
3. If you are modifying an existing report, click the Field, sort, or function
that you want to change and select a new value as follows.
a. Click the asterisk after Field.
b. Select the type of information to include in the current report field.
c. If you want to sort the data in the current field, click the sort
asterisk and select a sort order.
d. If you want to perform an operation on the data in the current
field, click the function asterisk and select an operation.
4. If you want to test your selections as you assemble your report, click
Execute SQL Query to view the current query results.
5. If you want to delete a field or rearrange the order of the fields that are
listed in your report, select a field, click Browse (…), and then select the
appropriate action.
Note: Unchecked fields are not displayed in your report, but their sort and
585
function configurations are retained.
6. If you want to preview your report, click Preview.
Filter Results Options Tab

The Filter Results tab allows you to generate filter conditions for field data by
selecting appropriate descriptors from the linked context menus. Filters are
configured as follows.
To configure filters:
1. Click Browse (…), and then select from the following options:
l Select Add a new elementary condition to generate a condition
based on a direct comparison of network object data fields.
l Select Add a new advanced elementary condition to generate a
condition based on a comparison of device data fields and values.
l Select Add a new complex condition to define a condition that filters
other defined conditions.
l Select Delete current condition to remove a selected condition.
l Select Move current condition forward or Move current condition
backward to change the order of your conditions accordingly.
Note: The lists of available linked descriptors are dynamically generated in
consideration of all other variables within the same condition.
2. Check or clear individual filter conditions to enable or disable their

application, respectively, to your report.
Top XX Records Options Tab

You can limit the number of records shown in your report to either a top number or
a top percentage of all results. Top XX options are configured as shown below.
586
Time Frame Options Tab
To configure Top XX records:
1. If you want to show all records in your report, select Show All Records.
2. If you want to specify a truncated list of eligible items for your report,
complete the following steps:
a. Select either Show only the Top number Records or Show the Top
percentage % of Records
b. Provide appropriate number or percentage values.
Time Frame Options Tab

You can limit the scope of your report to a specific period of time. To configure
Time Frame options, select a Named, Relative, or Specific Time Frame, and
then select or provide required values.
Notes:
l If you receive a SQL Timeout error message, you may edit the timeout
setting in the SWNetPerfMon.db file. By default, this file is located in the
C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\Orion directory
l Since the Relative Time Frame is continuously variable, reports run with it
may show different results, even if they are run close together in time.
Summarization Options Tab

You can generate summaries of your results over specific periods of time using
the Summarization tab.
To configure results summarization:
1. If you do not want to summarize your results, confirm that Do not

Summarize the Results is selected.
2. If you want to summarize your results, complete the following steps:
a. Select Summarize the Results by Hour, Date, Month, etc., and then
select the summarization period.
b. Specify the location of the summary field for your report.
c. Select a location for the Summary Date/Time field.
587
Report Grouping Options Tab
The Report Grouping tab allows you to group results by field descriptor within
your report. Add, edit and delete report groups to organize the data in your report.
Establish and edit report groups as follows.
To add and edit report groups:
1. If you want to add a new report group, select a field from the list to define
your group, and then click Add Report Group to add your selected field to
the Report Groups list.
Note: Use up and down arrows to change the grouping order accordingly.
2. If you want to edit an existing report group, select the field from the
Report Groups list, and then click Edit Report Group.
3. The following options may be changed as needed:
l The Group Header is the text that designates groups on your report.
l The Web URL is the dynamic location of your published report with
respect to your Orion Web Console.
l Font size, face, color, and background may all be modified by clicking
associated ellipses.
l Alignment may be left, center, or right.
l Check Transparent Background for better results when publishing
your report to the Web.
4. If you want to change the grouping order, use the up and down arrows to
change the grouping order accordingly.
Field Formatting Options Tab

The Field Formatting tab allows you to customize the format of the various results
fields in your report. To format results fields, select the field you want to format,
and then edit labels and select options as appropriate.
Notes:
l The formatting options available for each field may be different according to
the nature of the data contained in that field.
588
Field Formatting Options Tab
l Check Hidden Field to hide any field in your report.

l To view your changes at any time, click Preview.
589
Appendix B: Technical References
This appendix provides technical references that SolarWinds has created.
l Filter Syntax Guide

l Implementing SNMPv3
l Integrating SolarWinds Orion and Trouble Ticket Systems
l Managing Orion Performance
l Setting Up Cisco UCS
l Understanding Charts and Graphs
l Understanding Orion AD Integration
l Understanding Orion Report Writer
l Using Groups and Dependencies
590
Filter Syntax Guide

When managing large numbers of network devices with SolarWinds NPM,
resources that list Orion objects such as nodes and volumes can easily become
very large and difficult to navigate. To help you more easily navigate the contents
of your resources, we allow you to create filters.
Filters are optional database queries that you can add limit the Orion objects
listed inside a resource. You can apply filters based on any Orion object property,
be it custom or pre-defined within a resource, to help you better interpret the
monitoring data shown in the resources.
To apply a resource filter:
1. Click Edit in any resource that lists Orion objects.

2. Click Show Filter Examples > Show List of Properties to list the
properties you can use for the filter criteria.
3. Provide appropriate filter criteria in the Filter Nodes field, and then click
Submit.
Note: If you have upgraded to Orion platform version 2015.1.2, your

custom SQL or SWQL query or filter may no longer work correctly. For a
list of database changes from Orion platform version 2014.2 to version
2015.1.2, including new tables, column changes, or data constraint or
data type changes, see the Database Changes spreadsheet.
Filter Syntax
There are two slightly different filter syntax types: Structured Query Language
(SQL) syntax and SolarWinds Query Language (SWQL) syntax. The two main
differences between SQL and SWQL are:
l The SWQL wildcard character is %. The SQL wildcard character is *.

l If the resource you are trying to filter creates its list by joining two tables
together that contain properties that share the same name, you cannot filter
on that property unless you attach a particular SQL table name to the
beginning of the property name. The same is true also for SWQL queries,
except you must look up the SWQL name and use that as a prefix instead of
a SQL table name.
591
SQL or SWQL?
SQL or SWQL?
It is not always obvious whether a resource requires SQL syntax or SWQL syntax
filters. Generally, the resources that have most recently been added to
SolarWinds Orion use SWQL syntax, while the oldest ones require SQL syntax.
Look for additional guidance at the bottom of the Edit Resource page in the form
of words such as "SWQL query" or "SQL query".
SWQL Filter Syntax Examples

The following sections detail how to filter in SWQL by using the most frequently
requested examples.
Wildcards
The wildcard character in SWQL syntax is: %.
Example: NodesData.Caption Like 'AX3%'
Filtering by Custom Property

The data types that support custom properties are:
l Interface
l Node
l Volume
Use the SWQL alias for these data types when selecting custom properties for
your queries. The property syntax to filter by custom property is:
alias.CustomProperties.propertyName
Example filter to only show nodes with the custom property City that matches
Atlanta:
NodesCustomProperties.CustomProperties.City = 'Atlanta'
Filtering by Built-in Properties

Use the SWQL alias when selecting properties for your queries.
Examples
Example filter to show data from Cisco devices:
NodesData.Vendor = 'Cisco'
592
Example filter to show data from Windows Server 2003-2008 applications:

Status.Application.Name = 'Windows Server 2003-2008'
Example filter to show data from devices beginning with "AX3":
NodesData.Caption Like 'AX3%'
Example filter to show data from Process Monitor – SNMP type component
monitors:
Monitor.ComponentType = 8
Filtering by Status
To filter by the status property, you must know the valid status levels.
Level Status
0 Unknown
1 Up
2 Down
3 Warning
14 Critical
Example filter to only show monitors that are not down:
MonitorStatus.Availability<>2
SQL Filter Syntax Examples

The following sections detail how to filter in SQL by using the most frequently
requested examples.
Wildcards
The wildcard character in SQL syntax is: *.
Example: NodesData.Caption Like 'AX3*'
Filtering by Custom Property

The property syntax to filter by custom property is:
dataType.CustomProperty.propertyName
Example filter to only show nodes with the custom property City that matches
Atlanta:
NodesCustomProperties.CustomProperty.City = 'Atlanta'
593
Examples
Examples
Example filter to show only Cisco devices:
Vendor = 'Cisco'
Example filter to show data only from component monitors named Server Load
Monitor:
Monitor.Name like 'Server Load Monitor'
Example filter to show data from devices beginning with "AX3":
NodesData.Caption Like 'AX3*'
Example filter to show only Nortel devices that are Down:
Vendor Like 'Nortel*' AND Status=2
Filtering by Status
To filter by the status property, you must know the valid status levels.
Level Status
0 Unknown
1 Up
2 Down
3 Warning
14 Critical
Example filter to only show monitors that are not down:
MonitorStatus.Availability<>2
SWQL Resource Matrix

The resource matrix helps you find the SWQL aliases you need to create filter
criteria for your resources. The SWIS entity names are provided so that you know
exactly how the SWQL alias maps to the SWIS entities in your SolarWinds
product databases.
l SolarWinds EOC Resources

l SolarWinds SAM Resources
594
SolarWinds EOC Resources

All SolarWinds Enterprise Operations Console (EOC) resources use SWQL
filtering.
Alert Resources
Resource SWIS Entity Name SWQL Alias
Global Last XX Active EOC.Alert2 Alert

Alerts
EOC.Node Node
EOC.Node.CustomProperty Node.CustomProperty
EOC.Orion SWServer
Triggered Alerts for All EOC.Alert2 Alert

Network Devices
EOC.Node Node
EOC.Node.CustomProperty NodeCustomProperty
EOC.Orion SWServer
Event Resources
Global Events Summary EOC.Event Event
EOC.EventType EventType
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Last XX Events EOC.Event Event
EOC.EventType EventType
EOC.Node Node
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.EventName EventName
595
Groups Resources
Global Active Group EOC.Alert2 Alert

Alerts
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global All Groups EOC.Groups Groups
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.StatusInfo StatusInfo
Global Groups With EOC.Groups Groups

Problems
EOC.Orion SWServer
Inventory Resources
Number of Interfaces by EOC.Interface I

Type
EOC.Orion SWServer
Number of Nodes by EOC.Node Node

Device Type
EOC.Orion SWServer
Number of Nodes by EOC.Node Node

IOS/OS
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Top XX Errors & EOC.Interface I

Discards This Hour
EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer
596
Global Top XX Error & EOC.Interface I

Discards Today
EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Top XX EOC.Interface I

Interfaces by percent
utilization EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer

Interfaces by Relative
Multicast Packet Rate EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer

Interfaces by Traffic
EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Top XX Nodes EOC.Node Node

by Average Response
Time EOC.Orion SWServer

by CPU Load
EOC.Orion SWServer

by Current Response
Time EOC.Orion SWServer

by Percent Memory
Used EOC.Orion SWServer
597

by Percent Packet Loss
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Top XX Volumes EOC.Node N

by Disk Space Used
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.Volume V
EOC.Volume.Stats VS
SolarWinds IPAM Resources
Global Top XX DHCP EOC.IPAM.GroupNode Scope

Scopes by Utilization
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Top XX Subnets EOC.IPAM.GroupNode Subnet

By % IP Address Used
EOC.Orion SWServer
SolarWinds NCM Resources
Global EOC.NCM.Nodes NCMNode

Configuration
Manager EOC.Node Node
Nodes EOC.Orion SWServer
598
Global EOC.NCM.ConfigArchive ConfigArchive

Devices
Backed Up vs EOC.NCM.Nodes NCMNode
Not Backed EOC.Node Node
Up
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Last EOC.NCM.CacheDiffResults CacheDiffResults

XX Config
Changes EOC.NCM.ComparisonCache ComparisonCache
EOC.NCM.Nodes NCMNode
EOC.Node Node
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Policy EOC.NCM.LatestPolicyReportViolations LPR

Violations For
Each EOC.NCM.PolicyReports PR
SolarWinds
Server EOC.Orion O
SolarWinds NTA Resources
Global Last XX Traffic EOC.EventType EventType

Analysis Events
EOC.Node Node
EOC.Orion SWServer
599
Global NetFlow Sources EOC.Interface I
EOC.Interface I1
EOC.NetFlow.Source S
EOC.NetFlow.Source S1
EOC.Node N
EOC.Node N1
EOC.Orion SWServer
NetFlow Collector EOC.NetFlow.Engine S

Services
EOC.Orion SWServer
SolarWinds SAM (APM) Resources
Global All EOC.APM.Application A

Applications
EOC.APM.ApplicationTemplate AT
EOC.APM.CurrentApplicationStatus CAS
EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global EOC.APM.Application Application

Application
Health EOC.APM.CurrentApplicationStatus Status
Overview EOC.Node Node
EOC.Orion SWServer
600
Global EOC.APM.Application A
Applications by
Status EOC.APM.ApplicationTemplate AT
EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer
Applications
with High EOC.APM.ApplicationTemplate AT
Process CPU EOC.APM.CurrentApplicationStatus CAS
Load
EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer
Applications
with High EOC.APM.CurrentApplicationStatus CAS
Process EOC.APM.CurrentStatistic CS
Memory Used
EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer
Applications
with High EOC.APM.CurrentApplicationStatus CAS
Response EOC.APM.CurrentStatistic CS
Time
EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer
601
Applications
with Issues EOC.APM.ApplicationTemplate AT
EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Top XX EOC.APM.Application A

Monitors by
Response EOC.APM.Component Monitor
Time EOC.APM.CurrentComponentStatus CCS
EOC.APM.CurrentStatistic CS
EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer

Process
Monitors by EOC.APM.CurrentComponentStatus CCS
CPU Load EOC.APM.CurrentStatistic CS
EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer

Process
Physical EOC.APM.CurrentStatistic CS
Memory
EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer
602

Process
Virtual Memory EOC.APM.CurrentStatistic CS
EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer
Total EOC.APM.ApplicationTemplate AT
Applications
By Type for
Each Local EOC.Orion SWServer
SolarWinds
Server
SolarWinds UDT Resources
Global Total Ports EOC.Orion SWServer

Currently Used
Top XX Nodes by EOC.Node N

Percent Ports Used
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.UDT.NodeCapability S
EOC.UDT.NodeStatistics NS
603
SolarWinds VNQM (IP SLA) Resources
Global Active EOC.AlertDefinition AlertDefinition

IP SLA
Operation EOC.AlertStatus AlertStatus
Alerts EOC.IpSla.Operation IpSlaOperation
EOC.IpSla.OperationType IpSlaOperationType
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global All IP EOC.AlertStatus AlertStatus

SLA
Operations EOC.AlertDefinition AlertDefinition
EOC.IpSla.Operation IpSlaOperation
EOC.IpSla.OperationStatus ipSlaOperationStatus
EOC.IpSla.Site SourceSite
EOC.IpSla.Site TargetSite
EOC.Node Node
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Last XX EOC.Event Event

IP SLA Events
EOC.IpSla.Event IpSlaEvent
EOC.Orion SWServer
604
Global Top XX EOC.IpSla.Operation IpSlaOperation

All Operations
EOC.IpSla.OperationCurrentStat IpSlaOperationCurrentStat
EOC.IpSla.OperationStatus ipSlaOperationStatus
EOC.IpSla.Site SourceSite
EOC.IpSla.Site TargetSite
EOC.Node SourceNode
EOC.Node TargetNode
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Top XX EOC.Node N1

Call Paths by
Jitter EOC.Node N2
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.Voip.Link L
EOC.Voip.Site S1
EOC.Voip.Site S2
EOC.Voip.UdpResultDetail D
605

Call Paths by
Latency EOC.Node N2
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.Voip.Link L
EOC.Voip.Site S1
EOC.Voip.Site S2

Call Paths by
MOS EOC.Node N2
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.Voip.Link L
EOC.Voip.Site S1
EOC.Voip.Site S2

Call Paths by
Packet Loss EOC.Node N2
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.Voip.Link L
EOC.Voip.Site S1
EOC.Voip.Site S2
606

VoIP Call
Paths EOC.Node N2
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.Voip.Link L
EOC.Voip.Site S1
EOC.Voip.Site S2
Global VoIP EOC.Node N

Call Managers
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.Voip.CCMStatistic C
Global VoIP EOC.Orion SWServer

Collector
Services EOC.Voip.Engine S
Global VoIP EOC.IpSla.Operation L

Sites Overview
EOC.IpSla.OperationCurrentStat D
EOC.IpSla.OperationStatus OperationStatus
EOC.IpSla.Site S
EOC.Node Node
EOC.Orion SWServer
607
SolarWinds WPM Resources
Global All Locations EOC.SEUM.Agent A
EOC.Orion O
Global All EOC.SEUM.Transaction T

Transactions
EOC.Orion O
Global Steps With EOC.SEUM.TransactionStep TS

Problems
EOC.Orion O
EOC.SEUM.Transaction T
EOC.StatusInfo s
EOC.StatusInfo s2
Global Top XX Steps EOC.SEUM.TransactionStep TS

by Duration
EOC.Orion O
Global Top XX EOC.SEUM.Transaction T

Transactions by
Duration EOC.Orion O
Global Transaction EOC.SEUM.Transaction T

Health Overview
EOC.Orion O
EOC.StatusInfo S
Global Transactions EOC.SEUM.Transaction T

With Problems
EOC.Orion O
EOC.StatusInfo S
608
Summary Report Resources
Global Down Interface EOC.Interface I
EOC.Node Node
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Down Nodes EOC.Node Node
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global High Errors & EOC.Interface I

Discards Today
EOC.Node N
Global Node Status EOC.Node Node

by Site
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Nodes with EOC.Node Node

High CPU Load
EOC.Orion SWServer

High Memory
Utilization EOC.Orion SWServer

High Packet Loss
EOC.Orion SWServer

High Response Time
EOC.Orion SWServer
609

with Problems
EOC.Orion SWServer
Global Volumes with EOC.Node N

High Percent usage
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.Volume V
SolarWinds Servers EOC.Orion SWServer

Summary Statistics
SysLog Resources
SysLog Messages from EOC.Node Node

All Network Devices
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.SysLog SysLog
EOC.SysLogFacility SysLogFacility
EOC.SysLogSeverity SysLogSeverity
Syslog Summary EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.SysLog SysLog
Trap Resources
Global Trap Resource EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.Trap Trap
610
Traps from All Network EOC.Node Node

Devices
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.Trap Trap
EOC.TrapVarbind TrapVarBind
Wireless Resources
Global Wireless Clients EOC.Node N
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.Wireless.Interface WI
Top XX Access Points EOC.Node N

by Number of Clients
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.Wireless.Interface WI
Top XX Wireless Clients EOC.Node N

by Traffic Rate
EOC.Orion SWServer
EOC.Wireless.Client WC
SolarWinds SAM Resources

Resources for SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) use a mix of
SWQL and SQL filters. Tables that start with APM_ are SQL tables and use SQL
filters. All the others are SWIS tables and use SWQL filtering.
611
SolarWinds SAM Resource Resources
Resource Table Name SWQL Alias
All Applications Orion.APM.Application Application

Tree
Orion.APM.ApplicationTemplate ApplicationTemplate
Orion.APM.CurrentApplicationStatus Status
Orion.Nodes Nodes
Applications with Orion.APM.Application Application

Problems
Orion.APM.ApplicationTemplate Template
Orion.APM.CurrentApplicationStatus Status
Orion.Nodes Nodes
Top XX APM_CurrentComponentStatus MonitorStatus

Components by
Statistic Data APM_PortEvidence pe
APM_ComponentExt Monitor
APM_Application Application
APM_CurrentApplicationStatus ApplicationStatus
APM_ThresholdsByComponent thresholdRT
APM_ThresholdsByComponent thresholdStat
APM_ErrorCode ec
APM_StatusCodeType sct
APM_StatusCode sc
612

Components by
Response Time APM_PortEvidence pe
APM_ThresholdsByComponent Threshold

Processes by
CPU Load APM_PortEvidence pe

Processes by
Physical APM_PortEvidence pe
Memory APM_ComponentExt Monitor
613

Processes by
Virtual Memory APM_PortEvidence pe
614
Implementing SNMPv3
SNMP version 1 and version 2 provide a very simple model for device
management communications. Unfortunately, they also lack some critical features
in the areas of security and flexibility, including the following:
l Weak Authentication Security

l Community strings are transmitted in clear text. A packet capture
exposes read-only and read/write community.
l Only two roles are allowed, read only and read/write.
l Default community strings for read only (public) and read/write
(private) can be easily implemented in production networks,
allowing access to devices by rogue SNMP managers.
l Provides no ability to authenticate the source of an SNMP request.
l Weak Privacy
l Requests and replies are easily decoded, exposing entire SNMP
conversations, including aspects of system configurations.
l No Access Control Model
l SNMP v1 and v2 do not define access control mechanisms, so after a
device gains access to the device using v1 or v2 that device has
unrestricted access.
SNMPv3 Security
The three problems with SNMP version 1 and version 2 listed above are
addressed in SNMPv3 through the implementation of the following
enhancements:
615
SNMPv3 Security
l Authentications Enhancements – User-Based Security Model (USM)

l Individual messages can be authenticated to known SNMP
authorities, such as a particular Network Management System (NMS).
l Messages contain multiple timing mechanisms preventing capture
and replay. These include
l SNMP authority engine uptime. The time since the last reset of
the authority’s SNMP engine.
l SNMP authority up time. The uptime of the NMS.
Because this information is passed in encrypted form, a device attempting to

mimic the authority has no way of knowing these details. Below is a depiction of
SNMPv3 USM.
l Strong Privacy
l Data encryption options strengthen message privacy.
616
l Access Control - View-Based Access Control (VBAC)

l VBAC allows the configuration of SNMP agents to restrict the authority
access to the following:
l Access certain portions of a MIB or deny access to all of a MIB
on a per-authority basis.
l Define the rights to the level of access, read, read/write, and
notify (trap) on a per OID per authority basis.
l VBAC creates a six step process for gaining access to MIB
variables. Here is how this is accomplished:
617
SNMPv3 Security
618
General Implementation of SNMPv3

Implementation of SNMPv3 is not difficult if it is done with proper planning. Here
are the steps:
1. Mapping the authority (NMS), access to devices and MIBs, groups, views,
contexts and users' needs to be planned and documented before
configuring managed devices. If this is not done in advance, chances are
you will have to configure devices multiple times to provide access for all
authorities.
2. Configure the device to be managed for SNMPv3 management according to
the manufacturer’s documentation and the planned authority access.
3. Add the device to the Authority (NMS) using the SNMPv3 configuration
parameters from step 1.
4. Test the SNMPv3 communications from the NMS.
5. If the test fails review the device configuration, NMS configurations, and any
firewall or ACL rules that may be interfering.
6. Create a record of the NMS SNMP users and associated passwords and
store them in a secure location. Because this information is not recorded in
the running configuration of most devices it cannot be backed up or
restored.
619
SolarWinds Product-Specific Implementation
SolarWinds Product-Specific Implementation

After the planning and implementation of SNMPv3 on the managed devices is
complete, you must enter the proper information into the SolarWinds product to
allow SNMPv3 polling and traps. The following graphic shows how to map the
SNMPv3 configured on the managed device to the required fields in your
SolarWinds products.
SolarWinds SNMPv3 input mapped to IOS

SNMP Credentials Area – Used to set read credentials
SNMP Read/Write Credentials Area – Used to set read/write credentials
Authentication
l SNMP v3 Username = user defined in snmp-server user command.

l SNMP v3 Context = context defined in snmp-server group command.
l SNMP v3 Authentication Method = method defined in snmp-server group
command.
620
Password/Key = you have the option of entering the password defined in snmp-
server user command or a defined key. If you use a password, we will convert the
password to a shared key. If you use a key, we will simply use that key.
Privacy
l SNMP v3 Privacy/Encryption = as defined in snmp-server user command.

l Password/Key = you have the option of entering the password defined in
snmp-server user command or a defined key.
Credential set Library
l Name you choose to save the credential set on the SolarWinds Product.
This is not communicated to the managed devices or configured in IOS.
Minor differences exist in the exact order of these fields or the implementation
method, such as in Engineer’s Toolset read/write is specified with a check box
rather than a separate input area.
621
Network Configuration Manager (NCM) names the SNMPv3 fields the same as
found in NPM. The ${Global} values you see below reflect the ability to use
variables in NCM.
622
Integrating SolarWinds Orion and Trouble Ticket

Systems
The most common method of integrating Orion with a trouble ticket program is
through the use of email messages from Orion to the Trouble Ticket System
(TTS). This paper offers guidelines and best practices for using email to open
trouble tickets. Below is a diagram of this integration.
The previous diagram shows the Orion Network Performance Monitor (NPM)
server and any installed modules in the upper left. In this example, alerts on the
Orion server have been configured to send email to the SMTP server. The SMTP
servers forwards the email to the proper party as specified in the mail to: field.
Some of these emails are addressed to the TTS and some are addressed to the
network engineers. The TTS has been configured to create actions and make
assignments based upon input from the alert emails.
The alert notification emails created by Orion are a function of the Orion
Advanced Alert Engine. This section focuses on a practical methodology for
implementing automated TTS tickets using email from Orion.
623
Understanding the Requirements
Understanding the Requirements

Trouble Ticket Systems (TTSs) tend to be very complex and powerful, requiring
administrators to be experts in the TTS software. TTSs use parsers to extract the
trouble ticket information from email and other sources. While the required
information is similar from one TTS to another, there are some specific
requirements from each vendor, and these may even be TTS version-specific
requirements. The alert email contents need to be clearly understood by the TTS
system administrator and of the Orion administrator. A lot of repetitive guesswork
can be eliminated by coordinating the requirements ahead of time between the
two parties. The requirements for Orion and the TTS may include the following:
l Name and network information of the SMTP server to be used for emails.
l “To” address for the TTS to receive emails.
l A possible “Reply to” email address for the TTS (to indicate an alert was
received).
l Types of events the Orion system will be alerting to the TTS.
l Capabilities and format of an Orion email alert.
l Event criticality.
l Requirements for the TTS to accept the email text.
l Static information required in the email subject or body for the TTS. This
may include severity level, impact, Dynamic (variable) information the TTS
can expect from Orion such as node id, IP address, contact information and
the alert trigger time for the affected device. Variables are denoted using the
following format - ${variable}.
l Alert reset actions to clear automated alerts where the alert conditions now
longer apply. Any requirements to automatically acknowledge alerts.
These requirements may look something like this for a WAN node down TTS
alert:
Email Subject: ${NodeName} at ${IPAddress}went down at
${AlertTriggerTime}
Email body:
Impact: 2
Urgency: 2
Priority: 3
624
ContactType: monitoring service

OpenedBy: SolarWinds
Category: network
SubCategory: wan
Type: access failure
AssignmentGroup: network
In the above example, the variables in the email subject are filled in by Orion for
each triggered alert to show the actual node name, IP address, and the time the
alert triggered. The email body contains several pieces of static text information
specific to this alert. Typically, this example would be configured and
implemented as a WAN-only alert. One way to apply alerts to WAN interfaces or
WAN routers only is to create a custom property to specify these, such as the
yes/no custom property WAN_Routers. This can be helpful in defining the static
information in the alerts and properly qualifying the alerts to device types and
other criteria. The SolarWinds NPM Administrator Guide details how to create
and apply custom properties.
The static text information shown above is intended for use by the TTS and so
would be unnecessary for a direct Orion email alert.
Use of an alert variable to uniquely and unambiguously define the device (such
as IP address) is recommended. Device identifiers such as node name can be
subject to formatting issues, such as case sensitivity, and may cause device
identification errors.
Also note that alerts sent to the TTS can be cleared using an alert reset action.
For example, the reset alert action subject could be set to read:
Email Subject: ${NodeName} at ${IPAddress} returned to
service as ${nodeStatus}
To automatically clear alerts in email integration, follow these steps:
1. Create the alert trigger and trigger action to communicate the alert to the
TTS via email.
2. Apply a reset condition to the alert.
3. Create an email reset action to communicate the new status of the node to
the TTS.
4. Apply logic as required in the TTS to clear the ticket or change the ticket
status.
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Implementing a Test Plan
In some environments the change of status as indicated by the reset action is

enough to close a ticket. In other environments the ticket can be reassigned to be
reviewed by an engineer for verification and manual closure.
Implementing a Test Plan

After all the requirements are approved, the next logical step is to implement test
alerting integration. One consideration in implementing TTS integration is the
scope of the problem alerting recipients from Orion versus the scope of alerting
action recipients from the TTS. Typically these are coordinated to be
complementary, so that Orion is directly providing alerts for those issues that are
out of scope of TTS requirements. These may include items such as:
l Orion test alerts.

l Alerts for systems that do not impact end users.
l Warning alerts for exceeded thresholds.
l Alerts for parties outside the TTS user domain, such as third party staffing or
maintenance.
l Other types of alerts for which having the TTS issue a trouble ticket does not
add value.
While it is true that direct Orion alerts and TTS alerts are not required, both do
have unique abilities and so both are typically used in production environments.
With this in mind, we will create a test plan that takes advantage of these types of
alerts as well as some Orion Advanced Alerting features.
The test plan should include the steps that will be taken to ensure that the
Orion/TTS tickets are implemented using a methodology that yields the maximum
benefit and causes the least disturbance. Consider what the outcome could be if
all the TTS actions were fully enabled and the system began creating Orion
tickets with TTS email integration. From the beginning all the parties that would
be receiving TTS actions would start receiving them from the TTS. This will only
be successful if the alerts and actions are set up perfectly and require no tuning or
adjustments. If adjustments are required, all of the recipients of the TTS actions
may be impacted by the “churn” of tuning alerts and the associated TTS actions.
A better plan of action would be to test the alerts and TTS actions systematically
before putting the TTS integration into production.
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The final test plan should include the following elements:
l Purpose for initial alert(s) to be created and tested.

l Orion-only initial alert test targets.
l Criteria for success in initial Orion-only alerts.
l Migration of Orion-only initial test alert to TTS test group only.
l Criteria for success of integration TTS test alert and action(s) to test group.
l Expansion of TTS test alert actions to broader parties. Criteria for
acceptance of broader test.
l Final decision to implement first TTS alert and associated communications.
l Requirements for rollout of subsequent TTS alerts and actions.
The completed test plan flow may look similar to the following:
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Transitioning to Production
Advanced Alert Manager allows you to copy alerts and rename the copy. This
capability can save a lot of time in testing alerts, actions and email destinations. In
each step of the TTS alert creation and testing the previous alert can simply be
copied and edited to include the new functionality. When doing this, care should
be taken to rename and enable the new copy and disable the old copies of the
alerts that are no longer to be used. You can choose to retain both an Orion-only
alert for a small group and the TTS enabled alert for the broader audience. This
can provide a backup system to notify critical parties of network outages should
TTS problems occur.
Transitioning to Production
After it has been demonstrated that TTS alerts and actions meet the requirements
set out in the planning phase, it is time to implement the alerts. At this point it is
not required to go through the initial testing procedure with every alert. It is
recommended that testing with a limited TTS audience be required before any
alert is rolled out.
Again, email integration is only one of the methods that can be used to integrate
Orion with a TTS platform. Email integration is often chosen because it offers
easy integration using existing systems. Some Orion customers have created
script-based solutions for integrating alerts. While these solutions can add some
increased flexibility, they are quite a bit more complex than email integrations.
Automated Acknowledgement of Alerts

The direction of integrated email information flow is one way, from the Orion
server to the SMTP gateway to the TTS. The Orion SDK can be used to
automatically set the alert status to acknowledged in Orion after a TTS email has
been sent. The SDK is a special developer tool that is not intended for the use of
typical Orion users. Use of the SDK requires a request to receive the SDK kit and
a demonstrated ability to use a Developer’s Tool Kit without the need for tutoring
or special instruction in a developing tool environment.
Integrating TTS Web Functions into the Orion Web Console

Most TTS platforms offer some sort of web interface. These can be read/write
interfaces that allow for creating or updating tickets, or read only, that allow only
viewing ticket information. The abilities of these web interfaces varies from vendor
to vendor. Orion offers two methods of integrating these with the Orion web
console. The first of these is to include the URL for the TTS in a User Links
resource added to an Orion View.
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In the following sample, a User Link has been added to the SolarWinds NPM
Home Page to allow for quick access to the TTS and other common sites. The
steps for creating this User Link resource are detailed in the SolarWinds NPM
Administrator Guide, in the Resource Configuration Examples section.
Some TTS platforms also supply a web ticket status interface that may be
included in an Orion view as a custom HTML resource. Chances are that this web
interface will require authentication, but that should not interfere with the
functionality of the resource once the credentials are entered. Some TTS
platforms may also allow for a pass-through authentication within the custom
HTML. The example below is a mock-up of a possible TTS custom HTML
resource.
For specific information on your TTS web abilities, see the manufacturer’s
documentation.
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Managing Orion Performance
Managing Orion Performance

Orion installations can be divided into three components: the Orion Core and
application server, the MS SQL database, and the database storage. These
components constantly interact to perform the three primary functions of an NMS:
data retrieval, data storage, and information presentation. The major components
and functions of an Orion deployment are shown in the following figure.
Each component is dependent on the other components and their functions. For
example, to view or report on monitored elements, the data must be available
from data retrieval, properly stored, and retrieved to the web in a timely manner. If
any one of these steps fails, or performs poorly, the desired result is impacted.
The level of impact depends on the performance and availability of all the
functions involved. As the performance of any particular function decreases, the
level of impact increases to a point where all the components have appeared to
fail. Because of these component interdependencies, it can be difficult to
determine where the problem lies and how to fix it. This section focuses on the
common causes of poor performance, and provides steps to isolate and rectify the
issue.
SQL data storage is central to most functions of Orion, and so a poorly performing
SQL server greatly affects the user experience. For example, the following graph
depicts the impact to Orion functions caused by a poorly performing SQL server,
showing web and report loading as a function of SQL performance.
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As shown in the graph, as SQL performance degrades a variety of symptoms can

result, from slow loading to complete failure. As the symptoms worsen it can
appear that other Orion functions, such as the web engine have failed. Making
assumptions about the cause of performance issues can cause wasted time
examining components that are performing well. While the root cause of the web
failing to load may look like a web failure, in the above, the actual cause is poor
SQL performance. For this reason, when a failure occurs it is recommended to
follow a step-by-step, documented troubleshooting procedure to isolate the cause
of a performance issue.
Performance should be thought of as having a faster-the-better overall goal;
performance improvements can always be implemented even though the system
runs according to user expectations. Performance is not measured simply as
good/bad, but as having varying degrees. Using this approach to performance
has many benefits, including:
l Cost avoidance: When the NPM system is optimized, more elements can
be added than would be possible in a nominally performing system.
l Outage avoidance: Keeping ahead of performance issues will help to
eliminate outages in the Orion system caused by a resource overload.
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Managing Orion Component Performance
l More accurate planning: When you know what the system is capable of,
you can properly plan for growth without surprises.
l Ease of use: While the Orion web interface is very intuitive, any system
experiencing slowness degrades the user experience. Keeping the web
interface responsive helps you find and isolate network issues easily and
quickly.
Managing Orion Component Performance

The overall performance of Orion is dependent on the performance of each of the
components. Therefore, accurately measuring Orion performance involves
measuring the performance of the components as well as the Orion Web Console
responsiveness. MS SQL performance is involved in most Orion performance
issues, so that is a logical place to begin.
SQL Performance - Measuring and Monitoring a Production Server

In SQL 2008 servers the tool is called Reliability and Performance Monitor. The
tool can be launched from either version using the perfmon (perfmon.exe)
command. This tool makes it easy to locate and observe the counters you will use
to measure SQL server performance.
In the Orion environment, the single most important SQL server performance
metric is disk queue length. Queue length is a measurement of the SQL writes
that are waiting to be written to disk. When disk write queues start lengthening
and there is a steady load on the SQL writes, the queues may snowball to the
extent that write requests get dropped. This leads to gaps in Orion data and will
affect the overall performance of the SQL server and Orion.
A good rule of thumb is that disk queue length should not exceed two times the
number of effective spindles in the SQL storage array. The effective spindle count
is the number of striped spindles. For a RAID 10 direct attached storage unit with
eight total disks the effective spindle count is four. Four of the spindles in this
array are the primary striped array and the other four are secondary striped mirrors
of the four primary spindles. Because no performance gain is achieved by
mirroring disks, only the primary striped set is used to measure performance.
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Keeping in mind that this is a rule of thumb, and that performance is a continuum
rather than good/bad assessment, the recommendation does not mean that if you
have five effective spindles and you peak the queue at fifteen, you will have
performance issues. Also this number should not be used to determine the
number of spindles required to lower the queue length. This is because the effect
of queue length on performance is not linear. Adding one effective spindle to a
four effective spindle array can lower the queue length by fifty percent or more.
The following table provides some other important SQL performance counters
and their target ranges.
Metric Description Target Range
SQL Server: Access Index or data page is The fewer the better. A
Methods – Page split and partially static page splits
splits/sec allocated to a new page. number with low disk
May cause IO issues queue length indicates
such as excessive disk this is not an issue.
queue length. Can be
addressed by increasing
SQL fill factor.
SQL Server: Access Table index failures. The lower the better.
Methods – Full When table indexes are Near 0 rates are to be
Scans/sec not used the result is a expected for a well
disk operation that could performing SQL server.
have been avoided.
High full scan rates will
impact transaction rates
and overall SQL
performance.
SQLServer: SQL A measurement of Static rate. Usual rates

Statistics – Batch transaction rate. High are in the thousands and
Requests/Sec batch requests may are not a problem unless
cause a heavy CPU CPU utilization is too
load. high. Monitor for a slow
creep up or any sudden
jump that does not
recover to normal levels.
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SQL Performance - Measuring and Monitoring a Production Server
Metric Description Target Range
SQL Statistics – SQL A query execution The fewer the better.

Re-compilations/sec (re- measurement. High re- Should be 0 most of the
comps) comp rates will drive time.
CPU utilizations
SQL Server: Locks: Dead lock rate. None - Dead locks rates
Dead locks/sec higher than 0 should be
investigated using MS
SQL tools.
SQL Server: Buffer The percent of requests The more, the better.
Manager – Buffer Cache that can be served from
hit ratio cache rather than disk.
Although writes are
more important than
reads in an Orion
environment, this metric
should be tracked as an
indicator of memory
issues.
Physical disk – The read and write Static levels.

Reads/sec, writes/sec rates. This should be
measured for logs and
data. Because these
measure these actual
read and write rates they
are not an indicator of
the maximum I/O rates
unless they reach a
level where disk queue
lengths also increase.
While this is not a complete list of the metrics you may wish to monitor, these do a
good job of detecting bottlenecks for disk I/O, memory and CPU. The thwack.com
user community has posted several items.
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Along with monitoring the SQL counter metrics, some basic metrics for the SQL
server should also monitored. These include the following:
Metric Description Recommendation
Database size Total size of the Orion Balance data retention

database. Normally less settings with database
than 20GB for NPM with size and performance.
moderate syslog data
and no NetFlow data.
NetFlow can increase
the database size sever
hundreds of GB. Larger
databases require more
disks, memory and CPU
resources. Large
numbers of syslog
messages also increase
the database size.
SQL Server Memory The amount of RAM Increase the minimum

used by SLQ. SQL memory setting to
allocate eighty to ninety
percent of the total
memory to SQL.
SQL Server CPU CPU utilization Keep the average CPU

utilization as low as
possible. CPU peaks of
one hundred percent are
acceptable as long as
the average stays low
and the peaks are brief.
AWE Memory AWE memory allow for Enable AWE for all 32-
more efficient use of bit SQL. See the
memory on 32-bit SQL. Microsoft SMDN Library
for details.
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Determining SQL Server Performance Abilities
Determining SQL Server Performance Abilities

The previous section is used for measuring the performance of the SQL server in
operation. You may still want to know the maximum rates that you can expect
from your system; this will give you a sense of when your server is reaching its
limits. RAM and CPUs operate at predetermined speeds, but storage subsystem
performance is dependent on several factors. Several tools can be used to
assess the maximum performance of your storage subsystem. Perhaps the two
most common tools are Microsoft’s SQLIO (free) and IO Meter (shareware). These
tools give you two crucial measurements for your subsystem, the read/write
speeds and the disk queue lengths. They will also tell you the maximum
throughput rates in MB/s. These tests should be performed on new subsystems in
a lab environment, not against an active production server. In general, a well
performing subsystem should have disk write speeds of 1 to 5 ms or better for log
volumes and 20 ms or better for data volumes. These volumes are discussed in
the next section.
Optimizing SQL Server for Orion

After you understand the important metrics to measure, you can address areas in
SQL to maximize performance. Again, as SQL is very storage intensive, this
section focuses a great deal on SLQ storage enhancement. Following are some
of the basic recommendations for using SQL with Orion. Many of these can be
found in the Administrator’s Guide for NPM.
Item Recommendation
Dedicated Except for small NPM installations (SL250 or lower) without NTA
SQL we recommend a dedicated hardware server be used.
Server
RAID RAID 10. The more drives the faster the maximum read and write
Array rates. RAID 1 alone offers no performance increase over a single
spindle. Do not use RAID 5 or 6.
Hardware The RAID controller should always be hardware based and server
RAID quality.
Controller
Disk 15 KRPM (15K). While the cost of 15K drives is higher, this will
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Item Recommendation
Speed partially be offset by the need for fewer spindles.
SQL SQL 2008 is supported. 64-bit SQL should be used for all Orion
Version installations over SL 250 or smaller Orion license levels with
NetFlow.
RAM SL 500 and below – 2GB, SL 2000, 5GB+, SLX – 20GB+. The
more RAM the better. For SL 2000 and above set the minimum
SQL memory to eighty to ninety percent of the total server memory,
but allow sufficient total memory outside this setting for the OS.
CPU 3 GHz, dual core processor or better. This will work for all size
licenses. Do not use less than a 2 GHz processor for any Orion
SQL server.
You might wonder, is RAID 01 is a good choice for your SQL database storage?
RAID 01 and RAID 10 both yield the same number of effective spindles for any
given even number of drives greater than 4. RAID 10 is actually shorthand for
RAID 1+0, and RAID 01 is actually RAID 0+1. If you think of the RAID arrays in
this way the difference is easier to understand. RAID 1 is mirrored drives. Raid 0
is striped drives. For a RAID 10, 4 drive array the 2 primary drives are mirrored
with the 2 secondary drives, then the mirrored pairs are striped to primary and
secondary striped sets. With Raid 01 the drives are striped in 2, 2 drive sets, and
then those sets are mirrored to the secondary 2 striped drives.
The important thing to remember is that in RAID 10 you can lose one or more
drives out of either striped set and the mirror of that drive will continue. In RAID 01
if you lose one drive from a striped set the set is dead. If you lose one drive from
both sets, the storage array is dead.
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Optimizing SQL Server for Orion
This is shown in the following graphic.
SQL server can be further optimized using several of the following methods.
Enable Advanced Windows Extension (AWE) for 32-bit SQL
AWE allows MS SQL enhanced access to memory under 4GB. Users enabling
AWE may see dramatic improvements in MS SQL 32-bit server performance.
AWE is not used for 64-bit servers. Enabling AWE depends on the version of
Windows server you are running.
Separate Drives for Orion, SQL log (temp) and SQL data
Separating the temp files from the data files can help improve performance. A
typical installation of this type looks like the following:
l C: drive – Orion and OS. 2 drive RAID 1

l E: drive – SQL log files. 4 15K drives RAID 0
l F: drive – SQL data (Orion data). 6 15K drives RAID 10
The size of the drive space for each of the SQL drives can be determined by
examining the current SQL database files.
Using RAMDisk® for SQL log (temp)
RAMDisk, a third party software package, allows you to place the temp SQL files
onto a logical drive that exists completely in RAM. This requires 64-bit SQL and a
good amount of RAM. See the RAMDisk documentation for further requirements.
This tool is very useful as it takes the most performance intensive part of SQL
storage and moves them from physical disk performance levels to RAM
performance levels. Physical drive (spindle) IOPS are measured in the hundreds
per second where RAM IOPS are measured in the hundreds of thousands per
second.
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Solid State Drives (SSDs)

Solid state drives yield the IOP levels seen in RAM drives. These are becoming
more common as the prices continue to drop. Unlike RAM drives, SSDs are non
volatile, so the data written to SSDs remains after the system is powered down.
SSDs are made of billions of microscopic transistors which store individual data
bits by being in an uncharged state or a charged state. This works well for
program files and data that is static. One issue with most SSDs is that the barrier
that holds the charge within each transistor breaks down upon successive writes.
When the transistor changes from a 1 to a 0 or a 0 to a 1 the charge state of the
transistor changes and some erosion of the charge barrier occurs. After many
write cycles, the transistor loses the ability to hold a charge and becomes useless
for storage. SQL is very read/write intensive and so creates challenges for SSDs.
New technologies aimed at maximizing SSD life span are coming onto the
market. These tools can help high-end SSD arrays reach life expectations up to 8
to 10 years.
Orion Server Performance

Beginning with the NPM 10.2 release (Fall 2011) and including all products built
on the Orion platform, SolarWinds optimizes monitoring performance by
automatically balancing polling rates and polling intervals in heavy polling
environments.
To accomplish this balance, when required, SolarWinds automatically extends
configured polling intervals to decrease the overall polling rate in your
environment. To determine when this polling rate adjustment should occur and
when users should be notified, SolarWinds has established two polling rate
thresholds: a polling warning level and a maximum polling limit level. These
levels are based on an internal calculation that includes both the number of
network objects polled and the configured polling interval.
As a result of these polling enhancements, it is no longer necessary for a user to
compensate for performance issues by manually setting polling rates higher than
required to ensure that data is actually polled as frequently as desired. All polling
jobs will be completed. If the polling rate is more than the server can handle, the
polling intervals are automatically increased to handle the higher load.
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Orion Server Performance
Poller Performance Measurements

Much of the Orion server performance measurement and management can be
done directly from the Orion web interface. In order to understand how well a
poller is performing, you must first understand where to look for poller
performance data and how to interpret that data. In the Administrative Settings of
the Orion web console Settings > Polling Engines you see a variety of polling
measurements. The poller specific fields represent aggregated measurements of
all active pollers. Below is a brief description of the polling engine data related to
Orion performance.
Polling Completion
Polling completion represents the percentage of polls across all pollers that were
completed without the need to delay polls. The new Orion poller can delay polls if
it detects that the Orion server resources are overtaxed. To make it easier to
detect ongoing polling issues, the polling completion number is an average of the
last one hundred polling jobs. A polling completion number less than one
hundred only indicates delayed polls, not failed polls. Polling rate should
normally be about one hundred. Significant declines in polling rate are typically
due to the Orion server memory or CPU constraints.
Polling Rate
The polling rate indicates the percentage of maximum polling rate possible for
your server. This number is derived from the Total Job Weight value and the
polling interval settings. Each polling job is assigned a weight to best estimate
relative load the job places on the server. If the polling rate reaches eighty five
percent or greater the Orion server will give a poller status warning popup. At this
point you should add an additional poller or scale back you polling rates if you
have increased the rates from the default settings.
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Setting Up Cisco UCS

Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS) is designed to provision, migrate, and
manage internetworking systems in datacenters. When you add the UCS master
device, and the primary fiber interconnect devices, into the Orion All Nodes
resource, you gain a view to all information that UCS provides.
Below is an example of what you see in the detailed view of the UCS master
node. The procedures in the following section guide you through the process of
setting-up a Cisco UCS with the components shown in the example.
Setting up and Monitoring a Cisco UCS

Follow these steps to setup a Cisco UCS for monitoring in the Orion All Nodes
resource.
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To setup Cisco UCS for monitoring:
1. Confirm that LDAP authentication is not enabled on your UCS device:

a. Open UCS Manager.
b. On the Admin tab, expand User Management > User Services.
c. Confirm that the full user name is provided for both Locally and
Remotely Authenticated Users.
d. If the default authentication realm is anything other than Local, you will
need to use another realm for local authentication.
Note: Authentication should use the full username form, as in ucs-
realm_name\username, and ucs- should always be included.
2. Verify in the UCS console that the fiber connects (Switch A and Switch B in
the example) have external IP addresses. For example, this is how to
navigate to the values for Switch-A:
Sys>Switch-A (or Switch-B)>Mgmt>if-1>
ExtGWNot 0.0.0.0
ExtIPNot 0.0.0.0
EXTMaskNot 0.0.0.0
If the external gateway, external IP address, or external mask are set to
0.0.0.0, edit with values valid to external devices.
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3. Add the UCS Master node into the Orion All Nodes resource.
Note: If the node already show up in the All Nodes list in italics or with ‘n/a’
as the state, click on it; and then click ‘Yes’ when Orion asks to manage the
devices using SolarWinds NPM.
a. Click Edit in the All Nodes resource if the node is not in the list.
b. Click Add Node and provide the information:
l Hostname or IP Address
o Dynamic IP Address
o ICMP (for Ping only)
o External
o UCS Manager credentials
o Poll for Vmware
l Polling Engine
l UCS Port
l UCS User Name
l UCS Password
c. Click Test under the UCS fields.
d. Click Next if the test succeeds. (The wizard disallows progress to the
next screen when the test fails.)
e. Check the resources to monitor on the node.
f. Add relevant pollers.
g. Review your information and when you’re ready click OK, ADD
NODE.
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4. Add each UCS fabric interconnect switch and blade device into the Orion
All Nodes resource.
Note: If the node already show up in the All Nodes list in italics or with ‘n/a’
as the state, click on it; and then click ‘Yes’ when Orion asks to manage the
devices using SolarWinds NPM.
a. Click Edit in the All Nodes resource if the node is not in the list.
b. Click Add Node and provide the information:
l Hostname or IP Address
o Dynamic IP Address
o ICMP (for Ping only)
o External
o UCS Manager credentials
o Poll for Vmware
l Polling Engine
l SNMP Version
l SNMP Port
l Community String
l Read/Write Community String
c. Click Test under the SNMP fields.
d. Click Next if the test succeeds. (The wizard disallows progress to the
next screen when the test fails.)
e. Check the resources to monitor on the node.
f. Add relevant pollers.
g. Review your information and when you’re ready click OK, ADD
NODE.
h. Perform steps b-g for each of the devices.
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5. Double click on the UCS Master node in All Nodes and find the UCS
Overview resource. Assuming each device status is still the same, you
should see the UCS information as presented in the beginning of this
document.
Note: To select the proper view we use the existing “View By Device Type”
feature. To ensure that Standard Poller does not overwrite “MachineType”
and other fields we use “EntityType” to identify UCS node in the Standard
Poller (and so force Standard Poller not to overwrite our required fields).
This same mechanism is also used for the ESX VMWare API.
6. If any UCS device shown in the UCS Overview is not currently managed in
Orion All Nodes, double-click the device. The Orion node management
software prompts you to add the node; when you click OK the software
redirects to the Add Node Wizard.
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Understanding Charts and Graphs
Understanding Charts and Graphs

SolarWinds products offer a rich variety of information on the health and
performance of your IT systems. Some charts are very data rich and may be more
difficult to understand what is represented.
This section focuses on more complex graphs available in the SolarWinds Orion
Platform and includes a brief overview of some of the basics of IT management
data, data sources, and other general information for understanding that data.
Charts and Graphs Definitions

Polled Data
Data retrieved from a device by polling the device, typically, this is
automated and at regular intervals.
Ad-hoc Data
Data received without requiring a request. This is commonly accomplished
by leaving a TCP or UDP port open and reserved for receiving data.
Chart
A graphical representation of datasets. Types of charts we use include pie
charts, bar charts, area charts, and two dimensional x-y graphs.
Graph
For our purposes, a graph is a two dimensional data display comparing two
data sets: a variable data set on the y-axis and an incremental dataset on
the x-axis. Example: an interface utilization line graph mapping variable
interface utilization on the y-axis against set time periods on the x-axis.
Absolute Data
Data that is independent of other data. Example: value returned by polling
an interface out octet counter.
Relative Data
Data derived by comparing a data point to one or more other data points.
Example: percent interface utilization represents the interface counter data
relative to the maximum interface speed.
View
A web page displayed within a SolarWinds product.
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Resource
A single element of a view, for example, a pie chart.
IT Management Data Types

Data is passed from managed devices to a Network Management System (NMS),
such as NPM, as a stream of bits that are assembled into frames, packets and
Protocol Data Units (PDUs). The exact method of decoding the bit streams to IT
management data is beyond the scope of this paper. What is important here is to
understand some of the properties of the data types. This will help you
understand how the data can be used and some inherent limitations.
Below is a list of the most common data types used in network management.
Data Type Properties
Counter A 32 or 64-bit positive number with the maximum

value depending on the bit size. (232-1 or 264 -1).
Counters increase in size until they reach their bit
limit when they begin counting again at zero plus
the remainder of the last counter update. This is
known as counter rollover. Counters are used to
count bits transmitted or received as well as other
similar data. Example: an automobile’s odometer.
Gauge A 32-bit number which may increase or decrease in

value but not exceed 232-1. Gauges are used for
data that varies upward and downward often, such
as CPU load, but can also be used for static
information like interface speed. Example: an
automobile’s tachometer.
Integer A 32-bit number typically used to indicate an object

state, such as 1=up, 2=down, 3=unknown.
IP Address 32-bit dotted decimal for IPv4 or 128-bit

hexadecimal for IPv6 indicating the IP address of a
node.
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Raw Vs. Cooked Data
Data Type Properties
Network 32-bit dotted decimal for IPv4 or 128 bit-

Address hexadecimal for IPv6 indicating a network or
subnet.
Object Dotted decimal string indicating a position within a

Identifier MIB.
Octet Byte strings used to indicate text or layer 2

Strings addresses.
Time ticks A 32-bit number used to measure time in 1/100ths

of a second.
Raw Vs. Cooked Data

Some data is displayed as raw, unaltered data. A CPU gauge is a good example,
displaying in the same value as was collected. For other data types, displaying
raw data would be of little use.
For example, the number of bytes received on an interface is raw, counter data. In
a polling cycle the NMS might receive a number such as 456723. All this number
means is that since the interface counter was reset, or possibly rolled over,
456723 bytes of data passed through the interface. Displaying this data as– is
using a gauge would be meaningless. This data must be processed before it can
be shown as useful information. The result is sometimes known as cooked data. It
is common to use both raw and coked data in IT management.
The below table shows how polled interface utilization data is cooked into useful
information.
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Raw
Polled
Data Data Delta Percent
(Agent (This poll x8 Utilization
Poll Time Counter minus last) (Bytes to Bits per (1.544
(Seconds) Octets) Cooked, bits) second Mbps)
Raw, Raw, Absolute Cooked, Cooked, Cooked,
Absolute Absolute Absolute Relative Relative
0 2156 Null Null Null Null
540 175769 173613 1388904 2572 0.17
1080 3287098 3111329 24890632 46094 2.99
1620 8760987 5473889 43791112 81095 5.25
2160 68734870 59973883 479791064 888502 57.55
2700 98965567 30230697 241845576 447862 29.01
3240 200159898 101194331 809554648 1499175 97.10
3780 265159898 65000000 520000000 962963 62.37
4320 265329899 170001 1360008 2519 0.16
As shown in the table, raw data goes through four operations before it is readily
usable information, the percent utilization of the T-1 interface.
Absolute vs. Relative Data

The above table contains two data types that are commonly confused with one
another. The first four columns contain absolute data. In column three, the
numbers are a result of subtracting a counter number from the latest counter
number. The result is still an absolute count. The multiplication by 8 to convert
units does not change the fact the data is just a count, and still absolute. The next
calculation to bits per second creates a rate, which is relative data. Once data is
relative, it remains relative unless the operation that converted it is reversed. In
the last column, Percent Utilization, the data is relative.
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Data Sources
Data Sources
Typically, the Network Management System (NMS) collects data either by
actively polling devices for data or by passively listening for data on a reserved IP
port. Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) polling and Windows ™
Management Instrumentation (WMI) are common examples of polled data. SNMP
trap and NetFlow are examples of passive data collection. SNMP polled data is
obtained by the SNMP manager polling for specific data from an SNMP agent
MIB on a managed device.
Both the NMS and managed device keep a copy of the Management Information
Base (MIB). The MIB is similar to a file and folder structure for data stored on a
hard drive. The MIB maps out where specific information is stored. MIBs consist of
Object Identifiers (OIDs) that store data points. If more than one end object exists
in an OID, the OID is appended with an index number. This structure is shown in
the following example.
The SNMP agent on the managed device populates the agent’s MIB OIDs with
the latest data in 10 seconds to one minute intervals, depending on the device
and vendor’s SNMP implementation. In this case the data source is the SNMP
MIB on the device’s SNMP agent. Other IT management data sources include
flow exporters, such as NetFlow, WMI polling, API query responses, log
exporters, SNMP traps, as well as telnet and SSH.
The following illustration shows IT management data sources, data types, and the
data collector and how each of these communicates.
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Data Collectors
Not all IT management collectors are Network Management Systems (NMS).
Some are agents designed to perform tests or collect data and report the results
back to the NMS. These agents provide two services to the NMS: they allow
distributed data collection and they offload some of the collection and aggregation
work for the NMS.
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Data Perspective
Data Perspective
Some data NMSs collect is perspective dependent and some is perspective

independent. For example, consider an ICMP ping request sent from the NMS to
a managed device. The information we retrieve at the NMS tells us the round trip
time between the NMS and a managed device. If that managed device were to
move to a different location across a lengthy WAN connection, the path to the
device would change and so would the ping response time. Now consider a
server sending log information to the NMS. An important part of log information is
the time the logged event occurred, which is recorded the timestamp field of the
log message. The exact time the log server received the message is not critical.
Moving a log server or log exporter will have no effect on the log data received.
Interpreting Orion Data Charts and Graphs

This section examines the data displays from various SolarWinds Orion platform
products and discuss what is represented in the data. We look at the data
representations used and note what is common between products.
Gauges
One important property of gauge data is that each new data point can be larger or
smaller than the previous data point. Gauge data is often shown on a gauge as
raw, or unaltered, data. Some people assume that gauge displays are real-time,
but SolarWinds Orion gauges are not real-time. They reflect the data from the last
polling cycle.
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Bar and Line Charts

Bar charts and line charts such as the in/Max/Average graphs are used
extensively in several SolarWinds Orion products. These graphs show a large
amount of information in a single resource. Consider the following interface graph
as an example.
This graph shows all the data available since the first of the month to the end of
the month. Each bar represents a data interval. The interval used for this graph is
one day. The chart shows the light green bars to indicate the maximum data rate
seen during each sample interval. This gives a data range for each interval, which
means that each bar represents multiple polled data points.
The ranges in each bar are averaged and shown by the blue line running through
them. The average is calculated by averaging all the data points in each sample
period.
The trend line is calculated using a method called a least squares fit.
The 95th percentile line indicates the level at which 95% of all data on the chart is
at or below.
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Comparing Data from Different Resources
Now let’s examine what can happen when you alter the dataset’s time scope and
interval periods. Click the Edit button from the top right corner of the graph to
change the time period for the data and the sample interval You may also find the
link to the chart editor in the View Options drop-down menu.
As of NPM 10.2, the graphing engine only connects dots when it can verify the
data points are from separate polls and only creates range bars when there is
more than one polled data point within a sample interval. The range bars at the
right side of the graph are a result of using the Poll Now button several times in
the Node Details page. This created “rapid polling”, giving the graphing engine
the ability to have multiple polled data points in the last graphing intervals. To
better understand what causes this type of graphing issue, consider the following
timeline.
This is an arbitrary example of a graphing and polling conflict to help explain an

issue that causes scattered graph data and does not reflect the exact situation
shown in the earlier Orion graph. The sample intervals are shown as red lines,
starting out at time = 0 and continuing every 5-minutes for the 1- hour period.
Each sample interval represents a request from the graphing engine for new data
from the Orion database at a particular time. The SNMP polling period is set to 9
minutes. The first SNMP polled data the graphing engine considers is whatever is
in the Orion database at time = 0. The first SNMP polling happens at time = 2 and
then every 9 minutes thereafter. Any time there is more than one graphing interval
within a single polling period there is no new data and so the reply to the
graphing engine’s request is null. This creates gaps in the data and prevents
connecting the minimum and maximum, data points with a line.
Comparing Data from Different Resources

People often compare from different views, such as an NPM interface traffic graph
with an NTA top applications stacked area chart. While this can be a valid method
for determining more information about a particular resource, you need to be
aware of some pitfalls.
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Disparate Data Sources

When comparing resources you must consider the sources of the data displayed.
You may compare an interface utilization graph from NPM with a NetFlow
resource for the same interface in the same time period. Although we might
assume at first that these should be the same, they are often different.
Consider that the NPM data source is all traffic as recorded on the device’s
SNMP agent and polled by NPM every 9 minutes, but, the NetFlow traffic is only
IP traffic as recorded by the device’s NetFlow exporter. This data is exported to
the NTA module every minute. There are two opportunities for the data to differ
here:
1. The data counted by an SNMP interface counter has different criteria

than the data counted by a NetFlow collector
2. The data collection time periods vary by a factor of 9.
While many times these two types of data will be roughly similar, there is
opportunity for them to differ significantly. You should make sure that the two
graphs you are comparing are using the same data period, intervals and that the
Y-axis is set to the same units for both graphs.
Graphing Differences Between Views

Another issue that can make the data seem invalid is comparing resources with
different criteria. Again if one compares an NPM interface utilization with a Top 5
applications graph in NTA the two will not align. The issue here is that the NPM
interface graph is showing the total amount of data to cross that interface and the
NTA graph is showing only traffic for the top 5 IP applications.
Graphing Differences Within a Single View

The most common place for finding graphing differences in a single view is
comparing an NTA Top X Endpoints resource with any other NTA Top X resource
for the same period. Typically, the top endpoints resource shows twice the traffic
of the other resource. This is because the top endpoints are both top receivers
and top talkers. All of the data associated with an endpoint is summed to
calculate the total data for an endpoint. Knowing that the data is counted both to
and from the endpoint, we would expect the data to be double.
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Understanding Orion AD Authentication
Understanding Orion AD Authentication

As of Network Performance Monitor (NPM) 10.1, NPM and the Orion modules
now have the ability to add user and group access to Orion products via AD.
When a standard such as AD is implemented, the implementer can typically
choose from a set of options. This paper is aimed at providing a deeper level of
understanding on how AD works with NPM and the Orion modules than that
provided by the Administrator’s Guides (AGs). The AGs should be used for step-
by-step instructions on using AD for Orion authentication, so that will not be
addressed here. The flow chart below shows how the Orion authentication
process works with AD.
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Figure 1 - Orion Login Process Overview
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Adding AD Orion Authentication for AD Users
The user experience differs depending on how user authentication is set up. For
users defined in Orion that have their user name and password embedded in the
URL they use to access Orion, they will go directly to their Orion home page,
bypassing any AD authentication. The same will happen for AD authenticated
users. Although the Login.aspx page is referenced for all users, the above two
types of users will never see the login screen if the authentication is successful. If
the authentication fails due to issues such as password mismatch with an URL
embedded user ID/password or an AD error, these users will be directed to the
login.aspx page where they are prompted for a user ID and password. Users that
are only defined in Orion and do not use URL embedded authentication will
always login from the login.aspx screen.
While it may seem that using a URL embedded ID and password offers the same
features as AD authentication, it should be noted that the ID and password
embedded in the URL are in plain text. Anyone who captures packets between
the embedded URL user and Orion can discover these ID and password
combinations. Likewise, anyone who views the URL will also have access to the
ID and password.
Orion products prior to NPM 10.1 had the ability to use Windows Pass-through
Security. This feature was implemented as a workaround until AD authentication
was developed for the Orion products. Users that have Windows Pass-through
Security enabled should remove Pass-through security prior to transitioning to AD
security. If Windows pass-through is not removed it will interfere with AD login.
For more information about pass-through security, see the Common Components
When user access is granted from within a web application, the application is
responsible for storing and verification of accounts and passwords. When
applications use a centralize authentication authority, such as AD, the application
need only to achieve confirmation from AD that the user or group is authentic. The
application is no longer burdened with authentication schemes and the users are
not challenged to login to a system where AD allows access.
Adding AD Orion Authentication for AD Users

AD account authentication for Orion is set in the Orion Administrator interface.
The following sections provide instructions for adding and configuring AD users
in Orion:
l Adding a New User Account

l Configuring User Account Settings
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Adding a New User Account

The following procedure adds a new Active Directory user to the Orion Web
Console.
To add an AD user accounts:
1. Log into the Orion Web Console using an account with administrative
privileges.
3. Click Web Console Settings in the Settings grouping.
4. Select Enable automatic login for the Windows Account Login setting,
and then click Submit.
5. Click Manage Accounts in the User Accounts grouping.
Figure 2 - Orion Manager Users Interface
6. On the Individual Accounts tab, click Add New Account.

Note: The screens and options for Group and Individual accounts are the
same, so we will examine the Individual Accounts screen only.
7. Select Windows individual account, and then click Next.
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Adding a New User Account
By choosing the Individual Account tab and then clicking Add New Account, we
are taken to the Add New Account screen shown below.
Figure 3 - Windows Add New Individual Account Screen
To add AD accounts into Orion, Orion must give you a way of demonstrating that
you have the rights to search for accounts and give you the ability to specify
which accounts to add. The top section of the above screen, Active Directory or
Local Domain Authentication, is where you specify the account you will use to
add users to Orion using AD. This account must have administrative rights in the
domain(s) you will be searching. The center area of this screen gives you a
search box to specify user names, or partial usernames and standard AD
wildcard search characters. To begin a search, fill in the top 2 sections we just
reviewed and click Search. That will populate Select users to add with users from
the specified domain meeting the specified search criteria. Checking a user in this
box will make that user also show up in the accounts selected box. Clicking the
red X next to a user name will deselect that user.
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Configuring User Account Settings

Once all users are selected, clicking next will take you to the Orion account
settings page (seen below) where you can specify the Orion experience for those
users.
Figure 4 - Orion User Account Settings
Once AD access has been set up, it is important to understand which components
of the overall authentication process are controlled by AD controls and which
portions are determined by Orion core. AD authentication allows a user or group
access to the Orion Web Console but does not directly specify the level of access
for that user or group.
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Strategies for Using Orion with AD
Strategies for Using Orion with AD

Once AD authentication is in place, the AD authenticated user will be sent to their
Orion home page as defined in the existing “Edit username Account” page. This
means that after access is achieved the same rules and methodologies apply for
Orion users and groups as they did before AD authentication was a feature. This
flow can be used to greatly simplify Orion management.
Most Orion deployments require a handful of levels of access and customization.
An Orion administrator can simplify management by creating planning for the user
types that are expected to require access. These may be user groups such as
“Help Desk”, “Management”, “WAN Engineers”, “NOC Users” and perhaps
“Admins”. Adding AD groups into the AD domain before adding individuals into
Orion can save a lot of administrative work.
Sample Scenario
The following scenario provides a case for using AD authentication with the Orion
Web Console.
l Environment – A large number of Orion users require the same access; use
the same modules, reports, views, and alerts. A few other users require a
high degree of control and customization on a per user basis.
l Solution – Create an AD group for these common users in AD. Then add
that AD group into Orion and assign the specific privileges with the Orion
Admin interface. Then add each of the high level users to Orion using their
Individual AD accounts, again granting the level of access required for each
user in the Orion Admin interface.
Many Orion implementations could operate “user administration free” by
assigning Orion users to AD groups according to their Orion operational needs.
All of the granting or removal of Orion access would be accomplished by AD.
Troubleshooting Orion AD Issues

I cannot add AD users by entering the user ID and password.
Users are added by searching for the user account using an authorized
administrative account. AD Users are not added by entering the user ID and
password of the user you wish to add. For more information, see “Adding
Orion Authentication for AD Users” on page 2
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I have added a user to an AD group with restrictions defined in Orion but the
restrictions are not being enforced.
If a user is defined in Orion as an Individual AD user, or a member of
multiple AD authenticated groups, and is also a member of an AD Group in
Orion, the individual authentication will take precedence over the group,
possibly allowing that individual permissions they should not have. Remove
the individual AD account from Orion to rectify. For group conflicts, Orion
will authenticate using the first valid group discovered.
The Active Directory or Local Domain Authentication dialog gives one of the
below errors:
Login failure: unknown user name or bad passwordLogin failure: the user
has not been granted the requested login type at this computer
Ensure that the account you are using has administrative rights within the
AD tree you are searching. Also, check that you can access the tree you are
searching from the domain you are currently in. Check for bad password or
locked or expired account.
I can’t find where to add AD access for Network Atlas.
Network Atlas does not presently support AD authentication.
I have tried to configure Orion AD integration but the test login always takes
me to the login.aspx screen.
Automatic browser login is controlled by a security setting on the browser. If
your browser did not accept Orion setting this, you will have to change it
manually. Two settings should be checked. One is for automatic logins from
restricted zones; the other is an on/off switch for automatic login.
For Internet Explorer these settings are defined in Tools > Internet Options >
Security > *Zone* > Custom Level > User Authentication > Logon. The
option you are looking to enable is "Automatic logon only in Intranet zone",
or "Automatic login with current user name and password". The "Automatic
logon only in Intranet zone" setting only works if Orion web server is in the
Local Intranet zone.
Additional Resources
The following resources are available for further assistance with using Advanced
Directory for Orion authentication.
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Orion AD Implementation Resources
Orion AD Implementation Resources
l Orion Common Components Administrator Guide

l thwack.com “AD login” search thread
l Orion Product Blog Entry on AD Groups in Orion
Microsoft Active Directory Resources
l Active Directory Users, Computers, and Groups

l What is the Global Catalog
thwack Community
The thwack community has thousands of users who regularly exchange ideas
and solutions. Chances are that if you are trying to create a complex alert and
having issues, there is a thwack user who has already solved that issue.
SolarWinds employees from Development, Support and Product Management
regularly interact with SolarWinds product users on thwack, so we may also be
able to help you solve your problem there too.
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Understanding Orion Report Writer

Orion gives you the option of using built-in reports or creating custom reports.
More than one hundred built-in reports are available in SolarWinds NPM. These
reports allow you to access and distribute tabular and chart-based reports on a
variety of information, such as top N utilization for interfaces, memory CPU,
NetFlow top N, applications, inventory, compliance, node status, events, and
virtual servers.
The Orion Report Writer is used for creating custom reports or for applying or
modifying built-in reports. Report Writer allows the user to select report
parameters, using the Report Writer GUI, or enter a complete SQL query. When
the GUI is used, a SQL query is created in the background. This query can be
viewed for all reports, but can only be edited in custom SQL reports. Both built-in
reports and Report Writer-created reports are executed by querying the Orion
SQL database, giving unfettered access to any data stored in the database.
Reporting Components
Several components work together to allow for built-in reporting, custom report
creation, and report delivery.
l Report Writer
l Acts as a framework for report structure
l Contains the main interface for configuring, creating, and editing
reports
l Runs queries against the Orion database when requested
l Stores reports
l Calculate values as required, such as 95th percentile
l SQL Database - Stores and delivers information for Orion
l Orion Core - Provides Web Console, report delivery, and other core
functions
l Windows Event Scheduler - Provides regularly scheduled report actions
l Email - Provides a delivery mechanism for reports
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Working with Report Writer
Working with Report Writer

Existing Reports
You can open and modify any of the built-in reports in Report Writer. When
modifying an existing report, it is best to find a report that already has most of the
elements you require and start from there. Doing so will help to minimize the time
and complexity of creating your custom report. For example there is a prebuilt
NetFlow report for “Top 10 Traffic Destinations by Domain”. The Top N domains
resource in Orion NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is one of many top N resources
including Endpoints, Applications, Conversations, and Countries. So, if we want
to create a report for the Top N traffic by Country, it is reasonable to start with a
similar report, such as the domain report.
Once we begin altering this report to create the Top Country report, save the
report with a new name. This way you can rest assured that you have not altered
the Top Domain report. If you get hopelessly lost at some point, you can simply
stop creating the Top Country report and go back to the Top Domain report and
start over.
The General tab in Report Writer is very simple. You can assign the report to a
group, create a new group by using a non-existent group name, edit the report title
and subtitle as well as add notes in the description field..
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Next we move to the Select Fields tab and alter the report to show what we want
to see, Top Countries.
This tab allows you to select objects from the Orion database without having to
dig through the database or create SQL queries. When you modify fields in this
tab, report writer creates a SQL query in the background. By clicking on Report >
Show SQL from the Report Writer Menu bar, the query is run and shown in a new
tab called SQL. The results are also displayed. Depending on how much data
you have and the complexity of the query, it can take a couple of minutes to run
the full query.
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Existing Reports
The field that was used to create the Top N Domain source report was NetFlow
Endpoints > Transmitters > Domain. By selecting Country instead of Domain,
we will alter the query partially. Take a look at the SQL query below with Country
chosen in the place of Domain.
SELECT TOP 10
FlowCorrelation_Source_FlowCorrelation.Country AS Country,
Nodes.Caption AS NodeName,SUM(NetflowSummary.TotalBytes)
AS SUM_of_Bytes_Transferred FROM (NetflowSummary LEFT
OUTER JOIN FlowCorrelation FlowCorrelation_Source_FlowCor-
relation ON (NetflowSummary.SourceIPSort = FlowCor-
relation_Source_FlowCorrelation.IPAddressSort)) INNER
JOIN Nodes ON (NetflowSummary.NodeID = Nodes.NodeID)WHERE
( DateTime BETWEEN 40313.4583333333 AND 40314.5 ) AND
((FlowCorrelation_Source_FlowCorrelation."Domain" IS NOT NULL) AND
(FlowCorrelation_Source_FlowCorrelation."Domain" <> ''))
AND((EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM NetFlowSources WITH(nolock)
WHERE NetFlowSources.InterfaceID=InterfaceIDRx AND
NetFlowSources.Enabled=1)))
GROUP BY FlowCorrelation_Source_FlowCorrelation.Country, Nodes.Caption
ORDER BY 3 DESC
This query can be broken down into three sections:
1. Data selection – Begins at the SELECT TOP 10 statement
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2. Data filtering – Begins at the WHERE statement
3. Grouping and ordering – begins at the GROUP BY statement
So far the query is selecting Country data, but if you look further into the above
query, the query still refers to Domain. This is because we still need to go into the
remaining tabs and clean up references to Domain..
By clicking on the Domain references we can change them to Country, just as

we did in the Select Fields tab. The shot below shows this change being made.
Now here is the filtering section of the query after changing the Filter to refer to
Countries.
(FlowCorrelation_Source_FlowCorrelation.Country IS NOT NULL) AND
(FlowCorrelation_Source_FlowCorrelation.Country <> '')
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Building a Report
The first item in the filtering section of the SQL is the applicable time frame. This
is specified in the Report Writer Time Frame tab and converted to the SQL Object
Linking and Embedding (OLE) time. SQL OLE time is a standard way of represent
time in days since an arbitrary day zero, Midnight, December 30, 1899. Counting
dates as a time since day zero offers the advantage of the date being represented
as just a number. So, it can be processed without regard to time increments, such
as minutes and seconds. This eliminated converting and processing seconds to
minutes, minutes to hours, days to months, and so forth. The date can be
translated into the OLE date, manipulated and then converted back to a date. As
the OLE date can have an infinite number of decimal places, it can accurately
measure any time increment. When a query is run which contains an OLE date,
the date is updated on the fly to the proper date range.
Consider the following examples. When we look at the SQL for a report using the
time frame of “Yesterday”, note the OLE date referenced.
WHERE ( DateTime BETWEEN 40300 AND 40301 )
Now, when we run the query the next day, here are the results of the same
“Yesterday” date.
WHERE
( DateTime BETWEEN 40301 AND 40302 )
If we change the date to “Today”, which will include a partial day as today has not
completed, we can see the decimal notation for fractions of a day.
WHERE
( DateTime BETWEEN 40302 AND 40302.5833333333 )
Historical reports will often use the OLE format. Also note that reports for the
current state of items, such as the “Current Volume Statistics” will have no
reference to time, they will only query for the current values requested.
The remaining tabs in the Report Writer interface are fairly simple and well
documented in the appropriate Administrator Guide for your product.
Building a Report
One of the best ways to learn how anything works is to take it apart and build it
back up from its parts. We can do this with Orion Report Writer and gain an insight
to its inner workings. It should be noted that there is more than one path to take
when creating new reports:
l The pre-built reports can be opened and edited as shown in the previous
section
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l A completely new report can be created using the Report Writer GUI
l A new report can be created by entering SQL queries into an Advanced SQL
report
The first two are very similar; while the Advanced SQL report requires a deep
level of SQL knowledge and experience.
Clicking on New, or the Create a new report button to go to the first New Report
screen.
At first glance, it might seem strange that we are creating a new report yet we are
asked to choose a report type. This is done to assist you in locating the report
variables for the type of report you are creating. For example, if we choose the
Event Logs type, the Event related fields are made available.
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Building a Report
Likewise, if we choose Historical CPU Load and Memory, we are given the
appropriate fields to select.
This simplifies the report creation process for existing report types by not requiring
you to search through every possible element.
What if you need to create a report that does not fall into any of these categories?
Selecting the Advanced SQL report type provides a completely blank slate from
which you can create any type of report you need, assuming you have access to
sufficient SQL skills and are selecting data contained in the Orion database. The
Advanced SQL report type does not include Time Frame, Top XX, and other tabs.
All the information that these tabs create must be contained in the SQL query.
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The example above selects the existing nodes and lists them by node name. The
same report can be created using the New Report GUI option.
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Building a Report
When using the New Report GUI, the tabs, such as Top XX and Filter Results,
are available. These will build the SQL query in the background as you specify
options in each tab. For historical reports, the Time Frame tab will also be
available. Also note that the SQL tab in the GUI is read only – you cannot enter
SQL directly into the SQL tab unless you are using an Advanced SQL report.
Filters operate like the conditions in Orion Advanced Alerts and include All, Any,
Not All, and None options. Using the Any option I will see nodes that are either up
or down. If I had used the All option the report would be for nodes that are up and
down at the same time, an impossibility. For details on the All, Any None and Not
All options see the Understanding Orion Advanced Alerts paper located on the
SolarWinds Support page
(http://www.solarwinds.com/support/orion/orionDoc.aspx). Here is an example of
a filter:
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And here is the resulting report.
After you have created or modified a report. That report will be available in the
NPM Web console in the Reports view.
Understanding (some) SQL

Orion Reports often contain advanced SQL statements. Here is a brief overview
of some of the statements and what they do.
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Time Frames or datetime
Time Frames or datetime
SQL OLE Time - As seen previously SQL can use the datetime calculation in
SQL OLE format for easy manipulation. This is seen in reports with a variable
datetime reference such as Yesterday. An example of this type of datetime
statement is:
WHERE ( DateTime BETWEEN 40120.5 AND 40121.5416666667 )
BETWEEN – This format is used in Advanced SQL reports to specify a report
period of the “last X”, here the last month. This is accomplished be referring to the
time between this month and a month ago (MONTH-1). This would be used as a
portion of a WHERE (equijoin) statement.
BETWEEN dbo.Date(YEAR(GETDATE()),MONTH(GETDATE())-1,1)
AND dbo.Date(YEAR(GETDATE()),MONTH(GETDATE()),1))
SET @StartDate and SET @EndDate – This can be used to set the date field for
certain periods defined in SQL such a dd for two digit day, yyyy for four digit year
and qq for quarter. The below example uses date difference (DIFF) to set the time
frame for last quarter.
SET @StartDate = DATEADD(qq,DATEDIFF(qq,0,GETDATE())-1,0)
SET @EndDate = DATEADD(qq,DATEDIFF(qq,-1,GETDATE())-1,-1)
JOINs
A JOIN allows the return of related data from multiple tables using a single
SELECT statement. WHERE is used to create a simple equijoin. This type of join
can also be created with an INNER JOIN statement.
Sometime joined tables will not have one-for-one matches in all records from both
tables. An OUTER JOIN allows you to specify which table will include all rows
and which table will not have related rows. These are always expressed as LEFT
or RIGHT OUTER JOIN. Using a LEFT OUTER JOIN states that the table
referenced to the left of the JOIN statement will include all records.
Aliases
An alias allows you to shorten a table reference and to use the same table
multiple times within a single select statement. An alias in implemented using AS.
676
Report Scheduler
The Orion Report Scheduler is a WIN32 application that allows you to schedule
the distribution of reports by email or the printing of a report. The report Scheduler
features are well documented in the Administrator Guide of your product. The
Report Scheduler creates a Windows Event Scheduler Event. Event Scheduler
then acts independently to request the job from Orion. Report
The Export feature in Report Writer will export the results of the report in several
different formats. This can be useful for analyzing the report results with external
tools. To share the report framework, go to the \Program
Files\SolarWinds\Orion\Reports directory and simply copy the OrionReport file
you want to share with other NPM user. To add reports others have created,
simply paste the new OrionReport file into the reports directory. The OrionReports
files contain the SQL query and the associated formatting for a complete report. It
is recommended that you share this file type rather than just the SQL statements.
Creating and Distributing Graphical Reports

As of NPM 10.1 you have the option of including graphics in reports. This ability is
best explained in a couple of very good Orion Product Blog Posts.
http://thwack.com/blogs/orion-product-team-blog/archive/2010/09/02/hey-chart-
get-in-my-report-part-1/
http://thwack.com/blogs/orion-product-team-blog/archive/2010/10/21/hey-chart-
get-in-my-report-part-2/#116940
Truncated versions of these posts are also included in this paper as “Hey Chart,
get in my Report! (Part 1)” on page 678.
thwack Community
The thwack community has thousands of users who regularly exchange ideas
and solutions. Chances are that if you are trying to create a complex alert and
having issues, there is a thwack user who has already solved that issue.
SolarWinds employees from Development, Support and Product Management
regularly interact with SolarWinds product users on thwack, so we may also be
able to help you solve your problem there too.
The Content Exchange portion of thwack can be used for uploading and
downloading report templates. These templates can be imported to your Orion
system and customized to fit your environment.
677
Hey Chart, get in my Report! (Part 1)

That was an old Austin Powers reference for those who missed it ;-) So, what do I
mean by this? Well, a question we get asked all the time by customers is “How do
I get the pretty charts I see on my Orion website into a report that I can send to my
boss on a regular basis to make him/her happy?”. Seems like a reasonable
request, right? But, before I dive into this topic, you’ll need to ask yourself what
types of reports does your boss care about seeing? Does she want the charts as
well as the detailed data behind the charts? Or, would she be perfectly happy with
the Orion website pages she’s seen while looking over your shoulder?
Let’s start with the latter use-case since it’s the simplest and requires only a few
steps in Orion Report Scheduler.
How to send an existing Orion website page as a scheduled HTML email to your
boss:
To begin, you’ll need to open the Report Scheduler app on your Orion server
(Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting, and Mapping >
Orion Report Scheduler). Click the Add+ button to create a new report job. You’ll
see the following screen where you’ll want to fill in the job name and click
Continue.
678
On the next screen, you’ll see a prompt to add a link to a Web Report or Page in
Orion.
When you click the “Use Current URL” button, this will automatically populate the
previous screen as you can see below. Notice that I’ve also checked the
“Retrieve a Printable Version of this Page” option. This will remove the banner
and the menu bar from the page. BTW, if you’re like me and you can’t stand to
wait, try adding “&printable=true” to the URL in Orion to see what the page will
look like when it’s sent.
679
When I click “Continue”, you’ll see I can set up my schedule. In this case, I’m
going to send it every morning at 8am. You can also schedule it to be sent
weekly, monthly, or just this once.
680
Finally, you’ll need to enter the email address of the folks you want to send it to. If
you want the email to actually go anywhere ;-), make sure to also fill out field on
the “Email From” and “SMTP Server” tabs.
Click “Continue” one more time, enter the Windows credentials you want this job
to run under (use a service account whose password doesn’t change often), and
then you’re done! You should see your new job listed in the Report Scheduler
window. If you want to run it now to test, simply right-click and select “Run
Selected Job Now”. Just be aware that if it works, your boss will be getting the
email each time you run the job!

I’ve gotten a lot of requests for part 2 of my original post, so this follow-up is
certainly long past due. Just as a recap for new readers, we were discussing two
highly-requested use-cases:
1. Getting the pretty charts in the Orion website into a report that you can send to
your boss on a regular basis
2. Getting the pretty charts in the Orion website + the detailed data (which Report
Writer provides) and send that to your boss on a regular basis
681
For those who have been following along, you’ll remember that the first use-case
was covered in my original post back in September.
So, was there a method to my madness in waiting so long to do part 2? I certainly
think so. In case you haven’t heard, SolarWinds NPM v10.1 is currently in
Release Candidate phase and provides a number of cool new features that will
make creating specialized reporting views much simpler and faster (and not
coincidentally, a much easier blog post ;-)
Custom Object Resource - this resource allows you to select any object in Orion
(e.g. node, interface, volume) and choose an associated resource to display. This
means you can add resources for different nodes and interfaces to the same
page. For example, you may want a page that shows bandwidth utilization charts
for all of your WAN interfaces. Now you can do this with a just a few clicks. This
should eliminate the need to use the custom HTML resource for this purpose
(hopefully, some of you are smiling already).
Multi-Interface and Multi-UnDP Chart Resources - these highly requested
resources give you the ability to chart multiple interfaces or multiple UnDPs
respectively in a single chart resource, including the option to display the
sum/aggregate.
Scheduled PDF Reports – this new capability allows you to schedule the export
of any page or report in Orion as a PDF. This eliminates the problems with
sending HTML pages and the images getting gobbled by your email servers.
So, in this final post in the series, I’ll walk through how you use these new 10.1
features to address the final graphical reporting use-case (#2 above).
1. First, you’ll need to create a new “report” view:
Go to Admin > Manage Views and create a new view. Let’s call this one “Critical
Network Links Management View”.
682
2. Next, you’ll want to add and configure resources on the view to represent the
required charts and data:
For this Critical Network Link Management View, I’m going to add several
individual interface charts, a multiple interface chart, and a data table report. This
will require the resources shown checked below.
683
As you can see below, I’ve added enough Custom Object Resources to cover my
4 critical WAN links in addition to the Multiple Interfaces Chart and Report from
Report Writer resources.
684
Now, you’ll want to click Preview so you can see what the view will look like and
edit the resources. If you don’t like the layout, you can always click Customize
Page again and change the column width.
685
Next, you’ll want to edit each resource to select the appropriate interface or
interfaces. I’m not going to walk-through the step-by-step on this because the
resources are very straight forward to configure. If you’re interested in seeing what
this looks like for the Multiple Interfaces Chart. As you can see below, I’ve
configured all the chart resources. Now, all that’s left is the report resource.
686
For the Report resource, I’ll select the Top 25 Interfaces by Utilization report. This
way, in addition to my 4 critical WAN links, I can see details regarding the health
of other interfaces with high bandwidth utilization in my environment. You can
always use Report Writer to easily filter this report to specific interfaces, show
other columnar data, or create a custom report specific to your environment
3. Finally, you’ll want to schedule this page to be sent as a PDF report via email
to your boss.
To do this, you’ll need to copy the URL from the browser
Then, open the Report Scheduler app on your Orion Server (Start > All Programs
> SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting, and Mapping > Orion Report
Scheduler). Click on the Add+ button to create a new report job. Fill out the job
details and paste this URL into the required field when prompted as shown
below.
687
Finally, you’ll want to enter the SMTP server info, your boss’s email address of
course, and the appropriate scheduling details. At the end, you’ll see the new
option in 10.1 to schedule the page to be emailed as a PDF. Select that, and
you’re done!!
688
Using Groups and Dependencies

This paper will demonstrate how Service Groups and related features can be
used in SolarWinds Orion products to simplify network and systems management.
The reader should be familiar with SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor
(NPM), Application Performance Monitor (APM), IP SLA Manager (IP SLA
Manager), and the use of the Settings section of the Web Console.
At the most basic level, Network management involves monitoring network assets
for metrics such as performance, availability, resource usage, configuration, and
appropriate usage. For the smallest of networks, this level of management works
well. As a network grows in size and complexity, new management needs arise.
Perhaps a small network originally designed to support email and web access is
now being used to sell items on the Internet. Customer-order web servers are
added along with client, inventory, pricing, and fulfillment databases. As this
business grows, new systems are added and the complexity of the network
increases. When a network issue occurs, it could affect any portion or function of
the network. For example, let’s say a customer submits a large order, but the
fulfillment database has a full drive and cannot accept the order. The customer
receives an error message after filling out two pages of order and billing
information, abandons the site and buys elsewhere.
The person managing this system may notice that a drive has no available free
space, and replace the drive with a larger one. Between the first failed customer
order and the placement of the new drive, there was some unknown number of
failed orders and customers who abandoned the site. There are two glaring
issues in the scenario. First, the person managing the system is only applying
break/fix management and has no insight into issues before something breaks.
Secondly, this person has no insight into how these individual machines are
working together to support the business process.
By adding a simple Network Management System (NMS), the network manager is
able to see problems develop before they become outages and quickly determine
what part of this simple network needs attention. As this enterprise continues to
grow, each system becomes more complex and more reliant on other systems.
While the NMS implemented can scale well, it does not have the ability to
manage the network in a way that is congruent with business processes and
business goals. In this complex network environment complex dependencies
exist where individual systems and groups of systems are reliant on other
systems or groups. Managing the network as a collection of separate entities is no
longer sufficient.
689
Orion Service Groups (Groups)
Orion Service Groups (Groups)

SolarWinds has introduced service groups to address the need to associate
managed objects. Group objects can be physical items such interfaces and nodes
as well as logical objects such as application performance metrics or IPSLA test
results. Two types of service groups can be created: static groups and dynamic
groups. In static groups, all group members are manually added and the group
members are only edited by manual means. In dynamic groups, the members are
specified by indicating a requirement, so that any managed object that meets the
requirement is added to the group. Qualifying new objects added after the group
has been established will also be automatically added to the group. Likewise,
objects which no longer meet the group membership are automatically removed
from the group. This may occur if you edit the group requirements, or edit the
properties of a group member.
Nested Groups
Groups can contain groups as members. These are called nested subgroups.
Creating groups with nested subgroups can be a complicated task if not properly
planned. Planning and some insight into the behavior of the Manage Groups
interface can help speed the creation of groups and minimize troubleshooting. For
example, let’s say I want to add all devices in a remote site called building 7, but I
also want to group these devices by floor. I could create a group for bldg 7 and
assign all devices in bldg 7 to the group, perhaps by using a dynamic query
returning the Location field.
This will add all managed nodes that have the Location in their config set to Bldg
7. The location OID in MIB2 is a field Orion automatically polls and stores for all
managed objects. This will work if all of the managed nodes in building 7 have
exactly the same OID value of Bldg 7. If some were added with Build 7 or Bld 7 or
a number of other nonstandard location indicators, they will be omitted. While
dynamic queries can be a powerful method of managing group membership, they
can cause great trouble if misapplied.
690
Let’s examine some more information about building 7. We find in the IP scheme
that building 7 was designed to have one 10.7.X /24 subnet for each of its floors.
The first floor is 10.7.1.0 /24, the second is 10.7.2.0 /24 and the third is 10.7.3.0
/24. This IP scheme is enforced in the routing protocol and by ACLs. With this
information we can create the groups for building 7 and all the subgroups quite
easily. Here are the steps:
1. Create an empty group called Bldg 7.

2. With the Bldg 7 group checked add a group called Bldg 7 1st floor.
3. Create a dynamic query for the Bldg 7 1st floor using IP Address begins with
10.7.1. (Be sure to use the trailing dot, otherwise the query is equally valid for
.10 and .100, which are not valid first floor systems according to our schema)
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for all other floors, changing the group name and IP
address query to match the floor number.
Once all the above steps are completed, we have created a group for building 7
containing a subgroup for each floor. There is no need to add each individual
node directly to the Bldg 7 group as they are all members of Bldg 7 by being
members of one of the subgroups. This can be helpful in minimizing duplicate
alerts and duplicate report entities and saves the time that would be used to add
items to the Bldg 7 group and then to the proper subgroup.
Group Status
When a group is created, you can set the status rollup mode for the group. The
rollup modes allow you to make choices on how the groups status will be
determined, using the status of the group members. The choices are Best status,
Worst status and Mixed status. Best status shows the group status the same as
the best status of any group member(s), disregarding the status of all other
members. Worst status shows the group status as the worst status of any member
(s), again disregarding the status of all other members. Mixed status will show the
group as a single status when all members are in that particular status and
warning when there are members with different status. Here are some
conclusions you can make according to the status rollup you choose.
691
Group Status
l For Best status rollup:

l If the group status is Critical, all members are in the critical state.
l If the group’s status is anything other than Critical, at least one
member is in the displayed state. No members are better than the
displayed status. It is also possible that all members are in this state.
l For Worst status rollup:
l If the group status is Up, all members are in the Up state.
l If the group’s status is anything other than Up, at least one member is
in the displayed state. No members are worse than the displayed
status. . It is also possible that all members are in this state.
l For Mixed status rollup:
l If all members are in the same status, that status will be the group
status.
l If the group status is warning, either the group contain items of
differing status (most common), or all members have the status of
Warning (uncommon).
While this may seem complicated, the logic for choosing which type of rollup is
fairly straight forward.
l For a group where every direct member (not member of a subgroup) is

critical to be in the Up state, choose Worst status rollup. This will ensure that
if any member has an issue, you will see that reflected in the group status
and any alerts or reports created for that group.
l For groups with redundant member resources, such a dual attached WAN,
choose Mixed or Worst status rollup, depending on the criticality of a worst-
case, single-member failure.
l For groups with a high level of redundancy throughout all direct members,
choose best status.
The reason why we specify direct members and subgroup members is to allow for
the group status rollup to be an additive rollup, from the lowest level subgroup to
the top-level group. Take the following datacenter (DC1) for example.
692
Let’s create one top-level group called DC1 and then create member subgroups
for all the like items. The choices are many. We could create groups for each
redundant server pair or a group for all redundant server pairs. The non-
redundant servers could exist as individual objects or as one or more groups. To
make a plan on how to arrange these, we will first consider our goal; to manage
the data center network. This means that at this time we are not concerned with
the processes that are enabled by the network, just that the network is available
and performing well. In examining the naming conventions for the data center
switches we find that they have well planned and consistent device names as
follows:
l All core switches are named DC1-core-xx, where xx is the core switch
number.
l All service switches are named DC1-service-xx, where xx is the service
switch number.
l All distribution switches are named DC1-dist-xx, where xx is the distribution
switch number. With this in mind we create the three dynamic service
groups for the above items.
693
Group Status
Dynamic service group DC1 Core where a query for “system name contains DC1-
core”. Likewise groups are made for the service switches and distribution
switches. Now we’ll look at the servers. In speaking with the server owners, they
state that they don’t care if a server is redundant or not. If a server is having a
problem, they want to be able to see that from all levels. With this information we
set the servers sub groups to all show worst member status as group status. We
find we can add the redundant servers using a dynamic query, but unfortunately
we are unable to identify any common and unique qualifiers for the non-
redundant servers, so these servers will be added statically, as individual
members of a DC1- non- redundant-servers subgroup of DC1. The only items left
are the switch ports and links to the corporate network. These have good
consistent port descriptions which allow us to create port and port type groups.
Seeing this, we create dynamic groups for the corporate network ports, the core
ports, and the distribution ports.
By looking at all the network equipment, heavy use of connection redundancy, we
take the same path as the server teams and set the subgroups status in each
case to reflect the worst member status. Then we also set the status of the DC1
group to the status of the worst member. Here we have taken the most
conservative approach to managing the group status. When any object in any of
these groups fails or slows enough to trigger a threshold, we will see that status
reflected as the status of DC1. But is this a wise idea? While we do want to
quickly find and identify the failed element in DC1, having the group status set to
the worst status will probably indicate that DC-1 status in Up (green) or the DC-1
status is Down (red), Warning (yellow) when in all three of these possible cases
DC-1 as a whole is perfectly operational. A better choice would be to keep the
subgroups as Worst status and set the status of DC-1 to Mixed. In so doing, DC-1
will be green when every element of the group is Up and will have a warning
status if there are elements with a status lower that Up. Perhaps the worst choice
would be to set the DC- 1 group status to Best. If we did this, DC-1 would always
have an Up status, even if every member but only one has failed.
Here, we have created one top-level group and ten subgroups, all at the second
level. You can choose to embed subgroups as far as you want into other
subgroups. There is no hard limit, but as you embed groups deeper, the logic
becomes more complex. Objects can also be members of multiple groups.
Implementing reports indicating group membership and careful examination of
existing and planned groups is recommended.
A couple rules of thumb should be considered when creating subgroups.
694
1. Determine if you can accomplish the same goal without using subgroups.
2. Keep the subgrouping as flat and as simple as possible. The more
subgrouping levels, the more difficult it is to understand the logic flow from
one level to higher levels. Depending on the complexity of the subgroups, the
logic can increase as much as n2, where n is the number of group layers. The
dependencies logic will also become complicated.
Perhaps after setting up this grouping and rolling out the status to maps and user
views, you get a complaint from the inventory management department. Their
complaint is that it is hard to see in the current grouping, if there is a problem
directly affecting their data processing done in the datacenter. Because they are
such a small portion of the data center, they must investigate what caused DC-1’s
status to change to see if any of their critical devices are in trouble. This is time
consuming and causes what they are calling false positives.
This department uses two non-redundant application servers, the clustered
database, an IP path to the input web portal offsite and an IP path to a business
partner connection. They don’t really care to see that a redundant link or
redundant equipment is down. They just want to know if the inventory
management system is working or not. With this in mind, here is what we create.
First, we create a DC-1 Inventory- Mgmt group. Then, we add the same groups for
the entire redundant network infrastructure as we did in the DC-1 group, but we
set the status of each to Best. This is because they are only interested in knowing
the datacenter network works for what they need. With the high level of
redundancy, chances are, the best rollup status for these items will always be Up.
We don’t need to add the redundant servers, as they don’t use those. Then, we
add the DB cluster and individual application servers as individual static
members of DC-1 Inventory-Mgmt group. Now, we set the DC-1 Inventory-Mgmt
group rollup status. Because the servers are non-redundant, we need to show
that there is a problem with those or with the database. Therefore, we set the DC-
1 Inventory-Mgmt top-level rollup to Worst. Now if any single, non-redundant
portion fails or if there are any complete failures across a redundant portion of the
network, the top-level group will indicate a failure in Inventory Management within
the datacenter. But, what about the partner connection and web interface? If we
could add the business partner interface management and portal testing as part of
our group, this would give a much more complete picture of the abilities of the
network to support the Inventory Management business task.
The group function built into Orion core allows you to add objects from Orion
modules.
695
Group Status
What we do now is create an ICMP echo IP SLA operation in Orion IP SLA

Manager from a point in the datacenter to the internal business partner connection
port. Intra-data center IP traffic normally has round trip times measured in
microseconds, so it doesn’t really matter where in the database we place the
operation. After creating the operation, we add it to the DC-1 Inventory-Mgmt
group. Next, using the Orion Application Monitor, we add a user experience test
for logging into the inventory manager web interface. This test is then added as
an object into the DC-1 Inventory-Mgmt group. We may also add statistics on the
application servers’ volumes to the DC-1 Inventory-Mgmt group. Here is the final
grouping.
l DC-1 Inventory-Mgmt Group. Status Rollup = Worst member status

l App server #1 as member
l App server #2 as member
l All server volumes (#1 and #2) as members
l All direct connections to server as individual members
l IP SLA ICMP echo operation as member
l APM web test as member
l Core switch group as member. Status rollup = Best member status
l Core switch ports group as member. Status rollup = Best member
status
l Service switch group as member. Status rollup = Best member status
l Service switch ports group as member. Status rollup = Best member
status
l Distribution switch ports group as member. Status rollup = Best
member status
l Distribution switch group as member. Status rollup = Best member
status
696
You would probably further group the switch ports by function (inter core
connection, core to service, service to distribution, etc.), but I have not added
those as they are not necessary to show the functions of groups and subgroups.
So, we have created a datacenter network management group and an inventory
management business process management group. Each has its own goal and
functions to meet the needs of each party. There are objects that are members on
multiple groups, groups with different rollup status as well as static and dynamic
members of the groups. Using groups is a powerful feature for organizing objects
and adding logic to the relationships between objects. It also enables another
powerful feature of Orion – dependencies.
Dependencies
Orion allows for two types of dependencies, implicit dependencies and explicit
dependencies. Implicit dependencies are part of the Orion code and are
implemented automatically. These dependencies handle cases in which objects
are always dependent on high level (parent) objects. Volumes and interfaces are
implicitly child objects of the node they belong to. For Application Performance
Monitor, applications are implicitly children of a node status as well. In IP SLA
Manager, IP SLA operations are implicit children to the status of the node at both
ends of an operation.
Explicit dependencies are dependencies you define. They operate by checking
the status of a parent object you have defined. If the parent object status is
Unreachable or Down, the child is set to Unreachable.
Unreachable is a new status that is not propagated by Orion alerting by default,
allowing for a suppression of false positive alerts. Whenever an objects parent
object has failed, or is part of a larger failure, the status assignment of
Unreachable to all child objects prevents a cascade of child object alerts. This is
most commonly used in the case where a portion of the network is separated from
the location housing the Orion server by a WAN connection.
697
Dependencies
Let’s consider remote site A. This site is connected to the headquarters, where
the Orion server is installed, by two WAN connections. In site A there are several
switches, servers and network users. Site A is completely dependent on the two
WAN connections back to headquarters for all operations. To create a
dependency which reflects this we will first create a group for the two WAN ports
at the headquarters and call it Site A WAN. Then we will create a group called
Site A and add all managed objects completely contained in Site A.The end of
the WAN connections will be made into a group called Site A WAN. That group
will only contain the two WAN interfaces at the headquarters that are connected
to Site A.
698
Both groups will use Mixed status rollup. We go on to create a dependency for the
Site A group as the child of the Site A WAN group. And then, we create an alert
for Site A ensuring we are alerted when the site A group status in not equal to Up
and indicate in the alert action the status of the offending managed object. This
will alert when site A has an issue with any object of site A and tell us what is
causing it. If the WAN connections fail to site A, the interfaces on the
headquarters side will go down and we will only receive an alert that the WAN
group has failed. We can insert an alert action noting that site A is now
unreachable.
In an alternate solution which yields more granularity, we would group like items
in Site A and create dependencies which flow from the WAN links down into Site
one layer at a time. Here is what you would create to accomplish this.
l Group “Site A WAN”, containing WAN links to site A

l Group Site A Routers, containing the routers
l Group Site A Switches, containing the Switches
l Group Site A Servers. containing the Servers Then we would create the
following dependencies
699
Dependencies
Parent Child
Site A WAN Site A Routers
Site A Routers Site A Switches
Site A Switches Site A Servers
Keep in mind that you can assign multiple parents by membership in multiple
groups which may cause difficulties in troubleshooting dependency problems.
Because of the flexibility built into these features, you may create very complex
and interdependent groups and dependencies. Whenever you are creating
groups and dependencies, the simplest method will be the best. Most groupings
designs can be achieved with only a single layer of sub grouping as shown on
pages 6 and 7.
700

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Team Contact Information

Database file setting recommendations 53

Using the Discovery Ignore List 88

Handling Counter Rollovers 107

Creating a Custom Summary View 133

Viewing Node Resources 164

Creating an Alert to Discover Network Device Failures 187

Creating a New Dependency 221

Setting Reset Actions 243

Deleting a snapshot of a virtual machine 268

Network Packet Analysis Sensors (NPAS) 298

Adding Nodes Automatically 318

Deploying on Windows Core Servers 349

Acknowledging Events in the Web Console 377

Acknowledging Syslog Messages in the Web Console 416

Custom Property Editor Settings 448

User Device Tracker (UDT) 492

Appendix A: References 530

Status Icons and Identifiers 563

Filter Syntax Guide 591

Determining SQL Server Performance Abilities 636

thwack Community 664

What is SolarWinds Orion?

NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Orion Enterprise Operations Console

Benefits of Orion Products

Key Features of Orion Monitoring Products

l Monitor traffic by collecting and analyzing packets locally or on a

l Specify application risk levels, from "No Risk" to "Evades

Data Center Monitoring

Product Update Notifications

Networking Concepts and Terminology

l Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

SNMP differ by device, so you may need to consult the documentation

o Advanced Encryption Standards (AES128, AES192, and AES256)

Management Information Base (MIB)

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)

How SolarWinds Orion Works

l Orion products do not install outside agents on your mission-critical servers.

l Orion Server Software Requirements

Orion Server Software Requirements

l IIS and MSMQ must be installed. SolarWinds recommends

l SolarWinds products are not compatible with installations of

l IUSR_<hostname>, as a member of the Guests group

l SolarWinds does not support installing SolarWinds Orion on

.NET .NET 3.5 SP1 and .NET 4.0.3

Web Microsoft Internet Explorer version 8 or higher with Active scripting

Orion Server Hardware Requirements

Requirements for the Orion Database Server (SQL Server)

SQL Server SolarWinds supports Express, Standard, or Enterprise

l SQL Server 2008 without SP, 2008 SP1, 2008 SP2,

l SQL Server 2012 without SP, 2012 SP1 (also with

l The FullWithSQL NPM installer package automatically

l Use the following database select statement to check

SQL Server English with collation setting SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_