Orion Core Administrator Guide

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

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Documentation Library 4Chapter 1: Introduction 24Orion Platform Administrator Guide - What is SolarWinds Orion? 24

Benefits of Orion Products 26

Key Features of Orion Monitoring Products 27

Networking Concepts and Terminology 32

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) 32

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) 32

SNMP Credentials 33

Management Information Base (MIB) 34

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) 34

How Orion Works 35Chapter 2: Preparing a SolarWinds Orion Installation 36Orion Requirements 36

Orion Server Hardware Requirements 36

Orion Server Software Requirements 37

Requirements for the Orion Database Server (SQL Server) 40

SQL Server Configuration Best Practices 42

Maximizing SQL server performance 43

Hardware settings for SQL servers 43

Recommendations for multi-CPU systems and the optimal settings of the I/O subsystem 45

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Table of Contents

Database file setting recommendations 47

Memory setting recommendations 47

CPU setting recommendations 47

Requirements for Virtual Machines and Servers 47

Additional Requirements 48

SysObjectID Access 48

Additional Required SQL Server Components 48

Orion Licensing 49

Maintaining Licenses with License Manager 49

Installing License Manager 49

Using License Manager 50

Antivirus Directory Exclusions 50

Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP: 50

Windows Server 2007, Windows Vista, and Windows 2008 50

Enabling Secure Channels with SSL 51

Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2003 51

Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2008 52

Configuring the Orion Web Console for SSL 53Chapter 3: Discovering and Adding Network Devices 55Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wizard 55

Using the Network Sonar Results Wizard 62

Importing a List of Nodes Using a Seed File 64

Managing Scheduled Discovery Results 66

Using the Discovery Ignore List 67

Discovery Central 68

Network Discovery 68

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Orion Core Administrator Guide

7Additional Discovery Central Resources 69Chapter 4: Managing the Orion Web Console 70Logging in for the First Time as an Administrator 70

Windows Authentication with Active Directory 70

Supported Active Directory Scenarios 71

Enabling LogonFallback 74

Using the Web Console Notification Bar 74

Navigating the Orion Web Console 75

Using Web Console Tabs 75

Using and Disabling Web Console Breadcrumbs 77

Customizing Web Console Breadcrumbs 77

Administrative Functions of the Orion Web Console 78

Changing an Account Password 78

Orion Website Administration 79

Node & Group Management 79

Node & Group Management 79

Accounts 80

Customize 80

Manage Alerts 81

Product Updates 81

Views 81

Settings 82

Details 82

Viewing Secure Data on the Web 83

Handling Counter Rollovers 84

Orion General Thresholds 85

Table of Contents

Orion General Threshold Types 85

Setting Orion General Thresholds 87

Customizing Views 87

Creating New Views 87

Editing Views 88

Enabling NOC View Mode 90

Configuring View Limitations 91

Copying Views 92

Deleting Views 93

Views by Device Type 93

Resource Configuration Examples 93

Selecting a Network Map 94

Displaying a List of Objects on a Network Map 95

Displaying a Custom List of Maps 95

Displaying an Event Summary - Custom Period of Time 96

Specifying User-Defined Links 97

Specifying Custom HTML or Text 98

Specifying an Orion Report 99

Displaying a Custom List of Reports 100

Filtering Nodes 101

Grouping Nodes 102

Adding a Service Level Agreement Line to Charts (Orion NPM) 104

Using the Orion Web Console Message Center 105

Exporting Views to PDF 106

Creating a Custom Summary View 106

Creating and Editing External Website Views 107

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9Customizing the Orion Web Console 108

Customizing Web Console Menu Bars 108

Changing the Web Console Color Scheme 110

Changing the Web Console Site Logo 110

Configuring the Available Product Updates View 111

Updating your Orion Installation 112

Orion Web Console and Chart Settings 112

Web Console Settings 113

Auditing Settings 115

Chart Settings 115

Using Node Filters 116

Custom Charts in the Orion Web Console 117

Customizing Charts in the Orion Web Console 117

Custom Chart Resource Title Bar Options 117

Edit Chart Title View 117

Custom Node Charts 119

Availability 119

CPU Load 119

Memory Usage 119

Packet Loss and Response Time 119

Custom Volume Charts 120

Custom Chart View 120

Printing Options 121

Chart Titles 121

Time Period 121

Sample Interval 121

Table of Contents

Chart Size 122

Font Size 122

Data Export Options 122

Custom Object Resources in the Orion Web Console 122

Editing a Custom Object Resource 122

Selecting Custom Objects and Resources 123

Available Custom Resources 124

Integrating SolarWinds Engineers Toolset 124

Configuring a Toolset Integration 124

Adding Programs to a Toolset Integration Menu 125

Accessing Nodes Using HTTP, SSH, and Telnet 126

Using Integrated Remote Desktop 127Chapter 5: Managing Devices in the Web Console 128Adding Devices for Monitoring in the Web Console 128

Deleting Devices from Monitoring 132

Viewing Node Data in Tooltips 133

Editing Object Properties 134

Promoting a Node from ICMP to SNMP Monitoring 136

Viewing Node Resources 138

Setting Device Management States 138

Unscheduled Device Polling and Rediscovery 139

Monitoring Windows Server Memory 140

Scheduling a Node Maintenance Mode Time Period 140Chapter 6: Managing Groups and Dependencies 142Managing Groups 142

Creating Groups 143

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Editing Existing Groups 144

Managing Group Members 145

Deleting Groups 145

Managing the Display of Group Status 146

Managing Dependencies 148

Creating a New Dependency 149

Editing an Existing Dependency 150

Deleting an Existing Dependency 152

Viewing Alerts on Child Objects 152Chapter 7: Managing Web Accounts 153Creating New Accounts 153

Editing User Accounts 155

User Account Access Settings 155

Setting Account Limitations 157

Defining Pattern Limitations 159

Setting Default Account Menu Bars and Views 160

Configuring an Account Report Folder 162

Configuring Audible Web Alerts 163Chapter 8: Using Orion Scalability Engines 164Scalability Engine Requirements 164

Scalability Engine Guidelines by Product 164

Network Performance Monitor (NPM) 165

Server & Application Monitor (SAM) 166

NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) 167

Network Configuration Manager (NCM) 168

User Device Tracker (UDT) 168

Table of Contents

VoIP & Network Quality Manager 169

Web Performance Monitor (WPM) 170

Scalability Engine Deployment Options 170

Centralized Deployment 170

Distributed Deployment 172

Centralized Deployment with Remote Polling Engines 173

Installing Additional Polling Engines 175

Activating Stackable Poller Licenses 176

Frequently Asked Questions 177Chapter 9: Managing Orion Polling Engines 179Viewing Polling Engine Status in the Web Console 179

Configuring Polling Engine Settings 179

Orion Polling Settings 180

Polling Intervals 180

Polling Statistics Intervals 181

Dynamic IP Address and Hostname Resolution 181

Database Settings 181

Network 185

Calculations & Thresholds 186

Calculating Node Availability 187

Node Status: 187

Percent Packet Loss: 187

Calculating a Baseline 188

Orion Baseline Data Calculation 189

What Data is Affected? 189

When Are Baselines Calculated? 190

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Why Are Only Interface Baselines Customizable? 190

Using the Polling Engine Load Balancer 191

Setting the Node Warning Level 192

Managing Packet Loss Reporting 192

Deleting Polling Engines 194Chapter 10: Monitoring Quality of Experience 195Introduction 195

User Scenarios 196

Scenario: High Response Time 196System Requirements 197Network Packet Analysis Sensors 197

Server Packet Analysis Sensors 197

Port Requirements 198

QoE Licensing 198Packet Analysis Sensor Licensing 199

Purchasing Additional Licenses 200

Activating Additional Licenses 201How Do SolarWinds Packet Analysis Sensors Work 202Packet Analysis Sensor for Networks 202

Packet Analysis Sensor for Servers 203Common Packet Analysis Sensor Deployment Scenarios 203Server sensor deployed to a physical or virtual node from the Web Console 204

Network sensor deployed to a physical, dedicated SPAN or mirror port monitoring server 205

Network sensor deployed to a virtual, dedicated SPANor mirror port monitoring server 207

Network sensor deployed to a SPANor mirror port monitoring server 208Deploying a Network Sensor 209Deploying a Server Sensor 210

Table of Contents

Removing a Sensor 211Configuring Nodes and Applications to Monitor 212Monitoring QoE Applications 212

Defining custom HTTP application 214

To create a custom HTTP application: 214

Defining Custom HTTP Applications 216Advanced Sensor Configuration 217Configuring the monitored interface 217

Configuring the CPU cores and memory allocated 218

Configuring the Monitored Interface 218

Configuring the Number of CPU Cores and Allocated Memory 219

Packet Analysis Sensor Agents 220

Agent Requirements 220

Accounts and Security Requirements: 221

Requirements for Remote Deployment from the Orion Server:Note: Other remote ormass deployment methods do not have the same requirements. 221

Open Ports Requirements for Remote Deployment from the Orion Server: 221

Deploying an Agent 222

Deploying Agent Software via Orion Server Push 222

Deploying the Agent Manually 225

Mass Deploying an Agent 227

Packaging the Orion Agent for Deployment with Patch Manager 232

Agent Settings 242

Certificates and the Agent 244

Managing Agents 248

Editing Agent Configuration 250Chapter 11: Monitoring Network Events in the Web Console 252

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Viewing Event Details in the Web Console 252

Acknowledging Events in the Web Console 253Chapter 12: Using Orion Advanced Alerts 254Creating and Configuring Advanced Alerts 254

Creating a New Advanced Alert 255

Naming, Describing, and Enabling an Advanced Alert 255

Setting a Trigger Condition for an Advanced Alert 257

Setting a Reset Condition for an Advanced Alert 260

Setting a Suppression for an Advanced Alert 262

Setting the Monitoring Period for an Advanced Alert 264

Setting a Trigger Action for an Advanced Alert 264

Setting a Reset Action for an Advanced Alert 265

Alert Escalation 266

Understanding Condition Groups 266

All Condition Group 267

Any Condition Group 267

None Condition Group 267

Not All Condition Group 268

Using the Advanced Alert Manager 268

Current Events Window 268

Active Alerts Window 269

Alert Viewer Settings 270

Adding Alert Actions 272

Available Advanced Alert Actions 272

Sending an E-mail / Page 273

Playing a Sound 275

Table of Contents

Logging an Advanced Alert to a File 276

Logging an Advanced Alert to the Windows Event Log 277

Logging an Advanced Alert to the NetPerfMon Event Log 278

Sending a Syslog Message 280

Executing an External Program 281

Executing a Visual Basic Script 282

Emailing a Web Page 283

Using Text to Speech Output 285

Sending a Windows Net Message 286

Sending an SNMP Trap 287

Using GET or POST URL Functions 288

Dial Paging or SMS Service 289

Testing Alert Actions 289

Viewing Alerts in the Orion Web Console 290

Acknowledging Advanced Alerts in the Web Console 291

Managing Advanced Alerts in the Web Console 292

Editing Advanced Alerts 292

Enabling and Disabling Advanced Alerts 293

Deleting Advanced Alerts 294

Escalated Advanced Alerts 294

Escalated Alert Example 294

Creating a Series of Escalated Alerts 295

Viewing Alerts from Mobile Devices 298Chapter 13: Creating Network Maps 301Chapter 14: Creating and Viewing Reports 302Predefined Orion Reports 302

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Availability 303

Current Node Status 303

Current Volume Status 304

Daily Node Availability 304

Events 304

Historical CPU and Memory Reports 306

Historical Response Time Reports 306

Historical VMware ESX Server Reports 306

Groups: Current Groups and Groups Members Status 307

Groups: Daily Group Availability 307

Groups: Group Availability (with members) 308

Groups: Historical Groups Status 308

Historical Volume Usage Reports 308

Inventory 308

Viewing Reports 309

Viewing Reports in the Orion Web Console 309

Viewing Reports in the Report Writer 310

Creating Reports in the Web Console 310

Modifying an Existing Web-Based Report 311

Creating a New Web-Based Report 313

Adding a Custom Chart to a Web-Based Report Column 315

Adding a Custom Table to a Web-Based Report Column 317

Scheduling a Web-Based Report 320

Creating a Web-Based Report Schedule 320

Using an Existing Web-Based Report Schedule 325

Adding an SMTP Server 325

Table of Contents

Using Report Writer 326

Preview Mode 327

Design Mode 327

Creating and Modifying Reports in Report Writer 327

General Options Tab 328

Select Fields Options Tab 329

Filter Results Options Tab 330

Top XX Records Options Tab 330

Time Frame Options Tab 331

Summarization Options Tab 331

Report Grouping Options Tab 332

Field Formatting Options Tab 332

Customizing the Report Header and Footer Image 333

Customizing Web-Based Report Headers and Footers 333

Customizing Report Headers and Footers with Report Writer 333

Using Orion Report Scheduler 333

Using Orion Report Scheduler with HTTPS 333

Troubleshooting the Orion Report Scheduler 334

Printing Web Pages from Report Scheduler 334

Orion Report Scheduler and Internet Explorer Enhanced Security 335

Reports and Account Limitations 335Chapter 15: Monitoring Syslog Messages 337Configuring the Orion Syslog Port 338

Syslog Messages in the Web Console 338

Syslog Resources 339

Viewing Syslog Messages in the Web Console 340

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Acknowledging Syslog Messages in the Web Console 341

Using the Syslog Viewer 342

Viewing and Acknowledging Current Messages 342

Searching for Syslog Messages 342

Syslog Server Settings 343

Configuring Syslog Viewer Filters and Alerts 344

Available Syslog Alert Actions 347

Forwarding Syslog Messages 348

Syslog Alert Variables 349

Syslog Date/Time Variables 349

Other Syslog Variables 351

Syslog Message Priorities 352

Syslog Facilities 352

Syslog Severities 353Chapter 16: Monitoring SNMP Traps 356The SNMP Trap Protocol 356

Viewing SNMP Traps in the Web Console 357

Using the Trap Viewer 358

Viewing Current Traps 358

Searching for Traps 358

Trap Viewer Settings 359

Configuring Trap Viewer Filters and Alerts 360

Available Trap Alert Actions 362

Trap Alert Variables 364

Trap Date/Time Variables 365

Other Trap Variables 366

Table of Contents

Chapter 17: Creating Custom Properties 368Creating a Custom Property 369

Removing a Custom Property 370

Importing Custom Property Data 370

Exporting Custom Property Data 371

Custom Property Editor Settings 372

Editing Custom Properties 373

Using Filters in Edit View 373

Creating Custom Properties Filters 374

Removing Custom Properties Filters 375Chapter 18: Creating Account Limitations 376Using the Account Limitation Builder 376

Creating an Account Limitation 376

Deleting an Account Limitation 377Chapter 19: Managing the Orion Database 379Using Database Manager 379

Adding a Server 380

Viewing Database Details 380

Viewing Table Details 381

Editing Database Fields 382

Using SQL Server Management Studio 382

Database Maintenance 385

Running Database Maintenance 385Chapter 20: Common Orion Tasks 386Creating an Alert to Discover Network Device Failures 386

Creating a Custom Property 386

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Creating an Alert Using a Custom Property 389

Configuring Alert Actions 390

Create a Local Alert Log 390

Send a Syslog Message 392

Send an SNMP Trap 394

Testing Alerts 395

Scheduling and Emailing Business Hours Reports 397

Creating a Business Hours Report 397

Scheduling and Emailing a Report 399

Creating Geographic or Departmental Views 400

Creating a Custom Group 400

Creating a Custom View 401Chapter 21: Orion Product Family 404Monitoring Network Performance (Orion NPM) 404

Monitoring Network Application Data (SAM) 405

Managing IP Addresses (IPAM) 406

Managing VoIP and IP Service Level Agreements (VoIP and Network Quality Manager) 407

Why Install VoIP & Network Quality Manager 407

What SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager Does 407

Monitoring NetFlow Traffic Analysis Data (NTA) 408

Orion Scalability Engines 408

Using an Orion Additional Web Server 409

Orion Failover and Disaster Recovery 413

Using a Hot Standby Engine 414

Installing a Hot Standby Engine 415

Configuring a Hot Standby Engine 418

Table of Contents

Testing a Hot Standby Engine 419Chapter 22: Software License Key 421Chapter 23: Status Icons and Identifiers 423Status Indicators 423

Status Rollup Mode 425Chapter 24: Orion Variables and Examples 427Variable Modifiers 427

Advanced Alert Engine Variables 428

General 428

Date/Time 428

Group Variables 430

SQL Query 431

Status Variables 432

Node Variables 433

Volume Variables 438

Example Messages Using Variables 439

Syslog Alert Variables 440

Syslog Date/Time Variables 440

Other Syslog Variables 442

Trap Alert Variables 442

Other Trap Variables 443

Trap Date/Time Variables 444Chapter 25: Configuring Automatic Login 446Using Windows Pass-through Security 447

Passing Login Information Using URL Parameters 449

Using the DirectLink Account 450Chapter 26: 95th Percentile Calculations 451

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Chapter 27: Regular Expression Pattern Matching 453Characters 453

Character Classes or Character Sets [abc] 453

Anchors 455

Quantifiers 456

Dot 457

Word Boundaries 457

Alternation 458

Regular Expression Pattern Matching Examples 458

Regular Expression Pattern Matching Examples 459

Web Console and Syslog Viewer (Search Messages tab) 460

Syslog Rules 461Chapter 28: Troubleshooting 462Back Up Your Data 462

Verify Program Operation 462

Stop and Restart 463

Run the Configuration Wizard 463

Using Full Variable Names 463

Working with Temporary Directories 463

Moving the SQL Server Temporary Directory 464

Redefining Windows System Temporary Directories 464

Slow Performance on Windows Server 2008 465

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: IntroductionThe SolarWinds Orion family of products delivers easy-to-use, scalable solutionsto meet your network, systems, and storage monitoring and management needs.Built around the Orion Web Console, the Orion family of products can give you acomprehensive view of all aspects of your network from a single centralizedlocation, while also offering the user flexibility and remote access abilities that arenative to a web-based platform. SolarWinds users have also found that it does nottake a team of consultants and months of unpleasant surprises to get a full Orioninstallation up and running because the overall Orion experience is far moreintuitive than conventional, unnecessarily complex enterprise-level network,systems, and storage monitoring and management systems.

Orion Platform Administrator Guide - What isSolarWinds Orion?The SolarWinds Orion family consists of the following network, systems, andstorage monitoring and management products:Network Performance MonitorNetwork Performance Monitor (NPM) makes it easy to quickly detect, diagnose,and resolve performance issues with your dynamic network. It delivers realtimeviews and dashboards enabling you to visually track network performance at aglance. Plus, with its new auto-updating network topology maps and automatednetwork discovery features, you can keep up with your evolving network withoutbreaking 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 timesupporting your network manager. For more detailed information about NPM, seethe SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.

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Chapter 1: Introduction

Network Configuration ManagerMonitoring a network is easy, but isolating problems is not. Fortunately, NetworkConfiguration Manager (NCM) notifies you in realtime when device configurationschange, helping you quickly determine which changes could potentially causenetwork issues. With NCM, youll never have to guess who changed what andwhen 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 configbackups, bulk config changes, user tracking, and inventory and compliancereporting. For more information about NCM, see the SolarWinds NetworkConfiguration Manager Administrator Guide.Server & Application Monitor (formerly Orion Application PerformanceMonitorServer & Application Monitor (SAM), formerly Orion Application PerformanceMonitor (Orion APM), brings powerful monitoring, alerting, and reportingcapabilities to applications and servers. Easily discover your applications and getthe visibility you need into application performance and the underlying operatingsystems and servers they run on. For more detailed information about SAM, seethe SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor Administrator Guide.NetFlow Traffic AnalyzerNetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) enables you to quantify exactly how your networkis being used, by whom, and for what purpose. A new advanced applicationmapping feature correlates the traffic arriving from designated ports, source IPs,destination IPs, and even protocols, to application names you can easilyrecognize. NTA makes it easy to get a comprehensive view of your network traffic,find the bottlenecks, and shut down the bandwidth hogs. For more informationabout NTA, see the SolarWinds Orion NetFlow Traffic Analyzer AdministratorGuide.IP Address ManagerIP Address Manager (IPAM) is a powerful, scalable IP address managementmodule that enables you and your team to quickly create, schedule, and share IPspace reports. With either SolarWinds NPM or SolarWinds SAM, IPAM provides

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affordable IP address management that is unified with performance monitoringdata for a comprehensive view of network health. For more detailed informationabout 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 networkmonitoring solution for identifying site specific and WAN related performanceissues from the perspective of each of your remote sites. With this module, youcan use Cisco IP SLA technology with automatic IP SLA setup to quickly beginmonitoring your key WAN performance metrics, including Cisco VoIP jitter andMOS. For more information about SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager,see the SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager Administrator Guide.Orion Scalability EnginesOrion Scalability Engines allow you to scale the monitoring and managementcapabilities of your primary Orion installation as your enterprise network expandsand your network management needs change. Distribute polling across multipleservers with Additional Polling Engines, protect against monitoring outages withthe Orion Failover Engine, and enable more users to access the Orion WebConsole with Orion Additional Web Servers. For more information, see OrionScalability Engines on page 273.Orion Enterprise Operations ConsoleWith Orion Enterprise Operations Console (Orion EOC), remotely monitoringcritical network infrastructure in multiple different physical locations is as easyand affordable as managing a router in the next room. Orion EOC provides aconsolidated command center to monitor your entire enterprise network and givesyou unified visibility into remote Orion servers running either SolarWinds NPM orSAM and associated Orion modules. For more information about Orion EOC, seethe SolarWinds Orion Enterprise Operations Console Administrator Guide.

Benefits of Orion ProductsConsider the following benefits of SolarWinds Orion network, systems, andstorage monitoring and management products:

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Benefits of Orion Products


Out-of-the-box ProductivityAutomatic discovery and wizard-driven configuration offer an immediatereturn on your investment. Within minutes of installation, you can bemonitoring your critical network elements and applications.

Easy to Understand and UseOrion 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 itand offers advanced capabilities with minimal configuration overhead.

Affordable ValueWhile Orion provides functionality that is comparable, if not superior, to mostother solutions, the cost and maintenance of your Orion installation is lessthan the initial cost of most other network and systems monitoring solutions.

ScalabilityBy adding individual polling engines, you can scale your Orion installationto any environment size. By sharing the same database, you can also sharea unified user interface, making the addition of polling engines transparentto your staff.

thwack.com Online Communitythwack.com is a community site that SolarWinds developed to provideSolarWinds users and the broader networking community with usefulinformation, tools and valuable resources related to SolarWinds networkmanagement solutions. Resources that allow you both to see recent postsand to search all posts are available from the Orion Web Console, providingdirect access to the thwack.com community.

Key Features of Orion Monitoring ProductsConsidering the previously listed benefits of Orion and the following features,Orion is a simple choice to make for monitoring your network.

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Quality of Experience MonitoringA new Quality of Experience (QoE) dashboard allows you to monitornetwork and application traffic by collecting and analyzing packet-level datadirectly from the Orion Web Console. With the QoE Monitoring component,you can do all of the following, directly from the Orion Web Console:

l Monitor traffic by collecting and analyzing packets locally or on aSPAN/mirror interface or tap.

l Determine if traffic bottlenecks are on the network or at the server bycomparing network (TCP Handshake) and application (Time of FirstByte) response times.

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

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

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

l Use application categories, such as web services, network monitoring,and file transfer, to better understand and manage your network'straffic profile.

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

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

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Key Features of Orion Monitoring Products


Customizable and Flexible Orion Web ConsoleYou can easily customize the web console to meet your individual needs. Ifyou want to segregate use, you can custom design views of your data andassign them to individual users. You can also create web console accountsfor departments, geographic areas, or any other user-defined criteria.

Automatic and Scheduled Device DiscoveryWizard-driven device discovery further simplifies the addition of devices toOrion for monitoring. Answer a few general questions about your devices,and the discovery application takes over, populating your Orion databaseand immediately beginning network analysis. You can also create networkdiscovery schedules to independently and automatically run Network SonarDiscovery jobs whenever you need them.

Open IntegrationEnterprise-tested standards, including a Microsoft SQL Server databaseand industry-standard MIBs and protocols, are the backbone of the Orionmonitoring solution.

Network Atlas with ConnectNow and Interface Performance DataNetwork Atlas, the Orion network mapping application, gives you the abilityto create multi-layered, fully customizable, web-based maps of your networkto visually track the performance of any device in any location across yournetwork in real time. The ConnectNow feature automatically draws linksbetween directly-connected physical nodes discovered on your networkusing both Layer 2 and Layer 3 topology data. In addition to interface status,map links are now capable of providing both interface connection speedand interface utilization information.

Unpluggable Port ModeOrion enables you to designate selected ports as unpluggable, sounnecessary alerts are not triggered when users undock or shutdownconnected devices. This feature is particularly useful for distinguishing lowpriority ports connected to laptops and PCs from more critically importantinfrastructure ports.

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

VMware Infrastructure MonitoringOrion NPM enables you to monitor your VMware servers, datacenters, andclusters, including VMware ESX and ESXi, Virtual Center, and any virtualmachines (VMs) hosted by ESX servers on your network. Availableresources include lists of VMs on selected ESXi and ESX servers,performance details for ESXi and ESX servers and hosted VMs, andrelevant charts and reports.

Groups and DependenciesGroups give you the ability to logically organize monitored objects,regardless of device type or location, and dependencies allow you to morefaithfully represent what can actually be known about your network,eliminating false positive alert triggers and providing more accurate insightinto the status of monitored network objects.

Incident AlertingYou can configure custom alerts to respond to hundreds of possible networkscenarios, including multiple condition checks. Orion alerts help yourecognize 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.

Integrated Syslog ServersSave time when investigating network issues by using Syslog messages toaccess network information from a single Orion server instead of pollingmultiple machines independently. Use Orion to easily set up alerts and thenreceive, process, forward, and send Syslog messages.

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Key Features of Orion Monitoring Products


Detailed Historical ReportsEasily configure reports of data from the Orion database over custom timeperiods. Data is presented in an easily reviewed format in the web consoleor in the Orion Report Writer application. With over 40 built-in reportsavailable, you can project future trends and capacity needs, andimmediately access availability, performance, and utilization statistics. Youcan also download new reports for import into Report Writer fromwww.thwack.com.

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

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

Extensible Orion ModulesThe Orion product family provides solutions for all your network monitoringand management needs. With either Application Performance Monitor orNetwork Performance Monitor as a base, Orion products, including NetFlowTraffic Analyzer, IP SLA Manager (formerly VoIP Monitor), IP AddressManager, and the Network Configuration Manager integration, give you theability to monitor network applications, analyze network traffic, monitor VoIPand WAN traffic using Cisco IP SLA, manage IP address and subnetallocations, and manage network device configurations, respectively, from asingle location: your Orion Web Console.

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Networking Concepts and TerminologyThe following sections define the networking concepts and terminology that areused within Orion.

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

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)Orion uses theICMP to poll for status using ping and echo requests of manageddevices. When Orion polls a managed device using ICMP, if the device isoperationally up, it returns a response time and record of any dropped packets.This information is used by Orion to monitor status and measure averageresponse time and packet loss percentage for managed devices.

Note:Orion only uses ICMP to poll devices for status, average response time,and packet loss percentage. Other information displayed in the Orion WebConsole is obtained using SNMP requests.

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)For most network monitoring and management tasks, Orion products use SNMP.SNMP-enabled network devices, including routers, switches, and PCs, hostSNMP agents that maintain a virtual database of system status and performanceinformation that is tied to specific Object Identifiers (OIDs). This virtual database isreferred to as a Management Information Base (MIB), and Orion uses MIB OIDsas references to retrieve specific data about a selected, SNMP-enabled,managed device. Access to MIB data may be secured either with SNMPCommunity Strings, as provided with SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c, or with optionalSNMP credentials, as provided with SNMPv3. For more information about MIBs,see Management Information Base (MIB). For more information about SNMPcredentials, see SNMP Credentials.

32

Networking Concepts and Terminology


Notes:

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

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

SNMP CredentialsSNMP credentials secure access to SNMP-enabled managed devices. SNMPv1and SNMPv2c credentials serve as a type of password that is authenticated byconfirming a match between a cleartext SNMP Community String provided by anSNMP request and the SNMP Community String stored as a MIB object on anSNMP-enabled, managed device. SNMPv3 provides a more secure interactionby employing the following fields:

l The User Name is a required cleartext string that indentifies the agent orpoll request that is attempting to access an SNMP-enabled device. UserName functions similarly to the SNMP Community String of SNMP v1 andv2c.

l The Context is an optional identifying field that can provide an additionallayer of organization and security to the information available in the MIB ofan SNMP-enabled device. Typically, the context is an empty string unlessit is specifically configured on an SNMP-enabled device.

l SNMPv3 provides two optional Authentication Methods: Message Digest5 (MD5) and Secure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA1). Both methods, MD5 andSHA1, include the Authentication Key with the SNMPv3 packet and thengenerate a digest of an entire SNMPv3 packet that is then sent. MD5digests are 20 bytes long, and SHA1 digests are 16 bytes long. When thepacket is received, the User Name is used to recreate a packet digest

33

using the appropriate method. Both digests are then compared to authen-ticate.

l SNMPv3 also provides two optional Privacy/Encryption Methods: DataEncryption Standard (DES56) and Advanced Encryption Standard(AES128) using a 128 bit key. DES56 uses a 56 bit key with a 56 bit salt,and AES128 uses a 128 bit key with a 128 bit salt to encrypt the full SNMPv3 packet.

Management Information Base (MIB)A Management Information Base (MIB) is the formal description of a set of objectsthat can be managed using SNMP. MIB-I refers to the initial MIB definition, andMIB-II refers to the current definition. Each MIB object stores a value such assysUpTime, bandwidth utilization, or sysContact that can be polled to providecurrent performance data for any selected device. For example, when polling yournetwork for performance data, Orion Network Performance Monitor sends anSNMP GET request to each network device to poll the specified MIB objects.Received responses are then recorded in the Orion database for use in Orionproducts, including within Orion Web Console resources.

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

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a proprietary technology used topoll performance and management information fromWindows-based networkdevices, applications, and components. When used as an alternative to SNMP,WMI can provide much of the same monitoring and management data currentlyavailable with SNMP-based polling with the addition of Windows-specificcommunications and security features. For more information about WMI, see theMicrosoft article, About WMI.

34

Management Information Base (MIB)


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

How Orion WorksUsing ICMP and SNMP polling, trap receiving, and Syslog communication anddata collection, installed Orion products can continuously monitor the health andperformance of all aspects your network. This monitoring is accomplished withoutinterfering with the critical functions of your network devices. Unlike many othernetwork monitoring products, Orion helps you maintain the overall performance ofyour network in the following ways:

l Orion products do not install outside agents on your mission-critical serv-ers

l Orion products do not employ services that take vital resources from criticalapplications

l Orion products do not install any code on monitored network devices asunmanaged or outdated code can open security holes in your network.

After installing Orion, you can automate the initial discovery of your network, andthen simply add new devices for monitoring as you add them to your network.Orion stores all gathered information in a SQL database and provides the highlycustomizable web console in which to view current and historical network status.

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Chapter 2: Preparing a SolarWindsOrion InstallationOrion products use a simple wizard to direct the installation process. For anenterprise-class product, installation requirements are nominal.

Note: Downgrades of Orion products are not supported. If you are upgrading orinstalling multiple Orion products, confirm that you are installing them in the ordergiven in the Upgrade Instructions located in your SolarWinds Customer Portal.

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

Orion Server Hardware RequirementsThe following table lists minimum hardware requirements and recommendationsfor your Orion server.

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

36

Chapter 2: Preparing a SolarWinds Orion Installation

HardwareSL100, SL250, or

SL500 SL2000 SLX

CPUSpeed

2.0 GHz 2.4 GHz 3.0 GHz

Note: Dual processor, dual core is recommended. Physical AddressExtension (PAE) should not be enabled.

HardDriveSpace

2.5 GB 5 GB 20 GB

Note: A RAID 1 drive for server operating system, Orion installation,and tempdb files is recommended. Orion requires at least 1.5GB forjob engine, information service, collector service, MIB database andother required files. The Orion installer needs 1GB on the drivewhere temporary Windows system or user variables are stored. PerWindows standards, some common files may need to be installed onthe same drive as your server operating system. For moreinformation, see Working with Temporary Directories.

Memory 3 GB 4 GB 8 GB

Orion Server Software RequirementsThe following table lists minimum software requirements and recommendationsfor a SolarWinds Orion installation.

Software Requirements

OperatingSystem

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

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

Windows Server 2012, and 2012 R2

Notes:

l IIS and MSMQmust be installed. SolarWindsrecommends that Orion administrators have localadministrator privileges to ensure full functionality of localOrion tools. Accounts limited to use of the Orion Web

37


Console do not require administrator privileges.l SolarWinds does not support production installations ofOrion products on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows7, or Windows 8 systems.

l SolarWinds products are not compatible with installationsof Internet Information Services version 6.0 (IIS6) thatmake use of web gardens.

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

OperatingSystemLanguages

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

IP AddressVersion

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

Note: CIDR notation is not currently supported for IPv6 addresses.

ApplicationPorts

25 for SSL/TLS-enabled email alert actions

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

1801 (TCP) for MSMQWCF binding. For more information seehttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/183293

17777 (TCP) open for Orion module traffic

17778 (HTTPS) open to access the SolarWinds InformationService API

17779 (HTTP and HTTPS) for the SolarWinds Toolset Integration

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Orion Server Software Requirements



WebServer

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

DNS specifications require that hostnames be composed ofalphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9), the minus sign (-), and periods(.). Underscore characters (_) are not allowed. For moreinformation, see RFC 952 - DOD Internet Host TableSpecification

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

l IUSR_, as a member of theGuestsgroupONLY.

l IWAM_, as a member of theIIS_WPG groupONLY.

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

Note: SolarWinds does not support installing Orion on domaincontrollers or on the same server or using the same databaseserver as a Research in Motion (RIM) Blackberry server.

.NETFramework

Version 3.5. SP1 and 4.0

Note: Both versions 3.5 SP1 and 4.0 are required.

WebConsoleBrowser

Microsoft Internet Explorer version 8 or higher with Active scripting

Firefox 3.0 or higher (Toolset Integration is not supported onFirefox)

Chrome 10.0 or higher

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Requirements for the Orion Database Server (SQL Server)The following table lists software and hardware requirements for your Oriondatabase server. Orion NPM license levels are provided as a reference.

RequirementsSL100, SL250, orSL500 SL2000 SLX

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

l SQL Server 2005 SP3Note: SolarWinds recommends that you upgrade toSQL Server 2005 SP4 or, preferably, SQL Server2008.

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

l SQL Server 2008 R2 without SP, with SP1, or withSP2

l SQL Server 2012 without SP, with SP1, or with SP2l SQL Server 2014

Notes:

l The FullWithSQL NPM installer packageautomatically installs SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1Express. This is recommended for evaluations.

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

l The recovery model of the database should be set toSimple. SolarWinds does not support other methods.

l SQL Server Express 3.5 SP2 is only supported forNPM evaluations.

l Due to latency effects, SolarWinds does not

40

Requirements for the Orion Database Server (SQL Server)



recommend installing your SQL Server and yourOrion server or additional polling engine in differentlocations across a WAN. For more information, seeSolarWinds Knowledge Base article, Can I installmy Orion server or Additional Polling Engine and myOrion database (SQL Server) in different locationsacross a WAN?

l Either mixed-mode or SQL authentication must besupported.

l If you are managing your Orion database,SolarWinds recommends you install the SQL ServerManagement Studio component.

l Use the following database select statement tocheck your SQL Server version, service pack orrelease level, and edition:

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

SQL ServerCollation

English with collation setting SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS

English with collation setting SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CS_AS

German with collation setting German_PhoneBook_CI_AS

Japanese with collation setting Japanese_CI_AS

Simplified Chinese with collation setting Chinese_PRC_CI_AS

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CPU Speed 2.0 GHz 2.4 GHz 3.0 GHz

Hard DriveSpace

2 GB 5 GB 20 GB

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


Note: SolarWinds recommends additional RAM, up to 8 GB,for SolarWinds SAM installations including more than 1000monitors.

.NETFramework

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

SQL Server Configuration Best PracticesThis topic provides recommendations about how best to manage the SQL serveryou are using with your Orion installation.

The standard SQL environment for Orion products contains the followingcomponents:

l A dedicated SQL Standard or Enterprise Serverl Directly attached (DAS), RAID 10 storage (I/O subsystem)

42

SQL Server Configuration Best Practices


l LAN attachment between the main Orion server and any additional com-ponents

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 incom-ing flow rates.

l WAN connections should never be used between the SQL server and theOrion 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 theI/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 SQLservers, taking different scenarios and the number of logical disks you use.

The following table contains the recommended data storage settings whichprovide 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). Adisk with fast sequential writing is recommended.A RAID 1+0 setup is recommended.

SQL Servertemporary directory(tempdb) 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

43


disk with fast sequential writing is recommended.A RAID 1+0 setup is recommended.

SQL Server hostsystem (Windows)

l A dedicated hard drive of any type.

The following table contains the recommended data storage settings with fourHDDs 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). Adisk with fast sequential writing is recommended.A RAID 1+0 setup is recommended.

SQL Servertemporary directory(tempdb) database

l A dedicated hard drive for data files (.mdf, .ndf) andthe transaction log (.ldf)

SQL Server hostsystem (Windows)

l A dedicated hard drive of any type. This hard driveshould be the slowest of the four available disks.

The following table contains the recommended data storage settings with threeHDDs 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 transactionfiles (.ldf). A disk with fast sequentialwriting is recommended. A RAID 1+0

44

Hardware settings for SQL servers



setup is recommended.

SQL Server temporarydirectory (tempdb) databaseand SQL Server host system(Windows)

l A dedicated hard drive for tempdb datafiles (.mdf, .ndf), tempdb transaction log(.ldf), and host system.

If you have two hard drives on your database server, the following setup isrecommended:

l Use the disk with the faster sequential writing for the host system and for thetransaction log files (.ldf).

l Use the other disk for data files (.mdf, .ldf), for the tempdb data files, and forthe tempdb log files.

Note: If there are more databases on a given SQL server, it is stronglyrecommended that you use dedicated hard drives for the tempdb database. Useat 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 thetempdb can be the biggest bottleneck in the I/O subsystem.

Recommendations for multi-CPU systems and the optimal settings of the I/Osubsystem

On multi-CPU systems, the performance of some operations can be increased bycreating more data files on a single hard drive.

Note: Every logical CPU is considered to be one CPU.

The following example shows the original settings of a system with 16 CPUcores:

l One hard drive for data with the SolarWindsOrionDatabase.MDF file in thePRIMARY filegroup.

l One hard drive for the transaction log with the SolarWind-sOrionDatabase.LDF file.

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l One hard drive for the tempdb data with the tempdb.MDF file in thePRIMARY 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 filegroup:l SolarWindsOrionDatabase01.MDF

l SolarWindsOrionDatabase02.MDF



l One hard drive for the transaction log with the SolarWind-sOrionDatabase.LDF file.

l One hard drive for tempdb data, with the following files in the PRIMARYfilegroup:

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 loadgenerated by multiple threads while working with files.

l The recommended ratio between the number of cores and the files in thefilegroup is typically 4:1 or 2:1 (for example, 16 cores and four files, or 16cores and eight files).

l The size and growth setting for all files in a filegroup must be set to identicalvalues in order to distribute the load evenly.

l For the transaction log, it is not effective to create more files, because theSQL server can only use the first file.

l For the tempdb database, a RAM disk or an SSD disk can be used.

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Recommendations for multi-CPU systems and the optimal settings of the I/O


l An SSD disk can be used for data files, but it is not effective for the trans-action log where sequential access is most important.

Database file setting recommendations

l It is recommended to pre-allocate as much disk space as possible, becausethe allocation process can be time-consuming.

l Define an absolute auto-growth setting with a reasonable size (500MB,1GB, and son 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 alack of memory for the host operating system.

l Reserve 1GB of memory to the host operating system if there are no addi-tional services running on the given host system.

l If additional resource-intensive services are running on the host operatingsystem, 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 ServersOrion installations on VMware Virtual Machines and Microsoft Virtual Servers arefully supported if the following minimum configuration requirements are met foreach virtual machine.

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

VMConfiguration

Orion Requirements by License Level

SL100, SL250, orSL500 SL2000 SLX

CPU Speed 2.0 GHz 2.4 GHz 3.0 GHz

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VMConfiguration

Orion Requirements by License Level

SL100, SL250, orSL500 SL2000 SLX

Allocated

Hard DriveSpace

2GB 5GB 20GB

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


NetworkInterface

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

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

Additional RequirementsThe following requirements must also be met to ensure a fully functionalmonitoring environment.

SysObjectID Access

In order to fully monitor network objects, the SysObjectID of any device to bemonitored by SolarWinds must be accessible from the SolarWinds server.

Additional Required SQL Server Components

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

l SQL Server System Common Language Runtime (CLR) Types. Orionproducts use secure SQL CLR stored procedures for selected, non-busi-ness data operations to improve overall performance.

48

Additional Requirements


l Microsoft SQL Server Native Clientl Microsoft SQL Server Management Objects

Orion LicensingProducts in the Orion family are licensed additively, in terms of monitored networkobjects. So, for example, if you have purchased both SolarWinds NPM with anSL100 license and SolarWinds SAM with an AL50 license you will be able tomonitor performance of both interfaces and applications on a total of 150 uniquenodes. For more information, see the Administrator Guide of your specific Orionproduct.

Maintaining Licenses with License ManagerSolarWinds License Manager is an easily installed, free utility that gives you theability to migrate Orion licenses from one computer to another without contactingSolarWinds Customer Service. The following sections provide procedures forinstalling and using License Manager.

Installing License ManagerInstall License Manager on the computer from which you are migrating currentlylicensed products.

Note: You must install License Manager on a computer with the correct time. Ifthe time on the computer is even slightly off, in either direction, from GreenwichMean Time (GMT), you cannot reset licenses without contacting SolarWindsCustomer Service. Time zone settings neither affect nor cause this issue.

To install License Manager:

1.Click Start> All Programs> SolarWinds> SolarWinds License ManagerSetup.

2.Click I Accept to accept the SolarWinds EULA.

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

49

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

To deactivate currently installed licenses:

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

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

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

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

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

Antivirus Directory ExclusionsTo ensure that all Orion products have access to all required files, the followingdirectories, listed by operating system and assuming that C:\ is the default installvolume, should be excluded from antivirus protection:

Note: Do not exclude executable files.

Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP:

l C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SolarWinds\

Windows Server 2007, Windows Vista, and Windows 2008

l C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\

50

Using License Manager


Enabling Secure Channels with SSLOrion supports the use of Secure Sockets Layer certificates to enable securecommunications with the Orion Web Console. The following sections provideprocedures for enabling SSL connections to the Orion Web Console:

l Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2003l Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2008l Configuring the Orion Web Console for SSL

Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2003The following procedure enables SSL connections over port 443 to an Orion WebConsole installed on Windows Server 2003.

Note: The following procedure does not describe the processes either ofobtaining a required certificate or of generating a certificate signing request for athird-party certificate authority. Your Orion server must already have the requiredSSL certificate installed. For more information, see the article from which thefollowing procedure was adapted at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298805.

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

1.Log on to your Orion server using an account with administrative privileges.

2.Click Start> Control Panel> Administrative Tools> ComputerManagement.

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

4.Click SolarWinds NetPerfMon, and then click Action> Properties.

5.Open the Web Site tab, confirm that the SSL port is 443, and then click Apply.

6.Click Advanced.

7.If the Multiple SSL identities for this Web site field does not list the IPaddress for the Orion Web Console with SSL port 443, complete the followingsteps.

a.Click Add, and then select the IP address of the Orion Web Console.

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Note: As it was set initially in the Configuration Wizard, this option is usually setto (All Unassigned). If the IP address of the Orion Web Console was not initiallyset to (All Unassigned), select the actual, configured IP address of the Orion WebConsole.

b.Type 443 as the TCP port, and then click OK.

8.Click the Directory Security tab, and then click Edit in the Securecommunications section.

9.Check Require secure channel (SSL), and then select Accept clientcertificates in the Client certificates area.

10.Click OK on the Secure Communications window, click Apply, and then clickOK to exit.

Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2008The following procedure enables SSL connections over port 443 to an Orion WebConsole installed on Windows Server 2008.

Note: The following procedure does not describe the processes either ofobtaining a required certificate or of generating a certificate signing request for athird-party certificate authority. Your Orion server must already have the requiredSSL certificate installed. For more information, see the article from which thefollowing procedure was adapted at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298805.

To enable SSL connections to the web console on Windows Server 2008:

1.Log on to your Orion 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 thenexpand Sites.

4.Click SolarWinds NetPerfMon, and then click Bindings in the Actions pane onthe right.

5.Click Add in the Site Bindings window.

52

Enabling SSL Connections on Windows Server 2008


6.In the Type: field, select https, and then confirm that Port is set to 443.

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.

10.Check Require SSL, and then 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 SSLThe following procedure enables Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security (https) forthe 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.

4. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Advanced Features >Database Manager.

5. If your Orion database is not listed in the left pane, complete the fol-lowing 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 theWebsites table, and then click Query Table.8. Replace the default query with the following query:

UPDATE dbo.WebsitesSET SSLEnabled=1WHERE WebsiteID=1

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9. Click Refresh.10. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Advanced Features >

Orion Service Manager.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 port443, for the web console, complete the following procedure to change theweb console port:

a. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Configurationand Auto-Discovery > Configuration Wizard.

b. CheckWebsite, 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.

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Configuring the Orion Web Console for SSL

Chapter 3: Discovering and AddingNetwork DevicesThere are two waysWeb Node Management and network discovery using theNetwork Sonar Wizardto add nodes to the Orion database, The methodrecommended largely depends on the number of devices added. To discover andadd a larger number of devices across your enterprise, the Network Sonar andNetwork Sonar Results Wizards are available. This chapter provides instructionsfor quickly populating your Orion database with the network objects you want tomonitor and manage with Orion. The Orion Web Console also provides an easy-to-use Web Node Management wizard suited to discovering and addingindividual network objects. For more information, see Managing Devices in theWeb Console.

Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wiz-ardOrion products employ the easy-to-use Network Sonar Wizard to direct you in thediscovery of devices on your network. Before using the Network Sonar Wizard,consider the following points about network discovery in Orion:

l The Network Sonar Wizard recognizes network devices that are already inyour Orion database and prevents you from importing duplicate devices.

l CPU and Memory Utilization charts are automatically enabled for your Win-dows, Cisco Systems, VMware, and Foundry Networks devices.

l The community strings you provide in the Network Sonar Wizard are onlyused for SNMP GET requests, so read-only strings are sufficient.

The following procedure steps you through the discovery of devices on yournetwork using the Network Sonar Wizard.

To discover devices on your network:

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Chapter 3: Discovering and Adding Network Devices

1.If the Network Sonar Wizard is not already open, click Start> AllPrograms> SolarWinds Orion> Configuration and Auto-Discovery>Network Discovery.

2.If you want to create a new discovery, click Add New Discovery, click AddNew Discovery.

3.If you have already defined a network discovery, a number of options areavailable on the Network Sonar Discovery tab. Select one of the following:

l If you want to edit an existing discovery before using it, select the dis-covery you want to edit, and then click Edit.

l If you want to use an existing discovery to rediscover your network,select the discovery you want to use, click Discover Now, and then com-plete the Network Sonar Results Wizard after dicovery completes. Formore information about network discovery results, see Using the NetworkSonar Results Wizard.

l If you want to import some or all devices found in a defined discoverythat you may not have already imported for monitoring, select a cur-rently defined discovery, and then click Import All Results. For moreinformation about network discovery results, see Using the Network SonarResults Wizard.

l If you want to import any newly enabled devices matching a defineddiscovery profile, select a currently defined discovery, and then clickImport New Results. For more information about network discovery res-ults, see Using the Network Sonar Results Wizard.

If you want to delete an existing discovery profile, select a currently defineddiscovery and then click Delete.

4.If any of your network devices require community strings other thanpublic and private or if you want to use an SNMPv3 credential, complete thefollowing steps to add the required SNMP credential.

Notes:

l Repeat the following procedure for each new community string. To speedup discovery, highlight the most commonly used community strings on your

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network, and then use the arrows to order them in the list.l If you intend to use SNMPv3 for monitoring VLAN interfaces on Ciscodevices, confirm that all relevant VLAN contexts are added to all VLANgroups defined for your monitored Cisco devices.

a.Click Add New Credential, and then select the SNMP Version of your newcredential.

b.If you are using a credential you have already provided, select thiscredential in the Choose Credential field.

c.If you are adding an SNMPv1 or SNMPv2c credential, provide the newSNMP Community String.

d.If you are adding an SNMPv3 credential, provide the following information forthe new credential:

l User Name, Context, and Authentication Methodl Authentication Password/Key, Privacy/Encryption Method and Pass-word/Key, if required.

e.Click Add.

5.Click Next on the SNMP Credentials view.

6.If you want to discover any VMware VCenter or ESX Servers on yournetwork, confirm that Poll for VMware is checked, and then complete thefollowing steps to add or edit required VMware credentials.

Note: Repeat the following procedure for each new credential. To speed updiscovery, use the arrows to move the most commonly used credentials on yournetwork to the top of the list.

a.Click Add vCenter or ESX Credential.

b.If you are using an existing VMware credential, select the appropriatecredential from the Choose Credential dropdown menu.

c.If you are adding a new VMware credential, select in theChoose Credential dropdown menu, and then provide a new credential name inthe Credential Name field.

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Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wizard


Note: SolarWinds recommends against using non-alphanumeric characters inVMware 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.

7.Click Next on the Local vCenter or ESX Credentials for VMware view.

8.If you want to discover any WMI or RPCenabled Windows devices on yournetwork, complete the following steps to add or edit credentials.

Notes:

l SolarWinds does not poll interfaces on WMI- or RPCenabled nodes.

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 tothe top of the list.

a.Click Add New Credential.

b.If you are using an existing Windows credential, select the appropriatecredential from the Choose Credential dropdown menu.

c.If you are adding a newWindows credential, select in theChoose Credential dropdown menu, and then provide a new credential name inthe Credential Name field.

Note: SolarWinds recommends against using non-alphanumeric characters inWindows credential names.

d.Add or edit the credential User Name and Password, as necessary.

e.Confirm the password, and then click Add.

9.Click Next on the Windows Credentials view.

10.If you want to discover devices located on your network within a specificrange of IP addresses, complete the following procedure.

Note:Only one selection method may be used per defined discovery.

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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 thatinclude nodes with dynamically assigned IP addresses (DHCP).

b.If you want to add another range, click Add More, and then repeat theprevious step.

c.If you want to delete one of multiple ranges, click X next to the IP range youwant to delete.

d.If you have added all the IP ranges you want to poll, click Next.

11.If you want to discover devices connected to a specific router or on aspecific 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.If you want to discover on a specific subnet, click Add a New Subnet,provide both a Subnet Address and a Subnet Mask for the desired subnet, andthen click Add.

Note: Repeat this step for each additional subnet you want to poll.

c.If you want to discover devices using a seed router, click Add a SeedRouter, provide the IP address of the Router, and then click Add.

Notes:

l Repeat this step for each additional seed router you want to use.l Networks connected through the seed router are NOT automatically selec-ted for discovery.

l Network Sonar reads the routing table of the designated router and offersto discover nodes on the Class A network (255.0.0.0 mask) containing theseed router and, if you are discovering devices for an Orion NPM install-ation, the Class C networks (255.255.255.0 mask) containing all interfaceson the seed router, using the SNMP version chosen previously on theSNMP Credentials page.

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d.Confirm that all networks on which you want to conduct your network discoveryare checked, and then click Next.

12.If you want to add IPv6 devices or you already know the IP addresses orhostnames of the devices you want to discover and include in the Oriondatabase, 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 todiscover 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 areassigned to SNMP-enabled devices.

d.If you have provided all the addresses and hostnames you want todiscover, click Next.

13.Configure the options on the Discovery Settings view, as detailed in thefollowing steps.

a.Provide a Name and Description to distinguish the current discovery profilefrom other profiles you may use to discover other network areas.

Note: This Description displays next to the Name in the list of available networkdiscovery 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 NetworkDiscovery, increase the value for this setting. The SNMP Timeout should be atleast a little more than double the time it takes a packet to travel the longest routebetween 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 waitsto 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.

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Note: This value is the number of times Network Sonar Discovery will retry afailed SNMP request, defined as any SNMP request that does not receive aresponse within the SNMP Timeout defined above.

e.Position the slider or type a value to set the Hop Count.

Note: If the Hop Count is greater than zero, Network Sonar Discovery searchesfor devices connected to any discovered device. Each connection to a discovereddevice counts as a hop.

f.Position the slider or type a value to set the Discovery Timeout.

Note: The Discovery Timeout is the amount of time, in minutes, Network SonarDiscovery is allowed to complete a network discovery. If a discovery takes longerthan the Discovery Timeout, the discovery is terminated.

14.If you only want to discover devices that respond to SNMP, check UseSNMP only.

Note: By default, Network Sonar uses ICMP ping requests to locate devices.Most information about monitored network objects is obtained using SNMPqueries, but Network Sonar can also use WMI to monitor devices.

15.If multiple Orion polling engines are available in your environment, selectthe Polling Engine you want to use for this discovery.

16.Click Next.

17.Configure a schedule for your discovery.

l If you want the discovery you are currently defining to run only once,perform the following steps.

a. SelectOnce from the Frequency list, and then specify whether youwant to run the discovery immediately or not by selecting the appro-priate option.

l If you want the discovery you are currently defining to run on a regularschedule, perform either of the following steps.

a. To set up a discovery in an hourly frequency, select Hourly from theFrequency list, and then provide the number of hours to passbetween two discoveries.

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b. To set up a discovery to run once daily, select Daily from the Fre-quency list, and then provide the time at which you want your dis-covery to run every day, using the format HH:MM AM/PM.

c. To set up a discovery to run at another specific frequency, selectAdvanced from the Frequency list, and then click Add Frequency.Provide a name for the frequency, and then select the appropriate fre-quency from the list. Depending on your selection, specify the datesand times, select whether you want to start the discovery right now, orat a specific date, and optionally specify the end date for the sched-uled discovery. After specifying your settings, click Add Frequency.

18.If you do not want to run your network discovery at this time, select No,dont run now, and then click Save or Schedule, depending on whether youhave configured the discovery to run once or on a schedule, respectively.

19.If you want your Network Sonar discovery to run now, click Discover tostart your network discovery.

Notes:

l Scheduled discovery profiles should not use IP address ranges thatinclude nodes with dynamically assigned IP addresses (DHCP).

l Default Discovery Scheduling settings execute a single discovery of yournetwork that starts immediately, once you click Discover.

l Results of scheduled discoveries are maintained on the Scheduled Dis-covery Results tab of Network Discovery. For more information about man-aging scheduled discovery results, see Managing Scheduled DiscoveryResults.

l Because some devices may serve as both routers and switches, the totalnumber of Nodes Discovered may be less than the sum of reportedRouters Discovered plus reported Switches Discovered.

Using the Network Sonar Results WizardThe Network Sonar Results Wizard directs you through the selection of networkdevices for monitoring, and it opens whenever discovery results are requested,

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either when the Network Sonar Wizard completes or when either Import AllResults or Import New Results is clicked for a selected discovery. For moreinformation, see Network Discovery Using the Network Sonar Wizard.

The following steps detail the selection of discovered objects for monitoring inOrion.

To select the results of a network discovery for monitoring in Orion:

1.On the Device Types to Import page, check the device types you want Orion tomonitor, and then click Next.

Note: If you are not sure you want to monitor a specific device type, check thedevice type in question. If, later, you do not want to monitor a selected device,simply delete the device using Web Node Management. For more information,see Managing Devices in the Web Console.

2.If you are discovering devices for an Orion NPM installation, check theinterface types you want Orion to monitor on the Interface Types to Import page,and then click Next.

Note: If you are not sure

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