Orion npm evaluationguide

SolarWinds Orion
Network Performance
Monitor Evaluation Guide

ORION NETWORK PERFORMANCE MONITOR

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SolarWinds Orion™, SolarWinds Cirrus™, and SolarWinds Toolset™ are trademarks of
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Orion NPM Evaluation Guide, Version 9.5, 6.01.2009

SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor Evaluation Guide

About SolarWinds
SolarWinds, Inc develops and markets an array of network management, monitoring, and
discovery tools to meet the diverse requirements of today’s network management and consulting
professionals. SolarWinds products continue to set benchmarks for quality and performance and
have positioned the company as the leader in network management and discovery technology.
The SolarWinds customer base includes over 45 percent of the Fortune 500 and customers from
over 90 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@solarwinds.com
www.solarwinds.com
Sales
1.866.530.8100
+353.21.5002900

Technical Support www.solarwinds.com/support

User Forums www.thwack.com

Conventions
The documentation uses consistent conventions to help you identify items throughout the printed
and online library.
Convention Specifying

Bold Window items, including buttons and fields.

Italics Book and CD titles, variable names, new terms

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

Straight brackets, as in
Optional command parameters
[value]

Curly braces, as in
Required command parameters
{value}

Logical OR, as in Exclusive command parameters where only one of the
value1|value2 options can be specified

About SolarWinds iii


SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor
Documentation Library
The following documents are included in the SolarWinds Orion documentation library:
Document Purpose

Provides detailed setup, configuration, and conceptual
Administrator Guide
information.

Provides help for every window in the Orion user
Page Help
interface.

Provides an introduction to Orion Network
Evaluation Guide Performance Monitor features and instructions for
installation and initial configuration.

Provides installation, setup, and common scenarios
Quick Start Guide for which Orion provides a simple, yet powerful,
solution.

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

iv SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor Documentation Library


Contents
About SolarWinds ........................................................................................... iii
Contacting SolarWinds ................................................................................... iii
Conventions .................................................................................................... iii
SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor Documentation Library ..... iv

Chapter 1

Introduction to Orion Network Performance Monitor ................................ 1
Orion NPM Overview ....................................................................................... 1
Orion NPM Ease of Use .............................................................................. 1
Orion NPM Integration with SolarWinds Tools............................................ 1
Orion Design Goals ......................................................................................... 2
Orion NPM Features ................................................................................... 2
Orion NPM Modules .................................................................................... 3

Chapter 2

Installing Orion Network Performance Monitor.......................................... 5
Licensing Orion Network Performance Monitor ............................................... 5
Requirements .................................................................................................. 6
Server Sizing ................................................................................................... 8
Enabling Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) .................................... 8
Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2008 ....................................................... 8
Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2003 ..................................................... 11
Enabling IIS on Windows XP .................................................................... 13
Installing Orion NPM ...................................................................................... 16
Discovering Your Network ............................................................................. 23
Adding Discovered Devices to Orion NPM .................................................... 30

Chapter 3

Orion NPM Quick Tour ................................................................................ 33
Managing Network Growth ............................................................................ 33
Monitoring Networks by Location .................................................................. 38

Contents v


Immediate Status Reporting.......................................................................... 40
Discovering Network and Device Failures .................................................... 44
Creating an Alert Using a Custom Property ............................................. 44
Configuring Alert Actions .......................................................................... 45
Testing Alerts ............................................................................................ 49
Visualizing Network Structure ....................................................................... 51
Creating a Map with Orion Network Atlas................................................. 51
Customizing Maps in Network Atlas ......................................................... 55
Nesting Maps ............................................................................................ 56
Integrating External Websites ....................................................................... 57
Investigating Orion NPM Further................................................................... 59

Chapter 4

Orion NPM Features .................................................................................... 61
Orion NPM Features Overview ..................................................................... 61
Monitoring Cisco EnergyWise Devices ......................................................... 63
Orion Network Atlas ...................................................................................... 64
Monitoring Wireless Networks....................................................................... 64
Intuitive Point-and-Click Interface ................................................................. 64
Universal Device Poller ................................................................................. 65
Report Writer ................................................................................................. 65
Advanced Alert Engine.................................................................................. 66
Custom Properties ........................................................................................ 66
Thwack.com Community Enabled................................................................. 67
SNMP Trap Viewer ....................................................................................... 67
Syslog Viewer................................................................................................ 67
Integrating SolarWinds Engineer’s Toolset ................................................... 68
VMware ESX Server Monitoring ................................................................... 68

vi Contents


Chapter 1
Introduction to Orion Network Performance
Monitor

As networks continue to become more complex—hosting applications, carrying
more data, and enabling mission-critical services—network management
becomes more vital to organizations. Orion Network Performance Monitor (Orion
NPM) provides network engineers with an easy-to-use application that gives
visibility into network performance. The excellent price-to-performance ratio of
Orion NPM is targeted for medium to large enterprise customers who expect
significant value from their network management products.

Orion NPM Overview
Orion NPM is a comprehensive fault and performance management platform that
allows users to view realtime and historical statistics and network availability from
any web browser. Orion NPM monitors, collects, and analyzes data from routers,
switches, firewalls, and other SNMP-enabled devices to provide network
engineers with a comprehensive view of network health. Orion NPM modules
extend its management capabilities to cover NetFlow traffic data, servers and
application performance, Voice over IP, and wireless devices.

Orion NPM Ease of Use
Unlike traditional network management framework solutions that can be difficult
to deploy, cumbersome to use, and expensive to maintain, Orion NPM has been
engineered to ensure ease-of-use and functional depth at a reasonable price.

Orion NPM uses several different methods to collect data about the health and
performance of your network, including ICMP, SNMP, and Syslog. You are not
required to install any proprietary agents or appliances on your network. As Orion
NPM learns about the network, it stores this data within an open SQL database
and provides a user-friendly web interface for accessing the data.

Orion NPM Integration with SolarWinds Tools
SolarWinds products, including Orion NPM, Orion Application Performance
Monitor (Orion APM), Orion Network Configuration Manager (Orion NCM), and
Engineer’s Toolset are designed to work together to provide network engineers
with a comprehensive solution that can be customized based on the specific
needs of your organization. Orion Enterprise Operations Console (Orion EOC) is
a command center tool that aggregates data from multiple Orion NPM
deployments.

Introduction to Orion Network Performance Monitor 1


Orion NPM and Engineer’s Toolset
The integration of Engineer’s Toolset with Orion NPM provides you with the
ability to launch, directly from the Orion NPM console, any one of several Toolset
applications from among the dozens of individual Toolset tools. By launching
Toolset directly from Orion NPM, you can take advantage of comprehensive
troubleshooting capabilities to diagnose, analyze, and resolve network issues.
Having products that are able to both monitor the status and health of your
network, as well as immediately troubleshoot issues as they arise from a single
console, streamlines your efficiency as a network engineer.

Orion NPM and Orion Application Performance Monitor (Orion APM)
Orion APM extends the powerful monitoring capabilities of Orion NPM to include
applications and servers, giving you visibility into the performance of applications
and the underlying operating systems and servers on which they run.

Orion NPM and Orion Network Configuration Manager (Orion NCM)
You can take advantage of the integration between Orion NPM and Orion NCM
to gain realtime insight into changes occurring to devices in all areas of your
network. Orion NCM works in conjunction with either the Orion NPM Syslog
Server or the Orion NPM Trap Receiver to log configuration change events and
alert the user, providing realtime configuration change detection across multiple
vendor network infrastructures.

Orion NPM and the Orion Enterprise Operations Console (Orion EOC)
Orion EOC provides a consolidated command center for all of your Orion NPM
installations, offering unified visibility into remote Orion deployments. With
Orion EOC you can know, at a glance, exactly what is happening on each of your
geographically distributed networks.

Orion Design Goals
SolarWinds focuses on simplifying network management by creating products
designed by network engineers, for network engineers. Orion NPM was
developed to meet customer demands for scalability and ease-of-use, needs that
were not addressed by alternative network fault and performance management
products.

Orion NPM Features
The Orion NPM solution is characterized by the following distinguishing features:

Intuitive Point-and-Click Interface
Detailed graphs, tables, and lists are displayed in a fully customizable
web-based interface that allows users to remotely view network fault,
availability, and performance information.

2 Introduction to Orion Network Performance Monitor


Do-It-Yourself Deployment
Deploying Orion NPM is simple. Install and configure Orion NPM, discover
your network automatically, and then begin monitoring your network for fault
and performance issues in less than an hour. No consultants are required.

Advanced Alert Engine
Quickly configure alerting for correlated events, sustained conditions, and
escalations without waking up at 3 AM to review unnecessary notifications.

Scalability Engines
Scale Orion NPM to accommodate network growth with a hot standby
engine, multiple polling engines, and additional web servers.

Universal Device Poller
Quickly and easily add any SNMP-enabled device to the monitoring
database and collect detailed information, such as interface details stored in
device MIB tables. You can also convert and combine polled data using the
MIB Transformation Wizard to customize how your data is presented.

Community-Enabled
Orion NPM incorporates Thwack.com, the SolarWinds online community of
over 15,000 network engineers, giving users access to the knowledge of
thousands of other network engineers. Users can also share Orion NPM
resources, such as Universal Device Pollers and application templates.

Orion NPM Modules
Modules extend Orion NPMits management capabilities to cover network traffic,
VoIP networks, and wireless devices, as follows:

Orion NetFlow Traffic Analyzer
Converts standard NetFlow traffic data into easy-to-interpret charts and
tables revealing exactly how the corporate network is used, who is using the
network, and how much network bandwidth they are consuming.

Orion VoIP Monitor
Proactively analyzes VoIP quality across WAN links and monitors the
underlying systems and protocols VoIP environments rely upon, integrating
completely with Orion NPM and scaling seamlessly with large deployments.

Orion Wireless Network Monitor
Extends the monitoring capabilities of Orion NPM to wireless access point
routers and associated wireless clients and sessions.

Introduction to Orion Network Performance Monitor 3


4 Introduction to Orion Network Performance Monitor


Chapter 2
Installing Orion Network Performance Monitor

Orion Network Performance Monitor (Orion NPM) provides a simple, wizard-
driven installation. For an enterprise-class product, requirements are nominal.

Licensing Orion Network Performance Monitor
Orion NPM can collect data and detailed information from any of your version 3
or earlier SNMP-enabled devices, including routers, switches, firewalls, and
servers. Orion NPM is licensed by the largest number of the three following
object types:

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

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

Volumes
Volumes are equivalent to the logical drives that you monitor.

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

• Up to 100 objects (SL100)
• Unlimited objects (SLX)

Database size increases with the addition of managed objects. Depending on the
number of objects and the amount of traffic flowing through the objects that are
on your network, the successful management of more than 8,000 objects can
require the addition of more polling engines. For more information about adding
polling engines, see “Error! Reference source not found.” on page Error!
Bookmark not defined..

Installing Orion Network Performance Monitor 5


Requirements
Requirements for Orion NPM vary based upon the number of elements
managed, the polling frequency, and the number of simultaneous users, among
other factors. The following tables provide general guidelines for the software
and hardware required for a minimum configuration.

Software Requirements
Windows 2008 Server (32-bit or 64-bit, running in 32-bit mode)
Windows 2003 Server (32-bit or 64-bit, running in 32-bit mode) R2
IIS must be installed. SolarWinds recommends that Orion NPM
Operating administrators have local administrator privileges to ensure full
System functionality of local Orion NPM tools. Accounts limited to use of the
web console do not require administrator privileges.
Note: SolarWinds does not support installation of Orion NPM on
Windows Vista in production environments.
Microsoft IIS version 6.0 and later. DNS specifications require that
hostnames be composed of alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9),
the minus sign (-), and periods (.). Underscore characters (_) are
Web Server not allowed. For more information, see RFC 952.
Note: SolarWinds neither recommends nor supports the installation
of Orion NPM on the same server or using the same database server
as a Research in Motion (RIM) Blackberry server.
.NET Framework Version 3.5 or later
SNMP Trap Windows operating system management and monitoring tools
Services component
The following database servers are supported as the Orion
datastore:
• SQL Server 2005 SP1 Express, Standard, or Enterprise
• SQL Server 2008 Express, Standard, or Enterprise
Your server must support either mixed-mode or SQL authentication.
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 The following x86 components must also be installed (if the
components are not found on the target computer, the setup
program downloads and installs the components):
• SQL Server System Common Language Runtime (CLR) Types
• Microsoft SQL Server Native Client
• Microsoft SQL Server Management Objects
Notes:
• For improved performance, Orion NPM uses secure SQL CLR
stored procedures for selected, non-business data operations.
• If you are using SQL Server 2005 SP1 Express Edition on a
Windows XP operating system, enable the following protocols:
Shared memory, TCP/IP, and Named Pipes.
Version 3.5 or later
ESX Server
Note: Required only if Orion NPM monitors VMware ESX Servers.
Web Console Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6 or later with Active scripting
Browser Firefox 3.0 or later

6 Installing Orion Network Performance Monitor


Hardware SL100, SL250, or SL500 SL2000 SLX
CPU Speed 2.0 GHz 2.4 GHz 3.0 GHz
2 GB 5 GB 20 GB
Note: The Orion installer does need approximately 1GB of space
on the drive where temporary Windows system or user variables
Hard Drive Space are stored. In keeping with Windows standards, some common
files may need to be installed on the same drive as your server
operating system. For more information, see “Error! Reference
source not found.” on page Error! Bookmark not defined..
2 GB 3 GB 3 GB
Memory Note: Due to intense I/O requirements, RAID 1+0 is strongly
recommended for the hard drive hosting the SQL Server database.
RAID 5 is not recommended for the SQL Server hard drive.
Application Ports TCP port 17777 must be opened for Orion module traffic

For SLX-level (unlimited objects) installations, SolarWinds recommends that
Orion NPM and SQL Server are installed on separate servers, as follows:

Server Recommended Configuration
Orion NPM SLX Dual processor, dual core, 3GB RAM and 20 GB free disk space
SQL Server RAID 1+0 array with 4GB RAM

Orion NPM 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.

Virtual Machine Orion NPM Requirements by License Level
Configuration SL100, SL250, or SL500 SL2000 SLX
CPU Speed 2.0 GHz 2.4 GHz 3.0 GHz
2GB 5GB 20GB
Allocated Note: Due to intense I/O requirements, SQL Server should be
Hard Drive Space hosted on a separate physical server configured as RAID 1+0. RAID
5 is not recommended for the SQL Server hard drive.
Memory 2GB 3 GB 3 GB
Each installation of Orion NPM should have its own, dedicated
network interface card.
Note: Since Orion NPM uses SNMP to monitor your network, if you
Network Interface
are unable to dedicate a network interface card to your Orion NPM
installation, you may experience gaps in monitoring data due to the
low priority generally assigned to SNMP traffic.



Server Sizing
Orion NPM can monitor networks of any size, from small corporate LANs to large
enterprise and service provider networks. Most Orion systems perform well on
3.0 GHz systems with 3 GB of RAM, using default polling engine settings.
However, when monitoring larger networks, you should give additional
consideration to the hardware used and the system configuration. For more
information about configuring Orion NPM for monitoring larger networks, see the
SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.

Enabling Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS)
In order to host the Orion Web Console, Microsoft Internet Information Services
(IIS) version 6 must be installed and enabled on the server hosting Orion NPM.
The following procedures enable IIS as required for both Windows XP, Windows
Vista, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008.

Enabling IIS on Windows Server 2008
The following procedure enables IIS on Windows Server 2008.

To enable IIS on Windows Server 2008:

1. Click Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Server Manager.
2. Click Roles.

3. Click Add Roles.

4. Click Next to start the Add Roles Wizard.



5. Check Web Server (IIS).

6. If you are prompted to add features required for Web Server (IIS), click
Add Required Features.

7. Click Next on the Select Server Roles window, and then click Next on the
Web Server (IIS) window.



8. Check Application Development > ASP.NET.

9. Click Add Required Role Services.

10. Check Security > Windows Authentication.



11. Check Management Tools > IIS 6 Management Compatibility.

12. Click Next on the Select Role Services window.
13. Click Install on the Confirm Installation Selections window.
14. Click Close on the Installation Results window.

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

To enable IIS on Windows Server 2003:

1. Click Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs.
2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
3. Confirm that Application Server is checked, and then click Details.



4. Confirm that Internet Information Services (IIS) is checked, and then click
Details.

5. Confirm that World Wide Web Service is checked, and then click Details.

6. Confirm that World Wide Web Service is checked, and then click OK.

7. Click OK on the Internet Information Services (IIS) window, and then click
OK on the Application Server window.



8. Confirm Management and Monitoring Tools is checked and click Details.

9. Confirm that both Simple Network Management Protocol and WMI SNMP
Provider are checked, and then click OK.

10. Click Next on the Windows Components window, and then click Finish after
completing the Windows Components Wizard.
Note: You may be prompted to install additional components, to provide your
Windows Operating System media, or to restart your computer.

Enabling IIS on Windows XP
The following procedure enables IIS on Windows XP.

To enable IIS on Windows XP:

1. Click Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs.
2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.



3. Check Internet Information Services (IIS), and then click Details.

4. Confirm that World Wide Web Service is checked, and then click Details.

5. Confirm that World Wide Web Service is checked, and then click OK.

6. Click OK.



7. Confirm Management and Monitoring Tools is checked and click Details.

8. Confirm that Simple Network Management Protocol is checked.
9. Confirm that WMI SNMP Provider is checked.

10. Click OK.
11. Click Next on the Windows Components window.



12. Click Finish after completing the Windows Components Wizard.
Note: The Windows Component Wizard may require you to provide your
Windows Operating System media or restart your computer.
13. Click Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Internet Information
Services.
14. Expand (local computer) > Web Sites.
15. Right-click Default Web Site, and then click Stop. Repeat for any other web
sites started on the Orion NPM host server.

Installing Orion NPM
The following procedure guides you through installing Orion NPM. Ensure that
the computer on which you install Orion NPM meets or exceeds the stated
requirements. For example, ensure that your computer is running Microsoft
Internet information Services (IIS), SNMP trap services, and Microsoft .Net
Framework version 3.5 or later. For more information about hardware and
software requirements, see “Requirements” on page 6.

Warning: Do not install an evaluation version of Orion NPM either on a server on
which you have already installed a production version of Orion NPM or on a
domain controller.

Note: For evaluation only, Orion NPM may be installed on Windows XP or Vista.
SolarWinds does not, however, support or recommend the installation of Orion
NPM on either Windows XP or Vista in production environments. When installing
Orion NPM on Windows XP, you must confirm that Shared Memory, Named
Pipes, and TCP/IP are enabled on remote databases.



To install Orion NPM:

1. Using an account with local administrative privileges, log on to the server on
which you want to install Orion NPM.
Note: To avoid permissions issues, this account should not be a domain
account, and it should not be subject to any local or group policy restrictions.
2. If you downloaded the product from the SolarWinds website, navigate to
your downloaded .zip file, extract the evaluation package to an appropriate
location, and then launch the SolarWinds Orion evaluation executable.
3. If you received physical media, browse to the SolarWinds Orion evaluation
executable, and then launch it.
4. If you are prompted to install Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, click
Install, and then complete the installation, including a reboot, if required.
Note: Downloading and installing Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 may take
up to 20 minutes or more, depending on your existing system configuration.
5. Review the Welcome text, and then click Next.

6. If the InstallShield Wizard detects that Microsoft Internet Information
Services (IIS) is not installed, suspend installation, quit setup, and then
install Internet Information Services (IIS).
Note: For more information about enabling IIS, see “Enabling IIS on
Windows Server 2008” on page 8, “Enabling IIS on Windows Server 200” on
page 8, or “Enabling IIS on Windows XP” on page 13.
7. If you had to install Internet Information Services (IIS), launch the
SolarWinds Orion evaluation executable again.



8. Accept the terms of the license agreement, and then click Next.

9. Confirm the installation location or click Browse to provide another location
on the Choose Destination Location window, and then click Next.

10. If you want to start evaluating Orion NPM as soon as possible, complete
the following steps.
Note: For evaluation purposes, SolarWinds recommends the Express Install,
unless you already have a SQL Server database that you want to use.
a. Select Express Install, and then click Next.



b. Review your installation settings, and then click Next.

c. Click Finish to complete the installation wizard and exit.
d. Complete the Network Sonar Wizard to populate your Orion database.
Note: For more information about Orion Network Sonar, see
“Discovering Your Network” on page 23.
11. If you already have a SQL Server database that you want to use,
complete the following steps.
a. Select Advanced Install, and then click Next.

b. Click Next on the Start Copying Files window.



c. Click Next on the Welcome to the Orion Configuration Wizard window.
d. Provide your SQL Server instance, select SQL Server Authentication,
provide an appropriate Login and Password, and then click Next.
Notes:
• The selected instance must support mixed-mode or SQL
authentication with strong passwords. For more information, see
http://msdn.microsoft.com/ms143705.aspx.
• If you are using an existing database or SQL account, the user
account must be assigned the db_owner database role.

e. If you are creating a new database, select Create a new database,
provide a name for the new database, and then click Next.

f. If you are using an existing database, select Use an existing
database, type or select the database name, and then click Next.



g. If you want the Orion NPM polling engine and web console to use a
new SQL account for accessing the database, select Create a new
account, provide a new account name and confirmed password, and
then click Next.
Note: If you are creating a new SQL account for use with Orion
NPM, the account must be assigned the securityadmin server role.

h. If you want the Orion NPM polling engine and web console to use
an existing SQL account for accessing the database, select the
existing account, provide the appropriate password, and then click Next.

i. Provide the IP address of the server used for the web console.
Note: Consider retaining the default IP address setting of All
Unassigned, unless your environment requires the designation of a
specific IP address for your Orion Web Console.



j. 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, and then click Next.
Note: If you specify any port other than 8787, the default port for
evaluations, 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.

k. If you are prompted to create a new directory, click Yes.
l. If you are prompted to create a new website, click Yes.
Note: Choosing to overwrite an existing website will not result in the
deletion of any previously applied custom Orion NPM website settings.
m. Confirm that the services you want to install are checked on the Service
Settings window, and then click Next.

n. Review the final configuration items, and then click Next.
o. Confirm that Launch Orion Web is checked, and then click Finish on
the Completing the Orion Configuration Wizard dialog.



Discovering Your Network
Orion NPM provides the easy-to-use Network Sonar Wizard to direct you in the
discovery of devices on your network. Before using the Network Sonar Wizard,
consider the following points about network discovery in Orion NPM:

• Discovery does not add devices that are already in your Orion database.
Network Sonar safely recognizes and adds only new network devices.
• CPU and Memory Utilization charts are automatically enabled for your
Windows, Cisco Systems, VMware, and Foundry Networks devices.
• The community strings you provide in the Network Sonar Wizard are only
used for SNMP GET requests, so read-only strings are sufficient.
To begin discovering your network:

1. If the Network Sonar Wizard is not already open, click Start > All
Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Configuration and Auto-Discovery >
Network Discovery.
Note: The first time you log in, you only need to provide Admin as your User
Name, leave Password empty, and then click Login. This remains true until
you change the Admin account password. For more information, see
“Changing an Account Password” in the SolarWinds Orion Network
Performance Monitor Administrator Guide
2. If the devices on your network do not require community strings other
than the default strings public and private provided by Orion NPM,
click Next.

3. If any of your network devices require community strings other than
public and private or if you want to use an SNMPv3 credential,
complete the following steps to add the required SNMP credential.
Note: Repeat the procedure in this step for each new community string you
need to add. When you have added all your community strings, you can
highlight them, and then move them up or down in the list by using the



arrows to the right. To speed up discovery, move the most commonly used
community strings on your network to the top of the list.
a. Click Add New Credential.

b. Select the SNMP Version of your new credential.

c. If you are adding an SNMPv1 or SNMPv2c credential, provide the
new SNMP Community String, and then click Add.



d. If you are adding an SNMPv3 credential, provide the following
information for the new.credential:
• User Name
• Context
• Authentication Method and Password/Key
• Privacy/Encryption Method and Password/Key

e. Click Add, and then click Next.

4. If you want 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.

b. For each IP range, provide both a Start address and an End address.

c. Click Add to add the defined IP address range.
Note: Click X to delete an incorrect IP address range.
d. If you have added all the IP ranges you want to poll, click Next.

5. If you want to discover devices connected to a specific seed router or
located 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. 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, and then click Add.
Note: Repeat this step for each additional subnet that you want to poll
for any new devices.



c. If you want to discover devices using a seed router, click Add a
Seed Router, provide the IP address of the Router, and then click Add.
Notes:
• Repeat this step for each additional seed router that you want to use
to discover new devices.
• Orion NPM reads the routing table of the designated router and
offers to discover devices on the Class A network (255.0.0.0 mask)
containing the seed router and 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.
• Networks connected through the seed router are NOT automatically
selected for discovery.

d. Confirm that all networks on which you want to conduct your network
discovery are checked, and then click Next.
6. If you already know the IP addresses or hostnames of the devices that
you want to discover and include in the Orion database, complete the
following procedure:
a. Click Bulk Upload in the Selection Method menu.



b. Type the IP addresses or hostnames of devices you want to discover.
Note: If you are providing IP addresses, only IPv4 addresses are valid.

c. Click Validate to confirm that the provided IP addresses and hostnames
are assigned to SNMP-enabled devices.
d. If you have provided all the IP addresses and hostnames that you
want to discover, click Next.
7. Provide a Name and Description for your discovery, and then click
Discover.
Note: For evaluation purposes, retain the default Discovery Settings. For
more information about Discovery Settings, see the SolarWinds Orion
Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.



Adding Discovered Devices to Orion NPM
Whenever the results of a discovery are requested, either at the conclusion of the
Network Sonar Wizard or when View Results is clicked for a selected discovery,
the Network Sonar Results Wizard opens automatically. The Network Sonar
Results Wizard directs you through the process of adding discovered devices to
your Orion database. The following steps detail the process of selecting
discovered devices, interfaces, and volumes for monitoring in Orion NPM.

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

1. On the Device Types to Import page, check the device types you want Orion
NPM to monitor, and then click Next.
Note: If you are not sure whether or not you want Orion NPM to monitor a
specific device type, check the device type in question. If, later, you do not
want Orion NPM to monitor a device of the selected type, simply delete the
device using Web Node Management. For more information, see “Managing
Devices in the Web Console” in the SolarWinds Orion Network Performance
Monitor Administrator Guide.

2. On the Interface Types to Import page, check the interface types you want
Orion NPM to monitor, and then click Next.
specific interface type, check the interface type in question. If, later, you do
not want Orion NPM to monitor an interface of the selected type, simply
delete the interface using Web Node Management. For more information,
see “Managing Devices in the Web Console” in the SolarWinds Orion
3. On the Volume Types to Import page, check the volume types you want
Orion NPM to monitor, and then click Next.
specific volume type, check the volume type in question. If, later, you do not
want Orion NPM to monitor an volume of the selected type, simply delete the
volume using Web Node Management. For more information, see “Managing
Devices in the Web Console” in the SolarWinds Orion Network Performance



4. Check valid states for imported interfaces, and then click Next.
Note: By default, Orion NPM imports interfaces that are discovered in an
Operationally Up state. However, because interfaces may cycle off and on
intermittently, the Import Settings page allows you to select interfaces found
in Operationally Down or Shutdown states for import, as well.

5. Confirm that all the devices, interfaces, and volumes that you want to import
are checked in the Import Preview list, and then click Import.
6. After the import completes, click Finish.
Note: Imported devices display in the All Nodes resource.



Chapter 3
Orion NPM Quick Tour

The features and flexibility provided by Orion Network Performance Monitor
ensure that your network monitoring capabilities are virtually limitless. The
following sections provide a number of scenarios showing how quickly you can
be monitoring and managing your network with Orion NPM.

Note: The following sections build on each other, sequentially, to show you how
to use some key Orion NPM features. This chapter is most useful when it is read
and followed from start to finish, beginning with “Managing Network Growth” and
then continuing through to the end.

Managing Network Growth
The following procedure details the steps required to add a device for monitoring
through the Orion Web Console.

To add a device for monitoring through the Orion Web Console:

1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Orion Web Console.
2. Log in to the Orion Web Console as an administrator.
Note: The first time you log in to the Orion Web Console, you only need to
provide Admin as your User Name, leave Password empty, and then click
Login. This remains true until you change your Admin account password.
For more information, see “Changing an Account Password” in the
SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.
3. Click Admin in the Views toolbar.
4. Click Manage Nodes in the Node Management grouping of the Orion
Website Administration page.
5. Click Add Node on the Node Management toolbar.

Orion NPM Quick Tour 33


6. Provide the hostname or IP address of the node you want to add in the
Hostname or IP Address field.

7. If you only want to use ICMP to monitor node status, response time, or
packet loss for the added node, check ICMP (Ping only).
8. If you want to use SNMP to monitor the added node, complete the
following steps:
a. Select the SNMP Version for the added node.
Note: If the device you are adding requires the enhanced security
features of SNMPv3, select SNMPv3.

34 Orion NPM Quick Tour


b. If the SNMP port on the added node is not the Orion NPM default of
161, provide the actual port number in the SNMP Port field.
c. If the added node supports 64 bit counters and you want to use
them, check Allow 64 bit counters.
Note: Orion NPM fully 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. If you want Orion NPM to use SNMPv2c to monitor the added node,
provide valid community strings for the added node.
Note: The Read/Write Community String is optional, but Orion NPM does
require the read Community String, at minimum, for node monitoring.
10. If you want Orion NPM to use SNMPv3 to monitor the added node,
provide required SNMP Credentials, Authentication, and
Privacy/Encryption settings.



11. If you are using SNMP to communicate with your added node, click
Validate SNMP after entering all credentials to confirm your SNMP settings.
12. Click Next.
13. Check the interfaces, volumes, and interface charts for the added node that
you want Orion NPM to monitor. The following options are available in the
selection toolbar:
• Clicking All selects all listed interfaces, volumes, and interface charts.
• Clicking None clears any checked interfaces, volumes, or interface
charts that have been selected for monitoring.
• Clicking All Active Interfaces selects only currently active interfaces
and the associated interface charts for monitoring.
• Clicking All Volumes selects all listed volumes for monitoring.
• Clicking All Interfaces selects all listed interfaces for monitoring.

14. After you have selected interfaces, volumes, or interface charts for
monitoring, click Next.
15. Click Next on the Add Pollers view.
Note: For more information about using Universal Device Pollers, see
“Monitoring MIBs with Universal Device Pollers” in the SolarWinds Orion
16. If you want to edit the SNMP settings you provided earlier, change the
appropriate values in the SNMP area of the Change Properties page, and
then click Validate SNMP to confirm your new settings.



17. If you want to edit the default polling settings for your added node,
change the Node Status Polling or Collect Statistics Every values in the
Polling area of the Change Properties page, as appropriate.
Note: The Node Status Polling value refers to the period of time, in
seconds, between the node status checks performed by Orion NPM on the
added node. The Collect Statistics Every value refers to the period of time
between updates Orion NPM makes to displayed statistics for the added
node. For more information about Orion NPM polling settings, see “Managing
Orion NPM Polling Engines” in the SolarWinds Orion Network Performance

18. If you have defined any custom properties for monitored nodes, provide
appropriate values for the added node in the Custom Properties area of the
Change Properties page.
Note: The Custom Properties area is empty if you have not defined any
custom properties for monitored nodes. For more information about enabling
custom properties, see “Monitoring Networks by Location” on page 38.
19. Click OK, Add Node when you have completed properties configuration for
your added node.
20. If you have successfully added the node, click OK on the dialog.



Monitoring Networks by Location
Orion NPM provides the Custom Property Editor that allows you to choose from a
provided collection of many commonly used properties, or you can easily and
efficiently 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. For more information, see “Importing Custom
Property Data” in the SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor
Administrator Guide.

Alternatively, if you only have a few individual changes or additions, you may
choose to make those changes using the Edit view. For more information, see
“Editing Custom Properties” in the SolarWinds Orion Network Performance

The following procedure uses the Custom Property Editor to create a custom
location property that is applied to monitored nodes.

To create and apply a custom location property:

1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Grouping and Access
Control > Custom Property Editor.
2. Click Add Custom Property.



3. Select Add Predefined Properties, check State, and then click OK.

5. Log in to the Orion Web Console as an administrator.
6. Click Admin in the Views toolbar.
7. Click Manage Nodes in the Node Management grouping of the Orion
Website Administration page.
8. Select the type of nodes to which you want to apply the State property using
either of the following methods:
• Use the search tool above the node list to search your Orion database.
• Select an appropriate Group by criteria, and then click the appropriate
group including the node.

9. Check all nodes to which you want to apply the State property, and then click
Edit Properties on the Node Management toolbar.



10. Check State, type the appropriate state name for the node or group of nodes
you selected, and then click Submit.

Repeat the procedure above to assign different state names, as appropriate, for
the devices on your network. Once a custom property is defined, you can use it
to generate custom reports and alerts, as shown in the following sections.

Immediate Status Reporting
Using the Report Writer application that is packaged with Orion NPM, you can
quickly create up-to-the-minute reports showing network status. The following
procedure creates a report using the previously created custom State property.

To create a custom network status report with Report Writer:

1. Click Start > All Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Alerting, Reporting, and
Mapping > Report Writer, and then click Create a New Report.



2. Click Historical – Availability Details, and then click OK.

3. Provide a 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.

4. Select the display Orientation of your report, and then confirm that Make
this Report available from the Orion website is checked.



5. Click the Select Fields tab.
6. Click Browse (…), and then select Add a new field.

7. Click the Field: asterisk (*), and then click Network Nodes > Node Details >
Node Name.


9. Click the Field: asterisk (*), and then click Network Nodes > Custom
Properties > State.



10. Click the sort: asterisk (*), and then click ascending.

12. Click the Field: asterisk (*), and then click Historical Response Time and
Availability > Availability.
Note: The Average function is selected automatically. This function is
applied over the time period configured on the Time Frame tab.

13. Click the Time Frame tab.
14. Select Named Time Frame, and then select Past Hour as the Time Frame.

15. Click Execute SQL Query.
16. Click the Report Grouping tab.
17. In the Add New Group field, select State, and then click Add Report
Group.
18. Click Preview to view your report.



19. If you want to include your company logo as the report header and
footer, complete the following steps.
a. Resize your company logo so it is no more than 150 pixels in height.
b. Save your resized company logo as Header.jpg in the following folder:
<Volume:>Program FilesSolarWindsCommonWebResources

c. Click Refresh in the Report Writer tool bar.

20. Click File > Save to save your new report of average availability of all
monitored nodes on your network yesterday.
21. Click File > Print to print your new report.

Discovering Network and Device Failures
With advanced alerting, Orion NPM gives you the ability to immediately discover
whenever any device on your network is experiencing a problem. The following
procedure creates an advanced alert that uses the custom location property
defined previously to alert you to a node failure on your monitored network.

Creating an Alert Using a Custom Property
The following example creates multiple alerts using the State custom property
defined previously. Each alert will trigger when a node goes down. Upon
triggering, each alert will perform a specific action that depends on the value of
the State custom property for the node triggering the alert.

To create a new advanced alert:

Mapping > Advanced Alert Manager.
2. Click Configure Alerts.



3. Check Alert me when a node goes down, and then click Edit.

4. Click the Trigger Actions tab, and then click Add New Action.

Configuring Alert Actions
The following sections create three different actions for the same alert:

• Create a Local Alert Log
• Send a Syslog Message
• Send an SNMP Trap

The following sections assume that you have already created the State custom
property and that you are adding an action to an existing alert. For more
information about creating the State custom property, see “Monitoring Networks
by Location” on page 38. For more information about creating alerts, see
“Creating an Alert Using a Custom Property” on page 44.



Create a Local Alert Log
The following procedure configures a local alert log on the computer hosting your
Orion NPM evaluation.

To create a local alert log:

1. Open an alert for editing, click the Trigger Actions tab, and then click Add
New Action.

2. Select Log the Alert to a file, and then click OK.

3. Click Browse (…) to open the default Orion directory.

4. Type EvaluationAlertLog as the alert log file name, and then click Save.



5. In the Message text box, type the following message:
Node ${NodeName} in ${State} network is currently down.

6. Click OK.

Send a Syslog Message
The following procedure configures an alert Syslog message.

To configure an alert Syslog message action:

1. Open an alert for editing and then click Add New Action.

2. Select Send a Syslog Message, and then click OK.



3. Click the Syslog Message tab.
4. Type 127.0.0.1 as the Hostname or IP Address of the Syslog Server,
and then type Node ${NodeName} in ${State} network is currently
down in the Syslog Message field.

Note: The ${variable} syntax is required for Orion NPM variables. For
more information, see “Alert Variables and Examples” in the SolarWinds
Orion Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.

5. Click OK.
6. If you are finished configuring alert actions, click OK.

Send an SNMP Trap
The following procedure configures an SNMP trap alert action.

To configure an SNMP trap action:

1. Open an alert for editing and then click Add New Action.
2. Select Send an SNMP Trap, and then click OK.

3. Click the SNMP Trap tab.



4. Type 127.0.0.1 as the SNMP Trap Destination, and then type Node
${NodeName} in ${State} network is currently down in the …Alert
Message field.
Note: The ${variable} syntax is required for Orion NPM variables. For
more information about available variables, see “Alert Variables and
Examples” in the SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor
Administrator Guide.

5. Click OK.
6. If you are finished configuring alert actions, click OK.

Testing Alerts
You do not have to actually experience a device failure to confirm that your alerts
are working. Orion NPM provides a Test Alerts function that allows you to ensure
that you have configured your alerts properly, as shown in the following
procedure.

To test a configured alert:

Mapping > Advanced Alert Manager.
2. Click Configure Alerts.



3. Check the alert you want to test, and then click Test.
Note: For evaluation purposes, check Alert me when a node goes down as
it is the same alert that was configured previously.

4. Select Alert on Network Node, and then select the name of the computer
on which you have installed your evaluation.

5. In the Test Alert Definition area, click Test Alert Trigger.

6. Review the alert test log as the test completes.



After the alert test completes, you can view the results of each of your alert
actions as follows:

• To view the results of your email alert action, open EvaluationAlertLog in
your Orion folder, typically <Volume:>Program FilesSolarwindsOrion.
• To view results of your Syslog message action, click Start > All Programs >
SolarWinds Orion > Syslog and SNMP Traps > Syslog Viewer.
• To view the results of your Syslog message action, click Start > All
Programs > SolarWinds Orion > Syslog and SNMP Traps > Trap Viewer.

Visualizing Network Structure
Orion NPM features the ability to create multilevel network maps with Orion
Network Atlas. Creating a map with Orion Network Atlas can be as simple as
selecting a background image, dragging nodes to the image, and then
connecting the nodes with lines, assuming the following conditions:

• Either you have already discovered multiple nodes on your network using
Network Sonar or you have added multiple nodes using Web Node
Management in the Orion Web Console. For more information about Network
Sonar, see “Discovering Your Network” on page 23. For more information
about Web Node Management, see “Managing Network Growth” on page 33.
• You have already assigned a custom location property to your network nodes
and there are multiple, different values for the nodes on your network. For
more information, see “Monitoring Networks by Location” on page 38.

Creating a Map with Orion Network Atlas
The following procedure creates a map using Orion Network Atlas.

To create a map:

Mapping > Orion Network Atlas.
2. Connect to your Orion server.
a. Type your Orion login and password in the appropriate fields.
b. Type the IP address or the hostname of the server in the Address field.
c. If you are connecting to an Orion EOC server, select EOC as the
Connect to target.
d. If you are connecting to an Orion NPM server, select Orion as the
Connect to target.
e. Click Connect.



3. Expand the map objects tree in the left pane to view monitored objects on
your network that may be mapped.
Note: To view details about any object, hover over it with the mouse pointer.

4. Drag objects from the left pane onto the map in the main pane.
Notes:
• A checkmark next to a node or network resource indicates you have
already added it to your map.
• To locate a specific map object in your map, clicking a network resource
in the left pane selects the map object on the map itself.



5. Click the Home tab, and then click Straight Line .
6. Click an object with the line drawing tool to begin drawing the link.
7. Click a second object to finish drawing the link.

8. Click the Home tab, and then click Select in the Tools group.
9. Right-click the link, and then select Properties.
10. Click Status in the left pane of the Link Properties page.



11. Drag the appropriate interface objects from the left pane of the Orion
Network window to the link status assignment areas, and then click OK.

12. If you want to edit the appearance of the created link, complete the
following steps:
a. Click Appearance in the left pane of the Link Properties page.
b. Configure link Width, Color, and Style, as appropriate.
c. Click OK.

For more information about creating network maps with Orion Network Atlas, see
the SolarWinds Orion Network Atlas Administrator Guide.



Customizing Maps in Network Atlas
You can select colors, textures, and images to serve as your map background:

• Selecting a Background Color
• Selecting a Background Texture
• Selecting a Background Image
• Clearing the Background

Selecting a Background Color
Orion supports 24-bit color backgrounds.

To set a map background color:

1. Click the Home tab, click Background > Background Color .
2. Select a color from the palette, or click More Colors to select a custom color.

Selecting a Background Texture
Orion also provides numerous colored textures that can serve as map
backgrounds.

To set a map background textures:

1. Click the Home > Background > Background Texture .
2. Enter appropriate values for the Width and Height of your map in the Map
Size in Pixels area. The default values are the smallest area bounding the
existing map objects and labels.
3. Select a texture to apply as your map background, and then click OK.

Selecting a Background Image
Orion allows you to use images as the background of your map. The source of
the background image can be a graphics file on your hard drive or a URL to a
graphics file on the Internet in any of the following graphics formats:

• Graphics Interchange Format (.gif, non-animated)
• Joint Photographic Experts Group (.jpg)
• Microsoft Windows Bitmap (.bmp)
• Portable Network Graphics (.png)



To select a background image from disk:

1. Click the Home > Background > Background Image .
2. Navigate to the image you want to use.
To select a web image as a background:
1. Click the Home > Background > Linked Background .
2. Type the URL of the image you want to use, and then click OK.
Notes:

• Background images you supply display at their full size in the Orion Web
Console, so consider their dimensions. You may rescale images within the
application, but images displayed at full scale provide optimal quality.
• In determining map size and resolution, consider web page layouts and
potential display screen resolutions.
• Example background images are in the NetworkAtlas Backgrounds folder
located in your default shared documents folder. Clicking Background
Image always starts you in this background images folder.

Clearing the Background
To clear the current map background, click Home > Background > Clear
Background .

Nesting Maps
Nested maps allow you to navigate through a map to see multiple levels of detail.
For example, the map of the United States can include an icon for a child map of
Oklahoma. You can click the Oklahoma object to open the child map and see the
next level of map detail.



The map of Oklahoma can then become a parent map to a network diagram.

Each child map can include a view of the objects, either devices or other maps,
deployed on it. Any nested map objects can be clicked on in the web console to
view the next level of map detail, until the level of the final network device is
reached and all available network information is displayed.

To nest a map:

1. Drag a map from the Maps group in the left pane onto the parent map, and
then position its icon appropriately.
2. If you want the status of a child map to also indicate the status of its
child objects, complete the following steps:
a. Right-click the child map icon on the map, and then select Properties.
b. Check Include child status on the Status properties page, and then
click OK. The object status icon now includes the secondary status
indicator.
Note: The total number of objects on a map, including those displayed on a child
map, affects how fast the map loads in the Orion Web Console. If your maps load
slowly, decrease the number of map objects.

Integrating External Websites
With the external website view feature, any Orion NPM administrator can set any
external website as an Orion Web Console view, as shown in the following steps.

To create or edit an external website view in the web console:

2. Log in to the Orion Web Console as an administrator, and then click Admin
in the Views toolbar.



3. Click External Websites in the Customize grouping of the Orion Website
Administration page, and then click Add on the External Websites view.

4. Provide a Menu Title for the external website to display in the Views toolbar.

5. If you want to include a heading within the view, provide an optional
Page Title to display within the view.

6. Provide the URL of the external website, in http://domain_name format.

7. Click OK.
8. Click Preview to view the external website as the web console will display it.



Investigating Orion NPM Further
While this concludes the guided tour of Orion NPM, this Evaluation Guide has in
no way fully covered the wealth of network monitoring and management features
available with Orion NPM and its associated modules. Please continue reading
the next chapter, Orion NPM Features, and explore the SolarWinds Orion
Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide, available online at
http://www.solarwinds.com/support/documentation.aspx, to learn even more
about the power and convenience of using Orion Network Performance Monitor.



Chapter 4
Orion NPM Features

Orion Network Performance Monitor provides a comprehensive fault and
performance management platform that allows you to intuitively collect and view
network availability and realtime and historical statistics 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 Features Overview
The following table provides detailed descriptions and benefits of some of the
many features that distinguish Orion NPM as a network monitoring solution.

Feature Feature Description Benefit

Monitor and manage
An integrated wireless device poller wireless thin and
Integrated Wireless enables you to leverage proven Orion autonomous access
Poller NPM alerts, reports, and web console points the same way
resources. you monitor your wired
network devices.

Cisco EnergyWise technology allows
you to view EnergyWise device
Responsibly manage
Cisco EnergyWise management data to measure, report,
energy consumption
Monitoring and reduce the energy used by
across the enterprise
devices connected to EnergyWise-
enabled switches.

Network Atlas, the updated Orion
network mapping application, gives
you the ability to create multi-layered Stay informed of the
and nested, fully customizable, web- health of your entire
Network Atlas
based maps of your network to network with a single
visually track the performance of any glance.
device in any location across your
network in real time.

Designate ports as unpluggable to Distinguish low priority
Unpluggable Port avoid receiving unnecessary alerts laptop and PC ports
Mode when users undock or shutdown from more important
connected devices. infrastructure ports.

Detailed graphs, tables, and lists are
Spend time managing
displayed in a fully customizable web-
Intuitive Point-and- the network instead of
based interface allowing users to
Click Interface managing the network
remotely view network availability,
management software.
fault, and performance information.

Orion NPM Features 61



Deploying Orion NPM is simple. First, Immediately begin
install and configure Orion NPM, and monitoring your
Do-It-Yourself then automatically discover your network yourself
Deployment network. Finally, begin monitoring your instead of listening to
network in less than an hour. All consultants tell you
without any paid consultants. about your network.

Quickly configure alerting for
correlated events, sustained Keep your sanity by
Advanced Alert
conditions, and escalations without only getting alerts for
Engine
waking up at 3 AM to review genuine issues.
unnecessary notifications.

Monitor the performance of VMware Always know how well
VMware ESX Server ESX Servers and the virtual machines your virtual network
Monitoring they host with specifically tailored resources are
resources, charts, alerts, and reports. performing.

Orion NPM incorporates Thwack.com,
SolarWinds’ online community of
Relax knowing that
thousands of network engineers, to
you will never need to
Community-Enabled give users prompt answers to network
investigate a network
issues. Users can share Orion NPM
issue alone again.
resources such as Universal Device
Pollers and application templates.

Provide custom network reports to Go home early by
managers, giving them precisely the easily setting up
Report Writer
information they want without flooding precise automatic
them with unnecessary data. report generation.

Using the award-winning, intuitive Save time. Complete
Intuitive Web Orion Web Console interface, users Orion NPM tasks
Administration can now conduct administrative tasks, remotely without
such as adding and deleting devices requiring users to RDP
from anywhere on the network. into the Orion host.

Convert and combine MIB values from
the Universal Device Poller to
customize data for graphing, alerting,
View MIB data in an
MIB Transformation and reporting. Choose from a list of
easy to interpret
Wizard common transformations, such as
format.
Celsius to Fahrenheit, or create your
own multi-MIB formulas, like average
interface throughput on a router.

Using additional modules, Orion NPM Save time. Expand
can analyze network traffic using your existing Orion
NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, provide VoIP NPM deployment to
Extensible Modules
analysis using VoIP Monitor, and add features instead of
monitor wireless networks using deploying standalone
Wireless Network Monitor. software.

Scale Orion NPM to accommodate Manage your network
network growth with a hot standby growth instead of your
Scalability Engines
engine, multiple polling engines, and network monitoring
additional web servers. solution.

62 Orion NPM Features



Save time investigating
issues by accessing
Set up alerts with the ability to receive,
Integrated Trap and information from a
process, forward and send Syslog and
Syslog Server single interface instead
trap messages.
of polling various
machines.

Establish unique accounts and specify Relax knowing you can
Role-based Access the information displayed within the limit user access to
Control Orion NPM interface for a particular specific areas or views
departments, groups, or users. of the network.

Easily troubleshoot network devices Save time investigating
Device
from a single web console that device issues from a
Troubleshooting
displays CPU load, disk space, and single comprehensive
Display
memory utilization. device status display.

Rely on an open Microsoft® SQL Enterprise-tested
Open Integration Server database, industry-standard standards support your
MIBs and protocols. Orion NPM.

Create custom groups to track and
Proactively keep
report on business and network
various business units
Business Grouping information using a predefined list or
informed of their
custom fields, such as CRM,
network status.
Development, Email, HR, and Web.

Import HTML code into the Orion NPM Access favorite HTML
Customizable Web
interface to create highly personalized pages without leaving
Console
views and screens. Orion NPM.

Easily add any SNMP-enabled device
into the monitoring database and
collect detailed information, such as
Monitor old or new
Universal Device interface details stored in device MIB
devices worry-free and
Poller tables. You can also easily convert
poll for more detailed
and combine polled data using the
device information.
MIB Transformation Wizard to choose
exactly how you want to see your
network data displayed.

Monitoring Cisco EnergyWise Devices
SolarWinds has partnered with Cisco to present EnergyWise to optimize energy
usage on your network. The EnergyWise technology enables you to configure
energy usage policies for EnergyWise-enabled and power-over-ethernet (PoE)
devices on your network. EnergyWise is a Cisco technology developed to help
you cut enterprise energy costs, address environmental concerns, and adhere to
government directives around green technologies. By deploying EnergyWise
capable devices and by enabling their energy-saving features, you can run
business-critical systems in a fully powered state while allowing less critical
devices on Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports to power down or drop into standby
during off-peak hours.



Orion Network Atlas
Orion Network Atlas is a powerful tool for creating custom maps and network
diagrams for use in Orion NPM. 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 Orion Network Atlas application to create network
documentation, which can then be printed and exported as needed. Orion
Network Atlas features include:

• A large set of predefined background colors, textures, and images for use in
your maps, and the ability to use your own custom background graphics.
• The ability to alter lines to virtually any shape, size, color, or style, allowing
you to illustrate the status or the relative bandwidth of an associated object.
• The ability to display nodes in unique graphical styles to portray node status.
• The ability to nest maps to selectively reveal increasing levels of map detail.

For more information about creating maps with Orion NPM, see “Orion NPM” on
page 33.

To view Orion Network Atlas, click Start > Program Files > SolarWinds Orion >
Alerting, Reporting, and Mapping > Orion Network Atlas.

Monitoring Wireless Networks
Orion NPM can monitor any 802.11 IEEE-compliant autonomous access point
(AP) or wireless controller. Details about your access points (AP), wireless
clients, wireless controllers, thin APs, and rogue APs can all be monitored using
Orion NPM. Wireless device monitoring is configured, customized, and managed
using the Orion Web Console, as shown in the following sections.

Intuitive Point-and-Click Interface
Immediately, Orion Network Performance Monitor delivers readily accessible
metrics of the following critical aspects of your network:

• Network availability and latency
• Bandwidth capacity utilization
• CPU, volume, and memory utilization
• Node, interface, and volume status
• Interface errors and discards



These monitoring capabilities, along with the fully customizable Orion Web
Console, alerting and reporting engines, and flexible expansion capabilities,
make Orion Network Performance Monitor the easiest choice you will make
involving your network performance monitoring needs.

To view the Orion Web Console, click Start > Program Files > SolarWinds
Orion > Orion Web Console.

Universal Device Poller
Using Universal Device Pollers, Orion NPM has the ability to monitor more than
just network status, availability, bandwidth, and errors. You can monitor virtually
any statistic that your network devices can record, including hardware fan status,
CPU temperature, and current connections to external websites.

Orion Universal Device Pollers can both collect realtime statistics and record
historical statistics. These statistics are collected using the management
information bases (MIBs) that are associated with each of your network devices.
Orion NPM can also poll MIB tables, allowing you to poll an entire dataset.
Additionally, you can now create Universal Device Poller transforms that apply
mathematical formulas to the results of multiple pollers, allowing you to create
your own fully customized network performance metrics. All network information
collected from Universal Device Pollers is easily accessible in the web console.

To view the Orion Universal Device Pollers, click Start > All Programs >
SolarWinds Orion > Universal Device Poller.

Report Writer
Over time, the Orion NPM database accumulates a great deal of information.
SolarWinds has developed Report Writer to provide a quick and easy way for you
to extract data from your database and present it in a useful form. Several
standard reports are included in the Report Writer distribution, and you can
create new custom reports as necessary. When you have finished editing your
reports, you can print them with the click of a button. Most reports are also
enabled for viewing through the Orion NPM Web Console, by default. For more
information about creating reports with Orion NPM, see “Orion NPM” on page 33.

Note: Report Writer capabilities are enhanced when used in conjunction with the
Custom Property Editor. For more information about custom properties, see
“Custom Properties” on page 66.

To view Orion Report Writer, click Start > Program Files > SolarWinds Orion >
Alerting, Reporting, and Mapping > Report Writer.



Advanced Alert Engine
The Advanced Alert Engine allows you to configure several powerful alerting
features, including:

• Sustained state trigger and reset conditions
• Multiple condition matching
• Automatic alert escalation
• Separate actions for alert triggers and alert resets

Advanced alerts are configured either within the System Manager application or
within the Advanced Alert Manager. For more information about creating alerts
with Orion NPM, see “Orion NPM” on page 33.

Note: Advanced features, such as timed alert checking, delayed alert triggering,
timed alert resets, and alert suppression, are available by checking the Show
Advanced Features option at the lower left of any Advanced Alert window. For
more information about advanced alerting, see the SolarWinds Orion Network
Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.

To view advanced alerts, click Start > Program Files > SolarWinds Orion >
Alerting, Reporting, and Mapping > Advanced Alert Manager.

Custom Properties
Orion Network Performance Monitor features the Custom Property Editor, which
allows you to add a custom property to any monitored interface, node, or volume.
Custom properties are additional fields, such as country, building, asset tag, or
serial number that you can define and store in your Orion Network Performance
Monitor database. After properties are added, they are available for display and
filtering within both the Orion Network Performance Monitor Web Console and
the Report Writer application. Consider the following examples of how custom
properties may be used:

• Add additional information to nodes, such as contact, owner, or support
contract.
• Add a notification property to nodes that can configure the alerts feature to
send an e-mail to a computer named within the custom property.
• Add a custom property that is used as an account limitation on nodes.
• Add a custom property to nodes for grouping them on the web or in a report.
• Add a custom property to interfaces to display a custom description.
• Add a custom property and display it as an annotation on a chart.



Custom Property Editor allows you to choose from a provided collection of the
most commonly used properties, or you can easily and efficiently 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. For more information about
custom properties in Orion NPM, see “Orion NPM” on page 33.

To view the Custom Property Editor, click Start > Program Files > SolarWinds
Orion > Grouping and Access Control > Custom Property Editor.

Thwack.com Community Enabled
Thwack.com is the SolarWinds community site developed to provide SolarWinds
users and the broader networking community with useful information, tools and
valuable resources related to SolarWinds network management solutions. On
Thwack.com, over 15,000 users share their own customized reports, templates,
and scripts that maximize the inherent flexibility of Orion NPM. You can also see
recent posts and search all available posts directly from the Orion Web Console.

SNMP Trap Viewer
SNMP Traps enable a network device to notify Orion NPM of significant events
using an unsolicited SNMP message. The SolarWinds Trap Service listens for
incoming trap messages and then decodes, displays, and stores the messages
in the Orion NPM database. The SolarWinds Trap Service allows Orion NPM to
receive and process SNMP traps from any type of monitored network device,
and, because the SolarWinds Trap Service can open multiple connections to
your SQL server, it can handle large numbers of simultaneously incoming traps.

With Orion NPM, you can view SNMP traps both in the Orion NPM Web Console
and with the Trap Viewer application. The Traps view in the Orion NPM Web
Console provides quick access to current traps to ease network management,
and the Trap Viewer application allows you to configure trap-specific alerts, to
view and search traps, and to apply powerful trap filtering.

To open the Trap Viewer, click Start > Program Files > SolarWinds Orion >
Syslog and SNMP Traps > Trap Viewer.

Syslog Viewer
Syslog messages are realtime notifications that a network device generates
about specific events within the device. The SolarWinds Syslog Service allows
Orion NPM to receive and process Syslog messages from any type of monitored
network device, and, because the SolarWinds Syslog Service has the ability to
open multiple connections to your SQL server, it can handle large numbers of
simultaneously incoming Syslog messages.



With Orion NPM, you can view and acknowledge Syslog messages both in the
Web Console and with the Syslog Viewer application. The Syslog view in the
Orion NPM Web Console provides quick access to current messages to ease
network management, and the Syslog Viewer application allows you to configure
Syslog specific alerts, to view and search Syslog messages, and to apply
powerful message filtering.

To open the Syslog Viewer, click Start > Program Files > SolarWinds Orion >
Syslog and SNMP Traps > Syslog Viewer.

Integrating SolarWinds Engineer’s Toolset
When you are browsing the Orion NPM Web Console from a computer that has
SolarWinds Engineer’s Toolset installed, you can launch Toolset tools directly
from your web browser. Right-clicking on any node, interface, or volume will
display a menu of available Engineer’s Toolset tools and functions. For more
information about SolarWinds Toolsets, see www.solarwinds.com.

VMware ESX Server Monitoring
Orion NPM provides resources, charts, alerts, and reports that are designed
specifically for monitoring both your VMware ESX Servers and the virtual
machines that you are hosting on monitored ESX servers.


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