Table Of ContentSolarWinds Orion Network
Performance Monitor
An essential guide for installing, implementing, and
calibrating SolarWinds Orion NPM
Joe Dissmeyer
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor
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First published: April 2013
Production Reference: 1120413
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
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ISBN 978-1-84968-848-2
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Cover Image by J. Blaminsky ([email protected])
Credits
Author Project Coordinator
Joe Dissmeyer Anurag Banerjee
Reviewers Proofreader
Richard Jones Lesley Harrison
Dave Shield
Stephen Stack Indexer
Hemangini Bari
Acquisition Editor
Andrew Duckworth Graphics
Aditi Gajjar
Lead Technical Editor
Sweny M. Sukumaran Production Coordinator
Shantanu Zagade
Technical Editor
Dennis John Cover Work
Shantanu Zagade
About the Author
Joe Dissmeyer has a strong background in enterprise-class software and IT
systems which include VMware, Windows Server, Windows Desktop, Exchange
Server, and Cisco. He holds multiple IT certifications and has an A.S. degree in
Computer Information Science. Joe currently works as part of a team of network
engineers for a company in central Florida. Prior to accepting this position, he was
working as a Senior Technician for a healthcare provider, a Domain Administrator
for a small college, and a Service Desk Specialist for a Fortune 100 company. Joe is
well versed in server, desktop, and network administration.
Aside from his full-time job, Joe is a managed service provider for a few small
businesses in central Florida where he provides various remote and onsite IT
consulting services. He volunteers his knowledge and skills by participating
in the Microsoft Answers forums, the Spiceworks IT Professional Community,
and frequently posts troubleshooting and tech articles on his website at
www.joedissmeyer.com. Joe is an active member of his local community
and shares the visual and audio setup responsibilities with his church's
tech ministry team every week.
Joe's specialties are the Windows desktop, Windows Server engineering, operating
system deployment, network troubleshooting, and network administration. His
biggest strength is that he has a deep understanding of how information technology
systems work and how they affect a business.
You can contact Joe through his website at www.joedissmeyer.com, or via e-mail at
[email protected].
Acknowledgement
There are so many people that I want to thank for their support in writing this book.
Without their skills, forethought, support, and expertise I would never have been
able to write this book on my own.
I would like to thank my beautiful wife Tasha and our three children, Lauren,
Cameron, and Jocelyn, my parents Fred and Sandra and step-parents Mitch and
Dora. I also wish to thank Carl, Jennifer, and Megan. But most of all, I want to
thank Tim, Lisa and Ashley for putting up with me, helping me watch my kids,
and helping me find the time to write this book. To everyone, I could not have
done this without you—all of you! I love you all!
I also want to thank all of my colleagues and friends. There are too many to name,
but I wish to thank; Stacey F., Mason G., Dave "DJ" M., David S., Ernst S., Jim K.,
Derek M., Steve M, Jacques A, Joe M, Joe P, Rhys R, Debbie W, Brian Z, every
member of the SpiceCorps of Central Florida, and the entire Packt Publishing
team. I know that I missed a bunch of you, but you know who you are!
For my brothers in Christ; Daniel Hopper, Glenn Stewart, Phillip Kochanski, and
Milan Thaker. Thank so much for loaning me equipment and giving me advice on
some of the topics in this book. Also, a special shout-out to Dan Williams at Meraki.
May God bless you and your families!
But above all, I thank our almighty God. He has given me a gift to share with the
world so that I can glorify only Him. None of the knowledge and none of the skills
that I have been blessed with come from myself. They all are a gift from God! It is
my desire to serve only Him, the Everlasting one, the most High, and the most
holy. Amen!
"...so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that
they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge." — Colossians 2: 2, 3 (NIV)
About the Reviewers
Richard Jones manages the EU regional IT infrastructure for a leading global
manufacturing business, and also works closely with the global team to provide best
in class systems and support to the business. Richard's certifications and specialties
include Network Management Systems, Cisco technology, and VMware.
Dave Shield has worked as part of the technical support team for the Department
of Computer Science at the University of Liverpool for more than twenty years. For
most of that time, he has also been one of the core developers for the Net-SNMP
project helping it grow from a one-man fork to become one of the world's leading
open source network management products.
Both of these environments draw heavily on the open source ethos, and typically
involve the use of ad-hoc, in-house developed systems. Seeing how things look from
the perspective of a commercial software solution has been a fascinating experience,
and has helped clarify some of the advantages and limitations of the open
source approach.
Stephen Stack has 15 years of industry experience and is currently the Network
Team Leader for an International Financial Services company and Application
Service Provider (ASP) with offices in more than 50 countries worldwide. His current
role includes responsibility for the company's international MPLS-based WAN, client
ASP connectivity and data centers, and managing core data center technologies
including security, virtualization and network management solutions.
Stephen has extensive experience in the ISP and SME markets also and his
certifications include CCNP, CCDP, MCSE, and SolarWinds Certified Professional
(SCP) to name a few. He also has a number of SolarWinds NPM, APM, and NCM
deployments under his belt.
A keen golfer, Stephen lives in the picturesque village of Ballycotton located in
County Cork, Ireland with his wife Orla and son Rían. Stephen's professional
profile and be found on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/ststack/.
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Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Installation 13
System requirements 13
Windows Server setup 15
Internet Information Services (IIS) 15
Microsoft SQL Server 16
SQL Server setup 17
Service accounts 17
Installing SQL Server 2008 R2 Express 18
Configuring the SQL Server services 25
Verifying SQL Server authentication settings 29
Configuring the Windows Firewall 31
Installing SolarWinds Orion NPM 32
Summary 35
Chapter 2: Orion NPM Configuration 37
Orion Configuration Wizard 37
Orion Website Administration 44
Authentication and access 45
Changing the default Admin password 46
Disabling the Guest user account 46
Manage Accounts overview 48
Creating individual user accounts 49
Adding Active Directory user accounts 52
Adding Active Directory security groups 54
Account permissions 56
Setting thresholds 56
Orion NPM licensing 60
License tiers 61
Extending and increasing NPM licensing 62
