SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor: An essential guide for installing, implementing, and calibrating SolarWinds Orion NPM.

The Orion Configuration Wizard handles configuring every single aspect of the Orion NPM product, including the Windows Server itself. Since our Windows Server and SQL Server instance is in order, it is time to launch the Orion Configuration Wizard.

After launching the Orion NPM Configuration Wizard for the first time, a licensing screen appears asking you to click on one of three different buttons. I usually recommend holding off on activating the software until the last possible moment. I do this just in case there is a problem with an installation, if I need to refund a purchase, or if I need to purchase more licensing. But above all, I wait so that I can verify that all settings and configurations are in order.

The Orion Website Administration page is where an Orion administrator not only completes the initial configuration of a new Orion NPM installation, but also returns to continually in order to manage Orion NPM. It can be accessed at any time from any web page in the Orion website by clicking on the Settings link in the upper-right corner of the screen.

All of the core configuration options for the entire Orion NPM installation are located in the Orion Website Administration console. The admin console allows you to perform the following actions:

Orion NPM has a flexible licensing model and is licensed by the highest number of the following elements:

An interface element is some type of primary point of contact with the network. Switch ports, Serial Ports, VLANs, Port Channels, and both physical and virtual network interface cards (NICs) are all classified as interfaces.

A node is a physical or virtual network device that can be managed. Switches, routers, physical servers, virtual servers, virtual server hosts (VMware, Xen, and so on), firewalls, wireless access points, wireless controllers, and other types of physical network devices are all classified as node elements in Orion NPM. For example, one wireless access point monitored by SNMP would be classified as a node. A Windows Server monitored by WMI would be a node as well. In general, a node element has more than just an interface or volume. A node may have a fan, CPU, memory, power supplies, and other resources. In general, if a network...

Now that you are logged in, you can start working with Orion NPM through the web console or the Orion dashboard. The dashboard is where users will perform most of the duties as an Orion administrator. It operates by using a hierarchical tabbed-based interface. There are three primary tabs at the top of the Orion dashboard; HOME, NETWORK, and VIRTUALIZATION. Every one of these primary tabs has a bar that displays different web page links. Every page has their own set of modules that shows the specific aspects of that area. For example, the SUMMARY page in the HOME tab displays the overview of the monitored network.

One of the best features of Orion NPM is that virtually every single tab, page, and module in the dashboard can be manipulated, edited, changed, or moved from one page to another if an Orion administrator wishes to do so. In addition...

In this chapter, we finished our initial configurations of our Orion NPM system. We saw an overview of the entire Orion dashboard, as well as an overview of the Orion Website Administration console. We also took a deep dive in user authentication with individual accounts and Microsoft Active Directory, we looked at how to configure thresholds, and we discussed Orion NPM licensing.

Now that our initial configuration is complete, let's move on and learn how to add devices to Orion NPM so we can start monitoring them!