About SolarWinds Network Management Plug-in

SolarWinds Network Management Plug-in supports Network Performance Monitor (NPM), Additional Poller Engine (APE), Network Configuration Manager (NCM), Server & Application Monitor (SAM) and Network Traffic Analyzer (NTA) installed on any of the SolarWinds Orion servers protected by Neverfail Engine. The plug-in addresses specific functions and services for the various components of SolarWinds Orion Platform protected by Neverfail Continuity Engine.

SolarWinds Network Management Plug-in proactively monitor the SolarWinds Orion environment. SolarWinds Network Management Plug-in provide protection for all associated SolarWinds NPM, SolarWinds APE, SolarWinds NCM, SolarWinds SAM and SolarWinds NTA configuration data, services, and application data files.

Supported Versions and Platforms

• SolarWinds NPM v12.0.1, v12.1
• SolarWinds APE v12.0.1, v12.1
• SolarWinds NCM v7.5.1, v7.6
• SolarWinds SAM v6.3.0, v6.4
• SolarWinds NTA v4.2.1, v4.2.2
  • on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 2016 (where compatible)
  • using one of the following Databases either local or remote (where compatible)
    • SQL Server 2008R2, SQL Server 2012, SQL Server 2014, SQL Server 2016 (where compatible)

Install/Uninstall the SolarWinds Network Management Plug-in via the Neverfail Advanced Client

The SolarWinds Network Management plug-in can be installed either via the Neverfail CE deployment process or by using Application -> Plugins in the Neverfail Advanced Client using the procedure below. Neverfail recommends that for initial deployments of  SolarWinds Network Management Plug-in, installation should be performed using Engine Management Service.

To manually install the SolarWinds Network Management Plug-in, follow the steps below:

1. Unzip the SolarWinds Network Management Plug-into the desired location.
2. Launch the Neverfail Advanced Client.
3. Navigate to Application -> Plugins .
4. Click on the Install button.
5. Click the Browse button and navigate to the location of the <plug-in name>.dll file.
6. Click OK to complete the installation.
7. Repeat this process for each individual plug-in.

To remove/uninstall the SolarWinds Network Management Plug-in, follow the steps below:

1. Launch the Neverfail Advanced Client.
2. Navigate to Application -> Plugins .
3. Select the desired plug-in to be removed/uninstalled.
4. Click on the Uninstall button in the 'Plugins' pane.
5. When the plug-in is uninstalled, the files are not removed.  This is by design for future functionality and therefore the following workaround is provided:
6. Copy the contents of the r2\plugins\<sponsor>\<version> folder to a different location (e.g. C:\temp).
7. Delete the contents of the r2\plugins\<sponsor>\<version> folder.
8. To reinstall the plug-in, when prompted for the location of the plug-in files, navigate to the new folder location (e.g. C:\temp).

Note: As an alternative, reinstallation can be accomplished by using the downloaded files from the original download location after removing the plug-in.

Monitoring

For SolarWinds Network Management Plug-in, monitoring consists of the following:

• Service Availability Monitoring
• Application Monitoring

Service Availability Monitoring

Neverfail Engine monitors services specified by the plug-ins to ensure application availability. In the event that a specified service stops or fails, Neverfail Engine can take up to three pre-configured actions to remedy the issue.

Application Monitoring

Tasks - The following 'Tasks' are installed by SolarWinds Network Management Plug-in:

• Pre Start
• Periodic
  • Protected Services Discovery
  • File Filter Discovery
  • Registry Filter Discovery

To configure/modify Periodic 'Tasks', follow the steps below:

1. Using the Neverfail Advanced Client, click on Application -> Tasks .
2. Select the desired 'Task'.
3. Click on the Edit button at the top of the 'Tasks' pane.
4. Configure/modify the 'Interval' field.

Note: 'Interval' is the only field available for configuration/modification and is measured in seconds (secs).

5. Click OK to save the changes.

Note: This dialog is also used to Enable/Disable the selected 'Task'.

SolarWinds Network Management Plug-in

When the plug-in is installed, all protected services will be set to manual unless otherwise stated.

SolarWinds Network Management Plug-in

This is the list of all services protected by this plug-in:

• SolarWinds NPM v12.1, v12.0.1:
  • SolarWindsAdministration : SolarWinds Administration Service
  • SWCollectorService : SolarWinds Collector Service
  • SWInfoServiceSvc : SolarWinds Information Service
  • SWInfoServiceSvcV3 : SolarWinds Information Service V3
  • SWJobEngineSvc : SolarWinds Job Engine (only on v12.0.1)
  • SWJobEngineSvc2 : SolarWinds Job Engine v2
  • SWJobSchedulerSvc : SolarWinds Job Scheduler (only on v12.0.1)
  • RabbitMQ : RabbitMQ
  • SolarWindsAlertingEngine : SolarWinds Alerting Engine (only on v12.0.1)
  • SolarWindsAlertingServiceV2 : SolarWinds Alerting Service V2
  • SolarWindsSyslogService : SolarWinds Syslog Service
  • SolarWindsTrapService : SolarWinds Trap Service
  • OrionModuleEngine : SolarWinds Orion Module Engine
  • SolarWindsAgent64 : SolarWinds Agent
  • SolarWindsRecommendations: SolarWinds Recommendations (only on v12.1)
• Solarwinds APE v12.1, v12.0.1:
  • SolarWindsAdministration : SolarWinds Administration Service
  • SWCollectorService : SolarWinds Collector Service
  • SWInfoServiceSvc : SolarWinds Information Service
  • SWInfoServiceSvcV3 : SolarWinds Information Service V3
  • SWJobEngineSvc2 : SolarWinds Job Engine v2
  • SolarWindsSyslogService : SolarWinds Syslog Service
  • SolarWindsTrapService : SolarWinds Trap Service
  • OrionModuleEngine : SolarWinds Orion Module Engine
  • SolarWindsRecommendations: SolarWinds Recommendations
• Solarwinds NCM v7.6, v7.5.1:
  • All the SolarWinds NPM services listed above plus the additional:
  • SolarWinds SFTP Server : SolarWinds SFTP/SCP Server
  • SolarWinds TFTP Server : SolarWinds TFTP Server

• Solarwinds SAM v6.4, v6.3.0:
  • All the SolarWinds NPM services listed above plus the additional:
  • SolarWindsJMXBridgeSvc : SolarWinds JMX Bridge
• Solarwinds NTA v4.2.2, v4.2.1:
  • All the SolarWinds NPM services listed above plus the additional:
  • NetFlowService : SolarWinds NetFlow Service
  • NetFlowStorgaeServiceWatcher : SolarWinds NetFlow Storage Service Watcher
  • NetFlowStorageService: SolarWinds NetFlow Service (present only on the remote "NTA Flow Storage Database" server)

Protected Data

This is a description of the protected data set determined at plug-in install time. Please note that exact filters will depend upon the configuration of the application plug-ins at the time of install.

SolarWinds Orion

• All registry data, security certificates, and configuration files.
• All SolarWinds database instances discovered at install time.

Known limitations

• Install requirement: Plugin installation will be prevented if SOLARWINDSHIGHAVAILABILITY service is running or not disabled. (Ref: EN-2856, EN-2914)
• The RabbitMQ service may be displayed in upper case "RABBITMQ". In addition the CE UI may display both RabbitMQ and RABBITMQ. This is a known cosmetic issue. (Ref: EN-2680)
• The SolarWinds TFTP Server may be displayed in upper case "SOLARWINDS TFTP SERVER". This is a known cosmetic issue.(Ref: EN-2680)
• When the SolarWinds Orion Configuration wizard runs, it routinely sets services to Automatic, including protected application services, thereby preventing the SolarWinds Failover Engine from managing the starting and stopping of protected application services. To correct the issue, stop and restart the SolarWinds Failover Engine on the server to reset the protected application services to Manual. Note: Stopping the protected application is not required. Users will not be interrupted.
• Config-Archive folder located in custom path is not protected. Workaround : Add user defined filter if protection is desired. (Ref: EN-2939)

Applies To

SolarWinds Network Management Plug-in

Related Information

None

KBID-3008