Thank you dfollis for this great synopsis of your experience with SAM 5.0 B4! A couple of quick questions and comments.
14. Got that warm and fuzzy feeling when I saw hardware details displayed on ESXi hosts!(Hoping those details not count against my node count)
Hardware details do not count against your node, volume, or component monitor license count in any way. Adding the server itself consumes a single node license which is the only license consumed when collecting hardware information from the host.
15. Almost all physical hosts running ESXi 4.1 or 5. Of the one that wasn't (Dell PE 2850) Hardware details not displayed. Message "Value cannot be null. Parameter name credentials".
Do you have Dell's OpenManage Server Administrator installed on the non-ESX/i host?
17. started an App Scan on about 7 products and 20 nodes. No progress after 6 hours. Cancelled
If this is reproducible in any way we'd definitely like to get a SolarWinds Diagnostic to see what's going on
20. When doing a manual scan to add credentials, click on Add Credential to use existing and none of those are displayed..
When performing an application discovery you have the option to select any credential you've entered into the SAM Credential Library under <Settings -> SAM Settings -> Credentials Library>. Optionally you can also chose to use node credentials for Windows nodes that were added using WMI.
21. Determined that DCs was using Windows Server (WMI + ICMP) instead of Most Devices (SNMP + WMI). Unable to change. Had to delete and recreate
Changing the polling method for a node from WMI to SNMP without deleting the node and re-adding it is currently a feature request we're tracking internally as FB85374.
22. Note: WinRM is a PITA! Orion should have a script to activate this for you. Sorry I'm lazy.
What specifically are you doing with WinRM, and were you hoping SAM would enable WinRM on the SAM server itself or on the remotely monitored hosts? <I'm assuming this is PowerShell related but hoping for some clarification>
23. App Credentials DB Appears to be seperate from Network Sonar Credentials DB. Can understand why buy confusing.
What were you specifically trying to do with node credentials in SAM that you were unable to because of the separate node/application credential libraries?
24. Had a second physical Dell PE 2850 and configured SNMP on it and hardware health is displayed. Not sure why first one doesn't work.
It's likely this host has Dell's OpenManage Server Administrator installed. You can easily determine that if you go to that servers IP address in your web browser on port 1311. E.G. https://10.10.10.10:1311
25. Would like to see hardware health and volume information for Dell Equallogic PS6000E.
Have you evaluated SolarWinds Storage Manager product?
Will continue testing next week.
We look forward to another great synopsis of your findings! Keep up the great work.
14. Great to hear!
15. Yes I have Dell OMSA v 6.5.0 Maybe it isn't installed correctly.
| Name | Dell OpenManage Server Administrator |
| Version | 6.5.0 |
| Description | Systems Management Software |
| Contains | Common Storage Module 3.5.0 |
| Data Engine 5.9.5 | |
| Hardware Application Programming Interface 5.9.5 | |
| Instrumentation Service 5.9.5 | |
| Instrumentation Service Integration Layer 6.5.0 | |
| OpenManage Inventory Collector 6.5.0 | |
| Remote Access Controller 4 Data Populator 4.6.6 | |
| Secure Port Server 6.5.0 | |
| Server Administrator Common Framework 6.5.0 | |
| Server Administrator Core files 6.5.0 | |
| Storage Management 3.5.0 | |
| Sun Java Runtime Environment 1.6.21 | |
17. Send instructions and I'll try to reproduce
20. This is confusing as it appears there are two different DBs. For instance I setup a domain and vmware account during network sonar, but when I went to add APM, those accounts were not visible. I went to the link you suggested and it displays my windows domain account only. It does not display my vmware credentials. Perhaps it isn't supposed to. Seems like everything should be in one place. Appears that VMware Credentials library is in Nodes and Group Mgmt box. Sorry I should know that from using APM 4.2.
21. Great. Something else that has also always bugged me is that there isn't a way to search for orphaned historical information associated with a node/interface. I have this happen a lot with VMs when I have to change disks or types of NICs. If I update the VMWare tools and I want to use a different type of NIC, I'd like to be able to maintain my history on that interface. Helps determine if you have made a good or bad change. Instead I end up with a new interface with zero historical data, and an orphan that I essentially have to delete. Would great if there was an "associate all historical data with ID X with this new interface" selection box. Of course it should include a list of all interfaces and their IDs that have been associated with the node in question.
22. I just get sick and tired of the damn CLI. I know some people live by it; and I still use it everyday for things like ftp or ping, but I get ********** everytime I have to do something in PowerShell that I should be able to do with a simple mouseclick. CLIs are for working with bulk data. If I need to update SNMP values on 20 hosts at once then it makes sense. If I simply need to enable a monitor to obtain data from a host I shouldn't need to go to the CLI; especially if I have Domain Admin credentials. I'm trying to use the Svr 2008 Domain Control Security module and I can't get it to work. I have GPOs setup for WinRM that I had to configure for my production Orion. I updated those to allow this test server to communicate and I can't get it to work. It is cryptic and I just don't have time to play around with stuff like that even though I do enjoy learning about it. I just feel like it slows me down, especially since everything else about Orion/SolarWinds is so automatic and easy. Sorry to whine. I relish simplicity. Don't get me started on VMware PowerCLI. Good grief.
23. Can't remember. I think I was trying to assign a monitor. It is confusing which ones simple need creds and which ones need to be opened and tweaked with special settings such as Oracle for example. Would be nice if all of the variable options were shown on one page when assigning without having to drill into template. I realize this may not be realistic in some cases.
24. Same version of OMSA is installed on each. Actually I built both of these installs and patched the same way the same day. I just checked and they both have 6.5 installed. Web interface works on both. The one that isn't working displays:
 | Hardware Status | Undefined |
| Message | Value cannot be null. Parameter name: credentials | |
| Manufacturer | ||
| Model | ||
| Server | Service Tag | |
| Last Poll Time | 1/3/2012 4:42:25 PM |
25. Trying not to purchase another layer of software. Your SWSM product looks great, but not in budget and I spend enough time on Orion and EQL San Headquarters. Looks like enabling SNMP on ESXi5 will give me what I need at the most basic level.
15. Yes I have Dell OMSA v 6.5.0 Maybe it isn't installed correctly.
It's possible. Is this an SNMP Managed node or WMI? You can check this by going to the Node Details page for this node and looking at the Polling Details resource under the label "Polling Method". If this is an SNMP managed node, would you be willing to collect an SNMP MIB walk of the device using this tool so we can see what might be going on?
17. Send instructions and I'll try to reproduce
First start by reproducing the problem then collect a SolarWinds Diagnostic by executing [Start -> Programs -> SolarWinds Orion -> Documentation and Support -> Orion Diagnostics] This will generate a zip file with your diagnostic log files. Depending on what's causing the issue we may need to have you adjust your debug logging level to get the necessary details, but we'll let you know and provide instructions after looking at your diagnostics.
20. This is confusing as it appears there are two different DBs. For instance I setup a domain and vmware account during network sonar, but when I went to add APM, those accounts were not visible. I went to the link you suggested and it displays my windows domain account only. It does not display my vmware credentials. Perhaps it isn't supposed to. Seems like everything should be in one place. Appears that VMware Credentials library is in Nodes and Group Mgmt box. Sorry I should know that from using APM 4.2.
The only instance where this presents a problem is with VMWare credentials correct? Do you find you create/use a fair number of VMWare component monitors?
21. Great. Something else that has also always bugged me is that there isn't a way to search for orphaned historical information associated with a node/interface. I have this happen a lot with VMs when I have to change disks or types of NICs. If I update the VMWare tools and I want to use a different type of NIC, I'd like to be able to maintain my history on that interface. Helps determine if you have made a good or bad change. Instead I end up with a new interface with zero historical data, and an orphan that I essentially have to delete. Would great if there was an "associate all historical data with ID X with this new interface" selection box. Of course it should include a list of all interfaces and their IDs that have been associated with the node in question.
You may find this is no longer an issue with WMI managed nodes since WMI does not rely on interface index ID's like SNMP.
