THWACK Monthly Mission - August 2023

In the mystical realm of the SolarWinds Academy, aspiring tech wizards gather to learn the art of taming unruly networks and vanquishing digital demons. While they might not wield wands or brew potions, these IT sorcerers wave their magical mouse pointers and chant incantations in programming languages. Forget about Quidditch; their favorite sport is troubleshooting bugs at the speed of light! And instead of house elves, they have coffee-fueled support teams working tirelessly to keep the digital castle running smoothly. So, while there may be no sorting hat, you'll still have to choose your own adventure: will you master the ways of networking charms or become a database divination expert? Either way, it's a wizarding world of tech wonders where binary incantations reign supreme!

AUGUST MISSION

Use the mission’s resources to complete the tasks and answer the questions for a chance to win!

Answer each question correctly during the week and you'll be entered for a chance to win the weekly prize.

Answer all 20 questions correctly over the course of the month and you'll be entered for a chance to win the grand prize.

150 points are being awarded for each correctly answered question. There are 20 questions, which means you can earn a maximum of 3,000 points for this mission.

Weekly Prize Drawing Dates:

Week 1: August 14, 2023: Dumbledore Wand
Week 2: August 21, 2023: Moleskine Pen+ Smart Writing Set
Week 3: August 28, 2023: North Face Everyday Laptop Backpack
Week 4: September 4, 2023: JBL Charge 5
Grand Prize: September 4, 2023: Meta Quest 2 — Advanced All-In-One Virtual Reality Headset — 256 GB

MISSION SHORTCUT

Complete the mission shortcut between August 7, 2023, and September 3, 2023, to be entered to win a LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Express!

Shortcut steps:

Access the Virtual Classrooms Calendar link to view Office Hours available every weekday. Office Hours are taught by our staff of expert trainers available around the world.
NOTE:Use an incognito window or clear your cache/cookies if this link gives you any issues.
Register for any Office Hours class (must be a customer under current maintenance with a Customer Portal login) 
Send a screenshot of your registration confirmation that will be sent in your email.

SUBMIT SCREENSHOT

MISSION RULES

A new question will open every day (Monday - Friday) starting on August 7, 2023. Once a question has opened, it will remain open until September 3, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. CT.

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Mission Terms & Conditions: US, UK, and Canada | Germany

Mission Shortcut Terms & Conditions: US, UK, and Canada | Germany

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Comments

zennifer

Nice way to start a Monday!! Thanks for another mission @kpina

zennifer

Loved the mission short cut! I needed to talk to someone .. .would love to catch up w/ Cheryl, and I have a couple of questions!!! That is really cool by the way!!!! Sometimes we need to be handheld to get to the water!

ecklerwr1

Whew pulling the trigger on Day 2 was a little sketchy... I got it.

whitebd

I am not even close to having an answer to try from the hint.

melonizame

I am going to have to come back again and look over this question - make sure I am not in a food coma or lack of caffeine or something - the answer isn't just coming right out to say its me.

jpastore

[deleted]

jgammon

Actually, @jpastore, the hint document is absolutely correct. You are looking for the differences between the two training types---live v. on-demand. The hint is spot on and yields the knowledge for which is it designed. But much reading in the page is required for a logical conclusion to the treasured answer to be revealed.,

cheryl1

*waves* Hey @zenniferThought I heard my name echoing across the forum!

jcrhoten

I think everyone has their own way of finding an answer in a vendor's KB archive, so far this is a beneficial & enlightening use of time.

JBoogie

I just want to say this month's mission is great for those of us who began using SolarWinds products in an already established environment. It is definitely beneficial to be informed about the resources we have available for assistance and self-learning.

dc4networks

Think about what you want from the SolarWinds Training.

I hope this helps.

Also see feedback from jgammon, below.

cheryl1

Yes! We do a lot with "new" customers, ie, customers that just purchased, but I've had a lot of customers in my sessions who have inherited this "SolarWinds thing" and have to figure out what to do with it. Our classes and office hours sessions can help a lot.

zennifer

Yes Ma'am @cheryl1 Talk to YOU on Friday! Looking forward to getting some much-needed guidance!

marcrobinson

@kpina Ya know, looking at the answers for today's question about the SCP program, I kinda think all of the answers are correct.

moy

I am determined to get all green ticks this month.

hroesch01

WEEK 3: DAY 11: The Hint-link is broken and leads to 404 ZONE

janobi

@kpina - Link for today's clue is 404

petergwilson

Hopefully that isn't the answer.

petergwilson

Maybe that's the answer. In our place it would be. 404 Brain not found.

Uax1

Found the correct link documentation.solarwinds.com/.../solutions.htm

Uax1

@hroesch01, found the correct link documentation.solarwinds.com/.../solutions.htm

rasentner

crap, hint was broke and took an incorrect guess. Long shot but if a reset is possible for week 3 question 1....I would take it

aanthonisse

Even though the link is broken you should be able to deduct the right answer from it.

silverbacksays

Loving the theme of this mission!

nhkelley

Good Morning; The hint link for WEEK 3: DAY 11 seems to be broken. Error 404 displays

ChrystalT

Hey all, the link for Day 11 has been fixed and you've been reset if you got the question wrong today. Try again, and please let us know if you have issues with the links in future.

undesired_result

ok on my end ... Chrome

whitebd

kpina

Thanks for all your patience on announcing week 1 and 2 winners - we had a holiday last Monday and yours truly was out with the sniffles all last week. Congrats to the week 1 winner @demigod314 & the week 2 winner @pattpall!! Good luck this week everyone.

kpina

Also! Would love to see more wizard hats in the ring for the mission shortcut. Your chances of winning are great!

pattpall

Thanks! You made my day!

jcrhoten

investigating "my" MRC -> about -> v12.2......where is this mythical language selection? Doah!

marlief22

Loving this month's mission. If you are like me and use the SolarWinds KB all the time, why not create a custom search engine? This allows you to simply type in a small phrase (I use 'SWS' for SolarWinds Support and 'SWT' for SolarWinds Thwack) and you can search straight to the preferred location

Most browsers have a way to create a custom search engine (I'm using Chromium Edge in these examples):

To do this, you simply need to do a search with your favourite search bar, then replace your search term with the variable '%s' in the search URL. Then go to 'Add' in the search engines page, put in the engine, the shortcut, and the URL:

For Thwack this would be, for example:

Hope you find this useful!

Marlie | Thwack MVP

cheryl1

What a great idea! I confess it never occurred to me but it makes sense. Thanks for sharing

demigod314

Thank you! Much appreciated.

jgammon

I want to congratulate @demigod314 for winning the first week prize of this monthly challenge. Good job and enjoy the spoils of a task set well executed! Congrats, again.

jgammon

I want to extend a hearty congratulations to @pattpall on winning the second week prize for this monthly challenge. I have really enjoyed by Moleskin products and in the wizarding world, they are necessary to derive that unique formula of security, then make the mischief clouded and stored. Congratulations on a well-executed course of endeavors.

pattpall

Thanks jgammon. I'm looking forward to receiving it!

jgammon

@marlief22, this is a wonderful idea. I am going to run with it. Thank you so much!

kpina

Congrats to @agbansil on winning the week 3 prize!

aanthonisse

My first all green on the board for a monthly mission ;-)

mark.healey

Green month!

azhar.abbas

I have upgraded the version smoothly on 2020.2.6. Take backup first of the machine and also take VM snapshot. After that just download and install the installer on the machine.

Jhubbz09

Lol how is there a wrong answer for Sept 1st?

kpina

Thanks for participating in another great mission, everyone! Congrats to the week 4 winner @jakeherman, the mission shortcut winner @PeterM-1969 and the grand prize winner @jsantiagolopez!! See y'all in September's mission.

aanthonisse

Congratulations to all winners

donrobert5

nice