XML Snapshots.

jtapscott

Is anyone using the XML snapshot feature? Is there more documentation somewhere? I want to link to Orion generated graphs from another Web page and this looks like the method intended by Solarwinds. Can someone confirm?

Thanks.

DonYonce

XML snapshots were used in releases prior to version 6.x by the Orion web site. They are no longer used by the web site, but are still available since many customers are using them to interface with other programs.

The XML snapshots show only real-time status of the Network, not historical information. So... the XML snapshots cannot be used to generate a historical chart.

But, displaying an Orion chart on some other web page is pretty easy. The Orion Web Engine can serve up many different objects for use on other web pages. For example, let's say we were going to place a response time chart on our NOC home page.
Paste the following HTML on any web page...

<img src="">npm.solarwinds.net/.../Chart.asp

When the web page is displayed, the Orion Demo Server (in Tulsa) will serve the current Response Time/Packet Loss chart for the 3-Com switch in Denver for the past 7 days. Each time the web page is displayed, a request is made to the Orion Demo Server for the current chart (and is built on demand if needed).

Before we discuss the URL encoding, lets first talk about security. By default, the Orion Web Server will not serve up Charts, Maps, Views, etc unless you are first logged in and have permission to view the requested network objects. This can be a problem for our new NOC web page on some other server. We wouldn't want to force everyone to log into the Orion server before they could see the response time chart on the NOC home page.

So... instead we turn on what is called "Direct Links" within our Orion server. Simply add a user Account to the Orion Web Site that is called "DirectLink". Set all the default views for the "DirectLink" account to "none" and limit the Account to only the devices that we would like to reference from external web pages. This step is important... this enables the Orion Web Server to automatically log in any external user that has a direct link to a Charts, Maps, etc. Be sure to limit the "DirectLink" Account to only the device types you want viewed externally.

OK... now how do I get the URL for the Chart ?
That's pretty easy also. Log into the Orion Web Site and select a chart. Customize it to display the size, time period, sample interval, etc the way you want. Now right click on the chart and select properties. There is a field in the property dialog box called "Address (URL)". Right click on it and select "Select All". Then right click on it again and select "Copy". The correct URL is now on the clipboard. Paste it into your HTML editor as the url for an image tag ( <img src=""> ).

One more trick... the Orion Web Server is built to allow drag and dropping of charts, maps, and gauges directly from your web browser into Front Page, Macromedia, Microsoft Word, etc. Here's and example: Bring up an Orion web page with a chart on it. Then drag the chart right out of the web browser into Front Page (or other html editor). Then save the web page (this may not work you in preview mode within Front Page... you will need to save the web page first). Now when the web page is opened in a browser, the up to date chart is built on the fly by the Orion web server.

PS. Remember to add the "DirectLink" Account first.