Question: Newbie training for Solarwinds and SNMP

Heya everyone. Just started a job at a NOC that uses Solarwinds heavily. I've been going through the training video's (SolarWinds Product Training) and there is a LOT of power behind this product, and I'm excited to get my hands in and learn. Our NOC Engineer has a lot of experience (he has the Solarwinds certification) and uses "MIB Browser" alongside Solarwinds to do his configurations statically. There is a lot of new information.

Here's my question: Are there any hands on labs for Solarwind's or training labs for using SNMP more effectively? I'd like to get some "hands-on" without breaking anything, lol. I'm getting training from our engineer, but there isn't much that I can touch....yet.

Thanks for the help.

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zennifer

Oh my friend... you have many options... you can demo any of the products for 30 days. Download Free Network Management & Free Network Monitoring Software from SolarWinds .I would recommend you start with NCM. You can run demos on VM's ... if you have a robust enough workstation, you could even demo on that, just limit the number of device you add. The THWACK site has many videos as well, you can click on videos, and do a search : https://thwack.solarwinds.com/search.jspa?q=SNMP

The applications are all very intuitive. Have your Admin give you "read only" access. You can explore all you want in your current system, but no changes can be made. Such powerful tools. I would also recommend, once you do get access... show off some skills, make a simple policy SNMP to find any community strings set to public. There is a full example on the THWACK website, let me know, and I can direct you to that as well, as it was on one of the 'monthly missions" in order to get some SW swag! There is so much info about all the products - get involved in THWACK, and your mind will be stimulated to make your environment even better!

The users drive the product. Stay in tune with the THWACK community and the "blog" posts, as the folks continue to update information and product development is derived by the users, so continue to post your questions, and share information. I can't say enough about the tools and the THWACK Community. The tool will be as good as YOU make it!!!

FormerMember

Hi mstyler,

A good place to start would be the Library & Support space where you can find documentation and training material for all Solarwinds products. Have a look as well at the Video section of thwack. Just filter by the Product Category to narrow down the topic your interested in. Let me know if you have any questions, and I'd be happy to assist.

Maria

mstyler

Thank you for the responses.

The video's are great, and running a demo on a VM is a good idea, but I was looking for something of a practice lab, like a simulation, to work with. That, or maybe a a step-by-step video. As I said, I'm not just new to Solarwind's but SNMP as well, and combining the two to go deeper into the basics (i.e. MIBs, OID's, and snmp commands) is what I really need right now. I hope this makes sense.

Thanks.

userunnown

Also, a nice place to play and know you won't ruin anything would be the interactive demos. On a lot of the product pages on solarwinds.com, you can see a button for the interactive demo and it takes you to a virtual environment.

mstyler

murpr@hvfcu.org I think that might be exactly what I'm looking for. I'm trying to find it. Care to provide a link?

userunnown

This is an example for Netflow: http://oriondemo.solarwinds.com/Orion/TrafficAnalysis/Summaryview.aspx?program=815&c=70150000000CgeI

I got to it by going to Solarwinds.com, going to the products dropdown, selecting Netflow, and the button for it is right next to the free trial button. Not all of the products have an interactive demo.

mrs.alterego

Another option if the online demo doesn't work quite the way you'd like is you could utilize the GNS3 emulator. It will allow you to build out your network and integrate with NPM so you can get a feel for how things work without affecting your production environment. They have documentation on how to integrate NPM with their emulator, which can be found here.

zennifer

When I read Mrs.alterego's response, I said yeah .. that would be a much safer route. I still have the GNS3 downloaded, but have not had a chance to taste it yet. As mentioned above, and I hear your caution as well, be very careful if you do run any of the demo's for yourself. I "learned the hard way!" - it is hard when there is no one supervising you, Well, I should not say that... they just don't know what I do, but they like it!!! Pick your sample "objects" carefully. Good luck!! Go forth and prosper!! Awesome tools, fun to use. I no longer have to "harshly discuss" anything related to the Network, I just show the statistics!