Hi,
Can anybody tell me the comparison between NPM 10.3v and 10.5v. Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Kiran Javed
After upgrading system from 10.3 to 10.5 how shall we do verification???
Hi Kiran,
What verification do you mean? What exactly do you want to compare?
Cheers,
Pavel
Verification that upgraded SolarWinds installation is operational or not???
When you log into the Web Console, look at the very bottom, and you should see that the version of NPM is updated to the current, as well as the Core version as per release notes.
Orion Platform 2013.1.0
NPM 10.5
The rest is just to see if you are missing statistics, or that pages are erroring out. If anything of that sort is not happening, it should be fine.
HTH.
what possible problems might be during upgradation?? I want to prepare myself completely before upgradation so that i can handle the situation in case of any problem during upgradation. So kindly help me if any one knows. I'll be thankful.
Kiran -
I'm going through this same upgrade as we speak, actually 10.3.1 to 10.5, on a server that also hosts NCM 6.1 and NTA 3.10.
The first thing I discovered is that I need to do intermediate upgrades 1st, i.e. I cannot upgrade straight from 10.3.1 to 10.5. I must upgrade my NCM to 7.0 or later 1st. But NCM 7.1.1 said it could not be installed with NPM 10.3.1. So I'm doing NCM 7.0.2 1st.
I've been through quite a few past upgrades, and sometimes I do indeed open a case with Support 1st. But I'm feeling especially competent today. I'm sure I'll overcome this delusion soon.
Seymour
What I discovered is that I could not go straight from NPM 10.3 to 10.5 because our NCM was at V6.1.
So I had to upgrade NCM to 7.0.2, which significantly changed many things (for the better). It got stuck in the upgrade until I manually killed a configuration management job that was running. No big deal.
Then I upgraded NPM to 10.5, and then NCM to 7.1.1. It all took about 2 hours, including download of the NCM 7.0.2.
We are unusual, in that we do not allow Orion to run on HTTP TCP 80, so the wizard for the IIS web site binding comes up with 443, and then tries to make HTTP use TCP 443. But the original binding is there, so I delete the bad, new binding.
As far as verifying everything, here's a general outline:
1. Know your existing problems - look through the SolarWinds, application, and system event logs before you upgrade, and at least make a note of any warnings (yellow) or errors (red).
2. Make sure all the Orion Modules are started, and running BEFORE the upgrade. Fix anything that's not. Don't count on an upgrade to fix such problems, though there's a chance it might.
3. Make a list of critical functions NPM provides for your organization - this is your functional spec. It could be something line:
- Alerts on node down
- Alerts on interface down
- Emails alerts
- Gathers node stats, such as access time, memory, and CPU
- Gathers interface stats
- Lets others log into web, and view pages
- Displays current status on a map
- Records syslog events
- Displays a web page for a device within x seconds - this sets your performance specifications. I think 10 seconds is reasonable, but if it's 20, I don't get all upset. It varies with how efficient your SQL server and its maintenance are.
Now, you may have a much longer list. Think of how your management uses the products, and how support team members use it. Each has their favorite screen or function. If you have multiple products, such as NCM and NTA, include those. Upgrading NPM interacts with them.
4. Setup formal tests for each of these functions. For node and interface down, you could simulate with the Alert Manager by issuing a test alert.
5. Review the Event Logs again after the upgrade. Note that Event Logs are like old rugs. If you look under an old rug, you always find dirt and maybe dead bugs. Try not to freak out. You'll never keep it totally clean unless you have spare time to vacuum every day. For non-SolarWinds errors, consult Eventid.net - they have a free search where you can plug in the Event ID number and source, and get tips submitted by others and Microsoft.
Don't forget to backup your database just before the upgrade!
When I upgrade, I keep a WordPad or Word doc open, and make notes, timestamps, and copy and paste screen shots of anything unusual. This has been really helpful on later upgrades, and in case you need to open a case with SolarWinds. However, SolarWinds provides an excellent log rollup tool you can use to gather 90% of what they'll want if a case is opened. I'm still learning where all the logs are kept so I can check them myself - it's a constantly moving target as SolarWinds makes things more and more consistent across products, or creates new logs.
Most of the problems I run up against that I cannot fix with the knowledgebase or Thwack are due to our government interpreted security requirements - SSL certificates, GPOs, and rights limitations. Those screen shots, and my upgrade notes really help on later upgrades. I often have problems with SQL timeouts - a topic in itself.
It's good to do a bonus reboot of the server to make sure that everything comes up automatically as it should. I've seen cases where the upgrade succeeded, but something failed to start after the reboot. You might even want to do a reboot BEFORE the upgrade in case there were updates to Windows or other products that do not finish till a reboot is done. It's easy to blame SolarWinds for some other vendor's latent problems.
I'm really liking the new versions, and integration of NCM and NPM I do find that having graphics pop up when hovering over things accidentally is somewhat annoying at first. I still need to research database maintenance some more to generally speed up page fetches. I have 2 more servers to do in the next couple of weeks.
=Seymour=
