Need Upgrade path & other queries

Hi there,

1. Log on to the Orion server as a local administrator, not a domain administrator.

If you are unable to log in as a local administrator, then hold off the upgrade until you can.

2. Launch SolarWinds License Manager from the start menu and synchronize all your licenses.

3. Take a backup of the Orion database. If in doubt where the database is the launch Database Manager tool from the start menu and click Add default server.

You can also view which SQL server and catalog (database) is in use by going to the Settings page in the Orion console and selecting Database Details at the bottom.

You want to take a backup of the database because that is what you restore in case the upgrade goes sour.

4. Review the requirements for NPM 12 and the Before you upgrade! section found here: NPM 12.0 Release Notes - SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. Help and Support

5. Download all the latest module versions available on your customer portal and make sure to unblock the files once downloads complete by right clicking ~ Unblock

6. While logged in as a local administrator, unpack and install Orion NPM v12. Let the configuration wizard start and complete successfully.

7. Once NPM 12 has been updated, continue updating the NTA FSDB server (as local administrator!).

8. Once FSDB server has updated successfully, continue updating the remaining modules on the Orion server starting with NTA.

All of your versions are recent releases so all can be updated in a single step, but for future reference use the Upgrade Advisor utility

In answer to your other questions:

Other Queries:-

1. If after upgrade any issues then how can i rollback to older/earlier version ? - As already stated take and validate your SQL database. Backup the NTA database and if your running the application server on a VM, take a snapshot. Roll back is straightforward with these resources in place.

2. Do i need to re-add the license details after upgrade to new version ? No, the licenses will carry over

3. Can i upgrade directly to latest version from current ? refer to upgrade advisor above when doing any upgrade, to confirm the correct path.

4. Can i upgrade one module at a time i.e this week NTA and next week SAM and after that something else ? I would advise you do everything in one hit, as you have no doubt seen, there are updates to all Orion application (bar IPAM) and this is for the simple reason of changes to the Core engine affecting all modules.

5. Are any of the modules interlinked i.e if i upgrade NTA then i have upgrade NCM or SAM or any other on the same day ? Not sure what you are asking here, but same as above, upgrade all modules.

Mark Roberts

Prosperon - UK SolarWinds Partners

Installation | Consultancy | Training | Licenses

anand.sisodia​ We have a great new Upgrade Guide for Multiple products with preflight checklists, gotchas, walk through upgrades, and what to do post-upgrade here: Upgrade Multiple SolarWinds Products - SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. Help and Support

And I definitely agree with Dobbs​, you want to complete all product upgrades together. The Product Upgrade Advisor is updated with all of the latest upgrade path data. You can get a path and export to PDF. You can use it with the Upgrade Guide. The PDF from the PUA now have checkboxes and links, pretty nice.

If you have products not on the Product Upgrade Advisor, here is a doc I made for RC but STILL works for GA for compatible product versions with NPM and other new products:  https://support.solarwinds.com/@api/deki/files/14288/PUA-RC-Compatibility-2016_1.pdf

Hope that helps! Also Success Center has all the updated docs if you visit the product pages!

Had a suggestion for the Product Upgrade Advisor:

Is it possible to include in the installed products sections SolarWinds Storage Manager and SolarWinds Virtualization Manager? Because it looks like those have to be upgraded to the latest available versions when you upgrade any of the Orion components to 2016.1, and it doesn't really seem to be documented clearly that that requirement exists?

VMAN and STM are standalone modules. I doubt they are installed on the same box as your other Orion modules..

Thank you everyone for your valuable suggestions. Please answer one more question,

I have 3 active polling servers and i can see NPM 11.5.2 installed on all 3 servers.

1. Can i upgrade NPM on all 3 polling servers simultaneously or one at a time ? if one at a time then do i need to shutdown other 2 when upgrading on 1 ?

I saw a forum where it says stop the NPM services on other polling servers before upgrade but i couldn't find NPM services in services.msc.

As i am new to solarwinds, i might be asking stupid questions so sorry about that.

Thanks

Anand Sisodia

That's correct, they are on their own servers. However when I upgrade NPM to 12.0 then I will also need to upgrade STM-Profiler to 6.3 and VMAN to 6.3.2 to allow them to talk to the other Orion modules.

Hi Anand,

The easiest way to manage Orion services is to use the Orion Service Manager application. In my install it is found here, might be on a different drive depending on your environment: "D:\Program Files (x86)\SolarWinds\Orion\StopNetPerfMon.exe"

When upgrading, open the Orion Service Manager on each of your additional pollers and click on "Shutdown Everything" at the top of the app. Then finally click on Shutdown Everything on your primary poller, then start the upgrade process.

In my experience the upgrade processes is best performed one poller at a time (Primary first, then additionals).

Edited to add: Upgrade NPM on primary, then each of the additionals, then NTA on primary, then each of the additionals etc, in the order the upgrade advisor recommends).

prawij​ Is right!

You want to shut down the services across the pollers, and upgrade each poller, one at a time. The upgrade guide for NPM ( NPM Upgrade Guide - SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. Help and Support ) walks through how to upgrade in order. In the Upgrade NPM section, step 2. And it's great you are asking questions. Everyone here is eager to help out!

Thanks a lot Everyone, i was able to upgrade NPM successfully this weekend. Process i followed,