SolarWinds Interview Questions

1. What is SolarWinds?

Ans. SolarWinds, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a renowned software enterprise established in 1999 by the Yonce brothers, Donald and David. It specializes in delivering robust solutions for IT professionals to oversee systems, networks, and infrastructure effectively. Known for its user-friendly, accessible, and efficient offerings, SolarWinds stands out in the IT management software sector.

2. What are the advantages of SolarWinds?

Ans. SolarWinds is notable for its comprehensive benefits, including:

• Unified console for seamless monitoring of various devices.
• Automated detection and integration of network-connected devices.
• Simplified identification of network issues.
• Intuitive and user-friendly graphical user interface.
• Detailed health metrics for informed decision-making.

3. Tell me about SolarWinds NPM

Ans. SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) is a versatile tool assisting IT departments in pinpointing and resolving network performance challenges across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments. With NPM, adding and monitoring network devices becomes streamlined, offering scalability to match network growth.

4. What are the key features of SolarWinds?

Ans. Key features of SolarWinds NPM encompass:

• Comprehensive monitoring of faults, performance, and availability.
• Customizable reports for performance and availability.
• Detailed hop-by-hop analysis.
• Automated network device mapping.
• Correlation of network data across different stacks.
• Sophisticated alerting systems.

5. How can we add objects automatically for monitoring?

Ans. SolarWinds enables running a discovery job via the Network Sonar Discovery Wizard to automate the addition of devices for monitoring. This feature can be utilized periodically to identify and incorporate new devices into the monitoring setup.

6. What is the use of discovery tagging?

Ans. Discovery tagging in SolarWinds is a smart feature that determines whether a device is already under monitoring. It helps identify duplicated devices, especially when a device is reassigned to different clients, ensuring accuracy in management.

7. How do alerts work in NPM?

Ans. In SolarWinds NPM, alerts are triggered when issues arise with monitored devices. These alerts are prominently displayed on the Orion Home page's 'Active Alerts widgets' and can be configured to send notifications via email.

8. List out some pre-configured alerts in SolarWinds NPM

Ans. Pre-configured alerts in SolarWinds NPM include:

• Notifications for server downtime.
• Alerts for component failures.
• Warnings for location unavailability.
• Notifications for transaction failures or critical states.

9. Explain about reports in NPM

Ans. Reports in SolarWinds NPM offer detailed insights into network device performance. Users can create, customize, and even schedule these reports for automatic delivery via email or as PDFs.

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10. What is the process of creating a custom report?

Ans. To create a custom report in SolarWinds, access the Orion Web Console, navigate to 'Reports', and select 'Create New Report'. You can specify the desired filters and properties before finalizing your report.

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11. How can we schedule a web-based report?

Ans. Scheduling a web-based report in SolarWinds involves accessing the 'Settings' in the Orion Web Console, navigating to 'Manage Reports', and then setting up a new schedule under 'Create New Schedule'. This process includes specifying the frequency and other relevant details.

Intermediate Solarwinds Interview question

12. Explain about Orion platform

Ans. The Orion platform is SolarWinds' unified backend framework, offering a centralized web console for configuring and managing network devices. It encompasses various features like settings, alerts, and report management.

13. Explain about SolarWinds SAM

Ans. SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) is designed for monitoring applications within networks, including on-premises, cloud, or hybrid environments. It provides a comprehensive mapping of application-server relationships.

14. Where are SolarWinds SAM logs stored?

Ans. SolarWinds SAM logs are typically stored in the ‘C:\Program Data\SolarWinds\Logs\APM’ directory, with all log files available in a text format for easy access and review.

15. What is the high availability of SolarWinds?

Ans: SolarWinds High Availability (HA) offers a failover mechanism, enabling a secondary server to take over services if the primary server fails. This feature supports deployment across single or multiple subnets.

16. Explain about polling methods

Ans: SolarWinds uses polling methods to collect performance information from the devices in your network. The types of polling methods used include Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), and Agents.

17. What is the difference between Agent polling and WMI Polling?

Ans: WMI uses Windows-based network devices, applications, and components to poll for information. For Agent polling, plugins must be installed on the agents to collect and send back data.

18. What is SolarWinds DPA?

Ans. SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer (DPA) is a tool used to monitor the performance of your database. It tracks SQL statements, execution plans, blocking, deadlocks, etc., and employs machine learning for proactive anomaly detection.

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19. Explain about SolarWinds Log Analyzer

Ans. SolarWinds Log Analyzer is used for collecting, consolidating, and managing logs. It ensures complete visibility of records from all Orion Platform products and can be integrated with alerts to act on specific events.

20. What are the key features of the Log Analyzer?

Ans. The key features of the SolarWinds Log Analyzer include:

• Log and event collection and analysis.
• Powerful search and filter capabilities.
• Real-time log streaming.
• Event log tagging.
• Flat log file ingestion.
• Integration with the Orion Platform.

21. What is SolarWinds NCM used for?

Ans. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) manages configurations and changes in routers, switches, and other network devices. It helps standardize device configurations, reduces configuration errors, and includes features for alerting, configuration backup, and rollbacks.

Advanced Solarwinds interview question

22. What is SolarWinds Security Event Manager?

Ans. The SolarWinds Security Event Manager is a system for security information and event management (SIEM). It collects, correlates, and normalizes logs in a centralized repository for IT teams to analyze.

23. What is SolarWinds NetFlow?

Ans. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) captures data from network traffic and translates it into understandable charts and tables. It monitors network bandwidth and traffic patterns, identifying high-bandwidth users or applications.

24. How do I stop a SolarWinds service?

25. How can we check the health of the hardware?

Ans. To check the health of hardware, access the Orion Web Console, go to 'Settings > All Settings,' and select 'Manage Hardware Sensors' under 'Node & Group Management'. Here, you can view all available hardware sensors and details like vendor, parent, status, etc.

26. What is SolarWinds UDT?

Ans. SolarWinds User Device Tracker (UDT) manages network risks and network access requirements for IP devices. It overviews all switches, ports, and devices connected to your network and includes port management features.

27. How does SolarWinds licensing work?

Ans. SolarWinds' licensing model varies with each product and is based on factors like the number of devices, nodes, and interfaces to be monitored. It supports both perpetual and subscription licenses.

28. Explain about SolarWinds cloud-based log management

Ans. SolarWinds cloud-based log management provides instant access to logs without needing on-premise infrastructure. It enables easy implementation of full-text log searches and facilitates faster troubleshooting.

29. What are the integration mechanisms provided by SolarWinds?

Ans. SolarWinds provides three types of integration mechanisms: user-level, event-level, and API-level.

30. Who are the customers for SolarWinds?

Ans: SolarWinds serves a diverse customer base of over three lakhs, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and military organizations. Customers include Ford Motor Company, Kodak, MasterCard, New York Times, NASA, Telenor, Volvo, Yahoo, and others.