In This Edition:
Wait a minute, Doc... have you seen Orion in 2008?
If it's been a while since you've checked out Orion, we encourage you to see what's changed. We recently opened up the time capsule here at SolarWinds headquarters, which has led us to ponder the incredible advancements Orion has made over the years. Turns out, we didn't even need a DeLorean to travel back in SolarWinds time, although that would have been more fun.
 For those of you old timers who've been using SolarWinds products for the last decade, you may remember the celebrated launch of the first version of Orion back in the fall of 2001. Seven years later, Orion 8.5 has built on that incredible foundation to successfully manage thousands of networks for organizations of all sizes around the globe. Dare we say that today Orion delivers a gigawatt of management power at an affordable price?
Here are our favorite seven changes from the past seven years:
- When Orion launched, it managed up to 1,000 elements. Today, Orion 8.5 can easily manage more than 100,000 elements... even without the help of the Mr. Fusion Home Energy Converter.
- The original Orion worked on a single server and delivered cutting-edge data for its time. In 2008, Orion scales to manage highly distributed networks with a hot standby engine, multiple polling engines, and additional web servers.
- Modules were just a twinkle in the eye of the first Orion. Today, this vision has become reality, with modules available to manage applications, NetFlow traffic, VoIP, and wireless devices.
- Back in the day, you could choose from two login options (admin or guest). Today, Orion's role-based access control enables you to establish multiple unique accounts and specify which types of information are displayed within the Orion web console for a particular department, group, or user.
- In its first iteration, Orion delivered an XML report that displayed static information about the network in a Windows®-based UI. Now, Orion provides real-time, database-driven data in a highly customizable web console and delivers advanced alerting so that you can ensure your network availability achieves all five nines.
- The first Orion had hidden Easter eggs, as a few of you may remember. Even though we removed the photos of our founders and developers, we made up for it by adding some cool features, like a robust report writer, customizable views, and network discovery.
- When Orion launched in 2001, it included 160,000 OIDs in its MIB database. Today, there are more than 500,000 OIDs in the vault supporting virtually every flavor of networking equipment, not to mention a custom poller that enables you to monitor any farfetched SNMP-enabled device that may not have made it into our half-million list.
 Of course, there are a number of things that have remained consistent over the years – like rapid installation, ease of deployment, the ability to try Orion before you buy, and incredible support from the growing community of network engineers who use SolarWinds products.
We invite you to test drive Orion free for 30 days and see what happens at 88 MPH. After you've seen the latest, give us your thoughts on how far we've come and where we should go. As we like to say, "Where we're going, we don't need roads."
Try Orion FREE for 30 Days >
Learn More About Orion >
DST Begins March 9th – Is Your Network Ready?
If you live and work in the US, Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins one month earlier this year. DST begins the second Sunday of March instead of the first Sunday of April as result of changes made in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Is your network ready for the change? If your systems aren't patched, they won't spring forward on time – throwing off calendars, transaction systems, and anything else that relies on clock time for accuracy and execution.
If you aren't already patched, download a FREE 30-day trial of Cirrus Configuration Manager to effortlessly update your timestamps. With Cirrus, you won't have to bother with the "old fashioned" way of updating time stamp configurations on your network devices. We know how time consuming it is to telnet or ssh into each and every device to make necessary changes – not to mention the likelihood of errors during this manually-intensive process.
Cirrus Configuration Manager automates device configuration management across multi-vendor network infrastructures. Through an easy-to-use central console, Cirrus enables you to:
- Implement mass configuration changes to hundreds (or thousands) of network devices
- Generate detailed reports that document all device configuration changes
- Rollback configuration changes on demand
- Upgrade IOS images
Download a FREE 30-day evaluation of Cirrus to make your DST configuration changes. After you've experienced Cirrus' powerful features, come back and purchase it for all of your future network configuration management needs.
Try Cirrus Free for 30 Days >
Learn More About Cirrus 4.0 >
Ready to Load Up Engineer's Toolset on Your New Laptop? It's Easy with License Manager!
SolarWinds has a new tool that empowers you, our customer, to reset your licenses when you get a new laptop or need to upgrade a server. Now you can do it without ever needing to contact SolarWinds. Using the new License Manager, it is easy to move your SolarWinds software (excluding ipMonitor and LANsurveyor) to a new machine with just a few clicks!
Download License Manager Today >
If you haven't heard, you can help us Spread the Word about SolarWinds. Since this month is all about opening up the SolarWinds time capsule, we'd love to get some tales from our long-time aficionados, as well as those of you who are new to our products. To get those creative juices flowing, here are a few of our favorites:
"We selected SolarWinds because of its highly customizable interface and flexibility. In just a couple of days we had our system up, reporting, and managing our network without having to airdrop in a bunch of consultants to get the system working for us."
- Khris Hruska, Learning Care Group, Inc.
From Downloads.com reviews on Engineer's Toolset:
"Two thumbs up! Great management, easy to use and best of all, it provides so many solutions on just one package under a very attractive price tag that makes it a must have for every network admin."
– Tha Bone, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
Come on and join the fun! Spread the Word about SolarWinds and we'll send you a FREE Thwack t-shirt to thank you for your time.
Spread the Word Today >
Product Tip: Cool Tool You May Have Missed in Orion Service Pack 3
Have you downloaded Service Pack 3 for Orion yet? If so, did you notice a cool new AJAX resource for viewing your nodes? The "All Nodes – Tree (AJAX)" resource performs significantly better than its predecessor, especially in environments where a large number of nodes are being managed. With the new resource, Orion can load data into the web console asynchronously, as needed, instead of getting everything at once. The result is better scalability and no more waiting to view your home page node tree. As you click to expand each node in the tree, Orion will present the data lightning fast, making your day a little more efficient.
To access the new AJAX resource, go to the web console and select Admin > Manage Views. Then locate the resource under "Node Lists" and select it. It's just that easy!
Product Updates
LANsurveyor 10.2 Offers Faster, More Accurate Network Discovery
The latest release of LANsurveyor offers faster, more accurate, and more complete network discovery, as well as an improved mapping experience. LANsurveyor 10.2 also reduces the size of generated maps and improves overall layout. Additionally, you'll love the updated Visio® icons!
Learn More About LANsurveyor >
Download a Free 21-day Trial >
NEW! License Manager Makes It Easy to Move Software to a New Server
SolarWinds now provides a free application that makes it easy to move your SolarWinds software (excluding LANsurveyor and ipMonitor) to a new server. Download the application today from the Customer Portal >
Recent Service Packs Available for Download
A number of service packs are now available for download from the support area of the SolarWinds website. Get 'em today in the Customer Portal:
Engineer's Toolset v9.2 Service Pack 1 >
Application Performance Monitor v1.0 Service Pack 1 >
Orion v8.5.1 Service Pack 3 >
NetFlow Traffic Analyzer v2.2.1 Service Pack 1 >
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