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Congratulations on your purchase of SolarWinds Orion Network Configuration Manager (Orion NCM). Orion NCM is a comprehensive, intuitive solution designed to streamline and automate network configuration management. Orion NCM increases availability, saves time, improves security, and ensures policy adherence. The automation capabilities of Orion NCM reduce the amount of time network engineers spend on mundane network tasks, allowing them to focus on business-critical network projects.

This version adds the following key features to the already robust Orion NCM feature set:

  • Cisco EnergyWise Configuration Management
  • Orion NCM Integration Module Enhancements
  • Scheduled Configuration File Purge
  • Reporting Enhancements
  • Transfer Enhancements
  • IPv6 Support

Why Install this Version

This version of Orion Network Configuration Manager provides the following customer-driven key features:

Cisco EnergyWise Configuration Management
Allowing you to enable Cisco EnergyWise network devices and activate EnergyWise policies on your network.
Orion NCM Integration Module Enhancements
Offers the full functionality of the Orion NCM website within Orion NPM and respects Orion NPM account limitations. You can also assign view limitations, allowing only the users you want access to the views they need.
Scheduled Configuration File Purge
Provides a simple scheduled job to delete unnecessary configurations, automatically purging old configuration files from your database.
Reporting Enhancements
Separates the nightly configuration backup job success or failure notification from the detailed change log and allows you to select which notifications to receive. You can also attach reports as PDFs to email notifications, expanding on your ability to add them as HTML reports. And, you can now use variables in email subject and local file name fields.
Transfer Enhancements
Allows you to change the default Telnet and SSH ports used for configuration management operations.
IPv6 Support
Transferring configurations and executing scripts are supported on IPv6 nodes. Inventory and TFTP operations over IPv6 will be included in a future release.

For more information about any of these features or the many other features of Orion NCM, see the Administrator Guide.

Features of Previous Versions

Previous versions of Orion NCM added the following features:

Download and Upload Configurations and Run Scripts from the Web Console
The NCM Web Console now offers resources on the Node Details page that allows users with appropriate permissions to download, upload, and execute scripts against managed devices. You can also access this capability from a central location on the Change Management view.
The ability to download a configuration from a managed device was also added to the NPM Integration module.
Running versus Startup Config Conflicts
Allows you at-a-glance access to currently running configurations that differ from startup configs you have designated in your environment, showing you where you could lose potentially important changes in the event of an unexpected device reboot.
Devices Inventoried versus Not Inventoried
Provides you with an easily understood chart of those devices that have not been inventoried. Since inventories provide detailed interface information, among general IOS and version information, it is important to keep inventories current.
New Grouping Options
By popular demand, your custom properties and the Node Group options were added to the grouping options in the Web Console.
Enhanced Search Functionality
Search now returns pageable data, instead of an entire dataset. You can also search within search results and search only the last downloaded configs for a string.
Reporting Updates
This version of Orion NCM adds the Cisco 3750 Stack Physical Entity report and excludes certificate crypto changes from configuration change reports. You can also compare recent downloaded configurations against the most recent startup config. A paging function was also added to reporting to enable the return of extremely large data sets in a usable way.
Realtime Change Detection
Enhances realtime change detection to allow the capture of the account name used to execute the change, if it is included in the Syslog message.
Orion NCM Web Console
Allows you to access your configuration information from any computer with the ability to connect through a browser to the Orion NCM server.
True Orion NPM Integration
Provides Orion NCM resources in the Orion Web Console.
Web Viewer User role
Grants you control over access to the web console and allows you to further limit access to the server console.
Automated Node Discovery
Allows you to discover your network and intelligently add discovered devices.
Single-Solution Realtime Configuration Change Detection
Provides all the components you need, including a Syslog Server and a Traps Server, to answer your realtime configuration change detection needs.
Device Template Enhancements
Offers the ability to send custom commands to a device after logging on and before executing a task. Consider the following scenarios:
Non-standard command mode prompts
Provides a mechanism within the device template structure to declare a custom command mode prompt.
In-process prompt changes
Provides a mechanism within the device template structure to declare and recognize a custom prompt returned by a device after changing user context.
Non-standard More prompts
Provides a mechanism within the device template structure to declare a custom More prompt for devices that do not support turning off the prompt.
Custom enable commands
Provides a mechanism within the device template structure to declare a custom command to enter enable mode on a device.
Locally Installed Documentation
Offers you documentation locally, removing the need for access to the SolarWinds website from the Orion NCM server.
Added User Roles and Permissions
Orion NCM now includes the ability for multiple user accounts to be created with different privileges. The user accounts allow users to login to Orion NCM and perform different configuration management tasks.
Active Directory Support
User accounts created within Orion NCM can be authenticated via Windows Active Directory. Orion NCM performs Active Directory pass-through authentication.
User Activity Tracking
Orion NCM users can view who made configuration changes, backed up configs, or when users log in and out of Orion NCM. Reports can be generated by running a User Activity Tracking report. Additionally, this allows compliance to regulations such as HIPAA and PCI while also enabling administrators to respond to external and internal audits.
Thwack Community Site Integration
Thwack integration allows Orion NCM users to communicate directly with an extensive community of highly skilled network experts using SolarWinds products.
Immediate Policy Remediation
Allows you to automatically remediate any policy violations found as a result of running a policy report. Users can right-click on a violation and automatically apply a remediation script to all devices that were in violation.
User-specific Device Login Credentials
Orion NCM now allows users to leverage their individual login credentials created on TACACS+, Radius, or other authentication servers to perform configuration changes. Device login credentials allow users to better track who made configuration changes for network troubleshooting and policy compliance.
Ability to Unmanage Devices
Orion NCM users can maintain a historical record of configuration history for devices they no longer wish to manage within Orion NCM. Additionally, devices imported into Orion NCM from Orion NPM can be marked as unmanaged if they do not care to manage within Orion NCM but want to keep the devices in the database so they are not imported each time.
SNMP v3 Inventory and Configuration Support
Orion NCM now fully supports SNMP v3. Users can collect node information and inventory information using SNMP v3. Orion NCM users can also upload and download configurations from Cisco devices using SNMP v3.
Support for Read-Only and Read-Write Community Strings
Orion NCM now differentiates between read-only and read-write community strings
Additional Device Support
Support for the following devices has been added:
  • Indirect transfer support for menu-driven devices
  • Intermediary device support for devices referenced by a unique IP address
Added Ability to Import Configuration Files
You can now import configuration files to Orion NCM using any ASCII formatted text file.
Updated System OID/Device Description Database
The Orion NCM OID/device description database has been updated to include the latest device descriptions.
Added Ability to Clear All Baselines
You can now clear all baseline configurations that have been set within Orion NCM.
Added Ability to Execute a Command Script From Within the Search Config Feature
You can now execute command scripts from the Search Config results pane.
Encryption of Custom Macro Usernames and Passwords
Custom Macro usernames and passwords can now be encrypted.
New Reports
The following reports have been added:
  • User Activity Tracking
  • Cisco Card Data
  • Backup Status of Running Config
  • Backup Status of Startup Config
Scheduled Configuration Backups
Using the scheduled task feature, managing routers and other network devices has never been easier. Schedule configuration downloads, configuration uploads, device reboots, command scripts execution, and more. In addition, configuration backups are stored both in a relational database for archival history and as flat files in an intuitive folder structure for easy viewing.
Multivendor Support
Provides support for network devices from multiple hardware vendors. As a monitor and manager of routers, switches, firewalls, VPN concentrators, wireless access points and more, Orion NCM is a robust solution that is fully capable of managing your hybrid vendor network.
Policy Management
Enables you to ensure that device compliance with federal regulations, as well as corporate standards. The Policy Reporting Manager comes with several out-of-the-box policy reports, including SOX, HIPAA, CISP, and Cisco Security.
Bulk Changes
Enables quick changes to community strings, passwords, and black lists. With Orion NCM, you can execute bulk changes either in realtime or within a scheduled change window. Uploads, changes, and global command scripting can be scheduled by device type, physical location, by owner, or by any custom property you create.
Configuration Change History
Reports what devices have had configuration changes over any time period you specify. Configuration change reports can also compare current configurations with a baseline configuration alerting you whenever a change is discovered.
Device Inventory
Orion NCM includes a detailed device inventory for each managed device. Information such as interface and port details, IP addresses, ARP tables, and many others can be collected.
Realtime Configuration Change Detection
Includes the ability to alert you of any changes to device configurations when they occur. Utilizing the SolarWinds Orion Syslog or Trap server, Orion NCM will notify you when a change occurs, and email you a comparison highlighting the changes.
Support for Pre-Command Devices
Provides support for devices utilizing pre-commands such as CTRL-Y in menu systems.
Indirect Transfer Support
Includes the ability to transfer configurations using SolarWinds TFTP Server.

Fixes in this Release

This release of Orion Network Configuration Manager includes the following fixes:

Version 5.5

  • Offers support for Cisco VPN Concentrator menu-drive devices (3002, 2005, and 3030) for configuration transfer using the following protocol combinations: Telnet\Telnet, SSH1\SSH1, Telnet\TFTP, SSH\TFTP.
  • Added more CAT OS templates to the builtin device templates (5000, 5500, 5509, 4006, 6006, and 6500).
  • Provides the ability to change the minimal config length. To adjust the minimal length for a configuration file, launch the Orion NCM client user interface, and then click File > Setting. Expand Configs, and then click Config Transfers in the left pane. Adjust the Config Min Length slider to change the minimal number of lines to keep as a configuration file.
  • Improved script execution on Dell PowerConnect switches.
  • Enhances the logic used to ignore multiline crypto strings, hex data, and certificate information when executing configuration comparisons. These settings can be found by clicking File > Setting. Expand Configs, and then click Comparison Criteria in the left pane.
  • Corrects an issue in which the term Error was used instead of Critical for critical policy violations.
  • Compares configuration files against the last downloaded config if a match cannot be made on a specified period. This allows you to successfully run the change comparisons even when your nightly backup is set to discard unchanged configurations.
  • Removes the truncation of change detection line descriptions in emailed reports. Line allowance was raised to 250 characters.
  • Enhanced performance of the realtime change detection feature to correct excessive CPU usage in some configurations.
  • Fixes an issue surrounding the inclusion of building configuration... when comparing running versus startup configurations on Aruba devices.
  • Adds the As of last update time period to a number of chart resources in the Orion NCM Web Console and the Orion NCM integration for Orion NPM. This time period removes the confusion caused by config conflicts shown through time, instead of a comparison only against the last configuration.
  • Corrects an issue in which extra spaces at the end of lines were counted as changes when running configuration comparisons using the Config Change report.
  • Provides the ability to disable email notification for Real-Time Change Detection.
  • Resolves an issue in which the ${SysName} variable was overwriting the node Caption when running an inventory that includes system information.

Version 5.1.1

  • Provides an updated Cisco Catalyst 1900 device template to correct an issue downloading configurations.
  • Provides an updated Cisco Catalyst 4000 device template to correct an issue communicating with the device.
  • Corrects an issue with transferring data to and from the Cisco VPN Concentrator 3000 series.
  • Resolves a problem in which selecting the Search last downloaded Config from each Node only could result in empty search results in the Web Console.
  • Enhances the speed at which the Select Routers / Switches dialog returns results in the local client and the speed at which results of matching devices specified through the Specify a Selection Criteria are returned.
  • Fixes an issue launching the Cisco Cards report from the Node Details view.
  • Corrects an issue in which logging in from the Configuration Change Report view, after the Web Console times out, could cause an unhandled exception.
  • Resolves an issue where transfers could be performed for unmanaged nodes.
  • Fixes an issue in which the Download Configs resource was not respecting Windows local and domain accounts in Orion NPM through the Integration module.
  • Corrects an issue where the Last Month range of the Advanced Search in the Web Console offered a range that was off by one day.
  • Fixes an error when attempting to designate a website root directory other than the default during the Configuration wizard.
  • Provides the ability to reconfigure Orion NCM to use a SQL Server 2000 database after using a SQL Server 2005 database server.
  • Corrects an issue in which user settings were not properly migrating when upgrading from version 3.5.
  • Fixes an issue when searching within configurations for a selected node when the NCM database is configured on SQL 2005 Server and configuration snippets exist in the database.

Version 5.1

  • Provides the No Group category in the Web Console when policy reports contain nodes that are not assigned to groups.
  • Allows you to click a violation on a policy violation report in the Web Console and navigate to the configuration details view of the offending device.
  • Corrects an issue in which mass config changes could cause high CPU and memory use when Realtime Config Change Detection is enabled.
  • Resolves an issue in which certificates in downloaded configurations could not be ignored. All certificate lines are now ignored.
  • Fixes the services not restarting after the server reboots when installed with Orion NPM.
  • Corrects a problem in the Web Console when mousing over a violation in which the device name was shown surrounded by HTML anchor tags.
  • Resolves an issue executing scripts on menu-based devices while in CLI mode.
  • Adds node name and system name to the search in nodes capability of the Web Console.
  • Fixes an issue in which correcting the community string of a node was ignored and the node would not respond correctly to an inventory request.
  • Resolves an issue where the Inventory Report could time out when run against very large data sets through the Web Console.
  • Corrects an issue in which only groups were displayed in certain reports when Automatically expand Node list to 'Group' level was selected.
  • Fixes an issue in which the node grouping selected in the Execute Script user interface was not retained after being closed.
  • Updates the behavior of the baseline action to update the cache on which the Baseline vs. Running Config Conflicts chart is based.
  • Corrects an issue in which cancelling the editing of a custom HTML resource in the Web Console would add extraneous HTML code to the view.
  • Fixes an issue in which variables were not correctly parsed and replaced when used in scheduled jobs.
  • Correctly displays backed up configuration information in the Devices Backed Up vs Not Backed Up chart in the Web Console when the option to only backup configurations that have changed is selected.
  • Fixes an issue in which different Cisco vendor icons were displayed for different devices, causing strange node tree behavior.
  • Resolves an issue in which creating snippets would not correctly update the Devices Backed Up vs Not Backed Up chart in the Web Console.
  • Corrects an issue in which extra carriage returns were added after every line when adding a banner on some Cisco routers.
  • Fixes a problem in which the Orion NCM Web Console related to the incorrect SQL security schema being set by the configuration wizard resulting in an unhandled exception.
  • Resolves a performance issue when running the Policy reports.
  • Corrects intermittent download failures on Cisco 4006 CatOS.
  • Fixes an issue caused by the use of non-US date formatting.
  • Saves configurations in the correct location when the nodes do not have a system name value.
  • Updated the Search Whole Word option to return only what is declared and nothing more. For example, searching for 10.199.1.1 only returns 10.199.1.1 and does not return 10.199.1.10.
  • Removes confusing message declaring No SNMP Support for unmanaged nodes with valid SNMP credentials.

Version 5.0

  • Supplies the ability to run the Web Console using SSL/HTTPS. For more information, see Implementing SSL Communication (HTTPS).
  • Corrects and upgrading issue from Cirrus 4 to Orion NCM which resulted in the following error: Error while executing script- String or binary data would be truncated.
  • Resolves an issue in which installing the NCM Integration for NPM could cause you not to be able to add NPM nodes through the NPM Web Console. This fix only affects new installs. If you are currently experiencing this issue, rerun the Orion NPM SP2 setup file to resolve the issue.
  • Fixes an erroneous licensing error displayed on the Home and Configuration Management pages of the Web Console after upgrading your license.
  • Corrects an exception when viewing certain policy reports in the Web Console. Previously, you may have seen a website error containing the following text: Multiple controls with the same ID.
  • Provides more granular date-time stamps to eliminate the exception thrown for duplicate column names in the Web Console.
  • Correctly updates the shortcut created for the Web Console when you designate a non-default port.
  • Resolves Orion NPM Web Console Summary view errors caused by duplicate IP addresses provided by multiple pollers polling the same device or interface. This fix requires running the new SolarWinds-Orion-NCM-v5.0-NPM-Integration.exe.
  • Fixes an issue with special characters in passwords, database names, and user names.
  • Corrects an issue where running the Switch Port Report could cause an erroneous inventory error stating that an inventory was not run and resulting in the report not completing.
  • Fixes an issue where the subject line of realtime change detection emails would display the same hostname for nodes with the same IP address, even if hostnames were different.
  • Resolves an issue in which multiple node editing was unavailable when selecting nodes in the Login Failure Report.
  • Enhanced support for multiple concurrent user access support to a single database.
  • Reduces the amount of time to execute scripts on Extreme devices from over 2 minutes down to approximately 30 seconds.
  • Provides enhanced logic pertaining to the EnterCLI command for menu-driven devices that can switch to CLI devices.
  • Cisco IOS 2505 has a new device template, correcting issues using the less specific template to manage configurations.
  • Corrects an issue with generated Config Change Reports showing changes over time where you had to show detailed changes to see the full range of changes.
  • Selecting multiple nodes in the Results tab of a search allows you to edit multiple nodes.
  • Adds the Include Unmanaged Nodes option in the Modify Report dialog. Checking this option includes unmanaged nodes in report results.
  • Enhanced tracking of user activity, including configuration file snippet creation, modification, and deletion.
  • Resolves an issue in which copying MIB Tree Search results could result in an erroneous version error and the inability to copy the results.
  • Fixes an issue in which Cirrus 3.5 databases were not handled correctly when upgraded to SQL Server using Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant for Access (SSMA for Access).
  • Updates the system OID database, allowing Orion NCM to recognize and properly label more than 193 new device vendors.
  • Corrects an issue where customization of the rediscovery interval could cause rediscovery not to occur.
  • Properly handles imbedded and custom properties designate with a macro for use in the community string.
  • Resolves an issue when selecting SSH/TFTP transfer to an SSH device.
  • Respects the setting of a date in a simple condition for the reports where this can be changed.
  • Adds Before and After labels to clarify the Config Change Report columns.
  • Supplies both data and icons in emailed Config Change Reports. Previously, only the data was provided.
  • Allows the use of SSH and SSH2 to connect devices that require a command sent after initiating the connection and before providing a prompt.
  • Adds support for realtime change detection involving the receipt of Syslog messages from dual homed servers, where the Syslog message may not contain the ip address registered with Orion NCM.
  • Provides an error message when the location for exported configuration files does not exist.
  • Removes an import limit of 5000 nodes when importing from an Orion database.
  • Changes the logic used in scheduled jobs to provide parallel execution.
  • Fixes an issue in which Node Groups with more than 1000 nodes would not expand.
  • Enhances the logging of audit events, including events for the download of configurations using the realtime change detection functionality and the uploading of scripts.
    • .
  • Corrects an issue in which the Config Change Report was not correctly showing changes when run as a scheduled job.
  • Resolves an issue in which email and SMTP server settings declared in the settings were not being persisted for scheduled jobs.
  • Respects custom show commands created for specific devices.
  • Provides a device icon for unknown device vendors.
  • Recognizes the enable prompt supplied by the FortiGate Firewall device.

Version 4.0.1

  • Resolved issue where the node list in the Orion NCM application could take several minutes to load.
  • Fixed issue where scheduled jobs downloading configurations from devices using SSH would fail randomly.
  • Resolved issue where scheduled jobs downloading configurations from devices using SNMP/TFTP would hang.
  • Reports no longer include random characters captured from command prompts.
  • Occasional incomplete configuration downloads no longer occur when using SSH.
  • Default scheduled jobs no longer fail to start.
  • Installation no longer continues if Microsoft .Net Framework is not installed.
  • Resolved issue where node discovery was not detecting new information about nodes.
  • Fixed issue where the 'Changes over the Last XX Days' config change report would report inaccurate data.
  • Resolved a login issue with Nortel Baystack 325s.
  • The Orion NCM SysObjectID database has been updated to include the latest device details.
  • Fixed issue where converting an Access database to SQL would prevent Orion NCM from connecting to the database.

Version 4.0

  • Hidden usernames and passwords within the Orion NCM application are no longer visible to any user.
  • Updated Config Change Report to accurately reflect appropriate changes when selecting to view changes over past 1 day.
  • Orion NCM now supports the apostrophe character (') in community strings.
  • Enhanced Find MAC/Find IP tool to improve device connectivity tracking.
  • Orion NCM now supports banners with "#" and ">" characters.
  • Resolved "No SNMP" issue for added devices.
  • Find MAC/IP tool no longer removes the entered text when switching between MAC Address and IP Address options.
  • Resolved Toolset TFTP Server, Free TFTP server, and Orion NCM TFTP server integration issues.
  • The device name is now included in the subject line for Realtime config change detection notifications.
  • The interface name is now included within Config Change reports, notifications, and logs when indented interface sub values change.
  • Resolved issue where Orion NCM ignored "Send notifications only when Policy Violations are present" check box

Version 3.5.1

  • Fixed compatibility issue where installing Orion NCM on a computer with SolarWinds Orion and then running the Orion Map Maker application returns runtime error 430.
  • Fixed compatibility issue where installing SolarWinds Orion on a computer with Orion NCM breaks the ability to edit nodes individually within Orion NCM.
  • Resolved issue where searching Device Details in the 'Up' direction causes Orion NCM to stop responding.
  • Fixed formatting issue when exporting policy reports to Excel
  • Resolved issue where configuration backup jobs would occasionally hang when running on several devices.
  • Improved performance when loading the node list
  • Fixed several issues related to managing devices using SSH including the transfer protocol resetting to TELNET on an upgrade and on rare occasion storing improperly formatted configuration files due to SSH communication failure.

Version 3.5

  • Resolved issue where notifications would not be sent to addresses in the email CC field.
  • Fixed issue where scheduling inventory reports to be emailed or printed would fail.
  • Fixed issue where email notification of a backup job would fail.
  • Fixed parsing of minutes and seconds when archiving configurations with the ${nn} & ${ss} variables.
  • Resolved issue where configurations downloaded using SSH would periodically be saved as blank files.
  • Fixed issue where sending items as an attachments would fail.
  • Resolved issue where data within the node details comments field is instantly removed after performing a show command.
  • Fixed line spacing in configuration backup job notifications.
  • Resolved overflow error upon startup after executing a large script.
  • Fixed issue where MIB Browser would not load from the MIB Browser Icon or Menu Header when the SolarWinds Toolset MIB Browser was installed on the same machine.

Known Issues in this Release

The following issues have been identified in version 5.5.

Windows 2008 Issues

The following issues have been identified on the Windows 2008 platform and are being investigated.

Configuration Wizard

The last two windows of the Configuration wizard are not displayed during installation on Windows 2008. These windows allow you to import nodes from Orion NPM and to automatically discover your network. Both of these procedures can be accomplished outside the Configuration wizard. For more information, see the Administrator Guide.

Scheduled Jobs

By default, Windows 2008 sets scheduled tasks to run only when the user whose context under which they will run is logged on. Because Orion NPM uses the Windows Task Scheduler technology to execute jobs, these tasks must be modified.

To modify these tasks:

  1. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Task Scheduler.
  2. Right-click your Orion NCM job, and then click Properties.
  3. Click Run whether user is logged on or not.

    4. Note: You may need to change the context of the job to enable the ability to change this settings.

Internet Explorer Issues

The following issues have been identified with Internet Explorer and are being investigated.

Telnet Icon

The Telnet icon on the NCM Node Details page and the Configuration Change Report results page of the Orion NCM Web Console does not launch the Telnet window. To correct this issue, add the following registry value: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_DISABLE_TELNET_PROTOCOL] "iexplore.exe"=dword:00000000. This is a known issue with Internet Explorer 7.

Orion NCM Integration for Orion NPM - Inventory Reports

If you are using Internet Explorer 8, you need to be running in Compatibility mode to ensure Inventory report navigation works correctly.

Search Does Not Find Partial Word Values

Due to the use of Full-Text Search, partial word searches are not supported. You can find the beginning of a word, but you cannot specify the middle or end of a word on which to search.

SNMP v3 Passwords

At this time, SNMP v3 passwords are limited in length to 14 characters.

EnergyWise

The following EnergyWise issues are being investigated:

Importance

Currently, the importance of policy updates is hard coded to 100. At this time, this is caused by a limitation imposed by the EnergyWise MIB data collection mechanism.

Time

The time returned by and EnergyWise device is based on the device time. Therefore, recurrence policies (based on chron jobs) respect the time set on the device, not the time of Orion NPM or Orion NCM.

Recurrence Policy and Chron Jobs

Do not use a 7 to represent Sunday in the day of the week option of your recurrence policy. At this time, 7 is not recognized by Orion NPM as Sunday and will cause problems with your EnergyWise Policy Overview Calendar.

Internationalization

A number of areas in the Local Client application, the Web Console, and the Orion NCM Integration for Orion NPM display the wrong time format when you change the system settings to display an international time setting. This is a known issue and will be corrected in an upcoming release.

Adding Orion NPM Resources to Orion NCM Node Details or Summary views

Adding Orion NPM summary or node details resources to Orion NCM views can result in the Orion NPM resources no longer respecting node filtering, essentially providing a network-wide view.

Installing this Version

You do not need to uninstall your previous version before installing this version of Orion NCM. Shutdown any running Orion NCM applications, and then run the setup program. The setup program will detect and uninstall your previous version without a loss of customizations, other than customizations to the toolbar. Toolbar customizations are overwritten to ensure new toolbar options are included.

Notes:

  • During your upgrade, you are presented with the option to select one or more Orion Network Configuration Manager components to modify on the Welcome window of the Configuration wizard, ensure you check Database, Website, and Services. Failure to do so can result in a Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManagerParserEroorException error. It is optional to update your Startup Settings during an upgrade.
  • Upgrading or installing Orion NCM stops Microsoft IIS and restarts it. Ensure you upgrade at a time when your IIS server is least likely to be accessed.

Upgrading the Orion NCM Integration

To take advantage of the updates in the Orion NCM Integration for Orion NPM, you must first upgrade your Orion NCM server. After upgrading Orion NCM, upgrade your Orion NPM server with the new Orion NCM integration module. When you begin your installation, upgrades are detected automatically.

Warnings:

  • The Orion NCM Integration for Orion NPM shipped with version 5.5 requires Orion NPM 9.5 or later.
  • Upgrading or installing Orion NCM stops Microsoft IIS and restarts it. Ensure you upgrade at a time when your IIS server is least likely to be accessed.

Notes:

  • EnergyWise functionality requires Cisco IOS version 12.2(50)SE1 for Cisco Catalyst 2960, 3560, 3560-E, 3750,3750-E series switches and IOS 12.2(52)SG for Cisco Catalyst 4500 switches.
  • Previous versions of the Orion NCM Integration for Orion NPM, versions 5.1 and 5.1.1, are compatible with Orion NPM 9.5.

Updated Requirements

Orion NCM no longer supports Windows 2000, nor does Orion NCM support SQL 2000, SQL 2000 MSDE, or Microsoft Access database as datastores.

Documentation Updates

A new device template command is available in Orion NCM 5.5. If your device does not use the Username: prompt when waiting for the username, you can add the following lines to your device template: <Command Name="CustomUserNamePrompt" Value="Username:"/>

A new time frame, As of last update, was added to the Web Console charts provided in both the Orion NCM Web Console and in the Orion NCM Integration for Orion NPM. This time frame lets you see data based on the latest action, for example, the last download of a configuration file will be used for the Devices Backed Up Vs Not Backed Up resource.

SQL Express

SQL Express, a free version of SQL Server 2005 with a 4GB database limit, is a supported database platform for Orion NCM.

Specifying Your Instance

During the database section of the Configuration wizard, it is possible that the browse function of the wizard will not find your database. If you experience difficulty browsing to your SQL Express instance, type ServerName\sqlexpress in the SQL Server field on the Login to SQL Server dialog, where ServerName is the pre-Windows 2000 name of your SQL Server.

Creating Data Directories

The Configuration wizard does not create nor offer to create data directories for the database you install during the Setup Database section of the wizard. If you create new data directories using Windows Explorer or some other tool while on the Create/Connect to Database dialog, you must click Back to return to the Login to SQL Server dialog, then click Continue. You will be able to select the newly created directory for your database data.

Web Console Shortcut

If you specify a port other than the default port of 8888, the shortcut provided in the start menu may not reflect your custom port. To remedy this issue, edit the following file with a text editor and update it to reflect your selected port number: \Program Files\SolarWinds\Configuration Management\NCM Web Console.url.

Cisco Catalyst Issues

The following issues have been identified with the use of Orion NCM and Cisco Catalyst devices.

Indirect Download

The device template provided with Orion NCM was designed for software version 8.1(3). If you are experiencing issues downloading a config using TFTP from a CatOS device, change the DownloadConfigIndirect command in the device template to the following: <Command Name="DownloadConfigIndirect" Value="copy ${ConfigType} ${TransferProtocol}://${StorageAddress}/${StorageFilename}${CRLF}${StorageAddress}${CRLF}y"/>. For more information about command template variables, see the Administrator Guide.

Last Transmitted/Last Received

Cisco Catalyst switches do not provide Time since last data Received nor the Time since last data Transmitted values to the Orion NCM client user interface.

Status Remains Gray

There is a known issue in which the status indicator icons remain gray in the locally installed user interface if you have selected grouping by Node Group, included the Vendor Icon at the top of the displayed properties list, and are showing status in the left Node tree.

To alleviate this issue and consistently show status for nodes:
  1. Click File > Settings.
  2. Select Node List in the left navigation tree, and then move Vendor Icon lower in or remove it from the list of Selected Properties.
  3. Click OK.

Script Error When Editing Jobs

When editing a job, you may receive an error stating: An error has occurred in the script on this page. Click Yes to confirm that you want to continue running scripts on the page. This will allow you to continue working without losing data.

Connections and Cancellations

When Orion NCM experiences connection loss and when operations are cancelled, dialogs and notifications may not always clearly reflect the appropriate message.

Scheduled Jobs and Node Filters

When creating a scheduled job and specifying a condition of "Where Node Name starts with ABC". Devices that begin with ABC are not being selected when the job runs. As a workaround, change the filter for the node selection to be "Where System Name starts with ABC".

Realtime Changes and Baselines

When utilizing the Realtime Configuration Change Detection feature, if a baseline configuration has not been established for a node, the last configuration file received will be used for the comparison.

Indirect Transfers with Multiple IP Addresses

When using indirect transfers on a server that has multiple IP addresses (for example, a main IP and a vpn IP), the retrieved TFTP IP address may not be the desired IP address. To manually specify a TFTP IP address, click File > Settings > TFTP Server, and then clear Do not automatically retrieve IP, and then type the desired TFTP IP address.

Removing the Orion NCM Integration for NPM

Removal of the Orion NCM Integration for NPM component requires manual interaction with the Orion NPM website. Complete the following procedure to completely remove the integration component.

To remove the Orion NCM Integration component:

  1. Stop the Orion NPM website using the Microsoft Internet Information Service Manager.
  2. Stop the IIS Admin Service using the Service Control Manager (services.msc).
  3. Delete the NCM folder in the \inetpub\SolarWinds\Orion folder.
  4. Restart the IIS Admin Service.
  5. Restart the Orion NPM website.
  6. Navigate to http://hostnameOrIPaddress/orion/admin/listviews.aspx and remove Orion NCM resources from the following views:
    • Network Summary Home
    • Node Details

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