SAM 6.6 System Requirements
Released: March 3, 2018
Updated February 21, 2019
Important: These recommended system requirements are for SAM 6.6 as a single product installed on Orion Platform 2017.3. Requirements may increase for medium or large environments, or environments with multi-modules installed.
For additional information on requirements and configurations, see the Multi-module system guidelines. You should also review your product administration guides and release notes for the exact product requirements beyond these minimums.
To learn about supported environments, Orion Platform settings, and recommended monitoring limits related to the new Application Dependencies feature, see Configure the Application Dependencies feature.
We also recommend reviewing the SAM 6.6 Release Notes.
Software requirements
- Your Orion server and your SolarWinds Orion database must use separate servers.
- Multiple Orion server installations using the same database are not supported.
- SolarWinds only supports installing the Orion agent on domain controllers. Do not install any other SolarWinds products on domain controllers.
- SolarWinds does not support the installation of any Orion product on the same server as a Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Exchange, or Research in Motion (RIM) Blackberry server.
The following table lists software requirements and recommendations for a SolarWinds installation on both physical and virtual computers.
| Software | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Production |
|
|
|
Installing SolarWinds SAM on Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials or Windows Server Core is not supported. |
|
| Operating system languages |
|
| IP address version |
IPv4 IPv6 implemented as a dual stack CIDR notation is not supported for IPv6 addresses. |
| Web server |
Microsoft IIS 8.0 or later Use default settings for Anonymous Authentication of the SolarWinds NetPerfMon website (Enabled). IIS is installed by the SolarWinds Orion Installer. You can install this software manually to reduce your installation time or network bandwidth. |
| Microsoft .NET Framework |
.NET 4.6.2 Run the same version of. NET on your primary server and any Additional Polling Engines (APEs) or Additional Web Servers (AWS) in the environment. |
| Services |
The following services must be running after installation is complete to collect syslog messages and traps:
|
| Orion Web Console browser |
Do not enable Enterprise Mode on Internet Explorer. This setting forces Internet Explorer to emulate version 7, which is not supported. |
| Orion Web Console screen resolution | 1024 by 768 |
Account privileges
SolarWinds recommends that SolarWinds Orion administrators have local administrator privileges on the Orion server to ensure full functionality of local SolarWinds tools.
Orion user accounts limited to the Orion Web Console do not require local administrator privileges.
Server port requirements
- Ports 4369, 25672, and 5672 are open by default on the main server for RabbitMQ messaging, but may be blocked by a firewall. If running SolarWinds High Availability (HA), make sure port 4369 is open.
- RPC ports > 1024 (TCP, bidirectional) is used by the Job Engine v2 process to communicate with network devices.
- If your devices do not use the default syslog port to send messages, modify the Orion server to listen to that port.
| Port | Port | Service/Process | Direction | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | UDP |
SNMP Informs |
Bidirectional | Receive trap messages |
| User-defined, default: 22 | SSH |
SolarWinds Job Engine v2 IIS |
Bidirectional | Port for accessing ASA devices through the CLI |
| 25 | TCP | SolarWinds Alerting Service V2 | Outbound | SMTP port for non-encrypted messages |
| 53 | UDP | SolarWinds Job Engine v2 | Bidirectional | Resolving DNS queries |
| 80 | TCP | IIS | Inbound |
Default additional web server port. If you specify any port other than 80, you must include that port in the URL used to access the web console. For example, if you specify an IP address of 192.168.0.3 and port 8080, the URL used to access the web console is http://192.168.0.3:8080. Open the port to enable communication from your computers to the Orion Web Console. The port might also be used for Cisco UCS monitoring. |
| 161 | UDP |
SolarWinds Job Engine v2 SolarWinds Cortex |
Bidirectional | Send and receive SNMP information |
| 162 | UDP | SolarWinds Trap Service | Inbound | Receive trap messages |
| 443 | TCP | IIS | Inbound | Default port for https binding. |
| 465 | TCP | SolarWinds Alerting Service V2 | Outbound | SMTP port used to send TLS-enabled email alert actions |
| 514 | UDP | SolarWinds Syslog Service | Inbound | Receive syslog messages |
| 587 | TCP | SolarWinds Alerting Service V2 | Outbound | SMTP port used to send TLS-enabled email alert actions |
| 1433 | TCP |
SolarWinds Alerting Service V2 SolarWinds Administration Service SolarWinds Information Service SolarWinds Information Service V3 SolarWinds Orion Module Engine |
Outbound | Communication between the SolarWinds server and the SQL Server. |
| 1434 | UDP |
SolarWinds Alerting Service V2 SolarWinds Administration Service SolarWinds Information Service SolarWinds Information Service V3 SolarWinds Orion Module Engine |
Outbound | Communication with the SQL Server Browser Service to determine how to communicate with certain non-standard SQL Server installations. For more information, see this Microsoft Technet article. |
| 1801 | TCP | MSMQ | Bidirectional | MSMQ WCF binding |
| 5671 | TCP |
RabbitMQ AMQP |
Bidirectional |
For encrypted RabbitMQ messaging (AMQP/TLS) into the main polling engine from all Orion servers. Sending messages to RabbitMQ. |
| 17777 | TCP |
SolarWinds Orion Module Engine SolarWinds Information Service SolarWinds Information Service V3 SolarWinds Cortex |
Bidirectional |
Communication between services and SolarWinds Orion module traffic. Communication between the Orion Web Console and the polling engine. Communication between the main server and pool members. |
| 17778 | HTTPS | SolarWinds Agent | Inbound to the Orion server | Required for access to the SWIS API and agent communication |
Hardware requirements
The following table lists minimum hardware requirements and recommendations for your SolarWinds Orion server on both physical and virtual computers. Use the minimum hardware configuration if you are evaluating the product or do not anticipate heavy usage. Installing multiple Orion Platform products on the same computer may change the requirements.
SolarWinds strongly suggests using the recommended hardware configuration to avoid potential performance issues caused by a heavy load or custom configurations such as increased data retention or more frequent polling intervals.
When planning the server for your Orion Platform installation, consider the following variables that affect scalability:
- Number of monitored elements: An element is a component monitor, a node, interface, or volume.
- Polling frequency: SolarWinds SAM polls devices to collect data and determine status. If you increase the default 5-minute polling rate, system requirements increase.
- Number of simultaneous users: Add 1 GB of RAM for every 25 simultaneous users.
To learn more, review Scalability Engine Guidelines, contact the SolarWinds sales team, or visit www.solarwinds.com.
Hardware requirements are listed by SolarWinds SAM license level.
| Feature | AL150 - AL300 | AL700 — AL1100 | AL1500 — ALX |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Quad core processor or better | Quad core processor or better | Quad core processor or better |
| Do not enable Physical Address Extension (PAE). | |||
| Hard drive space |
10 GB minimum 20 GB recommended |
15 GB minimum 40 GB recommended |
30 GB minimum 100 GB recommended |
|
Two 146 GB 15K (RAID 1/Mirrored Settings) hard drives are recommended with a dedicated drive for the server OS and SolarWinds installation. Some common files may need to be installed on the same drive as the server OS. You may want to move or expand the Windows temporary directories. |
|||
| Memory |
6 GB minimum 8 GB recommended |
8 GB minimum 16 GB recommended |
16 GB minimum 32 GB recommended |
Database server (SQL Server) requirements
The Orion server and the SolarWinds Orion database must use separate servers.
If you install on a virtual machine, you must maintain your SQL Server database on a separate, physical drive.
The following table lists software and hardware requirements for your SolarWinds Orion database server using SolarWinds SAM license levels.
| Requirements | AL150 - AL300 | AL700 — AL1100 | AL1500 — ALX |
|---|---|---|---|
| SQL Server |
SolarWinds supports Express, Standard, or Enterprise versions of the following:
SolarWinds strongly recommends using the 64-bit version of SQL Server.
|
||
| SQL Server collation |
SolarWinds supports a case insensitive (CI) database on an CS SQL Server. SolarWinds does not support case-sensitive databases. |
||
| CPU | Quad core processor or better | Dual quad core processor or better | Dual quad core processor or better |
| Hard drive space |
20 GB minimum 40 GB recommended |
50 GB minimum 100 GB recommended |
100 GB minimum 400 GB recommended SolarWinds recommends the following configuration:
|
Some common files may need to be installed on the same drive as your server operating system. You may want to move or expand the Windows or SQL temporary directories. |
|||
| Memory |
AL150 4 GB minimum 8 GB recommended |
16 GB minimum 64 GB recommended |
64 GB minimum 128 GB recommended |
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AL300 8 GB minimum 16 GB recommended |
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| Other software |
If you are managing the SolarWinds Orion database, SolarWinds recommends installing the SQL Server Management Studio component. The Orion Installer adds the following required x86 components if they are not found on the Orion database server:
|
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SAM port requirements
Review and open ports for SAM to support communication for the main polling engine, Orion SQL server, additional polling engines, web server, and additional web servers. For a comprehensive list of requirements relevant for individual features, see Port requirements for all SolarWinds products.
SAM component monitor ports
| Component/Monitor | Port | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| DHCP User Experience Monitor | 67 | UDP | The UDP port used for the DHCP request. |
| DHCP User Experience Monitor | 68 | UDP | The UDP port used for the DHCP response. |
| Directory Size Monitor | See SAM WMI requirements below. | ||
| DNS Monitor DNS User Experience Monitor | 53 | TCP/UDP | The TCP and UDP port used for DNS queries. |
| Download Speed Monitor | 19 | The port used for the character generator service. | |
| File Age Monitor File Change Monitor File Existence Monitor Files Size Monitor | 445 | TCP/UDP | These components monitor uses TCP/445 and UDP/445 ports. |
| File Count Monitor | See SAM WMI requirements below. | ||
| FTP Monitor FTP User Experience Monitor | 21 | This field is the port number used for FTP sessions | |
| HTTP Form Login Monitor HTTP Monitor TCP Port Monitor | 80 | This field is the port number used for HTTP forms-based login sessions. | |
| HTTPS Monitor | 443 | The port used by the web site. | |
| IMAP4 Monitor | 143 | ||
| IMAP4 Monitor | 143 and 993 | IMAP4 | This component monitor uses these ports when used with a Microsoft Exchange mail server. |
| IMAP4 User Experience Monitor | 25 | SMTP | This component monitor uses these ports when used with a Microsoft Exchange mail server. |
| IMAP4 Port sessions | 143 | IMAP4 | This field is the port number used for IMAP 4 sessions. |
| IMAP4 Port sessions | 585 | IMAP4 | For Secure IMAP (IMAP4-SSL), use port 585. |
| IMAP4 Port sessions | 993 | IMAP4 | For IMAP4 over SSL (IMAPS), use port 993. |
| LDAP User Experience Monitor | 389 | The port used for LDAP connections. | |
| LDAP User Experience Monitor | 636 | For LDAP over SSL, use port 636. | |
| Linux/Unix Script Monitor Ports | 22 | This field allows you to specify the port number used for the SSH connection. | |
| NNTP Monitor | 119 | UDP | This field is the port number used for NNTP connections. |
| ODBC User Experience Monitor | 1630 | TCP | This component monitor uses port TCP/1630. |
| Oracle User Experience Monitor | 1521 | TCP | The Oracle SQL*Net Listener allows Oracle client connections to the database over Oracle's SQL*Net protocol. You can configure it during installation. To reconfigure this port, use Net Configuration Assistant. |
| Oracle User Experience Monitor | 1526 | TCP | The Oracle SQL*Net Listener allows Oracle client connections to the database over Oracle's SQL*Net protocol. You can configure it during installation. To reconfigure this port, use Net Configuration Assistant. |
| Performance Counter Monitor | See description | TCP |
This monitor uses RPC, requiring the following ports: TCP/135 RPC/named pipes (NP) TCP 139 RPC/NP TCP 445 RPC/NP UDP 137 RPC/NP UDP 138 |
|
POP3 Monitor POP3 User Experience Monitor |
110 (default) | This field is the port number used for POP3 connections. | |
|
POP3 Monitor POP3 User Experience Monitor |
995 | For Secure POP3 (SSL-POP) use port 995. | |
| POP3 User Experience Monitor SMTP Monitor | 25 | SMTP | This component uses port 25 for SMTP sessions. |
| SMTP Monitor | 465 | SSMTP | For Secure SMTP (SSMTP), use port 465. |
| POP3 Monitor | See Description |
This component monitor uses the following ports when used with a Microsoft Exchange mail server.
|
|
| POP3 User Experience Monitor | 110 (default) | This field is the port number used for POP3 sessions. The default value is 110. For Secure POP3 (SSL-POP) use port 995. It also uses an SMTP Port, port 25 for SMTP sessions. | |
| Process Monitor | SNMP | This component monitor uses SNMP communication. | |
| Process Monitor WMI | Uses WMI communication to test if the specified Windows process is running and uses RPC communication to test if the specified Windows process is running. | ||
| RADIUS User Experience Monitor |
1812 1645 |
This field is the RADIUS protocol authentication port. The default value is 1812. Cisco devices may require port 1645. This field is the RADIUS protocol accounting port. The default value is 1813. Cisco devices may require port 1646. | |
| RWHOIS Port Monitor | 4321 | This template tests the ability of an RWHOIS server to accept incoming sessions on port 4321. | |
| SQL Server User Experience Monitor | 1433 | This component monitor only works if Microsoft SQL Server is using the default port 1433. If you have a Microsoft SQL Server database that uses a non-standard port, you cannot monitor it using the SQL Server User Experience monitor. You need to use the ODBC User Experience monitor instead to manually define a connection string that will allow you to talk to Microsoft SQL Server on its custom port. | |
| TACACS+User Experience Monitor | 49 | This field is the TACACS+ protocol connection port. The default value is 49. | |
| Tomcat Server Monitor | 8080 | This field allows you to specify the port number used by the web site. The default value for this field is 8080. | |
| VMware Performance Counter Monitor | 443 | Port number to use for VMware API. The default is 443. | |
| ESX Hardware Monitoring | 5989 | Ensure port 5989 is open on the firewall. | |
| Windows Event Log Monitor |
This component monitor uses the following ports:
|
SAM template port requirements
Template port requirements will vary depending on how you utilize them. The following provides a list of monitor templates that use ports.
| Template | Port | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Blackberry Delivery Confirmation template | 25 | Blackberry Delivery Confirmation template uses port 25 on the SMTP server for sending the test email. If the SMTP server uses a different port, change this value. |
| Finger Port Monitor | 79 | This template tests the ability of the Finger service to accept incoming sessions on port 79. |
| Gopher Port Monitor | 70 | This template tests the ability of a Gopher server to accept incoming sessions on port 70. |
| IRC Port Monitor | 6667 | This template tests the ability of an IRC server to accept incoming sessions on port 6667. |
| Java Application Server (SNMP) template | 1161 | This template is configured to send SNMP requests on port 1161. |
| SNPP Port Monitor | 444 | This template tests the ability of an SNPP server to accept incoming sessions on port 444. |
| Windows FTP Server (via WMI) | 21 | This template monitors the Windows FTP Publishing Service and tests the ability of the FTP server to accept incoming sessions on port 21. |
SAM WMI requirements
Microsoft Windows by default uses a random port between 1024 and 65535 for WMI communications.
You must create firewall exceptions to allow bidirectional TCP/UDP traffic on ports 1024 - 65535 or the component monitors and templates that use WMI will not work.
The following component monitors use WMI:
- Performance Counter Monitor
- Process Monitor – WMI (if script uses WMI access)
- Windows Event Log Monitor
- Windows PowerShell Monitor (if script uses WMI access)
- Windows Script Monitor
- Windows Service Monitor (if script uses WMI access)
The following templates use WMI:
- Active Directory
- Active Directory 2016 Domain Controller Security
- Active Directory 2016 Services and Counters
- Blackberry Enterprise Server
- Citrix XenApp 5.0 Core WMI Counters
- Citrix XenApp 5.0 ICA Session WMI Counters
- Citrix XenApp 5.0 Presentation Server WMI Counters
- Citrix XenApp 5.0 Services
- Errors in Application Event Log
- Exchange 2007
- Exchange 2007—2010 Client Access Role Services
- Exchange 2007—2010 Client Access Role WMI Counters
- Exchange 2007—2010 Common WMI Counters
- Exchange 2007—2010 Edge Transport Role Services
- Exchange 2007—2010 Hub Transport Role Services
- Exchange 2007—2010 Hub Transport Role WMI Counters
- Exchange 2007—2010 Mailbox Role Services
- Exchange 2007—2010 Mailbox Role WMI Counters
- Exchange 2007—2010 Unified Messaging Role Services
- Exchange 2007—2010 WMI Counters
- Exchange 2013 Client Access Role Services
- Exchange 2013 Client Access Role WMI Counters
- Exchange 2016 Client Access Role Services
- Exchange 2016 Hub Transport Role Counters
- Exchange 2016 Hub Transport Role Servers and Counters
- Exchange 2010 Common Performance Counters
- Exchange Server 2000 and 2003
- Internet Information Services
- Orion Server
- SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007
- SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0
- SQL Server 2005 Database
- SQL Server 2008 Database
- Windows Print Services
- Windows Server 2003-2008
Additional SAM technology requirements
Refer to these Success Center articles for additional SAM requirements:
- Asset inventory and hardware health requirements
- AppInsight for Exchange requirements and permissions
- AppInsight for IIS requirements and permissions
- AppInsight for SQL requirements and permissions
- Windows Scheduled Task Monitor requirements
Additional resources
For additional information about Orion Platform requirements and configurations, refer to:
- Multi-module system guidelines
- Orion Agent requirements
- Scalability Engine Guidelines
- High Availability requirements
- Cloud monitoring requirements
- Port requirements for all SolarWinds products
- Deploy Orion Platform products to Amazon Web Services
- Deploy Orion Platform products to Microsoft Azure
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