Documentation forSolarWinds Platform Self-Hosted

Enable FIPS for SolarWinds Platform products

This topic applies to all SolarWinds Platform (self-hosted) products.

You can run your SolarWinds Platform product in FIPS-compliant (Federal Information Processing Standard) mode to comply with computer security and interoperability standards used by non-military US government agencies and contractors.

  • If FIPS compliance is required, SolarWinds recommends that you enable FIPS as part of a fresh install instead of as part of an upgrade.
  • Before you enable FIPS ensure that the hardware is FIPS-compliant. See the Microsoft Support knowledge base for more information.
  • Not all SolarWinds Platform products are FIPS-compliant. SolarWinds recommends that you install all FIPS-compliant SolarWinds software on FIPS-compliant servers and maintain all non-compliant SolarWinds software on non-compliant servers.
  • Starting in SolarWinds Platform 2020.2, container monitoring is not supported if FIPS is enabled. Remove any containers added before FIPS mode was enabled and then delete container services. Otherwise, container polling will continue.
  • To learn about SAM features impacted by FIPS, see SAM online help.
  1. Configure the SolarWinds Platform server for FIPS compliance.
  2. Start the SolarWinds FIPS 140-2 Manager (SolarWinds.FipsManager.exe).

    By default, SolarWinds.FipsManager.exe is located in the C:\Program Files (x86)\SolarWinds\Orion folder.

  3. Read the welcome text, and click Next.
    The SolarWinds FIPS 140-2 Manager confirms that the current configuration of your SolarWinds products is FIPS-compliant.
    • If an installed product is not FIPS-compliant, click Close, remove any non-compliant SolarWinds Platform products from the FIPS-compliant server, and run the FIPS 140-2 Manager again.
    • If FIPS 140-2 is disabled, select Enable FIPS 140-2, and click Next.
    • If the FIPS Manager provides a list of objects or saved network discovery definitions that are not FIPS-enabled, complete the following steps.

      To refresh the list of non-compliant objects after editing the credentials, restart the FIPS 140-2 Manager.

      • Click the non-compliant monitored node, and edit its Polling Method to be FIPS-compliant.
        1. Select SNMPv3 as the SNMP Version.
        2. Select FIPS-compliant Authentication and Privacy/Encryption methods, and provide the passwords.
        3. Click Submit.
      • Click the non-compliant network discovery, and edit SNMP credentials to be FIPS-compliant.
        1. Confirm that all SNMP credentials are SNMPv3. Delete or edit any credentials that are not FIPS-compliant SNMPv3.
        2. Confirm that all SNMP credentials use FIPS-compliant Authentication and Privacy/Encryption methods, and provide the passwords.
        3. Complete the Network Sonar Wizard using the updated credentials.
  4. Click Restart now to restart all relevant SolarWinds services.

While the software is FIPS-compliant, you must choose to use FIPS-compliant polling methods, such as SNMPv3, to monitor and discover nodes.

FIPS-Compliant Methods for SNMPv3

Authentication

 SHA1
Privacy or encryption AES128, AES192, AES256