How do I get started with NCM?

Welcome to the SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) Getting Started Guide.

Ensure your long term success with SolarWinds NCM by following the guidelines described in this guide. Depending on your workload, getting started with NCM should take you one week or less.

Prerequisites

This getting started guide assumes that you have:

• Purchased or are evaluating NPM and NCM.
• Installed NPM and are adding NCM to your SolarWinds Platform deployment.
• Completed the NPM Getting Started Guide. There are some very important principles and skills that you learn in the NPM Getting Started Guide, so SolarWinds highly encourages you to work through that content.

Get started with NCM

To get started with NCM, complete the following tasks.

	Install NCM. Use the SolarWinds Platform installer to prepare the environment and install NCM.
	Populate NCM with devices. For NCM to manage your device configs, you need to discover those network devices and add them to the SolarWinds Platform for monitoring.
	Back up network configs Use a script to automatically back up configs, or manually back up a config.
	View information View information about devices and configurations on the Config Summary dashboard.
	Manage network change. Understand options for editing configs. Learn how to edit one or more configs with a script, run an inventory scan, and edit a config using a config change template.
	Troubleshoot a network problem caused by a config change. Get a walk-through of investigating and correcting a network outage caused by a config change, and learn what was configured to enable that type of monitoring and troubleshooting.
	Identify changes to network configs. Configure real-time change detection to get instant notification through email whenever a change occurs to any of your device configurations. Establish a baseline to define the approved configuration for a set of devices and identify when a device config has deviated from the baseline.
	Run and schedule inventory reports. Use NCM inventory reports to access up-to-date device information and to manage the inventory of your network infrastructure. Learn how to run and schedule device inventory reports.
	Ensure compliance. Use the NCM compliance policy reports to verify and maintain compliance within your network. Learn how to use preconfigured reports to conduct a compliance audit.

Existing customers: Access your licensed software from the SolarWinds Customer Portal.

If you need implementation help, contact our Support reps. Read this SolarWinds Customer Support article to learn how to properly open a support case and get your case the right level of visibility.

Evaluators: If you are evaluating SolarWinds NCM, download a free 30-day evaluation. The evaluation version of SolarWinds NCM is a full version of the product, functional for 30 days. After the evaluation period, you can easily convert your evaluation license to a production license by obtaining and applying a license key. If you need assistance with your evaluation, contact sales@solarwinds.com.

Product terminology

SolarWinds Platform: The common platform used by SolarWinds Platform products, including NPM and NCM. The platform provides the backbone for navigation, settings, and common features like alerts and reports. It also provides a consistent look-and-feel across products, giving you a “single pane of glass” for your SolarWinds Platform monitoring tools.

SolarWinds Platform Web Console: The web interface that you use to access NCM and other products that run on the SolarWinds Platform products. This interface is used to view, configure, and manage all of your monitored objects.

SolarWinds Platform database: A SQL Server database that stores SolarWinds Platform configuration data and all SolarWinds Platform products data, such as NCM configurations.