Documentation forDatabase Performance Analyzer

Connect DPA to SolarWinds Observability SaaS with Platform Connect

You can use Platform Connect to connect DPA with SolarWinds Observability SaaS. After you establish the connection, you can:

See the following sections for information about creating the connection.

How does Platform Connect secure the information communicated from DPA to SolarWinds Observability SaaS?

For data in transit from DPA to SolarWinds Observability SaaS, DPA encrypts the data using the TLS 1.2 protocol with a 2048-bit RSA certificate.

Requirements

  • DPA users with subscription licenses are eligible to connect to SolarWinds Observability SaaS. Users doing a 14-day evaluation and users with temporary licenses (for a fixed term) are also eligible.

  • You must have connectivity between your DPA server and your cloud service provider for communication with SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

  • When DPA is connected to SolarWinds Observability SaaS, an agent is installed on the DPA server. During this installation, the swagent user is created. The swagent user requires root privileges.

  • If a MySQL server uses SSL and the trustServerCertificate property is set to false, the SSL certificate used for the MySQL server must include the subject alternative name (SAN) field. If it uses only the legacy common name (CN) field, attempts to connect to it using Platform Connect can result in the following error:

    tls: failed to verify certificate: x509: certificate relies on legacy Common Name field, use SANs instead

    To resolve this issue, see Add a subject alternative name to a MySQL server SSL certificate.

Known limitations

The following limitations apply to all Platform Connect connections between DPA and SolarWinds Observability SaaS:

  • Platform Connect is not supported on a server where both DPA and SQL Sentry are installed.

  • You cannot connect a DPA server to SolarWinds Observability SaaS using Platform Connect if both of the following conditions are true:

    • You have a SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted deployment that is currently connected to SolarWinds Observability SaaS using Platform Connect.

    • The DPA server sends data to SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted using the DPA Integration Module (DPAIM).

  • If you have used Platform Connect and you want to uninstall DPA, you must first uninstall the SolarWinds Observability Agent. See Platform Connect users, uninstall the SolarWinds Observability Agent

  • If the repo.properties file in the DPA installation directory is updated, you must copy and paste the updated version to the following folder on the DPA server:

    • Linux: /opt/solarwinds/uamsclient/dpa/
    • Windows: C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\UAMSClient\dpa\

    The repo.properties file might be updated, for example, when you change the location of the Find SQL indexes.

The following limitations apply to sending DPA alert notifications:

  • If you are sending DPA alert notifications to ServiceNow, only ITOM events are supported.

  • If CyberArk vault is being used, configuring DPA to send ServiceNow and PagerDuty notifications using Platform Connect is not supported.

About SolarWinds Observability SaaS accounts

A SolarWinds Observability SaaS account is required to use Platform Connect functionality. If you do not have a SolarWinds Observability SaaS account, you can create an account when you connect to SolarWinds Observability SaaS (as described in the instructions below). Your DPA license type determines what type of SolarWinds Observability SaaS account is created:

  • If you have one or more subscription or temporary DPA licenses for your monitored instances:

    • The SolarWinds Observability SaaS account that is created when you establish the connection has a term limit of one year.

    • That account cannot be used to activate a trial of any SolarWinds Observability SaaS features.

    • Before the end of the one-year term, call Support to extend the term for the SolarWinds Observability SaaS account based on the term of your DPA licenses.

  • If you have an evaluation license for DPA, a SolarWinds Observability SaaS trial account is created for you when you connect to SolarWinds Observability SaaS. You can use this trial account for 30 days. If you change your DPA license from an evaluation license to a temporary or subscription license, you must contact Sales or Support to extend the SolarWinds Observability SaaS trial account.

  • If you install DPA with Platform Connect on a DPA AWS AMI server, a SolarWinds Observability SaaS trial account is created that you can use for 30 days. If you want to extend the SolarWinds Observability SaaS trial account, contact Sales or Support.

Connect DPA to SolarWinds Observability SaaS

  1. Log in to DPA as an administrator.

  2. From the DPA menu in the upper-right corner, click Options.

  3. Under Administration > Configuration, click Platform Connect.

    The Platform Connect wizard opens.

  4. On the Welcome screen, click Next.

  5. If you accept the license agreement, select the check box and click Next.

  6. If you have a SolarWinds Observability SaaS account, click the Log in link on the Create Account/Configure Token page to open SolarWinds Observability SaaS. Then continue with the next step.

    If you do not have a SolarWinds Observability SaaS account, complete the following steps to create an account.

    1. Click the Click here link on the Create Account/Configure Token page.

      The Create a SolarWinds Observability account dialog opens.

    2. Enter your information and select a Cloud Provider. Then click Create.

      A message tells you that your account has been created.

    3. Check your email. When you receive an email from solarwinds.com, open it.

      The email provides information about SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

    4. Click the link in the email to open the SolarWinds Observability SaaS login page.

    5. Enter a password for the account, confirm the password, and click Save New Password.

      The SolarWinds Observability SaaS Home page opens.

    6. If the dialog prompting you to add entities is open, click Skip to close it.

  7. In the SolarWinds Observability SaaS left menu, click Settings.

  8. In the My Settings menu, click API Tokens.

  9. Click Create API Token.

  10. Enter a name, verify that Ingestion is selected, and click Create API Token.

    A dialog displays the API token.

  11. Click the clipboard icon to copy the token to the clipboard. Then click Close.

  12. Return to the browser tab in which DPA is running. On the Create a SolarWinds Observability account dialog, click Continue to close the dialog.

  13. Select a cloud provider, and paste the copied token into the Token field. Then click Next.

    The Install Agent page opens.

  14. Click Start Installer to begin installing the SolarWinds Observability Agent on your DPA server.

    The agent is the behind-the-scenes service that enables the connection between DPA and SolarWinds Observability SaaS.

    DPA displays a message when the installation is complete.

  15. Click Finish.

    The connection between DPA and SolarWinds Observability SaaS is configured, and the Platform Connect Settings page opens.