DPA 2023.2.100 system requirements

Release date: July 18, 2023

SolarWinds strongly recommends that you install Database Performance Analyzer on a server that is neither public, nor internet-facing. To learn about best practices for configuring your Database Performance Analyzer installation securely, see Best practices to secure SolarWinds Products.

See the following sections for minimum supported system requirements:

• DPAIM compatibility
• Port requirements
• DPA server requirements
• Repository database requirements
• Virtual environment requirements
• Web browsers
• Requirements for monitoring MySQL database instances
• Java requirements

For information about the database instances you can register for monitoring, see Database instances DPA can monitor.

DPA Integration Module (DPAIM) compatibility

If you are not monitoring PostgreSQL database instances, DPAIM 11.1 or later is fully compatible with the current version of DPA.

If you are monitoring PostgreSQL database instances, DPAIM 2020.2 or later is required to display all available data from PostgreSQL instances in the SolarWinds Platform.

Port requirements

Review and open the following ports in the firewall to support communication to and from the DPA server.

No additional ports are required for DPA Central.

Port	Protocol	Service/Process	Direction	Description
8124 (on premises) or 443 (cloud)	TLS	Windows: Ignite PI Service Linux: Java/Tomcat	Bidirectional	Default HTTPS port for the web server.
8127	TCP	Windows: Ignite PI Service Linux: Java/Tomcat	Internal	This port is used internally by DPA. It does not need to be opened to internal or external traffic, but it needs to be available for DPA to use.
443	TLS	Windows: Ignite PI Service Linux: Java/Tomcat	Outbound	(Optional) To participate in the SolarWinds Improvement Program (SWIP), allow access to api.solarwinds.com for uploads and downloads.solarwinds.com for downloads of XML configuration files. (Optional) To enable online license activation or deactivation, allow access to licenseserver.solarwinds.com. Otherwise, use offline activation or deactivation.
80	TCP/HTTP	Windows: Ignite PI Service Linux: Java/Tomcat	Outbound	(Optional) To allow product updates in self-managed deployments, allow access to updates.solarwinds.com.
587	SMTP	Windows: Ignite PI Service Linux: Java/Tomcat	Outbound	(Optional) To use the default SMTP server for outgoing email from DPA, allow access to mail.authsmpt.com. Otherwise, configure DPA to use a custom SMTP server.

If you are using the DPA Integration Module to integrate DPA with the SolarWinds Platform, see the DPAIM port requirements.

Other connections to consider include the following. The ports used for these connections depend on how your organization configures the connections:

• Monitored database instances – TCP
• Repository database – TCP
• VMware (usually 443) – TCP
• LDAP – TCP
• Custom SMTP server – based on the SMTP server
• SNMP trap – UDP

DPA server requirements

You can install SolarWinds DPA on any physical or virtual Windows or Linux server that meets the self-managed server requirements listed below.

You can also launch DPA in the cloud:

• In the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace from an Amazon Machine Image (AMI):
  • A DPA AMI with DPA installed runs on the supported Amazon Linux 2 operating system. This image does not include a repository.
  • DPA uses the AWS Marketplace Metering Service to calculate charges.
• In the Azure Marketplace:
  • The DPA virtual machine contains a DPA server on Windows and a built-in Microsoft SQL Server database instance configured as the DPA repository.
  • Licenses must be purchased.

Self-managed DPA server requirements

The CPU, RAM, and disk space requirements depend on the number of database instances you plan to monitor.

If you register VMware, increase the CPU and RAM requirements by 50%.

These are estimates. They are based on testing done with an average of 2-3 active sessions per monitored instance. If you are monitoring busy instances with an average of more than 2-3 active sessions, please adjust accordingly.

Hardware / Software	1 - 20 Monitored DB Instances	21 - 50 Monitored DB Instances	51 - 100 Monitored DB Instances	101 - 250 Monitored DB Instances1
CPUs	2	4	4	6
RAM dedicated to DPA	2 GB	4 GB	6 GB	8 GB
Disk space for DPA	10 GB minimum 20 GB recommended
Disk space for Find SQL indexes	If the Find SQL feature is enabled, storage space for the indexes is required. By default, DPA stores the indexes on the DPA server, but you can move them. The amount of space required is determined by the number of monitored database instances. Index files for one instance can take up to 300 MB. Example: You are monitoring 120 instances. 120 x 0.3 GB = 36 GB Reserve at least 36 GB to provide adequate disk space for the Find SQL indexes.
Operating system	Windows Server 2022 Windows Server 2019 Windows Server 2016 Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows 10 and 11 (evaluation only) Linux
Operating system architecture	64-bit
Thread limit (Linux only)2	Max user process: 4096 Max open files: 2048	Max user process: 4096 Max open files: 2048	Max user process: 6144 Max open files: 4096	Max user process: 8192 Max open files: 6144
Character sets	To support a multibyte language, the DPA server, repository, and monitored instances must be configured with the same character set.

¹ If you plan to monitor more than 250 database instances, consider using more than one DPA server and linking the servers together.

² To check the current max user process setting, run ulimit -u. To check the current max open files setting, run ulimit -n. To change the limits, edit the following file and restart the server:

/etc/security/limits.conf

Requirements for an AWS DPA server

The minimum required AWS instance type for the DPA server AMI is t2.medium. Smaller instance types are not supported.

A t2.medium size instance is typically powerful enough to monitor 20 database instances. You might need a larger instance type to reliably monitor more than 20 database instances.

Requirements for an Azure DPA server

SolarWinds recommends two or more database throughput units (DTUs) per monitored database instance. See DTU-based purchasing model overview for more information.

The minimum required Azure tier is A2.

DPA repository database requirements

The repository database stores the data collected by DPA. A supported database instance must be installed on the database server.

Do not host the repository on a database instance that you plan to monitor, because this affects the performance of that instance.

Supported database versions

Database	Edition	Version
Microsoft SQL Server	Standard Enterprise	2022 (Windows or Linux) 2019 (Windows or Linux) 2017 (Windows or Linux) 2016 2014 The latest Service Pack is supported unless otherwise noted.
Azure SQL Database	Standard Service Tier or higher	V12
MySQL	Community Enterprise	8 5.7.9+ 5.6.10+ Amazon RDS for MySQL 8.0, 5.6.34+, 5.7.16+ Amazon Aurora for MySQL-compatible 8.0, 5.6.10a+, 5.7.12+
Oracle	Standard Enterprise	21 (single tenant and multitenant) 19.x (single tenant and multitenant) 18.4 (single tenant and multitenant) 12.2 (single tenant and multitenant) 12.1 (single tenant and multitenant)

Azure SQL Managed Instance (ASMI) is not supported as a DPA repository database.

Self-managed repository database server requirements

If you install DPA on the same server as the repository database, the server must meet these requirements in addition to the DPA server requirements.

If you register VMware, increase the CPU and RAM requirements by 50%.

These are estimates. They are based on testing done with an average of 2-3 active sessions per monitored instance. If you are monitoring busy instances with an average of more than 2-3 active sessions, please adjust accordingly.

Hardware / Software	1 - 20 Monitored DB Instances	21 - 50 Monitored DB Instances	51 - 100 Monitored DB Instances	101 - 250 Monitored DB Instances
CPUs	2	2	4	4
Database cache available for DPA	4 GB	8 GB	8 GB	16 GB
Disk space	The amount of disk space your repository uses is determined by the number of database instances you are monitoring and the activity level of each instance: Low: 1 GB Medium: 3 GB High: 5 GB Example: You are monitoring five low, three medium, and two high activity database instances. (5 × 1 GB) + (3 × 3 GB) + (2 × 5 GB) = 24 GB Reserve at least 24 GB to provide adequate disk space for this repository database.

Repository scalability depends on many things, including the database vendor and configuration, the specifications of the repository server, other activity on the repository server, and the activity levels of the monitored database instances.

Requirements for an AWS DPA repository database server

The following RDS instance types are recommended for AWS deployments.

To see the Amazon RDS database types and versions that are supported for an AWS DPA repository database, see Supported database versions.

Hardware / Software	1 - 20 Monitored DB Instances	21 - 50 Monitored DB Instances	51 - 100 Monitored DB Instances	101 - 250 Monitored DB Instances
RDS instance type	db.m5.large	db.m5.large	db.m5.xlarge	db.m5.xlarge
CPUs	2	2	4	4
Database cache available for DPA	8 GB	8 GB	16 GB	16 GB

Required administrator credentials

You must know the following credentials for the database instance hosting your DPA repository.

Repository database type	Credentials
SQL Server	SYSADMIN
Oracle	database administrator (DBA)
MySQL	repository administrator Alternatively, you can: Provide the credentials of a user with privileges to create the repository user. The privileged user requires the Create, Drop, and Create User permissions and must be able to grant the following permissions: GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES on <databaseName> Where <databaseName> is the repository database you create or select when you set up the MySQL repository storage. Run a script to create the repository user.
Azure SQL Database	repository administrator Alternatively, you can: Provide the credentials of a user with privileges to create the repository user. This user must be a member of the db_owner role. Run a script to create the repository user.

Virtual environment requirements

In a virtual environment, DPA can remotely connect to the following to monitor the virtual environment that virtualized database instances are running on. The virtualized database instances must be registered separately from the virtual environment.

Software	Version
VMware vCenter Server	7.0 6.7 6.5
VMware ESX/ESXi Host	7.0 6.7 6.5

Web browsers

You can use the following browsers to access the DPA web interface:

• Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge: the latest stable version

  Internet Explorer (IE) and legacy versions of Microsoft Edge are not supported. If you access DPA using these browsers, some DPA functionality is not available or does not function correctly. For example, the Find SQL and Resources tabs are not accessible, and drop-down menus in other areas do not function correctly.

• Mozilla Firefox: the latest stable version

• Google Chrome: the latest stable version

MySQL requirements

SolarWinds recommends the following settings to optimize reporting capabilities for a MySQL database instance.

MySQL Performance Schema

The Performance Schema monitors server events and collects performance data. If the Performance Schema is not enabled, DPA provides limited data. Monitoring with the Performance Schema disabled excludes the following data:

• All instrumented wait events
• All wait operations
• All file wait time, broken out by file
• All object wait time, broken out by index and table
• SQL statistics
• Performance-schema dependent alerts

The Performance Schema must be enabled at server startup. In MySQL versions 5.6.6 and later, the Performance Schema is enabled by default.

Global Instrumentation and Thread Instrumentation

Global Instrumentation and Thread Instrumentation must be enabled in the Performance Schema configuration. Disabling these instruments has the same effect as disabling the Performance Schema.

By default, DPA enables these instruments in the configuration. However, if you select the Leave As Is option for Performance Schema setup, you must verify that Global Instrumentation and Thread Instrumentation are enabled in the existing Performance Schema configuration.

show_compatibility_56 system variable

If the monitored database instance is MySQL 5.7.6 or later, SolarWinds recommends turning on the show_compatibility_56 system variable. If this variable is on, DPA can collect data for all metrics.

If this variable is off and the Performance Schema is enabled, DPA cannot collect data for the following metrics:

• Selects
• Inserts
• Updates
• Deletes

Java requirements

DPA ships with JDK 11.0.17 LTS for Windows and Linux and installs this version of Java on the DPA server. If you are installing DPA on a supported operating system, no action is required.

For unsupported operating systems, ensure that JDK 11.0.17 is installed on the DPA server. If you need to upgrade the JDK:

1. Download and install JDK 11.0.17 LTS.

2. Remove old Java information by deleting the cat.txt and cat.end files from the following directory:

   <DPA_Home>/iwc/tomcat/ignite_config/

3. At a command line, go to the DPA installation directory.

4. Enter the following command:

   ./startup.sh