DPA 2023.2 system requirements
Release date: April 18, 2023
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 want to display data from this version of DPA in the SolarWinds Platform, DPAIM 2020.2 or later is required.
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 or 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 (Optional) To enable online license activation or deactivation, allow access to |
80 | TCP/HTTP |
Windows: Ignite PI Service Linux: Java/Tomcat |
Outbound |
(Optional) To allow product updates in self-managed deployments, allow access to |
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 |
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
Do not install DPA on the same server as SQL Sentry. Features that leverage Platform Connect (for example, sending alert notifications to a third-party notification services) will not function correctly.
You can install SolarWinds DPA on any physical or virtual Windows or Linux server that meets the following requirements. You can also launch DPA in:
- 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.
- 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.
DPA server minimum requirements
Requirements depend on the number of database instances you plan to monitor. These requirements are for the DPA application running on the server. They do not include the DPA repository requirements.
To monitor more than 20 database instances, you must allocate additional memory to the DPA Java heap. For instructions, see Increase the memory allocated to the DPA Java heap.
These are estimates and represent the minimum requirements. Monitored instances with a large number of active sessions or large database caches can increase the DPA server requirements.
Server type | Resource | 1 - 20 monitored DB instances | 21 - 50 monitored DB instances | 51 - 100 monitored DB instances | 101 - 250 monitored DB instances1 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Self-managed | CPU cores | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 |
RAM |
10 GB | 16 GB | 24 GB | 40 GB | |
AWS cloud | t3.xlarge | t3.2xlarge | m4.2xlarge | m4.4xlarge | |
Azure cloud | D4as v6 | D8as v6 | D8as v6 | D16as v6 | |
All | Disk space |
40 GB |
55 GB | 75 GB | 150 GB |
Operating system |
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Operating system architecture | x86-64 chipset (not ARM chipsets) | ||||
Thread limit (Linux only)2 |
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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 using DPA Central to see information across your entire monitored estate.
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
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 repository database versions
Database | Edition | Version | Location |
---|---|---|---|
Microsoft SQL Server |
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The latest Service Pack is supported unless otherwise noted. |
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Azure SQL Database |
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MySQL |
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Oracle |
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Azure SQL Managed Instance (ASMI) is not supported as a DPA repository database.
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Although DPA will work with the Express editions of Oracle and SQL Server, SolarWinds does not officially support these editions for the repository because of the database size limits. If you need a free database for an evaluation, SolarWinds recommends using a MySQL database.
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For AWS-hosted repositories, see the sizing requirements.
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If you choose Azure SQL Database as your repository, SolarWinds recommends two or more database throughput units (DTU) per monitored database instance. See the Azure SQL Database DTU Calculator for more information.
Repository database server minimum requirements
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These are estimates and represent the minimum requirements. Monitored instances with a large number of active sessions or large database caches can increase the repository requirements.
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To see the Amazon RDS database types and versions that are supported for a DPA repository database, see Supported database versions.
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For Azure, SolarWinds recommends two or more database throughput units (DTUs) per monitored database instance. See DTU-based purchasing model overview for more information.
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.
Location | Requirement | 1 - 20 monitored DB instances | 21 - 50 monitored DB instances | 51 - 100 monitored DB instances | 101 - 250 monitored DB instances |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Self-managed | CPU cores | 6 | 8 | 12 | 16 |
Amazon RDS | DB instance configuration | db.m5.xlarge or db.m5.2xlarge | db.m5.2xlarge | db.m5.4xlarge | db.m5.8xlarge |
Azure | DTUs | 2 - 40 | 42 - 100 | 102 - 200 | 202 - 500 |
vCores | 6 | 8 | 12 | 16 | |
All | Database cache available for DPA | 8 GB | 16 GB | 32 GB | 64 GB |
Disk space |
240 GB |
600 GB | 1.2 TB | 3 TB |
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:
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Azure SQL Database |
repository administrator Alternatively, you can:
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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 |
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VMware vCenter Server |
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VMware ESX/ESXi Host |
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Web browsers
You can use the following browsers to access the DPA web interface.
Browser | Version |
---|---|
Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge |
The latest stable version |
Mozilla Firefox | The latest stable version |
Google Chrome | 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.
MySQL requirements
SolarWinds recommends the following settings to provide the best monitoring capabilities for MySQL monitored database instances.
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 11.0.24 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 11.0.24 is installed on the DPA server. If you need to upgrade the JDK:
- Download and install JDK 11.0.24.
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Remove old Java information by deleting the
cat.txt
andcat.end
files from the following directory:<DPA_Home>/iwc/tomcat/ignite_config/
- At a command line, go to the DPA installation directory.
-
Enter the following command:
./startup.sh