SAM 2020.2.6 release notes
Release date: July 15, 2021
This topic was last updated on May 10, 2023.
These release notes describe new features, improvements, and fixed issues in the SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) 2020.2.6 service release. They also provide details about installation, upgrades, and workarounds for known issues.
This document includes the following sections:
- New features and improvements in SAM
- New customer installation
- How to upgrade
- Fixed issues
- Known issues
- End of life notices
- Legal notices
Learn more
- For related documentation, see:
- SAM 2020.2.6 runs on Orion Platform 2020.2.6.
- For the latest hotfixes, see SAM hotfixes and Orion Platform hotfixes.
- Looking for release notes from earlier versions? See Previous Versions.
New features and improvements in SAM
SolarWinds Platform 2020.2.6 includes updated password policies that impact individual Orion accounts. After you upgrade to 2020.2.6, all passwords for individual Orion accounts will expire in 30 days. To learn more, see the Orion Platform 2020.2.6 Release Notes.
SAM 2020.2.6 includes the following updates:
- Disable dynamic components for AppInsight: If you know about an issue that will cause AppInsight for IIS or AppInsight for SQL application components to fail (for example, high index fragmentation of a SQL database), you can disable dynamic component monitors to reduce false-positive alerts and logs. See AppInsight for IIS and AppInsight for SQL for details.
- API Poller count increased by 10X: Now you can monitor 10 times as many API metrics per licensed node, as compared to the 1:1 ratio in earlier versions. For example, with a SAM100 license, you can monitor up to 1000 API metrics instead of 100.
- New API poller templates are available:
The following API poller templates were updated to support changes in remote APIs:
- Microsoft Azure Active Directory (v.3)
- Microsoft Azure App Service (v.2)
- Microsoft Azure Batch Account (v.2)
- Microsoft Azure Blob Storage Account (v.2)
- Microsoft Azure Event Hub Namespace (v.2)
- Microsoft Azure IOT Hub (v.2)
- Microsoft Azure SQL Database (v.2)
- Microsoft Azure SQL Database Elastic Pool (v.2)
- Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics (formerly SQL Data Warehouse) (v.2)
- Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine Scale Set (v.2)
- SolarWinds AppOptics Monitored Services (v.2)
- SolarWinds SAM License Usage for Component-based licensing (v.2)
- SolarWinds SAM License Usage for Node-based licensing (v.2)
Recreate existing API pollers based on these templates to use the latest version. Otherwise, polling stops.
- Container Monitoring updates: Secure container-related data with a new type of SolarWinds Platform credential — SolarWinds Tokens. Other changes include a simplified deployment flow, support for deleting container services, and improved handling of short-lived, ephemeral containers.
If upgrading from an earlier version, update all existing container services to use SolarWinds Tokens. Otherwise, monitoring stops.
- Application monitor polling improvements:
- Display the number of active component monitors polling per node: To provide more insight into scalability, a new Active Component column on the Manage Assigned Application Monitors page shows how many components are currently collecting data. This value is useful if analyzing heavy loads for AppInsight applications in large environments with component-based licensing.
- Fetching Method Skip Fallback: For many component monitors, you can already set the default method to collect data according to your needs. Now you can save time and reduce polling by disabling specific fallback methods for component monitors also. If the selected protocol fails, no fallback occurs. This new option is also available for Performance Counter Monitors.
- Ignore certificate errors during WinRM polling: Configure SAM to ignore invalid certificates by enabling the new WinRemoteManagementIgnoreCertificateErrors setting.
- Faster AppInsight for SQL polling: Increase the number of open SQL connections on polling engines for large databases instances. Now you can use up to five connections that can run in parallel.
- Improved algorithms boost Application Dependencies performance: More data is pulled directly from the Orion database instead of the SolarWinds Information Service (SWIS) data layer.
In addition to updated password policies, Orion Platform 2020.2.6 removed the guest account feature. For details, see the Orion Platform 2020.2.6 Release Notes.
New customer installation
Use the Orion Installer, available in the Customer Portal, to install SAM, as described in the Orion Platform Products Installation and Upgrade Guide. When finished, see the SAM Getting Started Guide to learn about configuring and customizing SAM.
How to upgrade
To prepare for the upgrade:
- Read these Release Notes.
- Confirm that all servers comply with SAM 2020.2.6 System Requirements.
- (Optional) Back up custom code, such as modified SolarWinds .css files or added .js files.
SolarWinds Platform 2020.2.6 includes updated password policies that impact individual Orion accounts. After you upgrade, all passwords for individual Orion accounts will expire in 30 days. To learn more, see the Orion Platform 2020.2.6 Release Notes.
In addition, note the following details:
- Starting in SAM 2020.2.6, Container Monitoring requires a new type of SolarWinds Platform credential: SolarWinds Tokens for container services.
-
Edit existing container services to use SolarWinds Tokens. Otherwise, polling stops.
Open port 38012 to support communication between the SolarWinds Platform server and container environments. - The required
weaveworks/scopefor images is 1.13.2. - The Application Dependencies feature is disabled during upgrades to avoid performance issues in large environments. After upgrading, enable it to restart polling.
- New versions of several API Poller templates support changes made by third-party vendors that host remote APIs.
Recreate any existing API pollers based on updated templates. Otherwise, polling stops and a "Bad request: Unexpected character following indexer" message appears.
- SAM no longer uses MSMQ services, but those services are not automatically removed during upgrades to avoid disrupting other applications used by your organization that utilize MSMQ.
- If using deprecated Syslog and Traps, note that they will be replaced by the Orion Log Viewer (OLV) feature in a future release, likely in 2022.
- To support AppInsight for Exchange, SAM 2020.2.6 uses RestrictedLanguage as the PSLanguageMode on target servers. For a script to adjust that setting on existing servers, see this Success Center article.
- Starting in SAM 2020.2.6, you can disable dynamic components for AppInsight for IIS and AppInsight for SQL. Be careful if disabling components at the template level; all child application monitors will be impacted.
- The Orion.APM.CurrentComponentStatus.IsFallback column was removed from the SWIS database schema.
- SAM 2020.2.6 includes OpenJDK 16 to support monitoring in JMX and Hyper-V environments. You can also use a commercial version of Java SE. See this article to upgrade.
-
Microsoft ended support for Basic Authentication in Exchange Online APIs, so the following application monitor templates were deprecated in SAM 2020.2. Consider using API poller templates instead.
- Microsoft Office 365 Exchange Online
- Microsoft Office 365 Mobile Device Management
- Microsoft Office 365 Portal
- Microsoft Office 365 Subscription
- If upgrading to a localized version of SAM, back up any application monitor templates and application monitors that were modified with custom changes before upgrading. You cannot roll back to English after installing the SolarWinds Platform in another language.
- Visit THWACK to download an updated version of the SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Database application monitor template, which was deprecated from fresh installs in SAM 2020.2.1.
Passwords for legacy Microsoft Azure application monitor templates and related application monitors are stored as plain text in the SolarWinds Platform database. SolarWinds recommends switching to Microsoft Azure API poller templates that leverage OAuth 2.0 authorization.”
SolarWinds recommends checking THWACK periodically for updates to application monitor templates. Only AppInsight templates are updated during upgrades. SAM doesn't update standard templates automatically during upgrades to avoid overwriting custom changes. For details, see Import and export SAM application monitor templates.
Begin the upgrade
To upgrade your entire deployment, including all Orion Platform products and scalability engines:
- Log in to the Orion Web Console.
- Click Settings > My Orion Deployment.
- Follow the onscreen instructions.
Alternatively, download the latest SolarWinds Orion Installer from the Customer Portal and run it.
Learn more:
- To upgrade , see the Orion Platform Products Installation and Upgrade Guide.
- Do you need to migrate as part of your upgrade? See the Migration Guide.
- To upgrade scalability engines such as Additional Polling Engines, see Options for upgrading scalability engines.
Fixed issues
| Case number | Description |
|---|---|
|
0000236665 |
The System Information widget on the Asset Inventory view of the Node Details page displays OS details for supported Linux distributions. |
|
00433358, 00762573 |
After upgrading SAM, the licensing cache is updated so the following message does not appear: "Due to licensing constraints, application polling is disabled." |
|
00716074, 00660298, 00605130, 00723228 |
The Application Connections widget no longer appears on the Application Details page for AIX nodes. The Application Dependencies feature does not currently support AIX so related agent plugins do not need to be deployed to AIX nodes. In earlier versions, this issue caused List Resources widget errors. |
|
00594027 |
To avoid certificate errors related to WinRM application monitor polling over HTTPS if a polling engine is an ORC, code was updated so agents and Orion Remote Collectors (ORCs) respect APM.WMI.Settings on the Advanced Configuration page. |
|
00735905 |
The Cloud Infrastructure Monitoring workflow to add or edit cloud accounts was updated to avoid timeouts when polling AWS or Azure regions for data about cloud instances. |
|
00791939, 00786700, 00804148, 00796666 |
Code was updated to resolve an AppInsight for Exchange issue that caused a "Method invocation failed" message if using Exchange 2013 or 16 with Windows Server 2012, and PowerShell 4.0 or earlier. SolarWinds recommends using PowerShell 5.1. |
|
00827956, 00705000 |
Methods for publishing SolarWinds.Orion.ApiPoller.Service and SolarWinds.Credentials.Orion.WebApi packages were updated to improve support for Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8, memoryCache usage, and other factors. |
|
00772579, 00565164, 00774690 |
For AppInsight for Active Directory, the latest subnet and site relationships for domain controllers appear in the Site Details widget. |
|
00832967 |
The Top 10 Databases by Active User Connections widget for AppInsight for SQL displays Login, Host, Connection Duration, Idle Time, and Bytes Transferred by individual users if you click a shaded section of the pie chart. This issue was resolved in SAM 2020.2.6 Hotfix 2. |
|
00861483, 00876268, 00889549, 00902275, 00907293 |
If you assign an application monitor template to at least one node or group, navigate to the Manage Application Monitor Templates page, and switch to the Application Monitor Templates tab, details about the latest assignment appear. This issue was resolved in SAM 2020.2.6 Hotfix 2. |
|
00803447, 00876258, 00894638 |
If you assign the AppInsight for IIS template to a target node after upgrading to SAM 2020.2.4 or later, and then click Recycle in the Management widget on a Node Details view, the application pool restarts without a DefaultAppPool error about connecting to a remote server. This issue was resolved in SAM 2020.2.6 Hotfix 2. |
Known issues
| Issue | Notes |
|---|---|
|
AIX template scripts may fail for some component monitors if the "Inherit credentials from node" option is enabled. Header issues in Perl script output block component monitors from inheriting credentials from nodes. This may impact CPU statistics, Paging statistics/sec, Disk operations/sec of system devices, and Top 10 Active Process metrics displayed in widgets. |
As a workaround, edit component monitors to provide credentials, or avoid using "Inherit credentials from node" option. Click here for details. |
| Some SolarWinds Platform Web Console pages and widgets for features introduced in SAM 2020.2 and later are not compatible with Internet Explorer 11. | Use Chrome, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge instead. |
| A known Microsoft issue may create inconsistency in SAM SQL tables, as indicated by a Database Integrity Check message. |
As a workaround, back up the Orion database and execute the SQL query provided here. |
| Windows Scheduled Tasks Monitor (WSTM) polling fails for Active Directory nodes with UPN-formatted credentials. "Access is denied" errors appear in Windows Scheduled Tasks widgets. | As a workaround, use the down-level logon name format (domain\user) instead of UPN format (user@domain). Click here for details. |
| Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2-2012 R2 Failover Cluster (Advanced) application monitor polling fails if the 64-bit FailoverClusters module conflicts with PowerShell bitness. | Modify scripts in the application monitor assigned to the node. Click here for details. |
| Warranty data does not appear after Asset Inventory polling of HPE Proliant servers. | API changes made by HP interrupt polling. No workaround is currently available. Click here for details. |
| Application dependency polling is not supported on target Linux systems that use GNU C Library (glibc) 2.17 or earlier. |
Agent plugins include an Nping executable binary that doesn't support distributions based on glibc 2.17 or earlier, such as CentOS and RHEL 6. As a workaround, update Linux distributions on target systems. Test updates in an experimental OS. |
In SAM 2020.2.5 and later, an apiversion variable is required in PowerShell scripts for legacy Microsoft Office 365 Teams and Microsoft Office 365 OneDrive application monitor templates and related application monitors. |
If a "The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found" message appears, add apiversion=v1.0 to scripts. Alternatively, switch to a Microsoft 365 API poller templates. |
| If you assign AppInsight to Exchange to a node after upgrading to SAM 2020.2.6, a "Failed to create powershell connections using provided information" message may appear. |
Use this workaround:
|
|
After upgrading to SAM 2020.2.6, obsolete containers may continue to appear in AppStack and PerfStack. |
Confirm that any container services added in SAM 2020.2.5 or earlier were updated, and then restart all Orion services. |
| After upgrading to SAM 2020.2.6, Kubernetes orchestrators do not appear on the Container Services page. Related polling stops. |
Add the Kubernetes API server back to the SolarWinds Platform via the Container Services page. |
| When deploying Orion agents to CentOS VMs for Container Monitoring, this message may appear: "ERROR on previous provisioning attempt: Agent connected to Agent Management Service but provisioning has failed, error code {0x8009001a}." |
The container certificate store may be corrupt. Contact Technical Support. |
|
Monitoring of Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) containers stops and the following messages appear in logs:
|
AKS switched to Containerd instead of Docker for node pools (© 2021 Microsoft Corp, available at docs.microsoft.com). No workaround is currently available. |
Deprecation notice
This version of SAM deprecates the following features. It is still supported in the current release, but will be removed in a future release. Avoid using deprecated features.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
|
Syslog and Traps |
If using legacy Syslog and Traps, note that both features will be replaced by the Orion Log Viewer in a future release, likely to occur in 2022. |
End of life notices
| Version | EoL Annoucement | EoE Effective Date | EoL Effective Date |
|---|---|---|---|
|
SAM 6.8 |
June 15, 2021: End-of-Life (EoL) announcement – Customers should begin transitioning to the latest version of SAM. |
July 15, 2021: End-of-Engineering (EoE) – Service releases, bug fixes, workarounds, and service packs will no longer be actively supported by SolarWinds. |
July 15, 2022:
EoL – SolarWinds will no longer provide technical support. |
|
SAM 6.6 SAM 6.7 |
June 4, 2020: End-of-Life (EoL) announcement – Customers should begin transitioning to the latest version of SAM. |
September 4, 2020
: End-of-Engineering (EoE) – Service releases, bug fixes, workarounds, and service packs will no longer be actively supported by SolarWinds. |
September 3, 2021:
EoL – SolarWinds will no longer provide technical support. |
See the End of Life Policy for information about SolarWinds product life cycle phases. To see EoL dates for earlier SAM versions, see SAM release history.
Legal notices
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