Documentation forWeb Performance Monitor

Deploy WPM Players to remote systems

As described in How WPM works, the WPM Player is a Windows service, formally known as the SolarWinds WPM Playback Player service, that uses worker processes to run synthetic transactions that simulate end user experiences with web applications. Transactions repeat at scheduled intervals (every five minutes, by default) as WPM tracks performance and transaction behavior, and then reports statistics to the SolarWinds Platform server for analysis.

SolarWinds recommends deploying WPM Players to remote systems throughout your environment so you can:

  • Get an accurate sampling of your websites and services from the viewpoint of your end users,
  • Test firewalls and proxies, and
  • Mimic end user permissions.

Before you begin, note these details:

  • A WPM Player is added to the SolarWinds Platform server when you install the primary WPM application. SolarWinds recommends using a different server as the main location to play transactions. The SolarWinds Platform server usually serves as the Main Polling Engine for an environment, so running multiple transactions repeatedly on that server could have a negative impact.
  • Before deploying WPM Players, review WPM Player requirements and consider how you want them to communicate with the SolarWinds Platform server. For details, see Configure the WPM Player service on remote systems.

    After deployment, remote systems may restart.

  • Open TCP port 17784 on remote systems that host WPM Players, to support communication between the WPM Playback Player service running on the SolarWinds Platform server, an APE, or a remote machine, with:
  • If a system hosts a hypervisor or Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) that runs various servers (for example, print servers), consider deploying the WPM Player to a different location.
  • Places in your environment that host WPM Players may be called "transaction locations" or "playback locations" within the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.

  • When you deploy a WPM Player to a system, the following Windows services are updated:

    • Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service: On remote systems, the Startup Type is changed to Automatic for the Net.TCP Sharing Service. (By default, it's set to Manual on the SolarWinds Platform server and any APEs.)
    • SolarWinds WPM Playback Player service: A dependency with the Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service is added.
  • If you use SolarWinds NPM and the SolarWinds NetPath feature is configured to monitor paths to Exchange servers, the same servers that act as NetPath probes can serve as WPM playback locations.

To deploy a WPM Player by adding a transaction location in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console:

  1. Log into the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.
  2. Click Settings > All Settings.
  3. Under Product Specific Settings, click WPM Settings.
  4. On the Web Performance Monitor Settings page, click Manage Player Locations.
  5. On the Manage Transaction Locations page, switch to the Transaction Locations tab.
  6. Click Add Location.
  7. Select the "Install location on my network" option, and then click Next.
  8. Follow the onscreen instructions to add details about a single remote system where you want to deploy a WPM Player or select one or more existing Windows nodes in your environment.

To deploy a WPM Player by downloading a file from the SolarWinds Platform Web Console on a remote system connected to the SolarWinds Platform server:

  1. On the remote system, log into the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.
  2. Click Settings > All Settings.
  3. Under Product Specific Settings, click WPM Settings > Manage Player Locations.
  4. On the Manage Transaction Locations page, switch to the Transaction Locations tab.
  5. Click Add Location.
  6. Click Download Player.
  7. In the Windows taskbar, click the downloaded file, PlaybackPlayer.exe.
  8. Click Yes if prompted for permission to install the file.
  9. When the Setup Wizard appears, click Next.
  10. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the installation.

As a shortcut for steps 2 — 6, use the following URL:
http(s)://SolarWinds_Platform_IP_or_Hostname:Port/Orion/SEUM/Admin/InstallerDownloader.ashx?installerType=Player

To deploy a WPM Player to a remote system that is not connected to the SolarWinds Platform server:

  1. On the SolarWinds Platform server, log into the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.
  2. Perform steps 2 — 6 in the previous set of steps to download the PlaybackPlayer.exe file.
  3. Transfer the file to the remote system.

  4. In File Explorer, navigate to the file and double-click it to launch the Setup Wizard.

  5. Click Yes if prompted for permission to install the file.
  6. When the Setup Wizard appears, click Next and follow onscreen instructions to complete the installation.
  7. (Optional) Review WPM logs on the remote system. The following message confirms installation and confirms that the WPM Player service is up and running:
    INFO SolarWinds.SEUM.Agent.Service.AgentServiceApp - HTTPS Server listening at https://localhost:17781/

Next, configure how the WPM Player communicates with the SolarWinds Platform server.