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Solarwinds plugin

Documentation Team
  • Updated

Solarwinds plugin

Monitor key metrics and states from your SolarWinds environment.

Note: This plugin is an on-premises plugin.

ClosedWhat is an on-premises plugin?

An on-premises plugin connects a service running in your internal network to SquaredUp. They require an agent installed on a machine that has access to your internal network.

Prerequisites

  • The Solarwinds plugin requires a user account (username and password) to access the Solarwinds API. The user account is created and managed under Settings > All Settings > User Accounts > Manage Accounts in the Solarwinds console. Creating a user with default permissions (i.e. no admin rights) is usually sufficient.

How to add the Solarwinds plugin

Configure and deploy an agent

If you have already created an agent in SquaredUp that you can use for this plugin, you can skip this step and choose the agent group you want to use while adding the plugin.

ClosedDeploying an Agent

  1. Create a unique API key for your agent and add the agent to an agent group in SquaredUp.

    You create an API key by creating an agent in SquaredUp:

    1. Go to Settings > Relay and add an Agent.

    2. Give the new agent a name and a description that helps you identify where the agent is installed. For example:
      Name: server1.domain.local

      Description: Test server in production domain

    3. Choose the Agent Group for this agent:

      1. If you already have agent groups, assign it to an existing group and click create.

      2. If you don't have any agent groups yet or want to assign the new agent to a new group, leave the Agent Groups field empty and click create. Then create the agent group by clicking on Add Agent Group and select the new agent in the Agents field for the new group.

    4. After you created the agent, the API key for this agent will be shown to you. Copy the key and store it until you inserted the key into the configuration of the agent you want to deploy on your machine.

      The API key will only be displayed to you once. If you lose this API key, you need to generate a new one (by creating a new agent) and any references to the old API key in the configuration of the agent you deployed on your machine will need to be updated.

    5. The Agent status will show as gray until the next stage of configuring the service is completed successfully.

  2. Deploy the agent on a machine that has access to the service the plugin connects to.

    1. Download the latest release of the SquaredUp Agent zip file, by clicking the download icon under Options next to the Agent you have just added.

      ClosedPrerequisites for Agents

      • The Agent needs to run on a Windows machine that has access to the data source for the on-premises plugin

      • Make sure the Agent is able to make outbound connections on port 443 (no inbound required) to SquaredUp and Microsoft APIs (Azure Relay).

      • Optional DNS-based restrictions: *.servicebus.windows.net

    2. On a Windows machine, with access to the data source your plugin needs to use, extract the downloaded zip file.

    3. In the directory of the extracted zip file, open PowerShell as an administrator and run the following command:

      Copy
      ./Install-SQUPAgent.ps1 -ApiKey "key" -AsService -ServiceSuffix "name" -ServiceAccount domain\username

      Parameters to replace:

      -ApiKey "key"MandatoryReplace key with the API key you created for the Agent in SquaredUp
      -AsServiceRecommendedRun the Agent as a service on the machine
      -ServiceSuffix "name"OptionalTo change the default service name of squpagent replace name with your new service name.
      -ServiceAccount domain\usernameOptionalTo run the Agent as a domain service account (for example, for the SCOM plugin), provide the username as domain\username and it will prompt for the password when it sets up the service
      4. ClosedRunning the Agent as a domain service account

      By default, the SquaredUp agent service uses the local system identity, but this can be changed to a domain service account if required, for example for the SCOM plugin.

      • Configure a domain service account using the installation script, for example:

        ./Install-SQUPAgent.ps1 -ApiKey "key" -AsService -ServiceAccount domain\username

        where key is the API key, and domain\username is the domain service account

      • Alternatively, in Services > SquaredUp Cloud Agent > Properties select the account on the Log On tab.

      • Use a dedicated user account for the agent's service identity. Create a special service account for this domain service account, do not use an existing user account.

      • The account (typically a service account) needs to have the log on as a service permission.

    4. Adjust any permissions for the service and start the service.

      ClosedHow to start the Agent service

      You can start the agent service from Services > SquaredUp Cloud Agent, or using PowerShell using either:

      Start-Service -Name <ServiceName>

      Where <ServiceName> should be replaced with the service name shown in brackets in the upgrade script output (or Properties of the service).

      For example:

      Start-Service -Name squpagent

      or

      Start-Service -DisplayName <DisplayName>

      Where <DisplayName> should be replaced with the service name shown before the brackets in the upgrade script output (or Properties of the service).

      ClosedHow to find the Agent folder location or Service name in Properties

      Look at the Properties of the SquaredUp Cloud Agent service:

      1. On the server running the Agent, open Services

      2. Scroll down to the SquaredUp Cloud Agent in the list

      3. Right-click on the SquaredUp Cloud Agent service and then Properties

      4. Here you can see the Service name, Display name and Path to the Agent folder.

      5. You can also start or stop the service from here.

    5. Check the Agent status in SquaredUp  Settings > Relay
For more information see Configuring an Agent for on-premises plugins

Add the Solarwinds plugin in SquaredUp.

  1. In SquaredUp browse to Settings > Plugins > Add plugin and search for the plugin.

  2. Display Name:

    Enter a name for your plugin. This helps you to identify this plugin in the list of your plugins.

  3. Server URL:

    Enter the URL to your Solarwinds environment in the following format:

    https://server.domain.name

  4. Server Port:

    If you don't use the default port 17778, enter your port here. If you use the default port 17778, you don't need to change this field.

  5. Username and Password:

    Enter your username and password for your Solarwinds environment.

    The Solarwinds plugin requires a user account (username and password) to access the Solarwinds API. The user account is created and managed under Settings > All Settings > User Accounts > Manage Accounts in the Solarwinds console. Creating a user with default permissions (i.e. no admin rights) is usually sufficient.

  6. Agent Group:

    Select the Agent Group that contains the agent(s) you want to use.

  7. Leave the checkbox for Automatically create a workspace ticked, this will create a new workspace for this plugin containing out of the box dashboards and scopes.

  8. Optionally, select whether you would like to restrict access to this plugin instance. By default, restricted access is set to off.

    ClosedRestrict access to this workspace?

    The term plugin here really means plugin instance. For example, a user may configure two instances of the AWS plugin, one for their development environment and one for production. In that case, each plugin instance has its own access control settings.

    By default, Restrict access to this plugin? is set to off. The plugin can be viewed, edited and administered by anyone. If you would like to control who has access to this plugin, switch Restrict access to this plugin? to on.

    Use the Restrict access to this plugin? dropdown to control who has access to the workspace:

    • By default, the user setting the permissions for the plugin will be given Full Control and the Everyone group will be given Link to workspace permissions.

    • Tailor access to the plugin, as required, by selecting individual users or user groups from the dropdown and giving them Link to workspace or Full Control permissions.

    • If the user is not available from the dropdown, you are able to invite them to the plugin by typing in their email address and then clicking Add. The new user will then receive an email inviting them to create an account on SquaredUp Cloud. Once the account has been created, they will gain access to the tenant.

    • At least one user or group must be given Full Control.

    • Admin users can edit the configuration, modify the Access Control List (ACL) and delete the plugin, regardless of the ACL chosen.

    ClosedPlugin access levels

    Access Level:

    Link to workspace

    • User can link the plugin to any workspace they have at least Editor permissions for.
    • Data from the plugin can then be viewed by anyone with any access to the workspace.

    • User can share the plugin data with anyone they want.

    • User cannot configure the plugin in any way, or delete it.

    Full Control
    • User can change the plugin configuration, ACL, and delete the plugin.

    See Access control for more information.

  9. Click Save.

Using the Solarwinds plugin

Data Streams

ClosedWhat is a data stream?

A data stream brings you data to answer a specific question like "What's the health state of the objects?", "What kind of alerts are coming from this plugin for my servers?", "What's the average memory usage of this app?"

The magic of data streams is that they standardize data from all the different shapes and formats your tools use into a straightforward tabular format. While creating a tile you can tweak data streams by grouping or aggregating specific columns. Depending on the kind of data, SquaredUp will automatically suggest how to visualize the result, for example as a table or line graph.

There are two types of data streams available for this plugin

Using Configurable data streams with the Solarwinds plugin

ClosedWhat is a configurable data stream?

A configurable data stream allows you to easily create new data streams specific to your needs, by entering information into a form, such as metric names or queries. Configurable data streams have a + before the name, and once new data streams have been created they show in the normal list of data streams.

Any data streams you create can be edited from Settings > Data Streams.

Metric

This data stream calls the /SolarWinds/InformationService/v3/Json/Query endpoint with a pre-set query, and allows you to enter a custom node type and metric.

  1. Scope to a SolarWinds item that supports metrics

  2. Select + Metric from the data stream list

  3. Enter a Display Name for the new data stream

  4. Enter a Node Type, for example: Nodes

  5. Enter a Metric, for example: CPULoad

Health State

This data stream calls the /SolarWinds/InformationService/v3/Json/Query endpoint with a pre-set query, and allows you to enter a custom node type.

  1. Scope to a SolarWinds item that supports health states

  2. Select + Health State from the data stream list

  3. Enter a Display Name for the new data stream

  4. Enter a Node Type, for example: Nodes

How to create custom data streams for Solarwinds

Custom SWQL

This data source calls the /SolarWinds/InformationService/v3/Json/Query endpoint, and allows you to enter a custom SWQL query. See SolarWinds: Use SolarWinds Query Language (SWQL) in the Orion Platform

A good starter JSON for this data stream is as follows:

Copy
{
    "name": "customSwql",
    "dataSourceConfig": {},
    "rowPath": ["results"],
    "matches": {
        "sourceType": { "type": "equals", "value": "SolarWinds Host" }
    },
    "metadata": []
}

SWQL

This is the SWQL query that is performed on the scoped item. It can be added to the dataSourceConfig like so:

Copy
"dataSourceConfig": {
    "swql": "SELECT something FROM somewhere WHERE something like something"
}

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