Integrating with SolarWinds NPM

SolarWinds NPM is a software that enables you to detect, diagnose, and resolve network performance issues. 

Configure an integration with SolarWinds NPM, to view the alert, event, metric, and topology data from SolarWinds NPM in the following products and derive actionable insights:

• BMC Helix Operations Management
  BMC Helix Operations Management displays alerts as events, even though SolarWinds NPM separates events and alerts. 
• BMC Helix Discovery
• BMC Helix AIOps

As a tenant administrator, perform the following steps to integrate with SolarWinds NPM, verify the integration, and view the collected data in various BMC products.

Plan for the connection

• Choose the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations deployment mode and review the corresponding port requirements. For information about various deployment modes and port requirements, see Deployment scenarios.
• Based on the deployment mode, either use BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations or deploy the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations on-premises gateway. For more information, see Deploying the BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations on-premises gateway.

To integrate with SolarWinds NPM

1. In BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations, on the CONNECTORS tab, click in the SOURCES panel.
2. Click SolarWinds NPM.
3. Specify the source connection details:

   1. Specify a unique instance name.

      Recommendation

      We recommend that you specify the instance name in the following format:

      <sourceType>_<sourceControllerServerName>{_<InstanceQualifier>}

      The instance qualifier helps you to distinguish the multiple instances configured from the same source server. For example, you can name your instances as SolarwindsNPM_Host_PROD, SolarwindsNPM_Host_TEST, and so on.

   2. Specify the SolarWinds NPM host name.
   3. Specify the SolarWinds NPM HTTP or HTTPS port number depending on the connection protocol (default value is 9090).

   4. Select the HTTPS option to use an https connection to the SolarWinds NPM host.
      

      Warning

      We recommend that you do not select the Allow Unsigned Certificate option in a production environment. You might want to select this option to allow unsigned certificates in a test environment. See the SolarWinds NPM documentation to learn how to install SSL certificates.

      
      

   5. Specify the number of maximum concurrent REST API requests that should be executed during a collection schedule (default value is 5).
   6. Specify the user name and password. Ensure that the specified user can access SolarWinds NPM REST API.
   7. Specify the time, in seconds, after which no attempt should be made to establish the connection (default value is 30 seconds).
   8. Click Proxy and specify whether you want to configure a proxy server.
      If yes, specify the host name and port number (default value is 8888).
4. Click VALIDATE AND CREATE.
   The specified connection details are validated and the corresponding source connection is created in the Source Connection list.

5. Select the source connection that you created from the list if it is not selected already.
   

   Important

   The destination host connection is created and configured automatically for each tenant when the source connection is created.

6. Ensure that the options for the datatypes for which you want to collect data are selected.

7. Click a data type and specify the configuration parameters in the Collectors section as described in the following table:

   Parameter Name	Data Type
   	SolarWinds Events	SolarWinds Alerts	SolarWinds Metrics	SolarWinds NPM Topology
   Collection Schedule Specify the data collection frequency (in minutes). Default: 5 minutes for events collection, 60 minutes for topology collection Example: Collection Schedule is set to 5 mins.  Current time is 00:30. If you run the collector just after 00:30, data is collected every 5 mins, first at 00:30 and next at 00:35, and so on. For more information about how this parameter affects data collection, see Data collection schedule.
   Data Collection Window Specify the historical time period (in minutes) from the current time for which the data should be collected.  Default: 5 minutes (events and metrics), 60 minutes (topology) Example: Collection Schedule is set to 5 mins. Data Collection Window is set to 5 mins. Current time is 00:30. If you run the collector just after 00:30, data is collected first at 00:30 for the interval, 00:25 - 00:30, and next at 00:35 for the interval, 00:30 - 00:35, and so on. For more information about this parameter, see Data collection window.
   Data Latency Specify the time (in minutes) by which the data time window should be shifted back on the timeline. This parameter is useful in delayed data availability situations. Default: 0 minutes Example: Collection Schedule is set to 5 mins. Data Collection Window is set to 10 mins. Data Latency is set to 2 mins. Current time is 00:30. If you run the collector just after 00:30, data is collected first at 00:30 for the interval, 00:18 to 00:28 and next at 00:35 for the interval, 0:23 to 00:33, and so on. For more information about how this parameter affects data collection, see Data latency.
   Event Types Select one or more event types from the list. This list is updated automatically from SolarWinds NPM.
   Alert Severities Select one or more alert severities from the list. This list is updated automatically from SolarWinds NPM.
   Alert Categories Select one or more alert categories from the list. This list is updated automatically from SolarWinds NPM.
   Groups Select all nodes or a specific subset of node groups from the list. This list of node groups is updated automatically from SolarWinds NPM.

8. Click CREATE COLLECTORS to create the required collector streams for the selected data types.
9. Click a data type and specify the configuration parameters in the Distributors section as described in the following table:
   

   Parameter name and description
   Max Batching Size Specify the maximum number of data items to send in a single POST request to the destination API. The batch size depends on the destination’s ability to buffer the incoming data. Default: 250
   Max Batching Delay Specify the maximum time (in seconds) to wait before building a batch and processing. Default: 3 seconds
   Base Retry Delay Specify the initial time (in seconds) for which to wait before retrying to build a batch and processing. The waiting time increases in the following sequence: n1, n2, n3, and so on, where n indicates the number of seconds. Default: 2 seconds Example: Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds. Retry is performed after 2, 4, 8, 16, ... seconds.
   Max Intra-Retry Delay Specify the maximum limit for the base retry delay.  Default: 60 seconds Example: Max Intra-Retry Delay is set to 60 seconds. Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds. Retries are performed 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64,... seconds later again.
   Max Retry Duration Specify the total time for retrying a delivery. For REST destinations, a delivery is a batch of data items in one POST request.  Default: 5 minutes Example: Max Retry Duration is set to 8 hours. Base Retry Delay is set to 2 seconds. Requests are sent for 2+4+8+16+32+64+132... until 8 hours in total duration is reached. After that, no subsequent attempts are made to retry the delivery. The assumption here is that if there is an outage or other issue with the destination tool, recovery should take less than the value of the Max Retry Duration parameter to be completed.

10. Click CREATE DISTRIBUTORS to create the required distributor streams for the selected data types.
11. Click one of the following buttons:
    • SAVE STREAM: Click this button if you want to edit the integration details before creating the connector. After you save the stream, the connector that you just created is listed in the SOURCES panel. Move the slider to the right to start the data stream.
    • SAVE AND START STREAM: Click this button if you want to save the integration details and start receiving data immediately.

           For more information about data streams, see Starting or stopping data streams.

To verify the integration

In BMC Helix Intelligent Integrations, on the SOURCES panel, confirm that the data streams for the integration you created are running. Data streaming is indicated by moving colored arrows.

• Moving dark blue arrows () indicates that alert and event streams are running. Event data will be pushed according to the configured Collection Schedule interval.
• A moving red arrow () indicates that metric stream is running. Metric data will be pushed according to the configured Collection Schedule interval.
• A moving light blue arrow () indicates that topology stream is running. Topology data will be pushed according to the configured Collection Schedule interval.

To view events in BMC Helix Operations Management

In BMC Helix Operations Management, select Monitoring > Events to view the events received from SolarWinds NPM.

Incoming events from SolarWinds NPM are processed in BMC Helix Operations Management through a set of deduplication rules to determine whether the incoming event is a duplicate event or a new event. For more information, see Event deduplication and suppression for reducing event noise.

For information about events, see Monitoring and managing events .

To view metrics in BMC Helix Operations Management

1. In BMC Helix Operations Management, select Monitoring > Devices.
2. Click the links for the required device.
3. On the Monitors tab, click the required monitor.
   The Performance Overview tab shows the metrics graph. For information about metrics, see Monitoring and managing events .

To view the topology data in BMC Helix Discovery

In BMC Helix Discovery, select Explore > Data, and click <count> Import Records in the Miscellaneous section. The Import Record List page shows the CI records received from SolarWinds NPM. For information about records, see Managing your IT infrastructure .

To view services and situations in BMC Helix AIOps

Before you view services and situations in BMC Helix AIOps, create a Business Service model in BMC Helix Discovery. For information about creating models, see Creating a model . 

In BMC Helix AIOps, on the Overview page, view the services and situations for the event and topology data received from SolarWinds NPM.