SolarWinds SOLARWINDS-NPM Online Practice Questions and Exam Preparation

SolarWinds SOLARWINDS-NPM Online Questions & Answers

• Question 1:

  You can apply Universal Device Pollers to which object types? (Choose all that apply.)

  A. Interfaces
  B. Nodes
  C. Volumes
  D. Applications
  A. Interfaces
  B. Nodes
  C. Volumes

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  Explanation

  Universal Device Pollers (UnDPs) are custom pollers that allow you to monitor specific aspects of your network devices using SNMP. You can apply UnDPs to any object type that supports SNMP polling, such as interfaces, nodes, and volumes. You cannot apply UnDPs to applications, because they are not SNMP-based objects. Applications are monitored using Application Performance Monitor (APM), which uses different methods, such as WMI, scripts, or agents, to collect data.

  References: Monitor custom statistics based on OIDs with Universal Device Pollers in NPM, Assign Universal Device Pollers to devices monitored in NPM, Add and assign Universal Device Pollers

• Question 2:

  Which items can you display in Web Console maps?

  A. Monitored nodes and network links
  B. Quarks, gluons, Leptons, nodes, and network links
  C. Interfaces, volumes, and database instances
  D. Monitored nodes, interfaces and volumes, SAM applications and components, and network links
  D. Monitored nodes, interfaces and volumes, SAM applications and components, and network links

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  Explanation

  Web Console maps are interactive and dynamic maps that you can create and customize using the Orion Maps feature in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console. You can display various items on the maps, such as monitored nodes, interfaces and volumes, SAM applications and components, and network links. You can also add custom labels, annotations, and images to themaps. Web Console maps can help you visualize the relationships and dependencies among your network devices and applications, as well as troubleshoot issues and identify root causes.

  References: Orion Maps, Create and customize maps in the Orion Platform, Orion Maps 2.0, New Alerting, and Palo Alto Networks Monitoring -SolarWinds Lab Episode #77.

• Question 3:

  The finance department asks to view select reports from NPM. Because of compliance policies, you cannot create accounts in the Web Console for users outside of the IT department. How do you allow the finance department to view reports without a user account?

  A. Create a DirectLink account in the Web Console
  B. Enable the Guest account
  C. Create a service account for Finance
  D. Enable the Link only option on the report
  D. Enable the Link only option on the report

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  Explanation

  To allow the finance department to view select reports from NPM without a user account, you can enable the Link only option on the report. This option allows you to generate a direct link to the report that can be shared with anyone who has access to the Orion Web Console URL, even if they do not have a user account or login credentials. The Link only option also bypasses any report limitations or account restrictions that might apply to the report. To enable the Link only option on a report, you need to edit the report and select the Link only option in the Report Properties page. You can then copy the link and send it to the finance department via email or other methods. The finance department can then view the report by clicking the link and opening it in a web browser1.

  References: Share a web-based report with non-Orion Platform users

• Question 4:

  You configure an alert to send you an email when you have a high CPU load on your devices. Your NPM web console shows several devices have high CPU utilization, but you have not received any emails. What could be the issue?

  A. The alert threshold is set too high
  B. The hardware resources assigned to the system are too low
  C. The alerts are muted on the devices
  D. SNMP is not configured on the devices
  C. The alerts are muted on the devices

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  Explanation

  One possible reason why you have not received any emails for the high CPU load alert is that the alerts are muted on the devices. Muting alerts means that the alert conditions are still evaluated, but the alert actions are not executed. This can be useful when you want to temporarily suppress notifications for planned maintenance or testing. You can mute alerts for individual nodes, groups, or applications, or for all alerts in the Orion Platform. To check if the alerts are muted on the devices, you can go to the Manage Nodes page and look for the Muted column. You can also use the Mute Alerts widget on the Orion homepage to see the status of alert muting. To unmute alerts, you can either use the same widget or the Unmute Alerts option in the node, group, or application details page.

  References: Mute alerts, Manage nodes, Mute Alerts widget

• Question 5:

  After you create an NPM report with custom charts for availability and response time metrics, you schedule the report and add an action to export it. But you cannot export it as an Excel file. What is the likely reason?

  A. You must link the report with a URL in an email action to run live in the web console
  B. Excel file formats are not supported
  C. The custom charts only support a PDF export
  D. You do not have the permissions to export the report
  C. The custom charts only support a PDF export

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  Explanation

  According to the SolarWinds NPM Administrator Guide, custom charts are created using the Orion Web Console and are not compatible with Excel file formats. Therefore, the only option to export a report with custom charts is to use a PDF format. Other report formats, such as HTML, CSV, or TXT, are supported for reports without custom charts.

  References: SolarWinds NPM Administrator Guide, page 171; Export reports to Excel - Forum, reply by ElisabethZakes; How to Export NPM Report Writer Data to Excel (xls or csv)??? - Forum, reply by borgan.

• Question 6:

  You use NPM to monitor a set of physical servers. The server team decides to virtualize these servers using VMware. Which part of your virtual infrastructure will NPM no longer be able to monitor?

  A. Virtualization host hardware health
  B. VM sprawl monitoring
  C. Virtualization host and VM performance metrics
  D. Virtualization environment tree
  D. Virtualization environment tree

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  Explanation

  NPM can monitor the virtualization host hardware health, VM sprawl, and virtualization host and VM performance metrics using the Virtualization Manager Integration feature1. However,NPM cannot display the virtualization environment tree, which shows the hierarchical relationship between the virtualization hosts, clusters, datastores, and VMs. This feature is only available in Virtualization Manager2, a separate product that can be integrated with NPM.

  References: 1: Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide - Monitor virtual infrastructure 2: Virtualization Manager Getting Started Guide - View the virtualization environment tree

• Question 7:

  Half of your objects in a nested map are down, but the top level map is up. What is the cause?

  A. You set availability thresholds for devices to above 50%
  B. You set availability thresholds for devices to below 50%
  C. You set map status thresholds to above 50%
  D. You set map status thresholds to below 50%
  C. You set map status thresholds to above 50%

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  Explanation

  Map status thresholds determine how the status of a map is calculated based on the status of its child objects. If you set the map status threshold to above 50%, it means that the map will be up if more than half of its child objects are up, regardless of the severity of the down objects. This can cause a situation where half of your objects in a nested map are down, but the top level map is up, because the top level map only considers the status of the nested maps, not the individual objects within them. To avoid this, you can lower the map status threshold to a value that reflects the desired level of availability for your network, or use custom map status thresholds to specify different values for different maps.

  References: Set map status thresholds in NPM, Create nested maps in NPM, How to map through a deeply nested array of objects?

• Question 8:

  You receive an alert that one of your routers is experiencing critical level CPU utilization. The router details in the web console show as critical utilization, but you do not consider the utilization on that router to be at a critical level.

  What change can you make in NPM to reflect a CPU utilization level you consider to be critical for the device?

  A. Copy the alert, change the trigger threshold, and limit the scope on that device
  B. Change the global critical CPU threshold for node statuses
  C. Change the critical CPU threshold on the node
  D. Change the trigger threshold on the alert
  C. Change the critical CPU threshold on the node

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  Explanation

  By default, NPM uses the global critical CPU threshold for node statuses, which is 90%. However, you can override this threshold for individual nodes by editing their properties and specifying a custom value for the critical CPU threshold. This way, you can adjust the threshold according to the specific characteristics and performance of each node. Changing the critical CPU threshold on the node will affect how the node status is calculated and displayed in the web console, as well as how the alerts are triggered based on the CPU utilization.

  References: Thresholds in the SolarWinds Platform; CPU Critical Threshold - Forum - Network Performance Monitor (NPM) - THWACK

• Question 9:

  In which scenario is an agent the best solution?

  A. If you cannot allow ICMP polling on your routers
  B. If hosts in distributed networks have overlapping IP addresses
  C. If the WMI ports are already in use on Linux
  D. If Native GLX log file monitoring is required
  B. If hosts in distributed networks have overlapping IP addresses

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  Explanation

  An agent is a software component that you can install on a node to collect and send data to the Orion server. Agents are useful when you need to monitor nodes that are behind firewalls, in the cloud, or have overlapping IP addresses. Agents can also provide more detailed information about the node's performance and status than SNMP or WMI. Agents can use either agent-initiated or server-initiated communication, depending on your network configuration and security requirements.

  References: NPM Administrator Guide, page 67; SCP Study Aid - NPM, page 15.

• Question 10:

  You can display Palo Alto firewalls on Orion Maps.

  A. False
  B. True
  B. True

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  Explanation

  Orion Maps 2.0 supports displaying Palo Alto firewalls as network devices, along with their interfaces, zones, policies, and traffic data. You can also view the firewall status, alerts, and events on the map. To add a Palo Alto firewall to an Orion Map, you need to have Network Insight for Palo Alto enabled in NPM, and discover the firewall using SNMP and API polling.

  References: Orion Maps 2.0, New Alerting, and Palo Alto Networks Monitoring - SolarWinds Lab Episode #77, SolarWinds Lab Episode 77: Orion Maps 2.0, New Alerting, and Palo Alto Networks Monitoring - Orange Matter, Network Insight for Palo Alto Networks in NPM