Solarwinds N-central Release Notes

RELEASE NOTES

SolarWinds N-central

Version 12.0

Last Updated: Monday, July 9, 2018

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

What's New in SolarWinds N-central

Welcome to version 12.0 of SolarWinds N-central! This release contains the following new features.

NetPath

We’re excited to announce that NetPath™ is now available. NetPath Helps users troubleshoot network

performance issues by providing deeper visibility into network path, application response times, and node

performance for on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments.

NetPath users can pinpoint slowdowns, outages, and other problems through a visual depiction of every hop

traffic takes from the end user, through the network, to the applications being accessed, and back. When a

problem is found, the feature presents relevant network statistics and contact information for the affected node

so businesses can quickly alert other providers to get the service restored quickly. NetPath helps address some

of the shortcomings of tools like traceroute that do not present multiple paths nor display historical data, and

sometimes display incomplete data.

You can set up NetPath on any Windows Server or Windows Workstation in SolarWinds N-central.

To get started, the NetPath menu is available in the Views menu in the Left-Hand Navigation Pane under All

Devices.

Check out this video for an overview of NetPath.

Scheduled Tasks: Handling offline devices

All SolarWinds N-central Scheduled Tasks – AV Defender Scans, Scripting Tasks, Software Distribution Tasks,

and more - have been updated with a new Missed Executions section that enable you to configure what

SolarWinds N-central should do if a device is offline when a Scheduled Task was slated to run.

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

By default, SolarWinds N-central runs the Scheduled Task at its next scheduled time, but we’ve added the option

to have that Scheduled Task run when the machine next boots up. The Missed Executions feature also enables

you to control how far in the future it should take action, and how long it should wait, once the device powers

on, before running the Scheduled Task.

You can configure the Missed Executions section from the Schedule tab of any Scheduled Task.

For Example: An AV Defender Full Scan is scheduled to run every day at 9:00AM. If the device is offline at 9:00

AM, the task would normally only re-run at 9:00 AM the next day. Missed Executions allows for the AV Defender

scan to run as soon as the device is online, ensuring that the device is protected, regardless of when it’s powered

back on.

Single Sign On (SSO) – Google G-Suite

SolarWinds N-central now supports SSO using a Google G-Suite account. Based off the OpenID Connect

protocol, this new integration enables you to easily discover, import and sign into SolarWinds N-central with G-

Suite user accounts.

As a result of this new capability, the existing LDAP Servers menu, under Administration > User Accounts , has

been renamed to SSO Providers. You can now configure both LDAP integrations and G-Suite integrations from

that one location.

Patch Management updates

Linking to a Device from Patch Approvals

We introduced clickable device counts for Patch Approvals in SolarWinds N-central 11.2 which opens up the list

of targeted devices. SolarWinds N-central 12.0 expands on that functionality, as that list of devices now has

clickable device names, so you can quickly open up a device in a new tab to review it.

Automated Patch Approvals by KB/Keyword

You can now use KBs and Keywords to configure Automated Patch Approval Rules. This gives you additional

flexibility to further filter which patches should or shouldn't be approved automatically, based on a KB article

number or the full or partial title of a patch.

For Example: You can now create an Auto Approval Rule that declines any patches that contain the word

Preview, which helps make it easy to ensure that patches from Microsoft containing the word Preview will be

automatically declined.

Aligning MSP Connect to RMM Take Control name

You may notice that we’ve changed the name of MSP Connect to Take Control.

Your SolarWinds N-central UI has been updated accordingly – all references to MSP Connect have been changed

to reference Take Control. The MSP Connect application will also be rebranded to Take Control in an upcoming

release.

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

But that’s not all…

We’ve renamed many of the SolarWinds N-central permissions in User Roles, making it easier to understand what

the settings control:

The LAN/WAN Devices permission box has been renamed to Network Devices (so that it matches the

name of the tab on the All Devices View). As well, the following changes have been made to the options

inside that permission box:

The LAN/WAN Devices permission has been renamed to Add/Import/Delete Devices

The LAN/WAN Device Settings permission has been renamed to Edit Device Settings

In the Mobile Devices permission box, the following two changes have been made:

The Mobile Devices permission has been renamed to Add/Delete Devices and Profiles

The Mobile Device Settings permission has been renamed to Edit Device Settings

In the SaaS Devices permission box, the following two changes have been made:

The SaaS Devices permission has been renamed to Add/Delete Devices

The SaaS Device Settings permission has been renamed to Edit Device Settings

In the Report Manager permission box, the Report Manager Access permission has been renamed to

Report Manager Admin

There are over 80 bug fixes in 12.0, designed to help further enhance the stability of your SolarWinds N-central

server.

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

Upgrade paths and notes

To upgrade to 12.0, your SolarWinds N-central server must be running one of the following versions:

n SolarWinds N-central 11.0.0.1079-1150

n SolarWinds N-central 11.0.1.985-1237

n SolarWinds N-central 11.1.0.647-1350

n SolarWinds N-central 11.1.1.379-1050

n SolarWinds N-central 11.2.0.177-650

n SolarWinds N-central 12.0.0.36+

Note the following when upgrading SolarWinds N-central.

Agents currently on unsupported Operating Systems such as XP and 2003, will not upgrade but will remain

functional.

Scheduled Tasks may expire if the Agent on an associated device is being upgraded when the task is

scheduled to be completed. Agent upgrades are normally short in duration but may be delayed if a re-start of

the device is pending.

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

Fixed issues in SolarWinds N-central 12.0

CATEGORY DESCRIPTION BUG

MSP

Backup

An issue has been resolved that was causing the MSP Backup profile to be removed from

devices, and was moving those devices to the Recycle Bin.

NSBM-

2279

Defender

Product installer errors will no longer result in the AV Defender Status service reporting a

Failed state.

NSBM-

2276

MSP

Backup

The Backup Manager Status service will not longer report a Misconfigured status due to

an issue with the Export Schedule.

NSBM-

2200

MSP

Backup

An issue preventing changes to MSP Backup profiles or installing MSP Backup has now

been corrected.

NSBM-

2186

MSP

Backup

An issue preventing the Documents feature from deploying has now been corrected. NSBM-

2136

MSP

Backup

An issue which was causing some devices to be moved to the recycle bin has now been

corrected.

NSBM-

1977

MSP

Backup

An issue which was blocking the ability to import devices due to license limit error

displayed as a result of deleting a device which is used as AVD update Server and is

associated with rule and devices has now been resolved.

NSBM-

1890

MSP

Backup

Resolved the behavior surrounding the ability for a customer to move a device to a site

which was impacted by MSP Backup profiles being disabled on a device.

NSBM-

1814

PSA An issue existed impacting the ability for manually created warranty expiration dates

from importing successfully into ConnectWise Manage.

NPSA-

1937

PSA Corrected the behavior whereby AutoTask exported devises that were exported and

recently moved would no longer identify with the original account.

NPSA-

1935

PSA Resolved an issue with manual runs of billing profiles causing invalid dates on AutoTask

side.

NPSA-

1932

PSA An issue impacting the ability to delete a customer using the CustomerDelete API has now

been resolved.

NPSA-

1928

PSA Restored the ability for Automatic scheduled billing export to complete successfully. NPSA-

1916

PSA Restored the ability to update, open and close MSP Manager tickets which was impacted

by a unique situation affecting the ability to complete the recipient id field.

NPSA-

1914

PSA An issue existed that prevented the ticket button from being enabled in the event a user

had selected all active issues, has now been resolved.

NPSA-

1910

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

CATEGORY DESCRIPTION BUG

PSA Resolved an issue with ConnectWise Manage customer mapping when the URL is longer

than 1000 characters.

NPSA-

1909

Patch

Manager

An issue causing a blank "Welcome to N-central" screen when logging into the N-central

UI has been resolved.

NCPM-

3495

Patch

Manager

Approvals.xml is reset by full approval. NCPM-

3414

Patch

Manager

An issue causing a discrepancy with Patch System report has now been resolved. NCPM-

3413

Core Fixed an issue where AV scheduled tasks failed to run. NCCF-

8287

Core Fixed an issue with exporting Active Issues to PDF that would cause values in cells to

shift.

NCCF-

8217

Core The NetPath Status service will no longer erroneously report a No Data state NCCF-

8160

Core The HTTP service will no longer report a Failed state after a redirect. NCCF-

8136

Core An issue that was causing the Windows Agent to fail to discover the correct OS

installation date has been resolved.

NCCF-

8131

Core An issue where the CPU, Memory, Traffic and Disk graphs were not displayed in the

Executive Summary report has been resolved.

NCCF-

8116

Core The Netpath icon is now correctly displayed in the header bar of devices. NCCF-

8108

Core Corrected an issue where users associated with a "By Device" Access Group were blocked

from adding Scheduled Tasks to devices using the Tools menu.

NCCF-

8103

Core Resolved a System Error that was being thrown when clicking into a device that had

NetPath enabled, but did not have any Maintenance Windows.

NCCF-

8102

Core An issue where N-central was incorrectly overwriting Contract quantities in Autotask has

been resolved.

NCCF-

8081

Core Performance improvements applied to address server inaccessible due to load from Agent

upgrades.

NCCF-

8076

Core An issue where custom branding changes failed to be applied during the restoration of an

N-central database has been resolved.

NCCF-

8069

Core Corrected an issue where the Windows Probe was failing to download and monitor tasks NCCF-

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

CATEGORY DESCRIPTION BUG

when it was assigned more than 500 of them. 8040

Core An issue causing probe/agents to fail an upgrade due to MSI Installer crash has now been

resolved.

NCCF-

7907

Core SO-level Scheduled Tasks were being processed in an inefficient manner, and that was

affecting N-central's overall performance. The processing of those Scheduled Tasks has

been improved.

NCCF-

7852

Core Corrected a System Error that was occurring when sorting the Configuration -> Scheduled

Tasks -> Add/Delete page by Site.

NCCF-

7828

Core An issue with permissions impacting Server EI2 API has now been resolved. NCCF-

7803

Core No longer set SchUseStrongCrypto in the registry. NCCF-

7801

Core An issue where the Disk service was reporting a Misconfigured state after Service

Templates were applied to a device has been resolved.

NCCF-

7758

Core An issue causing the agent to freeze or crash on Mac OS has now been resolved. NCCF-

7691

Core On Windows devices, the agent reboot request will no longer fail if there is already

another reboot pending.

NCCF-

7596

Core Custom device classes will now allow SNMP sysName to be discovered. NCCF-

7593

Core Restored MSP Anywhere functionality for Mac Agents. NCCF-

7569

Core An issue causing the Connect2Help tray icon from disappearing randomly has now been

resolved.

NCCF-

7563

Core Permission handling has been enhanced surrounding the ability for Windows Event Log

Reporting Filtered by Event Source.

NCCF-

7549

Core Restored MSP Connect functionality for XMPP connections. NCCF-

7542

Core An issue where Self-Healing was failing on devices that had an IPv6 IP address has been

resolved.

NCCF-

7541

Core Device Asset Info Export will now return the number of cores and number of processors

correctly.

NCCF-

7540

Core An issue impacting sorting on All Devices view has been corrected. NCCF-

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

CATEGORY DESCRIPTION BUG

7525

Core An issue with permissions impacting the ability start/stop services in Direct Support tools

has now been corrected.

NCCF-

7509

Core Server EI2API has been repaired NCCF-

7491

Core An issue with ETL service not alerting of failed ETLs has now been corrected. NCCF-

7471

Core Corrected behavior in the event a System Error displayed as a result of deleting device if it

was installed via a probe that was deleted indirectly via cascade effect.

NCCF-

7438

Core An issue with "unknown" showing the Audit Trail for Scan Now feature has now been

corrected.

NCCF-

7400

Core An issue impacting the ability to upgrade as a result of Azure WAAgent file check has now

been resolved.

NCCF-

7392

Core An issue with upgrading as a results of resuming an upgrade when branding may apply

has been corrected.

NCCF-

7387

Core Possible NAC XSS vulnerability in 404 page. NCCF-

7386

Core Performance enhancements applied to WMI Services using win32_service. NCCF-

7352

Core An issue impacting Mac scripting from functioning has now been resolved. NCCF-

7329

Core HTTPS-service will now check IP-adress value when using relative URL. NCCF-

7248

Core Restored the ability to monitor Linux server on older agent versions. NCCF-

7206

Core Hint Help Bubble will now display correctly. NCCF-

7188

Core When a device OS is set as Windows Server 2016 and class is Other, the settings tab will

not be displayed to the user due to a JavaScript error this has now been corrected.

NCCF-

7183

Core JobStatusList API behavior now aligns with documentation. NCCF-

7182

Core Table auditdomainhistory should be dropped from ODS since it is no longer exported. NCCF-

7172

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

CATEGORY DESCRIPTION BUG

Core An issue impacting the ability to integrate MSP Manager with N-central as a result of

changes to DNS server has now been corrected.

NCCF-

7159

Core Agent Status Availability Of One Service On Multiple Devices report will now export to

PDF.

NCCF-

7136

Core X-Content-Type-Options and X-XSS-Protection headers missing. NCCF-

7104

Core An issue impairing SNMP Services from failing as expected has now been corrected. NCCF-

7063

Core An issue with Remote Execution tasks from not deleting after the scheduled task profile

has been removed from a rule has now been corrected.

NCCF-

7060

Core An issue impacting MSP Anywhere from working on Mac has now been corrected. NCCF-

7042

Core Fixed an issue where the custom expression textbox tooltip was covering the Generate

button.

NCCF-

7007

Core An issue impacting Linux/Mac agents from processes xmpp sessionIDMessage has been

corrected.

NCCF-

6979

Core An issue with the Delete User confirmation pop up screen display has been corrected. NCCF-

6890

Core An issue with Script repository filter display has been corrected. NCCF-

6877

Core An issue where a System Error may appear in the event of editing a rule in a new tab has

been corrected.

NCCF-

6729

Core Corrected permission handling that may have caused login error for User with Default

Remote Access.

NCCF-

6647

Core Corrected License Usage Report for tracking Essential license when 'Sticky' professional

license is in place.

NCCF-

6172

Core Corrected threshold mapping problem on non en-us locale. NCCF-

6094

Core Scandetail for IIS Website Metric "Known Users Per Second" is now calculated correctly. NCCF-

5833

Core An issue with Assigned Roles filter failing in User view has been corrected. NCCF-

5707

Core Safeguards for Spectre Variant 4. NCCF-

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

CATEGORY DESCRIPTION BUG

8176

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

Known Limitations

The "Known Issues" list for the current version of the SolarWinds N-central software is composed of material

issues significantly impacting performance whose cause has been replicated by SolarWinds MSP and where a

fix has not yet been released. The list is not exclusive and does not contain items that are under investigation.

Any Known Issues set forth herein may not impact every customer environment. The SolarWinds N-central

software is being provided as it operates today. Any potential modifications, including a specific bug fix or any

potential delivery of the same, are not considered part of the current SolarWinds N-central software and are not

guaranteed.

Active Issues

DESCRIPTION BUG

When exporting a large list of Active Issues items to PDF format at either the System or

Service Organization level, the server may fail. Exporting to CSV format does not cause this

problem.

62860

Agents &Probes

DESCRIPTION BUG

Communication issues may be encountered for SolarWinds N-central Probes installed on

Windows servers that have multiple NICs. For more information, refer to

"KBA20020:

Configuring A Server With Multiple NICs"

in the online Help.

67778

Automation Manager

DESCRIPTION BUG

Running Automation Manager Policies created using Automation Manager 1.6 or earlier may

result in Failed to create an EndDate ... errors if the Policies are run on a

computer using a different date format. This issue does not affect Policies created using

Automation Manager 1.7 or later.

65712

AV Defender and Backup Manager – D2D

DESCRIPTION BUG

Custom Settings option no longer available in 10 for backup profiles. NSBM-709

ShadowProtect Data Reader service is using high CPU due to large amount of historical

data as part of the backup.

74971

The

About Backup Manager

dialog box no longer indicates whether or not the Backup

Manager software is licensed.

68226

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

Custom Services

DESCRIPTION BUG

Custom services may appear as misconfigured when the system locale of the device is not

set to English. For example, in Portuguese the default decimal in c#/.net is not a period, ".",

it is a comma, ",". If you are having this issue, please contact SolarWinds N-able Technical

Support.

65288

Dashboards

DESCRIPTION BUG

Modifying a Dashboard that is associated with a large number of services may cause

performance issues when using the Firefox browser.

70326

Core Functionality

DESCRIPTION BUG

When building a filter that includes "MSP N-central service in status", no options are available in the

drop-down list.

NCCF-

5411

Warranty information might be inaccurate when determining the warranty expiry dates of devices that

are not located in the USA.

NCCF-

3649

URL with embedded username and password prompts for Java upgrade, logging in manually does not

prompt.

NCCF-

2415

Chrome 42.x does not support NPAPI plugins which means that Java and Direct Connect will not

function with that browser version. When attempting to open remote control connections in Chrome

42.x, users will be repeatedly prompted to install either Java or the NTRglobal plugin with no

successful connections made.

To resolve this issue, perform the following:

In the Chrome address bar, type chrome://flags/.

2. Under Enable NPAPI, click Enable.

Restart Chrome.

73359

PSAIntegration

DESCRIPTION BUG

In some instances, tickets closed in PSAs are not being cleared in SolarWinds N-central. This

is likely because the ticketing recipient profile in SolarWinds N-central has

Do not change

65620

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

DESCRIPTION BUG

the Ticket Status

selected (in order to manually configure tickets). Then, when the ticket is

removed in the PSA, SolarWinds N-central will not be able to update/resolve the ticket's

status and new tickets cannot be created for the same issue. Until a solution is available

through the UI for this situation, the work around is to set a Return to Normal status and set

a non-used status in the 'updatable statuses' section or set the same status as the return to

normal one. This will cause SolarWinds N-central to add a note to the ticket on return to

normal but will not alter the ticket's status. This will allow the stale ticket check to remove

the ticket from the system.

DESCRIPTION BUG

After re-naming, the

Names

of files or Registry entries may not be displayed properly in the

File System

window and the

Registry

window of the

Tools

tab when using Internet

Explorer.

68149

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

End of support

The following are being deprecated in a future release of SolarWinds N-central:

Agents As of next major release for those of you still utilizing the AV5 Bitdefender Antivirus be advised that

monitoring from our AV5 agents will no longer continue. As a result this may leave your

environments in a vulnerable state. We encourage you to review your agents to ensure you are now

utilizing our latest AV6 agents. Reminder that our

online help for Security Manager

is available on

the NRC.

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

SolarWinds N-central system requirements

The following requirements are for typical usage patterns, acknowledging that some patterns may require

greater system resources from the SolarWinds N-central server than others.

If you have any questions about how your needs affect the system requirements of your SolarWinds N-central

server, contact your Channel Sales Specialist or email n-able-salesgroup@solarwinds.com.

Processor

Intel Xeon E5-2600 series or similar.

Operating

System

You do not need to install a separate Operating System to run SolarWinds N-central. The

SolarWinds N-central ISO includes a modified version of CentOS 6.x, based on the upstream Red

Hat Enterprise Linux 6.9.

Physical

Hardware

The server (non-virtual) used to install SolarWinds N-central in a bare metal environment must be

certified to run Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.9 (x64) by Red Hat, or the hardware vendor, without

any additional drivers. Please check the Red Hat Customer Portal for details.

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) boot support is a technology preview in

CentOS 6.x, and not supported. As a result, SolarWinds N-central must be installed using

the legacy BIOS boot method.

System requirements by number of devices managed

The table below lists the minimum specifications required to manage the number of devices indicated (based on

average usage). Performance can be improved by exceeding these requirements. When determining your

hardware requirements, consider any growth in managed device count that may occur over time.

NUMBER OF DEVICES CPU CORES MEMORY STORAGE

Up to 1,000 2 4 GB RAM 75 GB HDD

Up to 3,000 4 8 GB RAM 150 GB HDD

Up to 6,000 8 16 GB RAM 300 GB HDD

Up to 9,000 12 24 GB RAM 450 GB HDD

Up to 12,000 16 32 GB RAM 600 GB HDD

Up to 16,000 22 48 GB RAM 800 GB HDD

Up to 20,000 28 64 GB RAM 1,000 GB HDD

Up to 24,000 34 80 GB RAM 1,200 GB HDD

Notes

SolarWinds N-central does not support UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface)–based hardware.

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

Server-grade hard drives (such as SAS, SCSI, or Fibre Channel) are required to ensure performance and

power-loss data protection.

Hard drives on the SolarWinds N-central server should not be shared with other applications that have

significant I/O workloads. For example, Report Manager should not be installed on the same drive as

SolarWinds N-central.

SolarWinds MSP recommends two or more hard drives be placed in a RAID to improve redundancy. With

two drives, RAID 1 must be used. With more than two drives, RAID 1+0 is preferred, but RAID 5 is also an

option.

SolarWinds MSP recommends more, smaller disks in a RAID array, as opposed to fewer larger disks.

Database backed applications, like SolarWinds N-central, have better write performance with an increased

number of spindles.

If using Solid State Drives (SSDs), SolarWinds MSP requires Enterprise Grade SSDs with a SAS interface.

SSDs must have an endurance rating of at least 0.2 DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day), and at least 4 physical

disks in a RAID 10 array. The RAID array must appear to the operating system as a Block Device. At this

time, many PCIe and NVMe disks do not meet this last requirement.

SolarWinds N-central must be run on a server with a RAID controller that includes a Flash-Backed Write

Cache (FBWC) or Battery-Backed Write Cache (BBWC).

Configure the RAIDcontroller to use the default stripe size and a Read/Write cache of 50%/50%.

Examples of supported servers

Due to the ecosystem of different hardware, SolarWinds MSP does not certify specific hardware configurations.

Instead we rely on the upstream Red Hat Enterprise Linux and hardware vendor testing and certification.

Examples of servers that have been Red Hat certified include HPE ProLiant - ML350 Gen9 and Dell PowerEdge

R720.

Please consult with your hardware vendor to ensure that any server to be used for a bare metal installation

meets the above requirements, and is Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.9 certified, without the need for additional

drivers. Physical servers must support legacy BIOS boot, as the newer UEFI boot is a technology preview in

CentOS 6.x, and not supported. SolarWinds MSP does not support UEFI boot at this time.

SolarWinds MSP recommends that for any bare metal server, two or more SAS 10k or faster hard drives be

placed in a RAID array to improve redundancy. RAID 1+0 is preferred, but RAID 5 is also supported (at the

hardware RAID BIOS level).

Optional modem

A US Robotics USR5610C or a serial modem is required to use paging or SMS notification features.

page 18

Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

Support for virtualization environments

SolarWinds N-central supports those versions of VMware ESX Server and Windows Server Hyper-V that are

compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (x64). Use the latest stable versions of VMware or Hyper-V are used

in order to ensure the best performance and compatibility with SolarWinds N-central.

SolarWinds MSP is committed to providing support to customers using virtualization environments as we do

with other SolarWinds N-central certified hardware.

If you need to deploy SolarWinds N-central in a Hyper-V environment with more than seven virtual

processors or more than 30GB of allocated RAM, contact Technical Support for assistance.

About virtualization

Virtualization provides an abstraction layer between the hardware and the OS which permits the operation of

multiple logical systems on one physical server unit. The table below includes considerations when using this

deployment method.

System

Performance

It is impossible to guarantee the scalability or performance of an SolarWinds N-central server

deployed on a Virtual Machine due to:

n variability in field environments resulting from virtualization server configurations,

n number of guests run on the virtualization server, and

n performance of the underlying VMware system.

Supportability

SolarWinds MSP supports the SolarWinds N-central software deployed in VMware and Hyper-

V in the same way that we support SolarWinds N-central deployed in other environments. This

support is limited to the components (software and OS) shipped with SolarWinds N-central

and does not include troubleshooting of virtualization systems or performance issues related

to environmental factors. These are supported on a best-effort basis. In the event of serious

performance problems, we might ask you to move the system to a physical hardware

deployment.

Generation

Installing SolarWinds N-central as a guest on a Hyper-V server requires that the Virtual

Machine is Generation 1. Attempting to install SolarWinds N-central on a Generation 2 Virtual

Machine will fail.

Network

Adapters

(VMware

only)

N-central supports both E1000 and VMXNET3. When the VM is configured as Red Hat 6, it will

use VMXNET3 by default (which is preferred).

MAC

Addresses

SolarWinds N-central does not support dynamic MAC addresses. Static MAC addresses must

be configured for the virtual machine where you install SolarWinds N-central.

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

Recommended configuration for the virtualization server

Provisioning virtual disks as "thin" or "thick" results in nearly-identical performance. Thick provisioning is

recommended.

n Assign higher resource access priority to SolarWinds N-central than competing systems.

n Do no over-provision memory on the host system. Over-provisioning causes disk based swapping that

impacts system performance.

n Ensure that the system has sufficient RAM and hard drive space to provide permanently allocated

resources.

Supported Software

Browsers

SolarWinds N-central supports the latest versions of:

n Internet Explorer®

n Microsoft Edge®

n Mozilla Firefox®

n Google Chrome®

Chrome 42.x does not support NPAPI plugins (including Java and Direct Connect). When you attempt to

launch a remote control connection in Chrome 42.x, you will be repeatedly prompted to install Java or the

NTRglobal plugin without success.

Workaround:

In the Chrome address bar, type chrome://flags.

Under Enable NPAPI, click Enable.

Restart Chrome.

SolarWinds N-central is not supported on Internet Explorer in Compatibility View mode.

Attended Remote Control and Direct Connect remote control connections are not supported on 64-bit browsers.

Remote Control

Remote control connections require the following software on the computers that initiate connections:

n Java 6 Update 20 or greater

Report Manager

To use Report Manager with SolarWinds N-central, ensure the you upgrade to the latest version of Report

Manager.

page 20

Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

Automation Manager

Automation Manager requires .NET Framework 4.5.2 and PowerShell 3.0 to run AMP-based services with

SolarWinds N-central.

SNMP Community String

When monitoring the SolarWinds N-central server using SNMP, the community string used for SNMP queries to

the server must use N-central_SNMP, not public.

Supported Operating Systems

This section describes the supported operating systems for SolarWinds N-central.

Windows Agents require:

n Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2 (or later)

Windows Server 2016

n Windows Server 2016 Datacenter

n Windows Server 2016 Standard

n Windows Server 2016 Essentials

n Windows Storage Server 2016

n Windows Server 2016 MultiPoint Premium Server

n Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016

Windows Server 2012

n R2 Datacenter

n R2 Essentials

n R2 Foundation

n R2 Standard

n Datacenter 64-bit Edition

n Essentials 64-bit Edition

n Foundation 64-bit Edition

n Standard 64-bit Edition

n Storage Server 2012 Enterprise 64-bit Edition

n Storage Server 2012 Express 64-bit Edition

n Storage Server 2012 Standard 64-bit Edition

n Storage Server 2012 Workgroup 64-bit Edition

Windows Server 2008

n Windows 2008

n Datacenter Server

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

n Datacenter Server without Hyper-V

n Enterprise Server

n Enterprise Server without Hyper-V

n Essential Business Server

n Foundation Server

n R2 Datacenter Server

n R2 Enterprise Server

n R2 Foundation Server

n R2 Standard Server

n R2 Web Server

n Small Business Server

n Standard Server

n Standard Server without Hyper-V

n Standard Server 64-bit Edition

n Web Server

The following are required to install Windows Agents on a server using Windows Server 2008 R2 Server

Core 64-bit:

n The operating system must be Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core 64-bit SP1 or later.

n .NET Framework 4 for Server Core (64-bit) must be installed.

Microsoft Windows Hyper-V

n Server 2012 64-bit Edition

n Server 2008 R2

n Server 2008

Windows 10

n Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise & Professional

n Education editions

Windows 8 and 8.1

n 8.1 Enterprise

n 8.1 Enterprise 64-bit Edition

n 8.1 Professional

n 8.1 Professional 64-bit Edition

n 8 Enterprise

n 8 Enterprise 64-bit Edition

n 8 Professional

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

n 8 Professional 64-bit Edition

n 8 64-bit Edition

Windows 7

n Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise & Professional

n Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Windows Vista

n Vista Business

n Vista Enterprise

n Vista Ultimate

Linux Agents

Independent Agents are required for 32-bit and 64-bit Linux OS installations.

The probe performs an SSH connection a Linux device. To discover a Ubuntu/Debian OS device, the

device must have openssh installed.

n CentOS 6.7 and higher (32/64-bit)

n Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 and 7 (32/64-bit)

n Ubuntu 14.04 (LTS build of "Trusty Tahr")

n Ubuntu 16.04 (LTS build of "Xenial Xerus")

n Debian 8.7 32-bit (using Ubuntu Agent DEB version 14 x86)

n Debian 8.7 64-bit (using Ubuntu Agent DEB 14 x64)

Mac Agents

n 10.13 (High Sierra)

n 10.12 (Sierra)

n 10.11 (El Capitan)

n 10.10 (Yosemite)

n 10.9 (Mavericks)

AV Defender

Workstation Operating Systems

n Microsoft Windows Vista SP1

n Microsoft Windows 7

n Microsoft Windows 8, 8.1

n Microsoft Windows 10

n Microsoft Windows 10 TH2

n Microsoft Windows 10 Anniversary Update "Redstone"

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

Tablet and Embedded Operating Systems

n Windows Embedded Standard 2009

n Windows Embedded POSReady 2009

n Windows Embedded Enterprise 7

n Windows Embedded POSReady 7

n Windows Embedded Standard 7

Server Operating Systems

n Microsoft Windows 2008

n Microsoft Windows 2008 Server

n Microsoft Windows 2008 R2

n Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011

n Microsoft Windows Home Server 2011

n Microsoft Windows 2012 Server

n Microsoft Windows 2012 Server R2

n Microsoft Windows 2016 Server

For Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 7, TCP/IP, Filter Manager, and Windows Installer must all be

enabled.

Patch Manager

Workstation Operating Systems

n Microsoft Windows 7

n Microsoft Windows 8

n Microsoft Windows 8.1

n Microsoft Windows 10 version 1607 and later

Server Operating Systems

n Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

n Microsoft Windows Server 2012

n Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 SP1

n Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Unsupported Operating Systems

n Windows XP

n Windows Vista

n Microsoft Windows Server 2003

n Microsoft Windows Server 2008

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

Windows Update Agent

The minimum version of the Windows Update Agent (WUA) needs to be greater than 7.6.7600.320. The base NT

build version of Windows should be 6.1 or later. Older versions of the base NT build cannot upgrade past version

7.6.7600.256 of the Windows Update Agent.

Automation Manager

Workstation Operating Systems

n Microsoft Windows 7 (32/64-bit)

n Microsoft Windows 8 (32/64-bit)

n Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit)

n Microsoft Windows 10 (32/64-bit)

Server Operating Systems

n Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (32/64-bit)

n Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (32/64-bit)

n Microsoft Windows Server 2012 (32/64-bit)

n Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (32/64-bit)

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

Supported operating systems for remote control

The availability of remote control connections will vary depending on the operating systems of both the client

and target devices. The table below outlines the operating systems and their compatibility with various remote

control types.

REMOTE CONTROL TYPE

WINDOWS LINUX MAC OS X

REMOTE SYSTEM TECHNICIAN REMOTE SYSTEM TECHNICIAN REMOTE SYSTEM TECHNICIAN

Custom

Take Control

Remote Desktop

SSH

TeamViewer

Telnet

Web

1. Requires a remote third-party desktop viewer compatible with Mac.

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

Licensing and Customer Support

Agent/Probe Installation Software

SolarWinds N-central12.0 uses the 7-Zip file archiver for installing agents and probes. 7-Zip is free software

redistributed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software

Foundation. For more information, see http://www.7-zip.org.

Customer Support

Contact SolarWinds MSP to activate your SolarWinds N-central server.

Web Page: http://www.solarwindsmsp.com

Technical Support Self-

Service Portal:

https://support.solarwindsmsp.com/kb/

Phone:

Toll Free (U.S./CAN): 1-866-302-4689

International: +800-6225-3000

Local: (613) 592-6676, select option 2 for support

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central

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consent of SolarWinds MSP Canada ULC ("SolarWinds MSP"). All right, title, and interest in and to the software

and documentation are and shall remain the exclusive property of SolarWinds MSP and its respective licensors.

SOLARWINDS MSP DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS OR OTHER TERMS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,

STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, ON SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION FURNISHED HEREUNDER INCLUDING

WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES OF DESIGN, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR

PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL SOLARWINDS MSP, ITS SUPPLIERS, NOR ITS

LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, WHETHER ARISING IN TORT, CONTRACT OR ANY OTHER LEGAL

THEORY EVEN IF SOLARWINDS MSP HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

The SolarWinds MSP and N-CENTRAL marks are the exclusive property of SolarWinds MSP Canada ULC and its

affiliates, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending

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law marks, registered or pending registration in the United States or in other countries. All other trademarks

mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only and may be or are trademarks or registered

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Feedback

SolarWinds MSP is a market driven organization that places importance on customer, partner and alliance

feedback. All feedback is welcome at the following email address: n-ablefeedback@solarwinds.com.

About SolarWinds MSP

SolarWinds MSP empowers IT service providers with technologies that fuel their success. Solutions that

integrate layered security, collective intelligence, and smart automation—both on-premises and in the cloud,

backed by actionable data insights, help IT service providers get the job done easier and faster. SolarWinds MSP

helps our customers focus on what matters most—meeting their SLAs and delivering services efficiently and

effectively. For more information, visit solarwindsmsp.com.

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Release Notes: SolarWinds N-central