Cybersecurity Practices for SolarWinds Platform

SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability Security Integration

• Hybrid Cloud Observability Advanced customers can integrate with SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM) and SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) for security dashboard visibility.
• This integration provides a single-pane view of top security events and issues for IT admins.
• It enables launching into SEM or ARM to quickly identify and resolve issues.
• Security dashboards and custom widgets are accessible via the standard SolarWinds Platform dashboard functionality.
• A new vulnerability and risk dashboard is available in 2023.4, which shows vulnerability risk severity from imported CVE information.
• Calculated risk scores are shown for monitored nodes.
• Risk scores are visualized with a color spectrum in 2024.1, providing severity information.
• Improved CPE Match Feed import allows more accurate vulnerabilities search

Setting up Security Integration

• Navigate to Settings > All Settings > Product Specific Settings > Security Settings.
• Choose the product to integrate with Hybrid Cloud Observability (e.g., ARM, SEM)
• Provide the Base URL and credentials for the chosen security product.

Vulnerability and Risk Dashboard Settings

• In SolarWinds Platform Web Console, navigate to Settings > All Settings > Security Settings > Vulnerabilities.
• Access CVE data import, CVE node matching, and CPE node polling settings.
• Manage data sources (HTTP(s) or file path) for CVE information.
• Add, validate, or remove data sources.
• Configure and enable/disable CPE match feed data import.
• Search or filter vulnerabilities by various fields (e.g., CVE, node name, operating system).
• Support for VMware ESXi and VMware vCenter servers.

Hybrid Cloud Observability and SolarWinds Observability Integration with Platform Connect

• If using Hybrid Cloud Observability Essentials or Advanced and SolarWinds Observability, Platform Connect allows viewing Hybrid Cloud Observability data within SolarWinds Observability.
• It enables Anomaly-Based Alerting for Hybrid Cloud Observability.
• This requires a commercial/temporary hybrid cloud observability license, an active SolarWinds Observability instance (full, or evaluation), and connectivity between SolarWinds Platform server and cloud service provider.
• A SolarWinds Observability API token is required.

Integrate DPA with the SolarWinds Platform

• Storage admins, network admins, and DBAs can use SolarWinds Platform integration to get a comprehensive view of performance issues affecting their infrastructure.
• The SolarWinds Platform displays DPA-specific resources which poll information directly from DPA.
• Integrating DPA improves the troubleshooting of slow response times by providing additional information such as database wait time.

SolarWinds Platform Requirements

• System requirements vary depending on deployment type (cloud vs. on-premises) and the size of the monitored environment.
• Check specific product documentation for exact requirements.
• SolarWinds recommends reviewing platform release notes for the most up-to-date information.
• Certain products cannot be installed on domain controllers (except for SolarWinds Platform Agents on domain controllers), Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Exchange, or BlackBerry servers.

Upgrade an existing deployment

• Upgrade from Orion Platform to SolarWinds Platform 2024.2 requires a backup of custom files in Orion installation and SDK directories, as the on-premises Orion deployment is removed.
• Requires SQL Server 2016 SP1 or later. SQL Server 2012 and 2014 are not supported.
• Legacy syslog and trap functionality is not included in 2024.2.

Collect diagnostics from the SolarWinds Platform Web Console

• Collect diagnostic information from polling engines and monitored nodes remotely for analysis or support.
• The collect diagnostics wizard lets you specify what data to collect and the time range.
• Diagnostics can be downloaded in an archive file.

Anomaly-Based Alerting in Hybrid Cloud Observability

• Anomaly-Based Alerting is a feature in SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability Advanced that leverages machine learning to reduce alert noise.
• It requires an active Hybrid Cloud Observability Advanced license in conjunction with Platform Connect to SolarWinds Observability.
• Anomaly-Based Alerts can now be created using an OR operator.

Poll devices with SolarWinds Platform Agents

• SolarWinds Platform Agents connect and collect data from Windows and Linux/Unix devices.
• This facilitates polling behind firewalls, across multiple networks, or in low-bandwidth environments.

View entities on SolarWinds Platform Maps

• Display monitored entities and connections in a visual map format within SolarWinds Platform Maps.
• Map-related entities, create maps, view full-screen maps, or add maps as widgets.
• Add information to the map for related objects like traffic or percentage utilization.

SolarWinds Platform Features

• The SolarWinds Platform is the core of the SolarWinds IT Management Portfolio.
• It provides data collection, processing, storage, and presentation.
• It provides common features like user accounts, groups, views, dashboards, reporting, and alerting.
• Access these features in the SolarWinds Web Console.

Activate licenses for SolarWinds Platform products

• Activate licenses for SolarWinds using the License Manager in the platform's web console.
• Manual activation is available for offline environments.
• License activation keys are used for activation.