Intro to NPM 11.0
With NPM 10.7 just out the door, we are pleased to announce that NPM 11.0 has entered Release Candidate phase. In a first for SolarWinds, NPM 11.0 has the ability to collect packet-level data from sensors distributed throughout your environment, and calculate Network Response Time (NRT) and Application Response Time (ART) for ~1,200 applications. These statistics make it easy to tell at a glance whether an issue is a problem with the network or the application. In addition to response time statistics, we are capturing aggregate volume metrics, and have the ability to classify application traffic on your network by risk-level and relation to typical business functions.
All of this data is displayed in the new "Quality of Experience" dashboard:
Sensor Topology
So how are we able to gather this data? In NPM 11.0, we have the ability to deploy Packet Analysis Sensors (PAS) to Windows-based (64-bit / 2008+) systems. Sensors can be deployed in two configurations: "Server" or "Network."
With a "Server" PAS, the sensor is deployed directly on a server you would like to monitor. So for example, if you wish to monitor your Exchange response time / traffic, you would push the sensor directly to your Exchange server:
For a "Network" PAS, the sensor is deployed to a dedicated Windows-based system with a dedicated interface attached to a tap / SPAN / mirror interface.
Once sensors are deployed, you can choose from our library of ~1,200 application signatures to monitor, or create your own custom HTTP applications.
NPM 11.0 RC is available in your customer portal today. RC's are fully supported and upgradable to the final GA version (if it differs from RC.)
Please let us know if there are any questions. Comments welcomed below.