Software upgrades deliver the latest features, improvements, and bug fixes for your SolarWinds products. Today we'll be walking through the steps required to successfully complete a software upgrade. These steps apply to all SolarWinds products on the Orion platform, including Network Performance Monitor, Server & Application Monitor, Network Traffic Analyzer, Network Configuration Manager and the others listed on the screen. We'll also touch on some tips and common gotchas.
Anyone can download an .exe and double click, but through the years we've found these steps yield the best results. Note, this video does not demonstrate upgrading additional polling engines, additional web servers, upgrading in an Fail over Engine or Enterprise Operations Console environment. These more advanced installation processes are documented at
support.solarwinds.com. If doing a multi-module upgrade please check the multiple products upgrade guide found in the how to upgrade section of the release notes.
By the end of this video, you should be well prepared to upgrade your SolarWinds products quickly and easily. Let's get started.
The first step is to review the release notes. Go to
support.solarwinds.com, select your product, and click Release Notes. Here, we should take a look at the new features and improvements, fixed issues, and pay particularly attention to known issues. In most cases, known issues affect a small percentage of users in a way that is not particularly severe. Even so, it's best to skim through the list and note any issues that may affect you. Often, simple workarounds are provided. Take note of any of these issues and the workarounds to be implemented post installation.
In the Before you upgrade section of the release notes you will also see gotchas that you should be aware of. The Upgrade guides will also include gotchas or things to watch out for.
If you're upgrading through multiple versions, be sure you check out the section - How to Upgrade. You will want to use the product upgrade advisor to determine your upgrade path. And if you are upgrading multiple modules like additional web servers, polling engines and products, you should definitely check out the multiple products upgrade guide which will help you verify the multi-module system requirements
Clicking through to this Upgrade Guide, we can see the System Requirements. In rare occasions, an upgrade results in an increase in the system requirements. You definitely want to be aware of that before you upgrade. Review the requirements and make sure your hardware meets them. We also point out toward the end of the release notes software and hardware that is no longer supported by SolarWinds.
Now that we understand the impact to our system, it's time to be a good administrator and take a backup! It's a good idea to make both a server backup, and a backup of your SQL Database. Different environments perform backups differently, so you probably already know how to do this in your environment. If you need any help, you can check out these guides from Microsoft.
A lot of you use virtual machines. If you do, you should create a snapshot of your VM as a backup too.
In most cases you can upgrade directly to the latest software version. If you're several releases behind or your environment includes several products, it's important to be aware of compatibility between different products and product versions. The Product Upgrade Advisor makes this easy to figure out. It's also linked from the Release Notes.
Select your current environment. Populate the products you currently have installed. Check the bottom of any web page in your SolarWinds product if you need version numbers. Select the product you're trying to upgrade to, and hit Check compatibility.
Here we can see the upgrade path. We need to install these versions, in the order specified. Let's go get them!
If you have a lot of products to upgrade, you can download a PDF from the product upgrade advisor that can be used as a checklist.
Login to your customer portal. Select License Management and My Downloads. Then select the product you are upgrading, using the order prescribed in the Product Upgrade Advisor. Here you can find the matching software version, and click download. Repeat this process for every product and version that the product advisor recommended.
Finally, we get to install! Make sure to use a local administrator account to execute the installation. Since we've done all of our homework, this is easy!
If you are upgrading multiple modules, we recommend you skip the website optimization step until the last installation is complete.
If you'd like to know more about installation, or anything else to help you get more done with SolarWinds products, check out the SolarWinds Success Center at support.solarwinds.com.
IMPORTANT: Many versions can now be upgraded and installed using the SolarWinds Orion Installer.
Disclaimer: Please note, any content posted herein is provided as a suggestion or recommendation to you for your internal use. This is not part of the SolarWinds software or documentation that you purchased from SolarWinds, and the information set forth herein may come from third parties. Your organization should internally review and assess to what extent, if any, such custom scripts or recommendations will be incorporated into your environment. You elect to use third-party content at your own risk, and you will be solely responsible for the incorporation of the same if any.