Questions for the SCP-NPM were updated on : Nov 21 ,2025
You need to push a SolarWinds agent to 20 Windows servers across your network. How can you
accomplish this? Select all that apply.
ABC
You can import Universal Device poller files from the UnDP application directly into Device Studio to
create custom pollers.
A
Explanation:
https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/orionplatform/content/core-importing-
mib-pollers-sw512.htm
Your team member cannot see any reports in the Orion Console. What can cause this issue?
B
Explanation:
One possible cause of this issue is that the user account has the No Reports limitation applied to it.
This limitation prevents the user from accessing any reports in the Orion Console, regardless of the
report group or category. To resolve this issue, you need to edit the user account and change the
report limitation to either No Limitation (to allow access to all reports) or a specific report limitation
category (to allow access to only the reports with that category). You can also create custom report
limitation categories and assign them to the reports and users as needed. Reference:
Restrict who
can access reports in the SolarWinds Platform
,
Define what users can access and do in the
SolarWinds Platform
.
You receive traps from your network devices and want to alert on a select message. How do you
accomplish this?
D
Explanation:
https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/orionplatform/content/core-configuring-
trap-viewer-filters-and-alerts-sw272.htm
https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/orionplatform/content/lm/la-orion-log-
viewer.htm
You deploy a new router on your network. What should you do to ensure NPM correctly interprets
SNMP traps from the device?
C
Explanation:
SNMP traps are unsolicited messages sent by SNMP-enabled devices to notify the NPM server of
important events or problems, such as device failures, configuration changes, or performance issues.
SNMP traps contain information about the device and the event, such as the device name, IP
address, timestamp, and OID (Object Identifier). An OID is a unique identifier for a specific variable in
a MIB (Management Information Base), which is a hierarchical database of device information that
can be accessed by SNMP. However, not all OIDs are recognized by NPM by default, as different
devices may use different or custom MIBs and OIDs. Therefore, to ensure NPM correctly interprets
SNMP traps from a new router on your network, you need to update the MIB database with the
latest MIBs from the router vendor or from the SolarWinds website.
This will allow NPM to translate
the OIDs in the SNMP traps into meaningful names and values, and display them in the Trap Viewer
or use them in alerts12
.
To update the MIB database, follow these steps3
:
Download the MIB files from the router vendor’s website or from the SolarWinds MIB Database.
Copy the MIB files to the \SolarWinds\Orion\Mibs folder on the NPM server.
Click Settings > All Settings > Manage MIBs.
Click Add New MIB and browse to the MIB file that you want to add.
Click Submit.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each MIB file that you want to add.
Click Compile to compile the MIBs and update the MIB database.
You can now view the SNMP traps from the new router in the Trap Viewer or use them in
alerts. Reference: 1: SNMP Traps Explained: How to View SNMP Traps, 2: SNMP Traps in NPM, 3
:
Update the SolarWinds MIB Database for the SolarWinds Platform, : SolarWinds MIB Database, :
,
:
, : 3, : 4
Your network has critical devices on the opposite side of a WAN link from you SolarWinds server. You
do not want alerts about the devices if the router (name = “target”) that connects your SolarWinds
server to the remote site is down. How do you configure Alert Suppression?
D
Explanation:
Alert suppression is a feature that allows you to create conditions that prevent an alert from being
triggered or sent if certain criteria are met. This can help you avoid receiving multiple or unnecessary
alerts from a single event or a complex situation. For example, if you have a router that connects
your SolarWinds server to a remote site with critical devices, you may not want to receive alerts
about those devices if the router is down, as the problem is not with the devices but with the router.
In this case, you can configure alert suppression to suppress the alerts for the devices if the router is
down. To do this, you need to select the option “Suppress the alert if all of the following apply” and
add the conditions “Node Name is equal to ‘target’” and “Node Status is equal to ‘Down’”. This
means that the alert will be suppressed only if both conditions are true, i.e., the router with the
name ‘target’ is down. If the router is up or has a different name, the alert will not be
suppressed. Reference:
Alert suppression - SolarWinds
;
Alert Suppression - Forum - Network
Performance Monitor (NPM) - THWACK
NPM polls static properties, and calculates bandwidth consumption based on the total amount of
_____ coming through the firewall.
A
Explanation:
NPM polls static properties, such as interface speed and duplex mode, from the firewall devices using
SNMP. NPM also collects traffic statistics, such as bytes in and bytes out, from the firewall interfaces
using SNMP or NetFlow. NPM then calculates bandwidth consumption based on the total amount of
bytes coming through the firewall over a given time interval. Bandwidth consumption is expressed as
a percentage of the interface speed.
For example, if a firewall interface has a speed of 100 Mbps and
NPM polls 10 MB of bytes in and 10 MB of bytes out in one minute, the bandwidth consumption is
20% [(10 MB + 10 MB) / 100 Mbps * 100%]1
. Reference:
Monitor firewalls with NPM
,
Calculate
bandwidth utilization on an interface
Which metrics can NPM monitor on an Ethernet switch? (Choose all that apply.)
B, C, D
Explanation:
SolarWinds NPM can monitor various metrics on an Ethernet switch, including configuration
changes, duplex mismatches, and CPU utilization.
Configuration changes are tracked by the Network
Configuration Manager (NCM) integration, which allows you to view, compare, and restore
configuration files, as well as receive alerts on configuration changes1
.
Duplex mismatches are
detected by the topology polling feature, which collects and displays the duplex mode of the
connected devices and interfaces, and alerts you when there is a mismatch2
.
CPU utilization is
monitored by the SNMP polling feature, which collects and displays the CPU load of the switch, as
well as other performance metrics such as memory utilization, interface statistics, and more3
. Buffer
misses are not monitored by NPM, as they are not part of the standard SNMP MIBs that NPM
supports. Reference:
Monitor configuration changes on network devices with NPM
;
Detect and
predict duplex mismatches in NPM
;
Monitor CPU load, memory utilization, and buffer usage on
switches and routers
; [Buffer Misses - Forum].
SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) is a comprehensive monitoring solution designed
to provide a wide range of metrics for network devices.
For an Ethernet switch, NPM can monitor
configuration changes, buffer misses, duplex mismatches, and CPU utilization1
How can you extend NPM’s monitoring to non-standard devices?
A
Explanation:
NPM can monitor a wide range of network devices and infrastructure, including routers, switches,
firewalls, servers, and virtual machines. However, some devices may not support standard protocols
such as SNMP or WMI, or may have specific metrics that are not monitored out-of-the box by NPM.
In such cases, you can extend NPM’s monitoring to non-standard devices by using object identifiers
(OIDs) organized in management information bases (MIBs). OIDs are numeric strings that uniquely
identify a variable in a MIB. MIBs are hierarchical databases that define the properties and values of
the variables that can be monitored on a device. By importing device-specific MIBs into the
SolarWinds MIB Database, and creating custom pollers based on OIDs from the MIBs, you can
monitor any metric that is available on the device.
You can also display the polled data in the web
console using dedicated or existing resources12
. Reference:
Create custom monitors in NPM - SolarWinds
SCP Study Aid - SolarWinds
(page 10)
What is the most time-efficient way to create a report in NPM that shows the top 50 interfaces by
percent utilization?
B
Explanation:
NPM provides a default report called Top 25 Interfaces by Percent Utilization that shows the
interfaces with the highest average utilization over the selected time period1
.
This report can be
easily edited to change the number of interfaces displayed, the time period, the sorting order, the
layout, and the filters2
.
To create a report that shows the top 50 interfaces by percent utilization, you
can simply edit this report and change the Limit option from 25 to 503
.
This is the most time-efficient
way to create the report, as it does not require creating a new report from scratch, writing a SQL
query, or running the report multiple times for different timeframes. Reference: 1: Network
Performance Monitor Administrator Guide - Top 25 Interfaces by Percent Utilization 2: Network
Performance Monitor Administrator Guide - Edit a report 3
: Network Performance Monitor Getting
Started Guide - Customize a report
You want to limit a user to only monitor Windows servers and not be able to view other devices that
NPM monitors. How can you do this?
A
Explanation:
Account limitations are a way of restricting the access of Orion user accounts to specific network
objects, such as nodes, interfaces, groups, maps, or alerts. You can use account limitations to limit a
user to only monitor Windows servers and not be able to view other devices that NPM monitors. For
example, you can create a custom limitation based on the node property Operating System, and
select only Windows as the value. Then, you can apply this limitation to the user account or user
group that you want to restrict. The other options are not effective ways of limiting user access to
specific devices, as they either affect the visibility of the entire view (view permissions), the layout of
the view (account views), or the scope of the alerts (alert limitations). Reference:
Limit user access to network areas with account limitations
Create custom account limitations
You can share with others the PerfStack URL of any troubleshooting project you save.
B
Explanation:
You can share with others the PerfStack URL of any troubleshooting project you save in the
SolarWinds Platform Web Console. PerfStack is a feature that allows you to create and customize
interactive and dynamic charts that correlate time series data from multiple SolarWinds products
and entity types. When you save a troubleshooting project, the URL becomes a sharable link that you
can copy and paste to other users, such as your team members, network administrators, or product
owners. The URL contains a compressed version of the project data, so it does not exceed the
browser character limit. The users who receive the link can access the same project view as you, as
long as they have the appropriate account permissions and limitations. Reference:
Troubleshooting
Analysis Projects
,
Create analysis projects with the Performance Analysis dashboard
,
Share analysis
projects
.
Which is the best way to monitor an SNMP metric that NPM is not monitoring out-of-the-box?
A
Explanation:
The best way to monitor an SNMP metric that NPM is not monitoring out-of-the-box is to create a
custom poller using the Universal Device Poller (UnDP) tool. A custom poller allows you to monitor
specific aspects of your network devices using SNMP, by selecting the OIDs that correspond to the
metrics you want to collect. You can then assign the custom poller to the devices you want to
monitor, and view the results in the Orion Web Console, as charts, tables, or gauges. You can also use
custom pollers to create alerts and reports based on the collected data. Reference:
Monitor custom
statistics based on OIDs with Universal Device Pollers in NPM
,
Create a custom poller
,
Assign
Universal Device Pollers to devices monitored in NPM
You want to create an alert that notifies you when packet loss meets or exceeds 50%, but only for a
select set of nodes in your network. How do you accomplish this?
D
Explanation:
An alert limitation is a filter that restricts the scope of an alert to a specific set of objects, such as
nodes, interfaces, applications, or groups. You can use an alert limitation to create an alert that only
applies to a select set of nodes in your network, and exclude the rest.
To set an alert limitation for the
nodes to be included in the alert, follow these steps1
:
Click Alerts & Activity > Alerts > Manage Alerts.
Find the alert that you want to edit or create a new alert.
On the Trigger Condition tab, define the condition that triggers the alert, such as Percent Loss is
greater than or equal to 50.
On the Scope of Alert tab, select Limit the scope of this alert to a specific subset of objects.
Choose the method to define the subset of objects, such as Select objects manually, Use a custom
SWQL query, or Use a custom SQL query.
Select or enter the criteria to filter the objects, such as the node name, IP address, group, custom
property, or any other attribute.
Click Add Selected Objects to add the objects to the alert limitation.
Click Next and complete the rest of the alert configuration.
You can now save and enable the alert, and it will only notify you when packet loss meets or exceeds
50% for the nodes that you have selected in the alert limitation. Reference: 1
: Limit the objects an
alert applies to
Which statistic should you use to determine peak network traffic?
B
Explanation:
Bandwidth usage is the amount of data transferred over a network connection in a given time
period. It is an indicator of how much traffic is flowing through a network device or link. Peak
network traffic is the highest level of bandwidth usage that occurs during a specific time interval,
such as an hour, a day, or a week. Monitoring peak network traffic can help you identify potential
bottlenecks, plan for capacity, and optimize network performance. NPM can monitor bandwidth
usage on nodes and interfaces using SNMP, WMI, or NetFlow protocols. You can view bandwidth
usage charts and reports in the web console, as well as set alerts and thresholds for bandwidth
utilization. Reference:
Monitor bandwidth usage in NPM
;
SCP Study Aid - NPM
, page 11.