Network Management

Basic SolarWinds Orion Troubleshooting Guide

Review basic steps on how to troubleshoot SolarWinds Orion, including resolution and isolation of your System Down issues.

First published date

11/7/2018 7:13 PM

Last published date

9/6/2023 11:19 AM

Overview

This article outlines essential steps to address issues when your SolarWinds Platform (formerly known as Orion) is down. It covers the following key points:

  • Quick resolution and isolation of system-down problems.

  • Handling servers in isolated environments where sending diagnostics or enabling Webex sessions is not possible.

  • Improving response times from the SolarWinds Support team.

  • Conducting performance and health checks to resolve performance issues.

Important: SolarWinds strongly advises creating a full system snapshot of the Orion database/server before performing upgrades or making significant system changes.

This guide aims to help you swiftly diagnose and resolve any disruptions, ensuring a more efficient and effective approach to system recovery.



Product section

Orion Platform

Cause

 

    Resolution

    Collect Orion Diagnostics and upload to support before following the steps in order to understand the root cause of the issue. Also, as a preventive measure, make sure you have a snapshot or system backup of the Orion Server.

    Check Troubleshooting with Active Diagnostics tool.

    Orion Services flapping 

    If you have SolarWinds High Availability(HA)

    RDP to Main Poller Active > Open SolarWinds Platform Service manager via > Start > SolarWinds Platform folder > If services are flapping (that is, they keep starting and stopping)

     Check:

    1. Free disk space on the Orion Server Primary/Web App Server and DB database servers.
    2. Check Windows Events Logs (Application / System / SolarWinds services Logs):
      • Go to Windows Events > Expand Windows Logs > Expand Application and Services Logs > Select SolarWinds.net > Filter for the Errors and check what type of errors you have there (services related events and issues) - Copy or take screenshot error and report to SolarWinds Technical Support 
    3. If you have HA (SolarWinds High Availability) - check Primary and Standby Main Pollers to see if failover occurred. If no HA, skip this step.
    4. Make sure you are not using SQL Express Edition with 10 GB limit
    5. If you see any SQL connection errors in point 2 above, Verify the SQL and Orion server connectivity using the UDL file(you may have to contact your DBA)
    6. If Antivirus program installed is not expired, if so disable.
    7. If Windows Updates installed recently / pending reboot [If ANY then Reboot]

    8. Check permissions using the Orion Permission Checker tool and fix any with failed.

    9. Make sure all users are logged out of the Orion Server.
      1. Task Manager > Users.
      2. If you see some logged-in users, log them off.

    If DB connection is okay but Services still unstable, run Configuration Wizard to repair them:

      1. Log in to the Orion Server as a Windows local administrator.
      2. Click Start > SolarWinds Platform folder > Configuration Wizard.
      3. Complete the Configuration Wizard by clicking the NEXT/YES options (note: configuring the website might take a few minutes).
      4. After completing the above steps, check if the services are up again.
        • If the license expires, Syslog and Trap services will be in Stopped State.
        • When the Configuration Wizard is running, open the Orion Service Manager repetitively to make sure all Orion Services are in the STOPPED state.
        • If you notice any service flapping when the Configuration Wizard runs, click Shutdown Everything until you see the Configuration Wizard reaches the Configuring Website stage.

        • While running the Configuration Wizard, open the Windows Task Manager and make sure the CPU and memory are stable and have not reached 100% utilization for a longer period of time, especially when the Configuration Wizard starts the SolarWinds Services in the last stage. 

    The expected result is that the Configuration Wizard completes successfully, and all Orion Services are in running State on Active Main Poller.

    Check Orion Service logs:

    Orion logs are always available under the following locations (ProgramData is system hidden):

    • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds
    • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Logs\Orion
    • Web Console related logs
      • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Logs\Orion\OrionWeb.log
      • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Logs\Orion\ApolloWebUI.log and ApolloWebAPI.log
      • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\InformationService\v3.0\ Solarwinds.InformationService.log
    •  Polling related logs
      • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Collector
      • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\JobEngine.v2\Logs
    • To verify the status of Orion services, follow the steps below:
      • Wait for 10 minutes.
      • Verify the service status through the log file:
        • Open the following log fileC:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Logs\Orion\BusinessLayerHost.log and scroll to the bottom
        • The last line shows the service status: INFO SolarWinds.BusinessLayerHost.BusinessLayerHostService - All plugins started

    If you encounter issues with high CPU usage or website performance issues, review the following posts:

    Failure Situations:

    Search the error message, at SolarWinds Success Center for more information.

    Example scenario

    Open the log file below. Scroll down to the bottom of the file and check what type of error you receive when the service fails.

    The Orion Job Engine is flapping and unable to start.

    • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\JobEngine.v2\Logs\SolarWinds.JobEngineService_v2_13.log

    SolarWinds Information Service V3

    • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\InformationService\v3.0\Orion.InformationService.log

    SolarWinds Recommendation Service is flapping

    • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Logs\Recommendations\Recommendations.Services.log

    SolarWinds Cortex Service is flapping

    • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Logs\Cortex\cortex.log

    Configuration Wizard logs

    • C:\ProgramData\SolarWinds\Logs\Orion\ConfigurationWizard.log

    In rare cases you may have to re-install, please check the below articles. Before performing this action, please reach out to SolarWinds Technical support, open a support ticket. See Tips and Tricks on opening a Support Ticket with SolarWinds.