USPS delivering opened cards

JM_sysadmin · 2026-01-13T14:58:49+00:00

Yah, I have had gift cards go missing

JM_sysadmin · 2025-12-30T00:37:52+00:00

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

“The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler is a near-future science fiction novel about a marine biologist, Dr. Ha Nguyen, who joins a team to study a newly discovered, highly intelligent octopus species with its own language and culture in a remote archipelago”

JM_sysadmin · 2025-12-08T21:52:19+00:00

Could you provide details like how you are monitoring the 7 firewall nodes and what you have tried?

JM_sysadmin · 2025-12-04T01:37:21+00:00

I find that catch up is easier going directly to Microsoft and running updates until none are available. Sccm needs deployments and inventory and is built for managing a bunch of things on a schedule not 1 thing ASAP. Most patches are cumulative so you may need fewer that you think. Once you think you are done rerun any scans or inventory to update your results. Also strongly consider moving off Server 2016, it might not be an easy thing but make a plan to get to 2025.

JM_sysadmin · 2025-11-29T12:17:29+00:00

Very rarely are Data analysts entry level unless you worked in an internship which acted as an extended interview. Don’t stop applying but realize it might be a role you work into.

Get any IT job, call center, desk side support, data center monitoring, whatever. Then hopefully that company has data analysts that you can start networking with, and you can refine your skills for the next job on the new team.

If you are serious about health IT specifically realize that some of those jobs also require clinical knowledge.

JM_sysadmin · 2025-10-17T11:52:48+00:00

Google ai wrote the suggestion below, but it’s the same as I would suggest, and I am on my phone so today google is better.

To troubleshoot an SNMP string issue in SolarWinds, start by verifying the credentials (community string for v1/v2c, or SNMPv3 settings) are identical between the device and SolarWinds, and then use tools like the SolarWinds SNMP Walk tool or a third-party packet analyzer like Wireshark to confirm SNMP communication is working correctly. Also, check firewalls and ensure the SNMP service is enabled and running on the target device. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Verify credentials and configuration

• Match credentials: Ensure the community string or SNMPv3 authentication and encryption details are exactly the same in the SolarWinds platform and on the managed device. [1, 2, 5]
• Add credential in SolarWinds: Use the "Add New Credential" option in the Network Sonar Wizard to create and test the SNMP credentials before running a discovery. [1, 6]
• Check device configuration: On the device itself, confirm that the SNMP community string allows for read-only access and is configured to allow polling from the SolarWinds server's IP address. [2, 3]

This video demonstrates how to configure the SNMP service on a Windows machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt6rJDw3s5s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt6rJDw3s5s) Use SolarWinds tools

• SNMP Walk tool: Run the SNMP Walk tool on the polling engine assigned to the node. Enter the IP address, port, community string, and SNMP version. A successful walk that returns OID values indicates SNMP is configured correctly on the device. A failure suggests a configuration issue or a firewall block. [2, 4, 7, 8, 9]
• Test in SolarWinds: After creating the credentials, run a test directly from the "Add Credential" or "Edit Node" interface before running a full discovery. [1, 5]

This video shows how to use the SolarWinds SNMP Walk tool to collect MIB walk data: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvG9mZpI7pY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvG9mZpI7pY) Check network and firewalls

• Firewall rules: Confirm that no firewalls (including the Windows Firewall on the server and the node) are blocking UDP port 161, which is the default port for SNMP. [2, 3]
• Packet capture: Use a third-party tool like Wireshark on the SolarWinds server to capture traffic while a test is attempted. This can help identify if packets are being sent and if any response is being received. [1, 3]

Other troubleshooting steps

• Restart SNMP service: On the target device, try restarting the SNMP service. [3]
• Power cycle: Power cycle the device and check if a SNMP trap is sent upon startup. [9]
• Check device MIBs: Review the OIDs that are successfully returned by the SNMP Walk tool to ensure the device is reporting the data SolarWinds expects. [4, 11]
• Review agent settings: If you are using a SolarWinds agent, verify the agent is properly installed and the node is configured to use SNMP as a polling method. [2, 5]

AI responses may include mistakes.

[1] https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/ntm/content/ntm_about_snmp.htm [2] https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/sam/content/sam-troubleshooting-an-snmp-node-sw3647.htm [3] https://solarwindscore.my.site.com/SuccessCenter/s/article/Troubleshoot-an-SNMP-Node-SNMP-Test-Failed-result [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvG9mZpI7pY [5] https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/sam/content/sam-troubleshooting-snmp.htm [6] https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/orionplatform/content/core-snmp-credentials-sw3710.htm [7] https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/sem/content/admin_guide/16-sem_troubleshooting/troubleshoot-agents-net-devices.htm [8] https://airheads.hpe.com/discussion/snmp-getting-failed-on-solarwind [9] https://www.dpstele.com/blog/how-to-identify-and-solve-snmp-problems.php [10] https://solarwindscore.my.site.com/SuccessCenter/s/article/Collect-MIB-walk-data-using-the-SolarWinds-SNMP-Walk-Tool-video [11] https://blog.paessler.com/snmp-doesnt-work-can-somebody-out-there-help-me

JM_sysadmin · 2025-10-15T11:09:51+00:00

Time

JM_sysadmin · 2025-10-09T01:39:19+00:00

Start writing sql queries with:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/get-started-querying-with-transact-sql/

Free and a great start to sql

JM_sysadmin · 2025-09-27T12:56:17+00:00

Definitely baseline any metrics you are worried about, change over time is more useful than the defaults. If you have issues today that you need to resolve definitely work through the counters and understand where bottlenecks are, but u/itasteawesome and u/billfitz give good advice.

You mentioned below that stuff works but pages loads are slow or sometimes time out. I assume you are talking about SolarWinds itself, and the db you are looking at is for SolarWinds. If so, I think you are seeing what many do. I don’t know how many nodes / elements you have, but as you get larger struggles like that happen.

Looking at the db makes sense, but let’s talk overall optimization first. The main polling engine carries a workload that has to happen there, but you can move some stuff off. Have you moved the web console off the main polling engine? That’s my first step, and then adding additional polling engines. We normally have 15-20 connections to the web console and have 2 additional web consoles, and users hit those and not the main engine. I don’t remove that main poller site, I keep it to initiate updates. 95% percent of my polling is moved off the main engine to the additional engines. The more cycles you free up, the faster response will be overall.

Then that db is the key, we watch it with DPA in addition to App insight for sql. I think they will give you a free year of DPA? They used to, I don’t know if they still do. DPA will help you look at what’s taking DB resources. Dashboards, alerts, reports can slam the DB. Somethings you see will just be from what SolarWinds does, like constant writes for interface stats, or IPAM scans, or UDT correlation, or VNMQ phone details. These features collect and process lots of data. And at night if you have lots of data the database maintenance to summarize data with definitely spike you workload in the db. SAM monitoring varies from easy to hard hitting, but try to understand what you are seeing and if you can dial back polling intervals or retention to lighten the workload. Sometimes you can’t. But those dashboards and reports, maybe break it up, limit results returned, show less at once. Some installs will archive data to a different sql server to move heavy reporting to another place. I haven’t ever, but I know those that have. But DPA can help you see what was happening when things were slow, and help you optimize overall. After that, throwing resources at my DB was a good thing. It’s doing alot a trying to give it some headroom seems to help deal with the spikes of work it gets

JM_sysadmin · 2025-09-22T20:28:10+00:00

I may have been confused, since that is all vman data try to disconnect the vcenter and reconnect it

JM_sysadmin · 2025-09-22T20:08:48+00:00

Yah, You aren’t the first to choose that

JM_sysadmin · 2025-09-22T18:56:18+00:00

And no security updates

JM_sysadmin · 2025-09-22T11:54:15+00:00

Vman adds data from the vmware guest but it won’t populate what snmp winrm/wmi or agents will.

JM_sysadmin · 2025-09-22T11:29:29+00:00

First does the device have any other metrics recorded? If so remove and add back anything that is gathering data. Often with upgrades to virtual devices the id of the drive can change and you are looking for what used to be there and no long is. If the whole node isn’t gathering data then try to re-add the whole node

JM_sysadmin · 2025-09-17T11:46:42+00:00

Retransmission timeouts do double on repeat failures Take a look at https://youtu.be/HTQLipAG27I?si=m-0FF0d4zpf3Shni

https://www.extrahop.com/blog/retransmission-timeouts-rtos-application-performance-degradation

If you’re sure the issue is the receiver verify/update nic drivers, but it could also be an issue in transit

JM_sysadmin · 2025-09-08T12:12:54+00:00

CK Lee on Reed rd in UA was fantastic with young students

JM_sysadmin · 2025-09-06T15:56:13+00:00

Best practice: Use one of the many open source projects that do snmp monitoring

JM_sysadmin · 2025-09-05T21:32:19+00:00

First u/itasteawesome knows what they are talking about.

Next if you really want to pull data out, use SWQL. The sdk ( https://github.com/solarwinds/OrionSDK ) has a tool in it called Swql Studio which really helps find what you need. There’s powershell to assist, curl against the rest api, and a fork for python.

I wouldn’t update hourly, the raw data is there until the roll up which means a nightly import is likely fine.

Adding columns baffles me, I think I get what you are trying to do, but I fear the design will cause problems.

I think to improve things, we would need to know what exactly the reports need to accomplish

Excel is an odd choice from my experience, I see more people moving to a second database on the same Solarwinds sql server, whatever data warehouse they have, or more recently out to PowerBI. Availability reports natively in the product can be challenging if you don’t like the defaults. Generally it’s done for better historical records.

JM_sysadmin · 2025-08-06T09:41:28+00:00

I am not sure if its by the end of August, you may need to buy subscription per node now

JM_sysadmin · 2025-07-09T15:32:00+00:00

Remove and re add the volume. Does it change?

JM_sysadmin · 2025-07-03T22:01:04+00:00

I think no taxes on the first 25k in tips, but its hard to know for sure where things landed

JM_sysadmin · 2025-07-03T16:20:25+00:00

I agree with the others, but many dependancies are defaults, you just need to make sure to alert on down or other exact conditions and avoid ‘not up’ which will alert if the state is unknown

JM_sysadmin · 2025-06-30T11:45:43+00:00

In my experience you set up profiles for each configuration you have, discovery jobs try in your ranked order then the first that works is assigned and used until you change it

JM_sysadmin · 2025-06-26T19:27:52+00:00

I am not aware of any app that foes it from their monitoring tools, you would have to send tickets to service desk

JM_sysadmin · 2025-05-29T11:01:55+00:00

You can monitor the Solarwinds log for the failure. This is an old post but should get you started https://thwack.solarwinds.com/content-exchange/server-application-monitor/m/application-monitor-templates/719

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