SolarWinds Orion Platform

Last updated: 2026-05-24

Orion is SolarWinds' enterprise IT monitoring framework. Modules like NPM, SAM, NTA, NCM, IPAM, and DPA all build on the same Orion core for storage, polling, and alerting.

What it is

The Orion Platform is SolarWinds' enterprise-class monitoring framework. It provides a shared core — database, polling engine, web console, SWIS API, alert engine, reporting — on top of which individual modules add specialized capabilities.

The Orion Platform itself does not directly monitor anything. It's the foundation. The monitoring happens in the modules.

The modules

Module What it monitors
NPM Network devices and interfaces (routers, switches, firewalls)
SAM Servers, applications, processes, services
NTA NetFlow / sFlow / jFlow traffic data
NCM Network device configs, compliance, change tracking
IPAM IP address allocations and subnets
DPA SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL performance

An Orion server can have any subset of these licensed. Most production installs run NPM + SAM at minimum; NTA, NCM, IPAM, and DPA are common adds.

What "Orion" actually refers to

In casual SolarWinds shop conversation, "Orion" usually means the whole installed environment — the Windows server hosting the Orion Platform, the SQL Server backend, the web console, every licensed module. When someone says "check Orion," they mean the whole thing.

When PocketNOC talks to "your Orion server," it means the Windows host running the Orion Platform with at least one module licensed. PocketNOC auto-detects which modules are present and only shows the relevant screens.

History

The Orion Platform has been SolarWinds' flagship since the early 2000s. The current modular architecture (NPM, SAM, etc. on top of a shared core) consolidated around the late 2000s and has stayed stable since. Recent SolarWinds investment has shifted toward the SaaS-based "SolarWinds Observability" platform, but Orion remains the on-prem product line used by most existing customers.

See also