solarwinds scp-npm practice test

SCP Network Performance Monitor (NPM) Exam

Last exam update: Nov 18 ,2025
Page 1 out of 6. Viewing questions 1-15 out of 77

Question 1

Which is not true for Device Studio Poller?

  • A. Collects data from Orion Failover Engine or Hot Standby Engines
  • B. Can perform logical operations or transformations on the polled data
  • C. Polled values are displayed in existing resources
  • D. Can poll multiple OIDs for a given technology
Mark Question:
Answer:

A


Explanation:
Device Studio Poller is a feature that allows users to create custom pollers for devices or
technologies that are not supported by default in NPM. It can poll multiple OIDs for a given
technology, perform logical operations or transformations on the polled data, and display the polled
values in existing resources.
However, it does not collect data from Orion Failover Engine or Hot
Standby Engines, which are features of Orion High Availability that ensure continuous monitoring in
case of primary server failure12. Reference: 1: Create pollers in Device Studio for NPM3, 2: When
Good OIDs Go Bad: Customizing Device Pollers, 3
: Manage Pollers (AKA Device Studio) question
https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/orionplatform/content/core-monitoring-
mibs-with-universal-device-pollers-sw548.htm

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
C
50%
D
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
C
D
0 / 1000

Question 2

How does NPM calculate capacity usage trends?

  • A. Volume capacity
  • B. Average calculation
  • C. Capacity forecasting widget
  • D. Historical data
Mark Question:
Answer:

D


Explanation:
Capacity usage trends are calculated based on historical data. By default, the longest time period
taken into account for calculating the capacity forecast is 180 days. The more historical data up to 180
days are available, the more precise is the calculated forecast. Forecast calculation methods include
peak calculation and average calculation, which can be set globally or customized for individual
objects. Capacity forecasting is available for nodes, interfaces, and volumes that meet certain
requirements, such as being managed in NPM and having enough historical data in the
database. Reference:
Monitor capacity usage trends on the network and forecast capacity issues in
NPM
,
Forecast capacity for nodes, interfaces, or volumes in NPM
,
Real-Time Network Monitoring
Tool

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
C
50%
D
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
C
D
0 / 1000

Question 3

You can display Palo Alto firewalls on Orion Maps.

  • A. False
  • B. True
Mark Question:
Answer:

B


Explanation:
Orion Maps 2.0 supports displaying Palo Alto firewalls as network devices, along with their
interfaces, zones, policies, and traffic data. You can also view the firewall status, alerts, and events on
the map. To add a Palo Alto firewall to an Orion Map, you need to have Network Insight for Palo Alto
enabled in NPM, and discover the firewall using SNMP and API polling. Reference:
Orion Maps 2.0,
New Alerting, and Palo Alto Networks Monitoring - SolarWinds Lab Episode #77
,
SolarWinds Lab
Episode 77: Orion Maps 2.0, New Alerting, and Palo Alto Networks Monitoring - Orange Matter
,
Network Insight for Palo Alto Networks in NPM

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
0 / 1000

Question 4

You inherit an environment with NPM and begin to receive High Traffic Utilization alerts from
interfaces. When you view the alert, the issue is resolved. How do you modify NPM to receive fewer
false alerts?

  • A. Configure the alert so that it triggers only when traffic utilization remains high for a sustained period
  • B. Configure the alert so that it resets only when traffic utilization remains high for a sustained period
  • C. Increase the status polling frequency on the problematic interfaces
  • D. Increase the statistics polling frequency on the problematic interfaces
Mark Question:
Answer:

A


Explanation:
High Traffic Utilization alerts are triggered when the interface’s received or transmitted percent
utilization exceeds a specified threshold. However, this may not reflect the actual network
congestion, as traffic spikes can occur momentarily and then subside. To avoid false alerts, you can
configure the alert to trigger only when the traffic utilization remains high for a sustained period,
such as 5 minutes or more. This way, you can filter out the transient traffic peaks and focus on the
persistent issues that affect the network performance. Reference:
How do I create a high transmit percent utilization alert to monitor interface bandwidth
Trouble with High receive percent utilization alert
How alerts work

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
C
50%
D
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
C
D
0 / 1000

Question 5

You use NPM to monitor a set of physical servers. The server team decides to virtualize these servers
using VMware. Which part of your virtual infrastructure will NPM no longer be able to monitor?

  • A. Virtualization host hardware health
  • B. VM sprawl monitoring
  • C. Virtualization host and VM performance metrics
  • D. Virtualization environment tree
Mark Question:
Answer:

B


Explanation:
https://support.solarwinds.com/SuccessCenter/s/article/VMAN-and-IVIM-feature-
comparison?language=en_US

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
C
50%
D
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
C
D
0 / 1000

Question 6

When a router monitored by NPM reboots, the interface indexes statuses change to unknown in
NPM. What do you do after you remove the unknown interfaces?

  • A. Update the NPM internal ID numbers
  • B. Manually update the interface indexes
  • C. Rum a list of resources on that node and add the interfaces with the updated index IDs
  • D. Run the Configuration Wizard to update the interface indexes
Mark Question:
Answer:

C


Explanation:
When a router monitored by NPM reboots, the interface indexes may change, causing the interface
statuses to become unknown in NPM. This is because NPM uses the interface indexes to identify and
poll the interfaces. To resolve this issue, you need to remove the unknown interfaces from NPM and
then run a list of resources on that node to discover the interfaces with the new index IDs. You can
then add the interfaces back to NPM and resume monitoring them. Reference:
Allow Change the Interface Index - Forum - Network Performance Monitor (NPM) - THWACK
Products
Edit interface properties in NPM - SolarWinds
SCP Study Aid - SolarWinds
(page 6)

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
C
50%
D
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
C
D
0 / 1000

Question 7

After you create an NPM report with custom charts for availability and response time metrics, you
schedule the report and add an action to export it. But you cannot export it as an Excel file. What is
the likely reason?

  • A. You must link the report with a URL in an email action to run live in the web console
  • B. Excel file formats are not supported
  • C. The custom charts only support a PDF export
  • D. You do not have the permissions to export the report
Mark Question:
Answer:

B


Explanation:
The Export to Excel button is only displayed if the report contains only custom table resources. Other
resources cannot be converted to the Excel format.
https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/orionplatform/content/core-exporting-
reports-sw1547.htm#:~:text=the%20Excel%20format.-
,Click%20Reports%20%3E%20All%20Reports%20in%20the%20menu%20bar%2C%20and%20click,Cli
ck%20either%20Export%20as%20Excel
.

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
C
50%
D
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
C
D
0 / 1000

Question 8

How do you assign users access to select reports?

  • A. Create the reports while logged in as each user and set permissions
  • B. Use custom properties and account limitations to control report access
  • C. Configure the report and add a Report Limitation. Assign the limitation to users who need access to the report
  • D. Save the reports in different sub-directories and set the permissions for each user
Mark Question:
Answer:

B


Explanation:
To assign users access to select reports, you can use custom properties and account limitations to
restrict the scope of data that users can view and report on. Custom properties are user-defined
fields that you can assign to monitored objects, such as nodes, interfaces, or applications. Account
limitations are rules that you can apply to user accounts to filter the network data that users can
access and view. By using custom properties and account limitations together, you can create
granular and flexible report access for different users or groups. For example, you can create a
custom property called Department and assign it to nodes that belong to different departments in
your organization. Then, you can create an account limitation based on the Department custom
property and assign it to users who only need to see and report on the nodes in their own
department. Reference:
How to create different Orion Support Users and assign them different
properties in NPM
,
Define what users can access and do in the SolarWinds Platform

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
C
50%
D
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
C
D
0 / 1000

Question 9

Retention policies require you to keep Syslog messages in the database for 9 days before you can
discard them. Syslog messages from 8 days ago are missing.
What is likely the issue?

  • A. Database compaction runs weekly
  • B. Default Syslog retention period is seven days
  • C. Default Syslog web filter is seven days
  • D. Detailed records are summarized after seven days
Mark Question:
Answer:

B


Explanation:
By default, Orion NPM retains Syslog messages in the database for seven days before discarding
them. This means that any Syslog messages older than seven days are deleted from the database and
cannot be viewed or searched in the web console. To change the default Syslog retention period, you
need to modify the Database Settings on the Orion Polling Settings page in the web console. You can
also use the Database Manager tool to manually delete or archive Syslog messages from the
database. Reference:
SolarWinds SCP Study Aid - NPM
, page 19;
NPM Administrator Guide
, page
111.

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
C
50%
D
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
C
D
0 / 1000

Question 10

You created a Universal Device Poller (UnDP) but cannot find an OID in the MIB tree. How do you
resolve this issue?

  • A. Restart the Universal Device Poller
  • B. Update the MIB database
  • C. Rediscover the node via Network Sonar Discovery
  • D. Add the node to NPM for monitoring
Mark Question:
Answer:

B


Explanation:
The Universal Device Poller (UnDP) is a feature that allows users to create custom monitors for
almost any statistic provided by SNMP based on its Management Information Base (MIB) and object
identifier (OID). However, sometimes the OID that the user wants to monitor may not be available in
the MIB tree, either because it is not supported by the device or because the MIB database is
outdated. In this case, the user needs to update the MIB database to get the latest MIBs from the
SolarWinds website or from the device vendor.
This will ensure that the UnDP can find the OID in the
MIB tree and poll it successfully12. Reference: 1: Update the SolarWinds MIB Database for the
SolarWinds Platform3, 2
: Monitor custom statistics based on OIDs with Universal Device Pollers in
the SolarWinds Platform
https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/orionplatform/content/core-
downloading-the-solarwinds-mib-database-sw3581.htm

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
C
50%
D
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
C
D
0 / 1000

Question 11

Users report that NPM performance is slow when managing devices through the Orion Web Console.
You verify the SNMP trapping is responsible for the poor performance. How do you resolve this
issue?

  • A. Add the devices as managed nodes to cut down on the trap messages received
  • B. Point the devices to a trap manager and filter unwanted messages before forwarding remaining traps to the Orion Platform
  • C. Reduce the number of days SNMP messages are kept in the SolarWinds Trap Viewer
  • D. Add an Additional Web Server to handle the load of users accessing the NPM Orion Web Console
Mark Question:
Answer:

B


Explanation:
SNMP traps are unsolicited messages sent by network devices to report events or issues. If NPM
receives too many traps from devices that are not managed by NPM, or traps that are not relevant
for monitoring, the performance of the Orion Web Console can be affected. To resolve this issue, you
can point the devices to a trap manager, such as
Kiwi Syslog Server
, and configure it to filter out
unwanted traps before forwarding the remaining ones to the Orion Platform. This way, NPM will only
process the traps that are important for monitoring and alerting, and reduce the load on the
database and web server. Reference:
Configure SNMP traps in NPM
,
Filter traps in Kiwi Syslog Server
,
[Forward traps to another host in Kiwi Syslog Server]

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
C
50%
D
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
C
D
0 / 1000

Question 12

How can you ensure the trigger actions you set on an alert will work?

  • A. Use the Database Manager to trigger and test the alert
  • B. Simulate a performance interruption on a network device to test the alert trigger
  • C. Click Simulate on the assigned trigger action
  • D. Test the alert from within Alert View of the Web Console
Mark Question:
Answer:

C


Explanation:
When you create or edit an alert, you can test the trigger and reset actions by clicking Simulate next
to the action you want to test. This will execute the action regardless of the trigger condition. You can
also select an object to resolve any variables you have used in your action. For example, if your action
is to send an email with the node name and status, you can select a node to see how the email will
look like. This way, you can ensure the trigger actions you set on an alert will work as
expected. Reference:
Test alert triggers and actions in the SolarWinds Platform
,
How to Create
Intelligent Alerts with NPM
,
How alerts work
.

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
C
50%
D
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
C
D
0 / 1000

Question 13

The Universal Device Poller retrieves management data in which format?

  • A. OID
  • B. WMI
  • C. XML
  • D. ANSI 1
Mark Question:
Answer:

A


Explanation:
The Universal Device Poller (UnDP) is a feature of SolarWinds NPM that allows you to create custom
monitors for almost any statistic provided by SNMP based on its Management Information Base
(MIB) and object identifier (OID). An OID is a unique identifier for a variable that can be polled or set
via SNMP. The UnDP retrieves management data in the OID format from the devices that support
SNMP. The other formats (WMI, XML, ANSI 1) are not used by the UnDP. Reference:
Monitor custom statistics based on OIDs with Universal Device Pollers
NPM Universal Device Pollers

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
C
50%
D
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
C
D
0 / 1000

Question 14

You’re troubleshooting a complex network issue and need to build a comparison of several metrics
across multiple devices and SolarWinds products to identify the problem. What feature can you use?

  • A. PerfStack
  • B. Network Insight
  • C. NetPath
  • D. AppStack
Mark Question:
Answer:

A


Explanation:
PerfStack is a feature of the Orion Platform that allows you to compare and correlate performance
data from multiple SolarWinds products and entities in a single view1
.
You can drag and drop metrics
from different sources, such as NPM, SAM, NCM, NTA, and more, and create custom dashboards that
help you troubleshoot complex network issues2
.
PerfStack can also show historical data and
baselines for comparison3. Reference: 1: Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide - Use
PerfStack to troubleshoot issues 2: Network Performance Monitor Getting Started Guide -
Troubleshoot your network with PerfStack 3
: SolarWinds Certified Professional Program - Diagnostics
and Troubleshooting Exam Study Guide - Use PerfStack to troubleshoot issues
https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/orionplatform/content/core-create-
performance-analysis-charts.htm

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
C
50%
D
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
C
D
0 / 1000

Question 15

You can import device-specific MIBs into the SolarWinds MIB Database, but you cannot import UnDP
pollers based on OIDs from device-specific MIBs.

  • A. True
  • B. False
Mark Question:
Answer:

B


Explanation:
You can import device-specific MIBs into the SolarWinds MIB Database, and you can also import
UnDP pollers based on OIDs from device-specific MIBs. UnDP stands for Universal Device Poller,
which is a tool that allows you to monitor custom statistics based on OIDs with NPM. You can create
UnDP pollers by selecting OIDs from the MIB Browser, or by importing them from a file that contains
OIDs and poller names. You can then assign UnDP pollers to devices monitored by NPM and view the
results on the web console. Reference:
Monitor custom statistics based on OIDs with Universal Device Pollers in NPM - SolarWinds
Import Universal Device Pollers - SolarWinds
SCP Study Aid - SolarWinds
(page 7)

User Votes:
A
50%
B
50%
Discussions
vote your answer:
A
B
0 / 1000
To page 2