These are the minimum/recommended specs for the main polling server.
| Component | Minimum Requirement | Recommended for 2020.2.6 | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Processor (CPU) | 4 cores (2.5 GHz) | 8+ cores (3.0 GHz) | | RAM | 16 GB | 32 GB (64 GB for SQL if on same server) | | Disk Space | 40 GB (Logs/Cache) | 200 GB+ SSD (Raid 10) | | Disk Speed | 7200 RPM SATA | NVMe or SSD (15k RPM SAS) |
Critical Note for 2020.2.6: This version was notorious for high disk I/O. Do not use spinning hard drives for the database volume. You will experience polling timeouts. solarwinds npm 202026 system requirements free
The SolarWinds Orion installer (2020.2.6) will automatically install or require the following:
NPM 2020.2.6 is more flexible than newer versions (which require Windows Server 2022). Supported OSs include: These are the minimum/recommended specs for the main
Do not use: Windows Server 2022 (requires NPM 2023+), Windows 11, or Linux (NPM is Windows-only).
If you decide to purchase a license after your free trial, your system requirements will grow based on the number of elements (nodes, interfaces, volumes). Do not use: Windows Server 2022 (requires NPM
| Elements (Polled) | Recommended CPU | RAM | SQL Server Edition | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Up to 1,000 | 8 cores @ 3.0 GHz | 32 GB | SQL Standard | | 1,000 – 5,000 | 16 cores @ 3.2 GHz | 64 GB | SQL Standard | | 5,000 – 15,000 | 24 cores @ 3.4 GHz | 128 GB | SQL Enterprise | | 15,000+ | Distributed deployment (Additional Polling Engines) | — | SQL Enterprise |
| Configuration | Requirement | | :--- | :--- | | Type | RAID 10 with dedicated SSD or NVMe (SATA SSDs are acceptable for small setups) | | OS + Application | 100 GB minimum | | Data Disk (NPM database) | 200 GB minimum (actual depends on retention) | | TempDB (SQL Server) | 50 GB separate from data disk |
Important: Do not install NPM 2020.2.6 on a single HDD. Performance will be severely degraded. For a free trial, a single modern SSD (500 GB) on a desktop-class machine is fine for up to 7 days of data retention.
Summary: This document gives a comprehensive, production-ready breakdown of system requirements, architecture options, sizing guidance, installation prerequisites, and optimization tips for SolarWinds NPM 2020.2.6 (on-premises). It assumes a typical enterprise deployment and provides concrete CPU, memory, storage, OS, SQL, network, and high-availability considerations plus configuration steps to improve performance and scalability.