What is the recommended upgrade approach for SolarWinds NPM and Orion Platform components?

• A. Upgrade directly in production without staging, review breaking changes, and validation.
• B. Plan a tested upgrade path, back up the database, review breaking changes, upgrade in a staging environment if possible, then perform production upgrade with post-upgrade validation.
• C. Back up only the database and perform a live upgrade without testing.
• D. Install a fresh Orion Platform and re-import configurations after upgrading.

Answer: (B)

Upgrading SolarWinds NPM and Orion Platform components should be done with a planned, tested path that includes backups and validation. The best approach is to map out a tested upgrade plan, back up the database, review the breaking changes published by SolarWinds, upgrade in a staging environment if possible, and only then perform the production upgrade with post‑upgrade validation. This sequence reduces risk by letting you verify compatibility with your existing configurations, customizations, and integrations before touching production. Staging helps you catch issues that could disrupt alerts, dashboards, or data collection, and post‑upgrade validation confirms that services start cleanly, data continues to flow, and critical functionality remains intact. A direct upgrade in production without testing, or upgrading with only a minimal backup, increases the chances of outages or configuration problems. Reinstalling Orion fresh and re-importing configurations adds unnecessary complexity and potential data loss, so the tested upgrade path with staging and validation is the safer, more reliable method.