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NCM for the win
June 24, 2019

NCM for the win

Michael Haberkern | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

We use SolarWinds NCM to backup our network devices throughout out multi-site typology. We have it do full startup and running config backups as well as the changes made since the last backup, the deltas, per se.
  • Very lightweight
  • Integrates well into the SolorWinds Orion product. It is another pane of glass on the web interface. Selecting the device gives you the option to see all the config informaiton
  • Easy to configure and get running on the most popular network hardware, i.e. Cisco, Juniper, Palo, Checkpoint, Dell, HPE
  • The NCM does not work particularly well out of the box on some not so popular network hardware like Ubiquiti, Fluid Mesh and others
  • The auto-select device does not always work and sometimes you have to modify a template to get the full backup to work. SolarWinds tech support can help with this if you are not familiar
  • The email notifications of the backups and the deltas are very simple html. It would be nice to see some improvement on the output there. Looks about 10 years old...
  • "Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it".
  • The cost is not the cheapest (open source = free) but also no the most expensive. The ease of use helps the engineers focus on other tasks, this is a set it and forget it and if something breaks the emails notice lets you know right away.
Well, Spiceworks is free, but the support is almost non-existent. ConnectWise is good, but they are heavy on the price side. Solarwinds suites well right in the middle where most business live and it does it well. I have used it at my last 3 jobs and have no desire to move away from it.
It does the job and sends you updates if anything goes wrong. It is rather easy to use, so long as you are using some of the more popular network hardware vendors. The integration and the workflow with the whole Orion suite makes this a no-brainer purchase if you are running SolarWinds in you environment already.