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Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) vs. Cisco Nexus Dashboard vs. OpenText Network Node Manager i (NNMi)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco ACI

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/ACisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) is network virtualization technology.N/A

    Cisco Nexus Dashboard

    Score8.2 out of 10
    N/ACisco Nexus Dashboard simplifies data-center networks with automation and analytics. The data-center network helps organizations to meet business demands, and provision reliable data-center networking services as fast as possible, when and where organizations need it. As network infrastructure management is becoming more complex, diverse, and distributed, with multiple configuration points, monitoring tools, and vast amounts of data being generated every second. Cisco Nexus Dashboard is…N/A

    OpenText Network Node Manager i (NNMi)

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AOpenText Network Node Manager i is a network management platform acquired by Micro Focus from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, and now supported by OpenText.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco ACICisco Nexus DashboardOpenText Network Node Manager i (NNMi)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco ACICisco Nexus DashboardOpenText Network Node Manager i (NNMi)
    Free Trial
    NoYesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco ACICisco Nexus DashboardOpenText Network Node Manager i (NNMi)
    Considered Multiple Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco ACI
    I do not found any solution that has the same maturity of Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) with other constructors. I tried NEXUS Dashboard fabric controller to try similar usage with nx-os mode and evpn vxlan. NDFC is quiet near to Cisco Application Centric …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco ACI
    Price Deal
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco ACI
    Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) is better on many aspects. price, bandwidth...
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco ACI
    Individual device management vs centralized management through Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco ACI
    Our organization chose Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) because of the New technology, Scalable
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco ACI
    We use Cisco Nexus Series Switches on Cisco ACI. It helps to make new and easy connections. It will better if we can use Generative Artificial Intelligence with them. We manage many domains in one place. We manage more than one company’s network, so Cisco ACI is really …
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco ACI
    ACI makes data center deployments easier, upgrades, overall simpler functionality.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco ACI
    was not as good
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco ACI
    Cisco ACI is better at datacenter switching.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco ACI
    Line level policy & secured versus software based.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco ACI
    espaccially the Fabric Controller which was not in the List. But this tool really suprised me on that live. It is a better ACI for customers that don't do policy enforcement in their network.
    Incentivized
    Chose Cisco ACI
    NSX-T and ACI both are definitely awesome products. I tend to use ACI in networks that have more barebone and/or alternative hypervisors. NSX still works best in VMware heavy networks. Another consideration is where the network is managed, by which team. If the network is …
    Incentivized
    Cisco
    No answer on this topic
    OpenText
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    96%
    Would buy again
    113 Answers
    97%
    Would buy again
    60 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    96 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    49 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    115 Answers
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    60 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    82 Answers
    86%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    42 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    89%
    Implementation went as expected
    93 Answers
    87%
    Implementation went as expected
    46 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco ACICisco Nexus DashboardOpenText Network Node Manager i (NNMi)
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Cloud Internet Services
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Cisco Meraki Dashboard
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    IBM Cloud Internet Services
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Cisco Nexus Series Switches
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued)
    Score7.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco ACICisco Nexus DashboardOpenText Network Node Manager i (NNMi)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.5
    (131 ratings)
    7.7
    (64 ratings)
    8.0
    (5 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.7
    (10 ratings)
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    5.1
    (8 ratings)
    7.9
    (5 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (9 ratings)
    9.1
    (7 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.5
    (11 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    6.0
    (5 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.6
    (9 ratings)
    9.1
    (7 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco ACICisco Nexus DashboardOpenText Network Node Manager i (NNMi)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    The ACI solution is perfectly fit for a large or multi-site data center environment. It permits simplifying deployment, management, automation, and security. ACI is especially valuable when strong scalability, automation, security, and segmentation are required. However, ACI is less suitable for a small environment due to its complexity and high cost.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    We used Cisco Nexus Dashboard specifically for automating the creation of networks in our private cloud environment using a VXLAN EVPN multisite environment. It integrates into Infoblox well. It's also very suited in network troubleshooting for past and present issues. Where I don't see it being used much is in the campus but it's nice to know we have the ability to add catalyst if needed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    Well-suited for large-scale deployment without needing more servers. Linux installation is quite stable, and Polling of a large number of devices is well managed. Less suited to Network Observability scenarios or cloud network monitoring.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Cisco
    • Cisco ACI, The object model is very complicated. It's something difficult to understand and also because there is a user interface, there's a web user interface, but it's not optimal to use it because if you want to deploy a large amount of VLAN or a large amount of tenants, it's quite difficult to do it or it's quite challenging. Maybe if you want to configure a large amount of ports using the web interface, it's not appropriate because it takes a lot of time. It also provides APIs to do that, but as I say, the object model is very difficult to understand and there is very little documentation about automation of the ACI and maybe there is but it's not so easy to find.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • It is a flexible tool that helps streamline and facilitate the development of new services.
    • Ideal for automating tasks such as network modification, configuration, and removal, which provides great time savings.
    • Ensures services without interruption and without difficult scheduling.
    • It has a simple user interface and excellent support, made up of several providers.
    • It facilitates the administration of managed services.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    • Fault and Performance Monitoring
    • Performance Reporting
    • Alerting and Flexible threhsolds
    • Product stability
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • I think something I've just went to a session with hyper fabric and the ideas that hyper fabric has. Keep it really simple because Cisco ACI is a complex system and adopt some of the ideas behind hyper fabric, bring it to ACI that will be really beneficial. So as I said, automation is a great thing, but it's still, you need to have the background and the really complex stuff that happens behind the scenes to leverage the value of that solution. And by adding more simplicity to it, I think that will be a great thing. And also integrating with other applications in terms of the automation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    • With the latest version release of Cisco Nexus Dashboard to version 3.0.1 I can say that most of the features have already improved but one of the wishlists that I want for ND is the possibility of extracting lists of Anomaly.
    • Include older versions of Firmware in the list of choices when doing the firmware upgrade analysis, currently only the recommended is in the list of choices.
    • If possible, include all the prechecks in the Firmware pre-upgrade analysis same in the script provided by Cisco.
    Read full review
    OpenText
    • More out of the box monitoring parameters features
    • Improved GUI
    • Independent reporting functionality within NNMi
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    Provided with the intensive fault isolation for the CISCO ACI, we are glad that we have this Data Center Solution in place and we will continue to renew as long as the future needed requirements are meet and more helpful features will be enabled in the future with the integration of security
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    We observe significant product development with each release, along with substantial expansion of functionality. The program code has been consolidated into a single image, which simplifies installation and routine system update operations. Additionally, it is possible to install it outside the production network, which further enhances the solution’s availability.Additionally, the new graphical interface is very simplified and user-friendly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Cisco
    You'll need a lot of training and hands on experience to get the most out of the product. There are a lot of very useful features in the ACI product. Often times there are a lot of ways to get to a solution for chalanges in the field. The solutions might be different eacht time. Knowing which one to implement is somtimes a challenge.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cisco
    For the end user, it is relatively easy to use. However, some training and practice is a must because the NSO is not as straightforward as the traditional router CLI. For the administrator, Cisco Network Service Orchestrator (NSO) is just like another program running on the Linux system--there is no big difference.
    Incentivized
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    OpenText
    NNMi's user interface is described as well-designed and intuitive, making it easy for users to navigate and perform tasks quickly, thereby enhancing the overall user experience. The system offers a powerful network discovery mechanism that maps out your network's physical and virtual topology, enabling you to visualize connections between devices and identify potential issues. Fault monitoring is at its best. NNMi provides a unified environment for viewing faults, availability, and performance data, consolidating essential information into a single platform.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Cisco
    It allways works. If there are problems with links going down by accident (say someone accidentally unpatches something they shouldn't have), we rarely miss more then one packet over the link. Also, using VPCs we are able to upgrade the software on the switches without the attached EPs ever noticing.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Cisco
    Day to day operations on Cisco ACI do not require much human intervention, the platform ticks over without any major faults. Being able to rapidly replicate the communication between two groups of machines across multiple sub networks speeds up new application delivery, and the integration into vmWare allows multiple teams within IT to work together to problem solve rapidly.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    For us, it's not yet a single pane of glass for the ACI network as Network Assurance Engine is not yet integrated into the [Cisco] Nexus Dashboard. This will be the case after the next update we plan to do. Today it's a tool I use daily to figure out if something unusual or unexpected happened in the SDN part of our network. The legacy network is still monitored with different tools.
    Incentivized
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    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    Cisco provides users and partners with a multitude of data for you to consume. I think that the stuff in the public domain goes a long way to assisting you find any answers you may need, plus insights and information from areas such as DevNet provide you with access to more than just the traditional release notes and the like
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    here was never a need to contact support, as the system includes several commands that allow for self-healing. Even if, after the upgrade process, one of the processes was not running, I was able to quickly find the appropriate sequence of commands that definitively resolved the issue. The entire architecture was designed in such a way as to be resilient to the failure of one node in a three-server setup.
    Incentivized
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    OpenText
    Support is long and arduous and often are unable to help resolve the issue. We often have to do escalations or duty manager to get things moved. Even with a technical account manager, we do not see much improvement from a support point of view. This is an area where Micro Focus has a lot of improvement to do.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Cisco
    The Cisco ACI training provided by Cisco was in depth, covered all of our requirements, and allowed us to implement and maintain the platform without issues.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Cisco
    Being involved in the implmentation gives you more overview on how things are supposed to be working and communicating, you can easily performce troubleshooting and understanding the troubleshooting scenario
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    Honestly, the product implementation took 1–2 days to comprehensively manage the client’s entire infrastructure. The delivered on-premise solution, provided as physical servers, quickly builds the required environment in which individual data centers are rapidly added. The data collection process takes some time but also depends on the number of devices in the network.
    Incentivized
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    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    Actually we start our learning in networking career with Cisco. So it is very useful or easier to learn this product. And honestly speaking, I didn't work in any other data center solution other than Cisco. So I cannot compare what it gives us more than other popular stuff. But this is very nice product like from Cisco.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    The Cisco Nexus Series switches perform admirably in our blended distributed system. We have been dealing with any of these sorts of switches for over 5 years and have been exceptionally happy with their functionality. Several of our other computer networks in our data rooms have proved effective with Cisco equipment. Because of the simplicity of maintenance and the high quality of technical support provided by Cisco representatives, there is a high level of trust in these switches.
    Incentivized
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    OpenText
    Even though there are many products in the market such as from Solarwinds, CA Spectrum (no DX Spectrum), PRTG that offers similar or even with more flexibility the fault and performance monitoring still Micro Focus is a very nice tool when it comes to Scalability and Stability with all necessary monitoring coverage. There is no external database required and hence less issues with integration.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Cisco
    Cisco ACI scales well and is suited in scenarios such as multi-cloud or large data centre implementations. It is not suited to smaller deployments as the efficiencies that it provides are not fully realised. It is well suited in large environments that contain both virtual and bare-metal machines allowing a great deal of flexibility. It is also perfect to support multi-tenancy platforms.
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    It's a very secure platform that can manage all the business networks, monitor various network traffic, and is easy project management software. Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller can centralize all the network traffic in one room for easy and secure management and threat detection capability and even the secure channels offered are excellent.
    Read full review
    OpenText
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • We've definitely spent quite a bit of time relearning how to do things in ACI, but I think the investment has been well worth while considering that we can now deploy tenants and leaves from the ground up in a matter of seconds.
    • We can if we choose to upgrade an entire datacenters worth of switches in a single night. (We've chosen to break it up for availability requirements, but if you didn't require 99.999% uptime like us you may be able to do it)
    Incentivized
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    Cisco
    • Bit pricey.
    • Need to be purchased with vendor support. As far as I know, now support other vendors.
    • It's upgrade from DCNM and worth looking into.
    • It's still evolving and may need minor cosmetic adjustment
    • Easy to create and maintain vxlan and non vxlan fabrics.
    Incentivized
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    OpenText
    • HP NNM is very good at producing root cause analysis. MTTR is reduced with NNM.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    Cisco Nexus Dashboard Screenshots

    Screenshot of 9324C-SE1U N9300 Smart SwitchScreenshot of 9324C-SE1U N9300 Smart SwitchScreenshot of N9348Y2C6D-SE1U N9300 Smart SwitchScreenshot of N9348Y2C6D-SE1U N9300 Smart SwitchScreenshot of N9348Y2C6D-SE1U N9300 Smart SwitchScreenshot of 9324C-SE1U N9300 Smart Switch