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Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) vs. Splunk Enterprise

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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

    Splunk Enterprise

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/ASplunk is software for searching, monitoring, and analyzing machine-generated big data, via a web-style interface. It captures, indexes and correlates real-time data in a searchable repository from which it can generate graphs, reports, alerts, dashboards and visualizations.N/A
    Pricing
    Cisco ACISplunk Enterprise
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco ACISplunk Enterprise
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco ACISplunk Enterprise
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco ACI
    Logs of ACI are uploaded into Splunk. There good analysys is possible
    Incentivized
    Cisco
    Chose Splunk Enterprise
    Splunk Enterprise stands out compared to other solutions due to its broad compatibility and flexibility. It integrates easily with a wide range of infrastructure, network, security, and application products, thanks to its support for multiple data formats and its extensive …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    96%
    Would buy again
    113 Answers
    97%
    Would buy again
    59 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    96 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    49 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    115 Answers
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    59 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    82 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    43 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    89%
    Implementation went as expected
    93 Answers
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    50 Answers
    Features
    Cisco ACISplunk Enterprise
    Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
    Comparison of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) features of Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) and Splunk Enterprise
    Feature
    Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI)
    -
    Ratings
    Splunk Enterprise
    8.2
    91 Ratings
    3% above category average
    Centralized event and log data collection00 Ratings9.085 Ratings
    Correlation00 Ratings8.487 Ratings
    Event and log normalization/management00 Ratings8.488 Ratings
    Deployment flexibility00 Ratings8.081 Ratings
    Integration with Identity and Access Management Tools00 Ratings8.282 Ratings
    Custom dashboards and workspaces00 Ratings8.887 Ratings
    Host and network-based intrusion detection00 Ratings7.865 Ratings
    Data integration/API management00 Ratings8.334 Ratings
    Behavioral analytics and baselining00 Ratings7.732 Ratings
    Rules-based and algorithmic detection thresholds00 Ratings7.933 Ratings
    Response orchestration and automation00 Ratings7.529 Ratings
    Reporting and compliance management00 Ratings8.634 Ratings
    Incident indexing/searching00 Ratings8.737 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cisco ACISplunk Enterprise
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Cloud Internet Services
    Score9.8 out of 10
    IBM Security QRadar SIEM
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    IBM Cloud Internet Services
    Score9.8 out of 10
    SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cisco ACISplunk Enterprise
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.5
    (131 ratings)
    8.7
    (112 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.7
    (10 ratings)
    8.5
    (25 ratings)
    Usability
    5.1
    (8 ratings)
    8.5
    (45 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (9 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.5
    (11 ratings)
    8.0
    (19 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    6.0
    (5 ratings)
    7.0
    (3 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.6
    (9 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco ACISplunk Enterprise
    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
    I'm liking the newer products, and I'm looking forward to how they integrate with the overall product when they come together. Just log in and be able to query a large number of systems for similar issues or a unique one. That is a great fit for Splunk Enterprise, looking for a simple case or a simple String or something of that nature across multiple machines. It's a great fit for that to identify issues or particular software, whatever your scenario is, String, to find it across any particular server or group of servers, so that you can update or do a deployment or whatever it is you're looking to do.
    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 very useful in creating custom rules for analyzing system logs and display relevant information. The query language is very easy to learn.
    • We can create custom UI to visualize the output of our data. The interface is very flexible. It also allows the sharing of rules among users.
    • There is an open online community to help others. Stackoverflow also has a splunk community. These resources make it more convenient to learn.
    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
    • Splunk light limits number of users to 5. Wish there was a flexible license, where one could add more users.
    • Splunk light does not let you add > few realtime alerts. Wish there was a flexible license, where one could add as many realtime alerts as wanted.
    • Better insight into daily ingestion values
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
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    Cisco
    We are using Splunk extensively in our projects and we have recently upgraded to Splunk version 6.0 which is quite efficient and giving expected results. We keep track of updates and new features Splunk introduces periodically and try to introduce those features in our day to day activities for improvement in our reporting system and other tasks.
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    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
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    Cisco
    You can literally throw in a single word into Splunk and it will pull back all instances of that word across all of your logs for the time span you select (provided you have permission to see that data). We have several users who have taken a few of the free courses from Splunk that are able to pull data out of it everyday with little help at all.
    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
    When properly setup and configured, Splunk is extremely reliable.
    Incentivized
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    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
    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
    Splunk maintains a well resourced support system that has been consistent since we purchased the product. They help out in a timely manner and provide expert level information as needed. We typically open cases online and communicate when possible via e-mail and are able to resolve most issues with that method.
    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
    Online Training
    Cisco
    No answers on this topic
    Cisco
    The online course was simple clear and described the main capabilities of the solution. There is also an initial module that can be done for free so anyone can familiarize themselves with the functionality of this solution. On the other hand, however, there could be more free online courses. Maybe even with a certificate, this would broaden the group of people who are familiar with the platform while increasing familiarity with the solution itself.
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    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
    Smooth without too many major issues.
    Incentivized
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    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
    A lot of products have natively inside their own dashboards and or their own logging repositories. And each one is difficult to learn or they're too complex or they're not verbose in the sense that they're not easy to mine the data that you're looking for. So that could be anything from the native logging that you find in other Cisco products. It's easier to use Splunk to draw the data that you're looking for as opposed to going to the individual's products themselves to get the logs that you're looking for.
    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
    Splunk can scale in to the petabyte per day range which of course is awesome
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    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
    • Splunk has allowed developers to diagnose production issues when access of control was taken away from them to be allowed to view items in production environments and I believe that is invaluable.
    • At times some developers weren't super happy about using it, but it was more of the fact that they were used to having production access and not creating their splunk queries to get information.
    • Going one place to view logs was very beneficial to have.
    Incentivized
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