Cisco Catalyst Assurance vs. PingPlotter

So not everyone is in need of a smart AI checking their network metrics looking for issues before they happen or finding and alerting on problems that the network staff may not have noticed, but if you have the budget for it, it could be a huge time saver for your whole department.

Incentivized

This tool is best suited to get a quick read on basic network access across multiple hops. It provides immediate, very valuable feedback. If you know your stuff, there are other tools that handle the rest you need: packet capture, port scans, etc. We are all looking for that multi-tool, but this is perfect for the basic need of knowing where in the network a problem might be.

• Identify devices and their connectivity to the network
• Troubleshoot device connectivity paths
• Give us visibility into possible issues with network devices

Incentivized

• Monitor traffic in network
• Measure stops when contacting network locations such as websites
• Measures the lag and latency it takes to contact network locations
• Gives you both induvidual measurements as well as good oversight
• identifies when network lag or disconnect occurs

• Recommendation actions can be improved
• Feel like bit sluggish after some times, may be resources not optimised
• Some integration gaps there.

Incentivized

• Being able to export data would have been helpful for a larger analysis.
• It is a robust program and probably more than we needed for a small business; some options that were better aligned with our budget would have been good.
• As a non-technical person in the networking space, I found the data helpful for communicating, but not always easy to understand.

Cisco DNA Analytics and Assurance definitely has a steep learning curve. While it's had an upgrade to its onboarding, it's still a very technically heavy application that requires knowledge of Cisco networking and terminology. I think keeping that in mind helps with the expectations, but anyone can use the application with a little training and experience.

Incentivized

I installed it and it just started working. I realized I could then tweak it to show what I needed but didn't have to spend a long time configuring it before use, editing YAML files etc. Maybe that's fine for a network professional, but I only need this software if something goes wrong, and then need it to work quickly out of the box.

Incentivized

I have not had much contact with the PingPlotter support, only one time have I went to them and it was a positive experience. The questions I had were answered quickly and professionally. I have no issue with the experience I had with the Support team. This was from before and after the purchase of the product.

Incentivized

We moved away from Solarwinds during the breach. Haven't touched them with a 10 foot pole since.We looked at Splunk but decided to stick with a Cisco product since we are a Cisco shop

Incentivized

I used Ping.app and UptimeLog.app on the Mac. These both provided different aspects. These two had a menubar to show me green or red for multiple connections. UptimeLog showed me very clearly when my connectivity was on or off and for exactly how long

• Loads of time saved diagnosing network issues.
• Much effort saved having to determine network performance metrics by hand.
• The Cisco brand is generally safe and trusted so you get that additional peace of mind.

Incentivized

• Great ROI, troubleshooting time has been reduced by 90%
• Network Discoveries used to take 2 to 3 hours and were inconsistent - now it is a matter of minutes
• lacks integration into our MSP toolkit, and we now use it as a stand alone product

Incentivized