Cisco Crosswork Network Automation vs. Progress WhatsUp Gold

Cisco Crosswork Network Automation has been great at reducing the workload our engineers face on the day to day aspects of their jobs. CNC has been able to reduce the time it takes to provision a device while using NSO and has provided valuable data to assist in troubleshooting network wide issues. CNC has been a pivotal aspect to our multi-million dollar network refresh

Incentivized

[Progress WhatsUp Gold (formerly Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold)] is good for what it is. An inexpensive but accurate monitor for alerting on systems and services. However, it is time consuming to configure, The GUI leaves a lot to be desired and the formatting for txt alerts stinks (I just use it now as an alert to check my email to view the actual alert.)

Incentivized

• Monitoring the connection; performance, switching, and issues. We use a broadband connection for our primary and a cellular backup for the secondary. While we use routing protocols to make this switch and WhatsUp isn't used for Syslog monitoring. it alerts us within seconds.
• Backup configurations and archiving. WhatsUp does this particularly well. I use it for both Cisco routers and switches.
• The diagram feature is nice. Though I don't use it as much because of the size of our structure, it does come in handy for mapping routes of all traffic.

Incentivized

• Navigating the new WhatsUp Gold 2018 is a bit complicated and not user-friendly. The best part about using a software is the user's ability to use it with ease.
• You cannot click sites being monitored from Map Dashboard View. This feature was previously possible in the older version.

Incentivized

Giving this a 5 as CNC classifies to a specific set of users. CNC is not an 'easy to use' product and thus requires some training to ensure that it can be used to the best of its capabilities. CNC can when used fully provide valuable data that Network Engineers would otherwise have to hunt for on their own.

Incentivized

The web interface is really good, there are a few areas that could use a bit of polish but overall it is well designed and easy to navigate and use, even for a new user.

Incentivized

We have never had an issue with support. It has always been quick and understandable

Incentivized

Progress WhatsUp Gold (formerly Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold) is more network focused than some of the other products we looked at, which had basic capabilities but were not as strong on the reporting or programmatic resolution of issues. Progress WhatsUp Gold (formerly Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold) is cost effective compared to some of the other upmarket solutions.

Incentivized

• Alerts IT team members when things go down after regular business hours. IT team is able to fix the issue before users arrive the next day.
• Saves on system downtime and lost productivity
• Remote monitoring means less staff hours spent checking for potential problems.

Incentivized