Cisco DNA Analytics and Assurance vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

Likelihood to Recommend

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.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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If your IT team isn't proficient in automation and scripting, Solarwinds NCM can fill that gap (assuming your company's security team signs off on approving SW in your environment given the hack.) Basic device configuration, pushing mass changes reliably and backups are NCM's strong suites. If you have a complex scenario where if/then cases are needed, NCM is a bit lack luster. Auto discovery isn't as easy either as certain parameters need to be met for that feature to work 100% of the time

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Civil Engineering Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Pros

Smart AI that learns your network.
Machine learning that can find performance bottlenecks and issues.
After configuration you don't have to spend a lot of time managing it.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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Integrates with Network Performance Management for Alerting and Reporting.
NetPath and detects issues due to Configuration Change.
Keeps a record of which user made the change.
Which devices are not being backed up, devices where backups are failing, dashboard and alerting available.

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Verified User

Consultant in Information Technology

Transportation/Trucking/Railroad Company, 201-500 employees

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Cons

May require an implementer to get this set up and running.
For a software based service that you can run on your own VM's, price is still very high.
The first setup can be a bear and you will need much help from TAC.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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For our use case, it does everything great and some of the features we underutilize but I would like to be able to set a configuration baseline when initially adding a node instead of after the configuration is pulled but it's not a particularly big deal to let it pull the configuration then set it as the baseline.

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James Jakimowicz

Senior Network Engineer

Synergy FiberComputer Networking, 51-200 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

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General

Free Trial

Yes

Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

Optional

Starting Price

—

Likelihood to Renew

No score

No answers yet

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SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) 7.7

Based on 4 answers

I simply love this product for what it does. it backups our configs and stores them so i don't have to worry about if we have current configs. It allows me to recover from a cisco failure in a matter of minutes rather than hours. I only have to copy and paste instead of recreate. so the maximum downtime we have is the time it takes to get the physical hardware replaced

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Aaron Coody

Systems Administrator

Scott Equipment Company, LLCConstruction, 501-1000 employees

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Usability

No score

No answers yet

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SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) 7.2

Based on 8 answers

The user interface is lacking. It is difficult to navigate at times and things can be done multiple ways. Quite often I am confused by how their notification structure works. It is not very intuitive. They do offer a free Academy. They also offer a community of other technical folks. I have enjoyed both.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Design Company, 51-200 employees

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Support Rating

No score

No answers yet

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SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) 7.7

Based on 13 answers

To be fair, I have not had to involve Support in a number of years, but when I did, I was greeted with enthusiastic engineers who wanted to understand and solve the issue. It was a fairly complex scenario and I have discovered in my most recent implementation that engineering included that option as a standard now.

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Wyant Niswonger

Network Engineer

AAICInsurance, 51-200 employees

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Online Training

No score

No answers yet

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SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) 10.0

Based on 1 answer

Solarwinds has actually produced new training since I last used it that is available on their site at any time. Their previous training was more than enough to get us started but now there is significantly more content. Since I'm comfortable with the Orion platform and the products we use I haven't checked the new training out yet but we have new staff go through portions of that training and they always come away with an understanding of the platform and ready to use it

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James Jakimowicz

Senior Network Engineer

Synergy FiberComputer Networking, 51-200 employees

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Implementation Rating

No score

No answers yet

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SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) 9.1

Based on 6 answers

Change management played a key role in our organisation. We didn't have any major downtime but it was crucial for us to get his product.

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Nandini pallipamu

Network Engineer

Commonwealth of MAInformation Technology and Services, 10,001+ employees

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Alternatives Considered

No answers on this topic

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is a great tool and matches much of the functionality of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. Nothing about Ansible will likely be overwhelming to an engineer with a little time to spare, but that spare time combined with SolarWinds already being our monitoring tool made the decision easy. Time is at a premium in small teams and SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is very easy to use right out of the box without all the tweaking required by powerful command line driven tools like Ansible.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Medical Practice Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Return on Investment

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.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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The time savings from automatic daily backups is significant
The compare configuration tool is super helpful at spotting errors when small changes occur that are hard to detect otherwise.
The compliance check tool saves countless hours going through configurations for errors.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Airlines/Aviation Company, 501-1000 employees

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