Cisco DNA Center vs N-able N-central (formerly Solarwinds N-Central) | TrustRadius

What users are saying about

Score 8.8 out of 10

Based on 133 reviews and ratings

Score 7.9 out of 10

Based on 49 reviews and ratings

Feature Rating Comparison

Cisco DNA Center

N-able N-central (formerly Solarwinds N-Central)

Patch Management

Pros

Ease of automation and configuration templates make the future you very glad you did it!
The PnP for switches that allow to boot up and contact the network with a pre-configuration is so amazing. Makes life easy!
Integrates well with our ISE platform, they have really made it well worth the cost to have everything with the name CISCO on your equipment. All of their devices work so well with this software.

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Oil & Energy Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Remote tasks - entry-level techs can run basic tasks without physically touching a piece of equipment.
Remote support - remote controlling user devices is easy and saves a lot of time with having to initiate a remote session.
Management of devices, particularly patch management and anti-virus management - you can automatically approve and deploy patches and schedule automatic AV scans.

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NOC Supervisor

One2One IncInformation Technology and Services, 11-50 employees

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Cons

En el data Center, integrando los equipos que se encuentra en el corazon de la red y previniendo que esten actualizados // For Data Centers, integrating equipment that is the core of a network, and preventing them from being updated
En las diferentes areas del campus para poder monitorizar el funcionamiento de los dispositivos // Improving remote monitoring of devices
En la identificacion de problemas de seguridad de los dispositivos de red // Improving identification of network security issues

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Verified User

Consultant in Information Technology

Education Management Company, 201-500 employees

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It is a large piece of software and does take some time to get set-up and configured.
Limitations with some basic monitoring like site down/internet down and server state make it difficult to have accurate monitoring information.
Reports and reporting are minimal, not very customizable and not pretty.

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Managed Services Adminsitrator

Diversified Computer Resources, IncComputer Networking, 11-50 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

N-able N-central (formerly Solarwinds N-Central) 8.9

Based on 2 answers

Overall we have liked our solar winds experience, however, as our company has grown to support larger enterprises, this product does not have the functionality that our teams need in order to fully support them. The lack of granularity with backups and lack of ability to support nutanix environments is slowly drawing us into the use of other tools.

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Verified User

Executive in Engineering

Computer & Network Security Company, 11-50 employees

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Usability

Cisco DNA Center 9.0

Based on 3 answers

Cisco DNA is a network controller and management dashboard that lets you take charge of your network. Cisco DNA Center provides a single dashboard concentrate and is easy to use. Maybe we should be open to multi-brand integration, as it can integrate other devices not made for Cisco and the different providers can reduce services.

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Infrastructure Engineer I

QuadPrinting, 10,001+ employees

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N-able N-central (formerly Solarwinds N-Central) 8.8

Based on 3 answers

The user interface is fairly straight forward, with logic groupings for objects. I did not deploy this software, but am one of the daily administrators. Once you get the correct agent package (Which can be a challenge) the integration into AD is not bad. The UI could be more customized, but that may have been a design choice.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 51-200 employees

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Support Rating

Cisco DNA Center 9.0

Based on 37 answers

Cisco is recognized for good products and good support on failure situations. When you buy a Cisco DNA Center you buy a SMARTnet contract that you can use to contact with Cisco Support (Cisco TAC) who are experienced engineers and solve any issue. On the other hand Cisco has a big community who will help you or you can find if your problem was presented by other.

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Field Engineer

BVS Technology SolutionsEducation Management, 1001-5000 employees

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N-able N-central (formerly Solarwinds N-Central) 8.4

Based on 14 answers

Every time we have reached out to SolarWinds they are quick to respond, even offering support chat 24/7. Their support team is great and works with you to find solutions to issues. They have taken items we had issues with before and used those to create updates so that the issue is handled better in the future.

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Senior Consultant

Moser ConsultingInformation Technology and Services, 201-500 employees

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Implementation Rating

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

N-able N-central (formerly Solarwinds N-Central) 8.3

Based on 4 answers

Make sure if you your using a vm you follow the instructions for provisioning to the letter or it will be starting from square one

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I.T. Manager

ET&TInformation Services, 11-50 employees

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Alternatives Considered

Meraki does what should be expected at it's price point, but it is geared to SMB. When it comes to enterprise networks, DNA Center is the clear path forward. It allows for more devices than just the ones it configures, it provides more customization and on boarding options, and the control stays within the organization. The DNA Center telemetry provides a more robust reporting than the Meraki dashboard, and again, the data stays on site. I see both being important in their own ways, but Meraki falls short in larger enterprises, and that is where DNA Center shines the most.

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Verified User

Team Lead in Professional Services

Information Technology and Services Company, 201-500 employees

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SolarWinds N-central is on the more unique side of tools because it can do so many things, and do most of them quite well. For patching, it is much easier to use than SCCM. In terms of monitoring, it is not great out of the box and requires tweaking to take full advantage. Since it is agent-based, any time an agent fails to check in, it means that that device is effectively no longer being managed. It can take a great deal of effort to maintain and remediate agent issues.

It is a great tool to manage small to medium-sized environments, but would struggle to cover all the angles required in a larger enterprise setting.

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Return on Investment

Efficient time spent elsewhere. I can spend my time troubleshooting other portions of the network instead of housekeeping current gear.
Assistance with inventory; it keeps an inventory of all the devices you add to it, so it can serve as an inventory of equipment if that's what you'd like from it.
Visibility; we can see more of the status of our gear, if it's unreachable, or if things are misbehaving the dashboard shows that there are irregularities.

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Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Allows the service desk to quickly connect to computers and troubleshoot issues in less time
Minimizes user downtime by allowing installs to run in the background
Allows for management of updates and the ability to let the user postpone the update if needed

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Service Delivery Leader

ContegixInformation Technology and Services, 201-500 employees

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Screenshots

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See Both N-able N-central (formerly Solarwinds N-Central) Screenshots

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

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Rating Summary

Cisco DNA Center

N-able N-central (formerly Solarwinds N-Central)

Cisco DNA Center

N-able N-central (formerly Solarwinds N-Central)

Cisco DNA Center

N-able N-central (formerly Solarwinds N-Central)

Cisco DNA Center

N-able N-central (formerly Solarwinds N-Central)

Cisco DNA Center

N-able N-central (formerly Solarwinds N-Central)

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