Cisco Catalyst Center vs. Observium

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Catalyst Center
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Catalyst Center (formerly Cisco DNA Center) is a network management system that leverages AI to connect, secure, and automate customer’s network operations. It harnesses the Catalyst family of switching and wireless through AI-enabled automation that simplifies the IT experience and streamlines complex network operations. Offering operational flexibility, Cisco Catalyst Center can be deployed on-premises on a physical appliance or in a VMware virtual environment, or in a…N/A
Observium
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
N/AN/A
Pricing
Cisco Catalyst CenterObservium
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Catalyst CenterObservium
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Best Alternatives
Cisco Catalyst CenterObservium
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI
Score 8.5 out of 10
Intermapper
Intermapper
Score 8.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco ACI
Cisco ACI
Score 8.5 out of 10
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Catalyst CenterObservium
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(128 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(16 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(31 ratings)
5.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Catalyst CenterObservium
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
Cisco Catalyst Center does a good job configuring the switches and forming the fabric using recommended configuration and specific switch setup. Managing switches through inventory is another job Cisco Catalyst Center does well. On the other hand managing access to infrastructure (host onboarding for example) is one tedious job. To set 48 access ports on a switch takes more time than it would take an engineer connected to a switch using CLI.
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Observium
  • If you are on a budget, this is one heck of a tool for the price (including the ~$200/year for the Pro subscription).
  • If you are OK with maintaining and updating open source tools, this is a great tool.
  • If you are afraid of the Linux command line or live in a Windows-centric world, this might not be the tool for you.
  • If you can't stand things occasionally not working, this is probably not a good fit.
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Pros
Cisco
  • I think it abstracts the technical detail of what actually needs to be configured on the devices. So you can specify the intent and it'll do complex technical commands on the devices. You do not necessarily need to know I'm from a technical background, so I do know that, but on a scale, it's very easy just to click a few buttons and say what you want and it'll just do it for you.
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Observium
  • Automatic device discovery.
  • Scalability
  • Real-time monitoring.
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Cons
Cisco
  • Learning curve is pretty steep
  • Setting golden images is tricky and cant always get it to work as advertised. Takes a couple times. Having a recent problem where it stopped working and Cisco TAC only explanation is that 3850 is no longer supported.
  • When I initially set up, couldnt find documentation. I set up a lot of IP addresses and assigned them to DNA. Cant find where these are located.
  • Troubleshooting with TAC, they always want me to run some scripts that I have no clue how to do.
  • Ability to be able to access configuration backups would be great.
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Observium
  • Documentation
  • Community support
  • Easy to set up but hard to customise fully
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Usability
Cisco
Cisco DNA Center is going to help us in security, simplicity and ease of administration. Cisco DNA Center is complete management and control platform that simplifies and streamlines network operations. Cisco DNA Center offers a single dashboard for every core function in your network. With this platform, IT can become more nimble and respond to changes and challenges faster and more intelligently.
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Observium
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
El soporte de CISCO DNA Center es muy bueno, responden a mis dudas pero no he tenido oportunidad de reportar un incidente o determinar un tiempo de respuesta critico. The support of CISCO DNA Center is very good, they answer my questions, but I have not had the opportunity to report an incident or determine a critical response time.
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Observium
It's open source. Your mileage may vary. Sometimes the provided documentation is beyond frustrating, other times it's right on the mark.
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Alternatives Considered
Cisco
The software upgrades and ability to integrate with the wireless telemetry data set Cisco DNA Center ahead. However the automation with Change Control, Intent and better path mapping (even across MPLS and WAN Circuits) make NetBrain a needed tool to get that gives you that visibility and flexibility. Solarwinds has the ablity to view Netflow which would be an interesting add to DNA Center or an easier path to get or integrate with Stealthwatch.
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Observium
I haven't used other products that are similar to Observium. Observium is an open tool, with a robust feature set. There are elements of comparable monitoring across other tools, but nothing I've seen that is a complete parallel in terms of feature set and visualizations. If I were asked, I wouldn't have another tool to recommend over Observium.
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Return on Investment
Cisco
  • Initial cost is pricy, but management needs to understand the value this provides so make them aware
  • Reporting could be improved in more detail in our opinion, but it gives a great overview of your environment. High level overview for managers would be greatly appreciated with as little or much detail as needed for certain Cisco gear.
  • Does not work as well with some older Cisco equipment because they want you to buy new, again the cost impact comes into play.
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Observium
  • It is good for DC admin.
  • Only positive impact.
  • Highly recommended.
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