Cisco Nexus Dashboard vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cisco Nexus Dashboard
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Cisco Nexus Dashboard provides a simplified, centralized data center dashboard that enables businesses to manage their hybrid cloud network operations.N/A
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
SolarWinds Netflow Traffic Analyzer is a network monitoring tool within the broader SolarWinds ecosystem. It includes core traffic monitoring features, as well as customizable traffic reports and alerts.N/A
Pricing
Cisco Nexus DashboardSolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Nexus DashboardSolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cisco Nexus DashboardSolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
Considered Both Products
Cisco Nexus Dashboard
Chose Cisco Nexus Dashboard
I have tried using SolarWinds specifically the previous Network configuration manager the log analyzer. When I compare them with Cisco Nexus Dashboard snapshots, delta analysis, and connectivity analysis, we can say that Cisco Nexus Dashboard raises the bar way higher. It gives …
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Cisco Nexus DashboardSolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
Small Businesses
NinjaOne
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Score 9.2 out of 10
Auvik
Auvik
Score 8.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Intermapper
Intermapper
Score 8.6 out of 10
Darktrace
Darktrace
Score 8.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued)
Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued)
Score 7.5 out of 10
Darktrace
Darktrace
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cisco Nexus DashboardSolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.2
(36 ratings)
8.1
(61 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(2 ratings)
8.0
(10 ratings)
Performance
8.8
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.1
(49 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.8
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cisco Nexus DashboardSolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
Likelihood to Recommend
Cisco
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Insights is a powerful network monitoring software. It may assist you in more effectively monitoring your network. With the program's assistance, we can detect a wide range of network flaws and irregularities. Furthermore, it eliminates an interruption in the services we offer our consumers while also allowing us to reduce our high rates. Technicians no longer need to utilize CLI to copy and paste hundreds of coding lines. If you want a powerful programmable management program for your next-generation data centre, this is the program for you.
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SolarWinds
I would suggest this tool to any user that has to monitor multiple sites and locations where bandwidth monitoring can be a labor. This software works really well for central monitoring of multiple sites and services where having a technician onsite isn't feasible. I really like the reporting, though, and would recommend this for someone wanting to keep an eye on bandwidth usage for replication of data across sites.
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Pros
Cisco
  • It is a flexible tool that helps streamline and facilitate the development of new services.
  • Ideal for automating tasks such as network modification, configuration, and removal, which provides great time savings.
  • Ensures services without interruption and without difficult scheduling.
  • It has a simple user interface and excellent support, made up of several providers.
  • It facilitates the administration of managed services.
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SolarWinds
  • The level of customization possible with Network Bandwidth Analyzer is very valuable. Rather than being stuck with a "one-size-fits-all" presentation, an administrator can easily create customized views, reports, and alerts so that users can have a more tailored view of the data provided by Network Bandwidth Analyzer. This has the effect of making the tool more attractive to the end user.
  • The NetFlow Traffic Analyzer piece of Network Bandwidth Analyzer provides the details on bandwidth usage on the network. More than knowing how much bandwidth is being used, one is provided with detailed information on how that bandwidth is being used. This provides invaluable information for capacity planning and even certain forensic tasks faced by the network engineer.
  • The ability to produce network maps provides an easy way to create an attractive and functional NOC/SOC view of the entire network. Both technician and the occasional passerby can quickly determine if there are issues to be addressed. The ability to customize a map with background images and custom icons and stencils can make these maps really pop.
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Cons
Cisco
  • With the latest version release of Cisco Nexus Dashboard to version 3.0.1 I can say that most of the features have already improved but one of the wishlists that I want for ND is the possibility of extracting lists of Anomaly.
  • Include older versions of Firmware in the list of choices when doing the firmware upgrade analysis, currently only the recommended is in the list of choices.
  • If possible, include all the prechecks in the Firmware pre-upgrade analysis same in the script provided by Cisco.
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SolarWinds
  • The ability to intuitively and quickly serve up specified information up to a dashboard for general “public” consumption, that cycles through several pages of information.
  • The ability to intuitively set up alerting on bandwidth levels, instead of having to dig through all types of alerts available to find the one needed.
  • Provide a pricing model based on different support levels: if I want only available update installations, don’t make me pay the same amount as those wanting full support.
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Usability
Cisco
For the end user, it is relatively easy to use. However, some training and practice is a must because the NSO is not as straightforward as the traditional router CLI. For the administrator, Cisco Network Service Orchestrator (NSO) is just like another program running on the Linux system--there is no big difference.
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SolarWinds
As far as rating for usability is concerned I would give 10/10 as NTA is very easy to use. All you need to do is install that module and ask network Team to configure the Netflow towards Server IP. [The] rest is pre-configured and reports are pre-built. Moment you receive the flows from Network all you will have is information about traffic.
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Performance
Cisco
Great and effective automation functionalities and the tools on network security management are the best and easy data reports building. Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller feature for the network monitoring and easy management of various services and even offers the best analytics and also powerful integration tools for easy data migration.
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SolarWinds
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Cisco
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds
It is useful for our Infrastructure team and also provides valuable insights to our application team regarding the traffic being sent from various endpoints. They can monitor their applications and ensure there are no network issues that may impact their application.
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Online Training
Cisco
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds
The training offered by SolarWinds is some of the best out there. They have several different videos that go into great detail from initial setup to advanced configurations. In addition to the view at your own pace video, they also have live training for customers that focus on a single product and you can ask questions with the folks who develop the software. I have had good success with their live sessions and getting questions answered.
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Alternatives Considered
Cisco
It's an upgrade from DCNM and worth looking into. We're trying to solve the issue of Creating and maintaining VLAN fabrics. Speed and ease of use are much better than other options. The app is great; the functionality is solid. Though It can have an improved UI, and user navigation could be simpler. It helps track your data and pipelines; you can set it up in different ways to monitor different flows about where its data is. It has in-built integration with Splunk, which is what was helpful.
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SolarWinds
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer compared to Wireshark and PRTG Network Monitor beats it by just the simple interface. Though all are manual setup, NTA takes it a step further with graphs and reports that analyze the data for you. In comparing to Extrahop from a bandwidth comparison, Extrahop wins but Extrahop is a lot more than just a bandwidth monitoring and cost.
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Scalability
Cisco
The platform is very well done, and to date, I have had no complaints about the implementation of the platform and no security issues or vulnerabilities. Cisco in all its product releases new versions to resolve security issues or bugs that appear on the platform, this is a big plus.
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SolarWinds
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Cisco
  • From the experience of use, I can affirm that the tool improves the user experience since it reduced the time in the administration of the infrastructure, the prediction of events, as well as the suggestions for solving the problems.
  • all the aforementioned has been simplified thanks to the tool, in turn, it helps us to maintain the network in high availability.
  • The impact has been very positive due to the simplification of the administration, which in turn reduces the detection times, leading to a reduction in costs.
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SolarWinds
  • Be prepared to answer lots of questions. When people see the data in NTA they are going to want to know why App A is talking to App B. Be ready to explain!
  • Hand the keys to the NTA kingdom to the network team. They will thank you. Everyone wants to have friends on the network team, right?
  • Be prepared to invest in some significant compute and storage performance to keep up with your NTA monitoring
  • Running the latest firmware for your network gear is (often) required to take advantage of all the flow-monitoring. You upgrade regularly, right??
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ScreenShots