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Cisco Routers vs. SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Cisco Routers

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/ACisco routers support secure, reliable enterprise connections. These enterprise routers help users implement an intent-based, future-ready WAN that is constantly learning, adapting, and protecting. Deploy routers for the branch, cloud, co-location, or the data center with any type of connectivity, including MPLS, Internet, and 4G LTE. With over 30 years of experience and an end-to-end portfolio, Cisco routing solutions can deliver for today’s networking needs. The vendor promises to help…N/A

    SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset

    Score7.6 out of 10
    N/ASolarWinds® Engineer’s Toolset (ETS) helps users monitor and troubleshoot a network with over 60 tools for network management. ETS allows users to monitor and receive alerts in real time on network availability and health, and perform network diagnostics for faster troubleshooting and resolution of complex network issues. With ETS users can deploy an array of network discovery tools including Port Scanner, Switch Port Mapper or advanced Subnet Calculator, manage Cisco® devices with specialized…

    $1,585

    Per Instance

    Pricing
    Cisco RoutersSolarWinds Engineer's Toolset
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    One Time Price
    $1,585
    Per Instance
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cisco RoutersSolarWinds Engineer's Toolset
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cisco RoutersSolarWinds Engineer's Toolset
    Considered Both Products
    Cisco
    Chose Cisco Routers
    Other vendors definitely bring some great features. We've gone from Fortinet to HPE, to Ruckus. Each product has benefits to consider. For us, Cisco is a trusted brand that's used about thousands of customers and many fortune companies. While some of the newer or smaller …
    Incentivized
    SolarWinds
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    75 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    11 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    66 Answers
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    73 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    11 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    58 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    10 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    69 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    10 Answers
    User Ratings
    Cisco RoutersSolarWinds Engineer's Toolset
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (87 ratings)
    8.6
    (11 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.7
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    9.3
    (4 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.4
    (4 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.7
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cisco RoutersSolarWinds Engineer's Toolset
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Cisco
    Sometimes our Cisco Routers aren't well suited; it's just in really small environments. To put just an at-home module, that's really the only time I can't really see it being used. Even in any situation, like a small office, like five to 10 people, even just putting a small router out there has its inherent benefits outside of just using a normal internet connection, like getting your local Comcast. So, as I said, it's very adaptive.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    I have found the toolset especially useful for scanning subnets to discover devices, and for setting up temporary real-time monitors when we are troubleshooting or setting up new connections. The most useful aspect has been the ability to apply the tools to help troubleshoot and pinpoint intermittent issues. More general tools like Orion often do not have the granularity to detect issues like intermittent packet loss which are especially impactful to applications like Voice. The toolset gives us another level of capability to dig into issues.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Cisco
    • Helps to separate routing information for different networks for different customers.
    • Helps peers with service providers and Customer Networks and starts the exchange of information between them.
    • Helps facilitate internet connectivity for enterprise networks.
    • Helps transferring Internet or Private Data from one place to another.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Various monitoring
    • Stores history
    • Suggests indices
    • Helps to find the SQL query text
    • Helps to see what machines/users the bad queries are coming from
    • Shows current blocking session
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Cisco
    • In some cases it would be helpful if the Cisco Routers in UC mode would support FXO ports when connected to the Webex cloud for calling.
    • When used as WGBs if there were more telemetry options that collect roaming stats OOB would help during troubleshooting efforts.
    • Would love it if there is a CLI command to show the API endpoint for a given show command.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • The unifying component that is intended to be the initial interface to the tools seems clunky. I prefer to start the tools individually rather than using it.
    • The port scanner could use some improvements to make it easier to use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Cisco
    We are extremely likely to renew, as we have been very happy with our Cisco Routers for over 10 years. Their uptime as well as stable nature makes them ideal for us, as we are an industry that cannot afford downtime. We trust our partner to recommend our next model Cisco, when the time comes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Cisco
    The best thing about Cisco products is their presence in community. When you have a problem you can do quick search and find whoever else had the same question and expert answer for that question. Other thing is there are Cisco certified people we can find very easily if want some help with comissioning these products
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    Very easy to use and intuitive. Just be careful with the WAN Killer...it does what it says.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Cisco
    Cisco support is very good. Of course, sometime you will run into support guy that isn't up to the task. Buf overall, the support system is well structure. You know if this support isn't able to help, you can esclate the situation to find another help. Also, their documentation is well developed and can be very useful.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    Our organization uses it regularly. It is reliable, and we keep finding new uses for it
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Cisco
    Cisco Routers are the most reliable and stable internet edge routers ive used. They' have also always offered high performance for the most demanding traffic workloads. Lastly, from all of the various vendors I've used, Cisco routsrs have the best TAC support.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    I haven't compared any tools similar to SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset. This might be because I'm pretty biased when it comes to monitoring, and reporting solutions. I've found that SolarWinds provides the biggest bang for the buck in my opinion. I'm sure there are other solutions on the market that compete, but I haven't tried any of them because I've been very satisfied with SolarWinds.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Cisco
    • Network management has become easy and fast with cloud based portal.
    • Network policies could be rolled out quickly across the devices.
    • Improvement in Network security.
    • Stable internet connection has lead to less downtime and more productivity.
    • Stable internet connection in each location within the organization.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Spend less time downloading free buggy tools
    • All the tools in one spot, so you don't have to look around for tools
    • Get to the solution sooner
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset Screenshots

    Screenshot of Perform network stress tests with Engineer's Toolset WAN Killer. You don’t need to use real traffic for studying network activities, like testing traffic and load balancing. Instead, deploy Engineer's Toolset WAN Killer to help interactively test connections and adjust the IP traffic generated to achieve the desired network load based on your requirements.Screenshot of Quickly troubleshoot your network with enhanced ping capabilities and packet route tracing, among other network bandwidth usage and monitoring tools included in ETS.Screenshot of Using ETS, you can run scans to gain insight into how routers, hubs switches, and other devices are configured by analyzing SNMP queries and viewing MIB attributes. ETS is designed to help you more easily understand whether your network and ports are using appropriate settings.Screenshot of Config Compare, a part of ETS, is built to compare the running configuration of a Cisco router with the startup configuration. With the Cisco configuration compare tool, you can easily detect the changes made to the network, switch, and router configurations that are not committed to non-volatile memory (NVRAM).Screenshot of Manage your IP network from discovery to address tracking. Discover subnets on a seed router and scan the subnet or a range of IP addresses, generate a list of subnets along with their mask, size, range, and broadcast address and actively monitor subnets to identify and track which IP addresses are in use on your network.