N-able N-central vs. XEOX

N-Able is perfect for an MSP environment. It gives all the standard functionality an IT professional needs out of the box and can be configured to show almost anything required. For example, we have configured a dashboard to show when our backups need attention for each customer. This is achieved by running a small script on repeat via N-Central everyday/evening, and the result gives us information on the dashboard to help us identify exactly what is working and what needs looking into.

Incentivized

XEOX is very well suited for scenarios where a high level of customization is needed. No other tool we have tested can be tailored so exactly to one's needs. It is possible to automize basically anything using custom scripts and the monitoring and health state of the devices is completely customizable, individually for every device.

However, this reflects in the complex interface which is quite overwhelming at first sight. Therefore, I highly recommend contacting the support team to get an introduction into their product. They offer one-to-one meetings for free and make the first steps a lot more easier!

• 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.

• It has a health state for our devices which is completely customizable per device. So we can see on first sight whether there are some issues which are relevant for us.
• It is possible to run arbitrary powershell scripts which makes it even possible to automize tasks which are not supported natively by XEOX.
• The Windows patching is highly customizable: Even complex patch plans with multiple device groups which are patched at different times can be implemented.
• The support is excellent. The response time is typically within hours on working days. They have also implemented some of our features requests. Everything is included in the licence.

• Customer support just points to online guides and I feel they aren't helpful.
• During the trial they turn on a lot of features. In my experience, if you play around with the features, they charge you for them. Keep this in mind if you move forward with N-Able - they will charge for "trialed" services.
• In my experience, some services that you're being charged for can't be disabled or monitored by you or your team. You only see them on the monthly invoice.
• In my opinion, the "Scripting Automation" doesn't provide value. You're either going to be writing your own batch or Powershell to make scripting work.
• In my opinion, monitoring software deployments is painful.
• The default monitoring template can't be duplicated, edited, or referenced. You'll find that the default monitors in an unusual way and will throw needless recurring alerts into your ticketing system. To avoid this, you need to create a template from scratch which takes many hours to set up.
• In my opinion, they're more concerned about a quick buck than customer service. "Buyer beware" company.

• At first sight, the interface is quite complex and it requires some time to get used to it.
• There is no ticketing system included.
• The documentation is partly outdated and incomplete.

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

The support answers withing hours (sometimes even minutes) on working days. One can also arrange a one-to-one meeting with them to go over specific needs. They even advised me on creating a good patch plan and shared their knowledge of patch management with me. Everything without any additional costs besides the standard licenses.

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

Incentivized

Our version of SolarWinds was old and running on old hardware, but it was way easier to setup and do things with. It did not do everything N-able does such as patch management, or at least we didn't have a module to do so if one existed. However it definitely seemed easier to use and possibly more stable.

• We have lost hundreds of hours on the phone/emailing support with no resolution for any of our issues
• We had to move all of our services away which was very painful
• Staff satisfaction was low having to deal with this company