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SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM) vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)

    Score7.6 out of 10
    N/AAustin-based SolarWinds offers Internet Protocal address management (IPAM) networking service.N/A

    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/ASolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is network diagnostics and troubleshooting technology, from Austin-based SolarWinds.N/A
    Pricing
    SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
    Additional DetailsSolarWinds professional support is included to help customers on active maintenance 7 days a week, 365 days a year.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Considered Both Products
    SolarWinds
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    BT Diamond IP required the company remote to make changes we constantly had to message support which in my opinion was not worth it. All research said SolarWinds IP Address Manager was the best by a wide margin. We had no issues with SolarWinds IP Address Manager, and we got a …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    Solarwinds is an extension of those tools which allows us to benefit from a single management tool. It compliments other tools in the Solarwinds suite of tools. We are quite happy with the integration Solarwinds provides with these tools.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    SolarWinds IP Address Manager was cheaper than both alternatives and far easier to manage. Device42 interface is years behind what Solarwinds offers. It is very outdated; BT Diamond required remote management and we constantly had to message support, it reached a point where …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    Havent tried evaluating other products
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    The integration with the other SolarWinds products makes for a single pane of glass for management of your systems, which reduces administrative overhead compared with other solutions.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    SolarWinds IPAM does unique things in the way it monitors IP addresses and allows exports into PDF or Excel spreadsheets.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    We particularly utilize Solarwinds Network Performance Manager (npm) and Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM), so adding the IPAM module was pretty easy and a fast process to have all of the monitoring modules in a single server and single management plane. The …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    Frankly, I didn't have a choice when it came to IPAM. I tried Netbox and it beats Solarwinds IPAM in almost every aspect.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    Being easier to integrate into our existing SolarWinds catalog (NPM, NCM) and product familiarity to the engineers are huge.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    SolarWinds IPAM met all of our requirements for a much lower cost than Infoblox. Infoblox has additional security features and worked well in the other places I have used it. I have found unless you have dedicated network resources who are heavy users, Infoblox is more than …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    I think the SolarWinds interface is more easy to use and understand. The way you can customize the views and have only the most important information or the one that interests you most visible. It seems to me that that is something that makes IPAM stand out from the rest.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    Long ago first off. We liked Infoblox but it had DNS and other features we didn't need (nor want to pay for at that time). SolarWinds is relatively affordable compared to that.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    I think in general that SolarWinds has too many features, more than Infoblox. Infoblox has a simple interface but uses too much cloud resources. We like SolarWinds because it is more on-premise and we have more control on it. Infoblox is also a little pricier.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    We tested Infoblox and Microsoft free IPAM. Infoblox was too expensive for our budget and Microsoft didn't provide the features we needed. SolarWinds IPAM was a good fit for our budget.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    We've used Microsoft Excel, not the same thing here. No comparison to automated software with regular/automated updates. In house apps to monitor IPs were used for some time. They proved good for that purpose but not the scope of the need to monitor and display the data to …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    IPAM serves as a complementary module to the SolarWinds environment.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)
    We have not used any other tools.
    Incentivized
    SolarWinds
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Auvik has some similar features but it is very expensive. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) has gone up in price but it is much more affordable than Auvik. Auvik has no way of sending a script to more than one device at a time so that is a downside of Auvik versus …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    We evaluated PRTG Network Monitor which was similar to SolarWinds but was very resource-intensive and the server kept crashing when we got close to 100 devices whereas on SolarWinds we were able to add several thousand devices. We also evaluated Nagios Core as a free …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Prior to implementing SolarWinds NCM, we were utilizing a free solution called RANCID. This solution is a Cisco specific opensource tool that allows a simple backup of Cisco device configurations. This tool was very limited in our ability to search, backup, restore, and …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    SolarWinds NCM is easier to setup.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Operations Manager was a good product, but it does not provide an all in one solution like SolarWinds does. It is more expensive and does not have the same capabilities. We switched and haven't looked back. Our network team was the most vocal in the decision and we followed …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    We haven't used another product like Network Configuration Manager.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    We tried a few different products at a cheaper level such as Spiceworks and PRTG. But were unable to make them work for everything we would get with Solarwinds. We also tried a few products at a higher price point like Ipswitch by What's up Gold and BladeLogic Network …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    While not competition, using these other products exposed how little I knew of networking and what tools I needed to have in my arsenal. Moving to NCM was a logical next step, therefore, to provide greater insight across all fronts while still expanding my standard day to day …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    We have used NETMRI for configuration management and automation before. NCM gives you an easier management interface and better reporting.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    We selected NCM because of its integration with NPM and other products. Pricing, Support, and Thwack all played a major part in the reason for the procurement and implementation of this system.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    NCM is superior to ManageEngine or Spiceworks in its ability to automate the primary tasks of a configuration management tool. Of course, it integrates well with other applications in the SolarWinds Orion suite of applications. The list of vendors supported by NCM is larger as …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    When I took over my current position, we'd already purchased SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, but we were not using it. I can't, therefore, compare it with other tools, as the only thing I have to compare it to was our manual processes. When compared to any …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Most common used in industry is; PRTG and OpmanTek and blend of open source solutions. SWinds NCM stands out with functions and ease of use.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    94%
    Would buy again
    68 Answers
    92%
    Would buy again
    34 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    90%
    Delivers good value for the price
    57 Answers
    89%
    Delivers good value for the price
    31 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    69 Answers
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    35 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    55 Answers
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    31 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    57 Answers
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    32 Answers
    User Ratings
    SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (94 ratings)
    8.0
    (142 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.3
    (4 ratings)
    8.1
    (6 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (14 ratings)
    7.0
    (9 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (58 ratings)
    7.7
    (9 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    SolarWinds
    SolarWinds IP Address Manager is very useful the bigger and more complex the environment. Smaller organizations will have to consider the cost as it provides little benefit over monitoring maybe 2-3 servers. But I have over 24 DHCP servers with on average 15 subnets each so tracking and monitoring all that was very time-consuming. As a result, it was generally ignored until there was an issue. With SolarWinds IP Address Manager, I was able to set alerts to monitor scope utilization and duplicate IP addresses.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    Network Configuration Manager is well suited for backing up configurations of all your devices. It also has a great comparison tool for seeing only the differences in config. Another great feature is it's ability to push a script to any number of devices. This is very handy for pushing changes to one, 10 or multiple devices. There are also some great reports that you can run against the devices in inventory
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    SolarWinds
    • With IPAM automated address scanning, we can be confident that we are looking at an up-to-date, accurate snapshot of our network.
    • The built-in alerts are a great safety net. We know that even if we aren't paying close attention to our IP address space, IPAM is. If a range is nearly full, IPAM lets us know before it becomes a real problem.
    • IPAM's event logging gives us insight into any and all changes made by our network engineers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Integrates with Network Performance Management for Alerting and Reporting.
    • NetPath and detects issues due to Configuration Change.
    • Keeps a record of which user made the change.
    • Which devices are not being backed up, devices where backups are failing, dashboard and alerting available.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    SolarWinds
    • The user experience is not as intuitive as other products. We have to be more restrictive around level 1 help desk access compared to NCM or NPM in SolarWinds.
    • Making and enforcing changes, not just monitoring, has been hit or miss in some instances.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • For our use case, it does everything great and some of the features we underutilize but I would like to be able to set a configuration baseline when initially adding a node instead of after the configuration is pulled but it's not a particularly big deal to let it pull the configuration then set it as the baseline.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    SolarWinds
    We are heavily invested in SolarWinds. We currently own Network Performance Monitor, Netflow Traffic Analyzer, User Device Tracker, Server Application Monitor and Network Configuration Manager. We have NOC mode setup for deskside support for monitoring any down devices that may effect our network across the globe. This application gives us the information we need when we need it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    Medium complexity to set up in the beginning if using any non-standard devices or configurations, else fairly easy (e.g. Cisco Nexus or IOS-based devices). Reports are fairly straightforward to set up. Updates to the platform are fairly straightforward and don't take a major effort. Easy to add or remove devices.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    SolarWinds
    SolarWinds IPAM is like what SolarWinds itself says, i.e. easy to use and simple. SolarWinds has really made their orion and non-orion platform products so simple that any newbie can give a try and make the best use out of it. I learned SolarWinds IPAM by myself in a POC environment, and not just IPAM but other modules and now I own 6 certifications. You see how easy to use this product is.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    The user interface is lacking. It is difficult to navigate at times and things can be done multiple ways. Quite often I am confused by how their notification structure works. It is not very intuitive. They do offer a free Academy. They also offer a community of other technical folks. I have enjoyed both.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    SolarWinds
    We don't have any issues with availability. Our cluster setup provide us a 99,9% availability that is enough for us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    SolarWinds
    We do not integrate IPAM into other systems other than the standard Orion integration. The performance is reasonable, however, we are running all the SolarWinds applications on a very large server.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    SolarWinds
    I have not contacted customer support and therefore have no experience in this area. I know we have some issues with our VAR support at this time for Orion, but I don't know if the IPAM falls into the same support structure. Perhaps others in the organization may know more regarding the support area.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    To be fair, I have not had to involve Support in a number of years, but when I did, I was greeted with enthusiastic engineers who wanted to understand and solve the issue. It was a fairly complex scenario and I have discovered in my most recent implementation that engineering included that option as a standard now.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    Solarwinds has actually produced new training since I last used it that is available on their site at any time. Their previous training was more than enough to get us started but now there is significantly more content. Since I'm comfortable with the Orion platform and the products we use I haven't checked the new training out yet but we have new staff go through portions of that training and they always come away with an understanding of the platform and ready to use it
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    SolarWinds
    Know the full scope of what you will be installing. Solarwinds can be a very complex installation. IPAM is just one fairly simplistic piece.
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    it was a fairly easy implementation and everything was pretty straightforward. only challenge we had was getting all the snmp communities updated on the networking equipment
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    SolarWinds
    SolarWinds IP Address Manager was cheaper than both alternatives and far easier to manage. Device42 interface is years behind what Solarwinds offers. It is very outdated; BT Diamond required remote management and we constantly had to message support, it reached a point where it was better not to have the product at all.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    At the time SolarWinds was the biggest player in the space and their whole portfolio was very comprehensive. As time progressed and newer technologies came about (i.e. SDWAN) their products couldn't keep up with the consumer demands and changing market. Security became such a big focus that once Solarwinds got hacked we had to remove all their products from our environment
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    SolarWinds
    We have not experienced any scalability issues with this product. However, SolarWinds needs to allow users to scale horizontally without any license restrictions. For example, we would like to separate Netflow and Orion onto different platforms but are unable to due to license restrictions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    SolarWinds
    • IPAM has saved countless hours of running scripts and gathering data to compile reports to plan re-subnetting globally.
    • IPAM has reduced helpdesk incidents by immediately spotting bad DNSR and IP conflicts.
    • IPAM has helped eliminate blocks on projects whereas there is not currently enough address space requiring major changes to accommodate more IP'ed servers, gear, etc.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Saves 100s of hours a year in man hours over manual configuration.
    • Saved easily 50k in lost revenue when a switch rebooted with months old unsaved configuration. NCM let us quickly restore a snapshot of the running config from the previous day.
    • Saves us several man hours per week of config auditing by reducing all changes to a summary email.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM) Screenshots

    Screenshot of Customize your IP address management dashboard to quickly focus on your top priorities.Screenshot of Manage your DHCP and DNS services in one place.Screenshot of Streamline IP requests with a simple intake and approval wizard.Screenshot of Automatically scan for subnets or manually add.

    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) Screenshots

    Screenshot of Network Automation -  manage rapid change across complex and multi-vendor networks, reduce time needed to complete repetitive tasks, and maintain standards and service levels for uninterrupted ITScreenshot of Config Backup - rest easy knowing you can locate the most current configuration and quickly apply it to a replacement spare, or to roll back a blown configuration.Screenshot of Vulnerability Scanning - Take the hassle out of vulnerability scanning using NCM's integration with the National Vulnerability Database and access to the most current CVE’s to identify vulnerabilities in your Cisco devices.Screenshot of Inventory Management - Be able to know what devices are connected to your network, their hardware and software configurations, and when they approach end-of-service and end-of-life, with NCM device configuration management tool.Screenshot of User Management - Use NCM's integrated console to lock down devices from unauthorized access, delegate who can view device details and make configuration changes, and determine when network changes can occur.Screenshot of Baselines and Diffs - IT professionals can get a more comprehensive view by leveraging baselines across multiple nodes. Diff view in NCM’s network configuration management tool is designed to highlight only those lines that changed.