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SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) vs. Sophos Firewall

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    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

    Sophos Firewall

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/ASophos XG Firewall provides comprehensive next-generation firewall protection powered by deep learning and Synchronized Security. Sophos Firewall supplies insights and exposes hidden user, application, and threat risks on the network, and say the product is differentiated by its ability to respond automatically to security incidents by isolating compromised systems, with Security Heartbeat™.N/A
    Pricing
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)Sophos Firewall
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)Sophos Firewall
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)Sophos Firewall
    Considered Both Products
    SolarWinds
    No answer on this topic
    Sophos
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    34 Answers
    93%
    Would buy again
    14 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    89%
    Delivers good value for the price
    31 Answers
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    14 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    35 Answers
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    14 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    31 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    13 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    32 Answers
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    14 Answers
    Features
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)Sophos Firewall
    Firewall
    Comparison of Firewall features of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) and Sophos Firewall
    Feature
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    -
    Ratings
    Sophos Firewall
    9.2
    15 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Identification Technologies00 Ratings9.515 Ratings
    Visualization Tools00 Ratings9.315 Ratings
    Content Inspection00 Ratings8.915 Ratings
    Policy-based Controls00 Ratings8.915 Ratings
    Active Directory and LDAP00 Ratings9.313 Ratings
    Firewall Management Console00 Ratings9.115 Ratings
    Reporting and Logging00 Ratings9.315 Ratings
    VPN00 Ratings9.115 Ratings
    High Availability00 Ratings8.915 Ratings
    Stateful Inspection00 Ratings9.515 Ratings
    Proxy Server00 Ratings8.712 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)Sophos Firewall
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    Barracuda CloudGen Firewall
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Enterprises
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    Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)Sophos Firewall
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (142 ratings)
    9.1
    (15 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.1
    (6 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    7.0
    (9 ratings)
    9.8
    (6 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.7
    (9 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Online Training
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)Sophos Firewall
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    Sophos
    It is well-suited for small, medium, and large organizations looking for comprehensive cybersecurity protection. It will not only safeguard their network from cyberattacks but also provide them with many advanced features like deep packet inspection, centralized management, web filtering, application control, etc. in one place. It will help them optimize bandwidth and ensure continued connectivity.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    Sophos
    • Web filtering. This allows us to monitor web usage and block certain categories from being access at the perimeter.
    • Application Control. With application control we can block certain applications that get categorized from working accessing the Internet.
    • Synchronized Security. When utilizing the Sophos Endpoint product you can use Synchronized Security to minimize Lateral Movement in a network. If a machine is shows a Red status you can auto-isolate it and it is unable to communicate with anything else on the network.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    Sophos
    • If using Endpoint security and the Firewall it would be nice to have an easier back and forth between the portals rather than have two separate tabs open. Especially if using more than one in multiple locations.
    • If dealing with different revisions options are moved around and sometimes in places that doesn't normally seem like they should be there.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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
    Sophos
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    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
    Sophos
    Because this is a user-friendly interface, and anyone can use it there are multiple articles and guidelines available, it has advanced-level security features. they provide VPN solutions all the features are very practical, SSID MAC-based authentications web control, Firewall rules segregation of the rules and policies, On-premises Active directory single sign-on feature is also available.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    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
    Sophos
    As we are all addicted to graphics-oriented interfaces for all our life products. Easy to manage and access as a good way of using anything
    Read full review
    Online Training
    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
    Sophos
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    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
    Sophos
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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
    Sophos
    I was a big fan of Cisco ASA products, but when I saw all of the security feature differences between both firewalls, I moved to Sophos devices. Its sandbox, IPS, and many more features are really advanced. Cisco does not provide features like this.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    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
    Sophos
    • True UTM device.
    • Very Active customer help for any help.
    • Easy license and cost effective.
    • Should [do] more work on logging and reporting.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    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.

    Sophos Firewall Screenshots

    Screenshot of Sophos Firewall v17.5 Control Center