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SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) vs. Wireshark

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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

    Wireshark

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AWireshark is a free and open source network troubleshooting tool.

    $0

    Pricing
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)Wireshark
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Wireshark
    Free
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)Wireshark
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)Wireshark
    Considered Both Products
    SolarWinds
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager is extremely powerful in allowing our organization to automate specific tasks. It is extremely simple to use and offers a Graphical User Interface for performing tasks. I am a very curious person, which has led me to use Ansible simply …
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Device42 Did not feel like a complete solution and was lacking in a lot of areas. I know it is a new competitor in the area, but they still have a long way to go.
    Incentivized
    Chose SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    It seemed that NCM had more built-in options and the ability to be used in a more flexible manner. I think the number of canned reports was greater with SolarWinds. The scripting capacity was in-place with ManageEngine. In some ways, it was a much more canned product. But at …
    Incentivized
    Open Source
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    34 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    24 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    89%
    Delivers good value for the price
    31 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    24 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    35 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    24 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    31 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    16 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    32 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    22 Answers
    User Ratings
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)Wireshark
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (142 ratings)
    9.6
    (32 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.1
    (6 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    7.0
    (9 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.7
    (9 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Online Training
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)Wireshark
    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
    Open Source
    I don't know of any other tool that works as well as Wireshark for packet capture an inspection. It's extremely easy to get up and running, and even with little to no knowledge of how to use the tool, you can be looking at all the traffic coming off a network interface.
    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
    Open Source
    • Light-weight software - Does not require high end specifications; also runs smoothly on Legacy systems
    • Filter function - Lets you filter you packets from thousands to tens so as to find your target much easily
    • Simultaneous capturing on all the network adapters - You can capture packets from all the Network Interface Cards (NIC's) at once.
    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
    Open Source
    • A more user-friendly interface would be nice, but then again it is not really designed for those who are not quite comfortable with this type of software.
    • Changes to functionality on updates - this can sometimes happen unexpectedly and can be an annoyance.
    • More powerful data processing would be welcomed
    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
    Open Source
    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
    Open Source
    It's very simple and easy to use, although individuals not used to managing and administering networks would take some time to get familiar with it. Once they have mastered use of the application, it's easy to stay knowledgeable about it, iteration after iteration. It is well supported online through an open-source community network of professionals who are helpful in imparting knowledge and in providing assistance.
    Incentivized
    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
    Open Source
    I don't believe Wireshark has "true" support as the software is open source. However, there is an active & friendly community around Wireshark that are more than happy to help answer questions. From a comprehensive Wiki and FAQ section on the site to the Ask a Question forum and bug tracker section, there's plenty of support options to make sure your questions and issues are addressed.
    Incentivized
    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
    Open Source
    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
    Open Source
    Simple and easy setup.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Open Source
    Wireshark is a free tool that came highly recommended by one of our former network security consultants. Using the tool he was able to resolve all of our higher tier network tickets, so we observed first hand why we needed to add Wireshark into our toolset. We received in-depth instruction and training scenarios that demonstrated the effectiveness and power of the product, so we didn't spend any time reviewing competing products.
    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
    Open Source
    • Identifying bugs in the network has never been smooth and near-perfect.
    • Wireshark has made sure our equipment and software is working properly via analyzing network data.
    • Analysis of IP packets and Sip call flaws has saved us a lot of time and confident result.
    Incentivized
    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.