SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset Reviews & Ratings 2025

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Starting at $1,585 Per Instance

Overview

What is SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset?

SolarWinds® 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…

Learn from top reviewers

It's like having a Snap-On toolbox full of all the tools you need.

Rating: 10 out of 10

May 12, 2021

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

We use [SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset] mainly to react to problems that we detect from our SW Orion. When we set up ne networks its great for Ping sweep and the subnet calcula...

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Engineer - Information Technology

Senior System Engineer

CASTO

15 years of experience

SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset is a must for Enterprise environments

Rating: 10 out of 10

May 2, 2021

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

There are many features that this SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset provides. We use this toolset for stress testing on our network. We also use it for discovering devices on our ...

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Engineer - Information Technology

Network System Administrator

CentralSquare Technologies

5 years of experience

Many useful tools all contained in the same suite.

Rating: 9 out of 10

May 1, 2021

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

We use quite a few of the tools in the toolkit. We use the MIB Browser, the Config Uploader and Downloader, Ping, TraceRoute, network Port Mapper, MAC Scanner, network discove...

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Engineer - Information Technology

Public Safety Systems Engineer

Ada County Sheriff's Office

3 years of experience

Hidden Gem in SolarWinds Tools Suite

Rating: 8 out of 10

April 30, 2021

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset is used in some of our customer's SolarWinds environment as an adhoc utility for quick debugging of some of the issues which requires user's to l...

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Nikhil Kumar Sharma

Consultant - Engineering

Associate Consultant

HCL Technologies

7 years of experience

Perfect tool set for quick returns.

Rating: 9 out of 10

December 18, 2020

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset is an essential tool to have in my tool box. It allows me to run on-demand scans of the network without the overhead of adding to the larger mana...

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Eric Stephenson

Manager - Information Technology

Manager IS

Crayola

10 years of experience

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Pricing

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One Time Price

$1,585

On Premise

Per Instance

Entry-level set up fee?

No setup fee

For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.solarwinds.com/products/pri…

Offerings

Free Trial
Free/Freemium Version
Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Product Details

About
Integrations
Competitors
Tech Details
Downloadables

What is SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset?

SolarWinds® 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 tools such as Real-time NetFlow Analyzer, Config Downloader, and Config Compare. SolarWinds Orion integration is offered to make troubleshooting a network easier and faster, allowing users to start tools contextually from any monitored element in Orion and significantly cut resolution time.

SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset Features

Supported: Network stress testing
Supported: Real time monitoring and alerting
Supported: Automated network discovery
Supported: Configuration and log management
Supported: IP address and DHCP scope monitoring

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.

SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset Video

Engineer's Toolset - Over 60 Must-Have Network Management and Troubleshooting Tools

SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset Integrations

SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM)

SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset Competitors

SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset Technical Details

Deployment Types	On-premise
Operating Systems	Windows, Windows Server® 2008 R2, 2008 R2 SP1, 2012, 2012 R2 or later, » SQL Server 2005 SP4, SQL 2008 without SP, 2008 SP1, 2008 SP2, 2008 SP3, SQL 2008 R2 without SP, 2008 R2 SP1, 2008 R2 SP2, SQL 2012, SQL 2012 SP1, SQL Server 2014, Block installation SQL 2005 SP1, SP2, SQL 2000 and MSDE
Mobile Application	No
Supported Countries	Global
Supported Languages	English

SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset Downloadables

SolarWinds Engineer’s Toolset Datasheet

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Comparisons

View all alternatives

Compare with

Cisco Catalyst Center

Cisco Meraki Dashboard

Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued)

Progress WhatsUp Gold

Pulseway

Cisco DNA Analytics and Assurance

OpenText Network Node Manager i (NNMi)

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller

IBM Netcool Network Management

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Reviews From Top Reviewers

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(1-3 of 3)

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An important tool for troubleshooting networks

Rating: 9 out of 10

December 18, 2020

Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Medical Device Company, 10,001+ employees

Vetted Review

Verified User

10 years of experience

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

It is currently being used by a select number of engineers in the networking team. We use it for scanning and discovery, temporary monitoring, troubleshooting and issue analysis. More long term monitoring is done within our SolarWinds Orion server. It has been extremely useful in diagnosing and pinpointing network issues over the years.

Pros

Network Discovery.
Real-time monitoring.
Troubleshooting intermittent issues.

Cons

Slow to load individual components.
Not easily portable to new device.
Single user license model.

Likelihood to Recommend

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.

Return on Investment

Easier implementation for new services.
Shorter outages to end users.
Reduction in troubleshooting time for intermittent issues.

Alternatives Considered

SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (npm), SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM), SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM) and SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager (VNQM)

These tools complement the Engineer's Toolset. They are excellent at detecting most issues and at keeping the network monitored and protected. However, when it comes time to dig into an issue, especially a hard to fix intermittent issue, these products lack the granularity of monitoring needed for these types of issues. Having said that the toolset is not made to do full time enterprise level monitoring. With these tools and the toolset I am able to have a more complete view of the network and deliver higher levels of service and quicker responses to issues.

Other Software Used

SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (npm), SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM), SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)

Hidden Gem in SolarWinds Tools Suite

Rating: 8 out of 10

April 30, 2021

NK

Nikhil Kumar Sharma

Associate Consultant

HCL Technologies (Information Technology & Services, 10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

Verified User

7 years of experience

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset is used in some of our customer's SolarWinds environment as an adhoc utility for quick debugging of some of the issues which requires user's to login manually on SolarWinds NMS servers and then test it. These toolsets helps suer to allow basic checks right from the SolarWinds orion console such as for ping check of the devices, SSH connectivity, Telnet connectivity of devices from SolarWinds NMS servers.

Pros

Debugging Tools
Saves Time for basic checks
Ping, Telnet, SSH right from the console and hence easy user management from console itself

Cons

Licensing structure
More debugging commands support
CLI based automation for script based checks

Likelihood to Recommend

SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset is well suited in dynamic environments where monitoring teams and network teams requires to login to the server again and again for basic troubleshooting such as Ping Check, Telnet logging and SSH Logging. However most of the users just purchase this product but never use this since the way its licensing is designed is not cost effective.

Most Important Features

Ping Check
Telnet Login
SSH Login
Realtime monitoring

Return on Investment

Diagnostics and Debugging is easy
Diagnosis access on servers are no longer required for end users
Licensing is little tricky
Product bought but not much used

Alternatives Considered

LogicMonitor, PRTG Network Monitor and Progress WhatsUp Gold (formerly Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold)

We have used LogicMonitor, PRTG and WhatsUp Gold previously which are similar to SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset capability. However SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset is completely unique with features like - Realtime monitoring, diagnostics on the fly, network discovery, easy integration with core network fault and performance monitoring. Although SolarWinds Toolset is not cost effective.

Other Software Used

LogicMonitor, PRTG Network Monitor, Progress WhatsUp Gold (formerly Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold)

Great collection of tools for a wide variety of needs

Rating: 8 out of 10

December 18, 2020

Verified User

Former Employee in Information Technology

Newspapers Company, 10,001+ employees

Vetted Review

Verified User

10 years of experience

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset is used as an improved toolset for many common functions that exist otherwise in Windows but with greatly improved features over the native tools. The SNMP tools, ping and port sweep, and DNS tools are especially helpful. Network discovery and WAN Killer are tools that don't exist natively and are often especially useful.

Pros

The SNMP tools are great for discovering and troubleshooting monitoring issues.
DNS audit is great for validating existing records and discovering inaccuracies.
WAN Killer works well for testing out QoS and verifying the WAN circuits delivered are provisioned properly.

Cons

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

Overall the toolset is a great collection for a wide variety of needs. Some individual tools are the best I have seen and some could use some improvement to become best in class. The monitoring tools, specifically, could use some improvement. The unifying tool front-end is clunky and should be improved.

Return on Investment

While I understand the need to protect the unauthorized sharing of the product, the licensing process is poor.
The price of the product is reasonable and the renewal process is quick and simple.

Alternatives Considered

PingPlotter

The suite of tools included is better than any other offering that I have found.

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