SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

Score8.4 out of 10

267 Reviews and Ratings

What is SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)?

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is network diagnostics and troubleshooting technology, from Austin-based SolarWinds.

Categories & Use Cases

Media

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 IT

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Reports - Use NCM's 53 included reports to keep stakeholders informed with the current state of your network inventory, configuration changes, policy compliance, security, and planning requirements.

1 / 7

Geoff Benedetti View profile

Network Analyst in Information Technology at Anchorage Water & Wastewater Utility (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) to automatically backup up configurations of all our network devices comprised of Cisco Routers and Switches. We can then look at and compare configs if we need them to build a new switch or router or for troubleshooting. I also use it to push out commands to multiple devices at once which is very handy.

Pros

Automatically backs up devices on a schedule
Allows you to compare configs side by side and illustrates differences
Allows you to push out scripts to multiple devices at once
shows where you have policy violations with regard to Cisco's best practices

Cons

Doesn't seem to be accurate with end of life, end of support information.
The user interface can be complicated and takes time to figure out
It's not cheap and prices just went up so we were looking at other options, but I've been using it for years and am accustomed to it
Support can be hard to reach and hard to understand

Return on Investment

It saves time and money with it's scripting functionality
It saves time and money with it's config comparison tool
The fact that it automatically backs up configs has impacted our ROI positively

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Auvik

Other Software Used

SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM), SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA), SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server, SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)

David Bothorel View profile

Network and Telecommunications Analyst in Information Technology at Linde Americas (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SolarWinds NCM is principally used to perform configuration backup but also to perform global configuration update like a password change or SNMP community update.

Pros

Configuration backup
Policy violations
Execution script

Cons

A more pre-defined script would be welcome.
NCM jobs are quite slow to run.
Chart designs are old school.

Return on Investment

Time saved when configuration restore is needed.
EOL inventory
Global configuration update.

Other Software Used

Cisco Prime LAN Management Solution

Jennifer Aguilar View profile

Senior Network Administrator in Information Technology at County of El Paso 911 District (11-50 employees employees)

Pros

Automated Download of every configuration per your schedule
Notifies end user when baseline configuration does not match the current running configuration.
Easily manage the baseline configurations so that you can keep all information up to date
Beautiful dashboard red = bad green=good at a glance you can see if something is not quite right

Cons

Odd Hardware that does not have a "startup-config or running-config" per definition; it would be nice to be able to edit the rules to be in compliance for startup-config matches running-config
Policy violations are only targeted at Cisco equipment
Firmware vulnerabilities only target Cisco equipment

Return on Investment

ROI is months! Another valuable asset in my organization.
Almost a Full Time Employee! Generally, you only need it when the human employee has made a mistake. The ability to go back in time is phenomenal.
Learned a hard lesson when my DR site got severed and I needed a copy of a config. I now replicate the SolarWinds SFTP Directly to the DR site for availability. Sharing a lesson learned with this particular tool. That directory alone can save many hours of unnecessary work if properly maintained.
Network Configuration Manager along with the compliment of other SolarWinds Tools has been such a valuable and important investment in our organization. I can provide metrics of UP time. When properly equipped with tools that are properly maintained, you can sleep quite well at night!

Other Software Used

NetApp Active IQ, Trend Micro Apex One, Palo Alto Networks Next-Generation Firewalls - PA Series, Palo Alto Networks WildFire, Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR (Traps)

Brett Organ View profile

Senior Technology Consultant in Information Technology at Corona Technical Services (10,001+ employees employees)

Pros

Archiving of device configurations. This is the most basic of features for NCM and provides an easy way to maintain startup and running configurations for all network devices.
NCM can execute scripts. Any task that is typically done by a technician from the command line is handled by NCM. This includes the ability to schedule script execution jobs against a single device or multiple devices.
NCM provides several types of reports out of the box. These include configuration change reports and inventory reports as the best examples.
One can easily perform a "stare and compare" of two device configurations so as to quickly and easily determine where changes have occurred.

Cons

For those people who may not be proficient at using regular expressions, NCM needs to evolve to provide more direct contextual help in this regard.
The job logs that NCM provides are very utilitarian and do not lend themselves to viewing and searching well at all.

Return on Investment

The impact of NCM has been huge and quantifiable. I would conservatively estimate that it consistently reduces the man-hours spent on our typical management tasks by more than 50%. The savings in time spent on policy auditing tasks alone are worth the price paid for NCM.

Alternatives Considered

ManageEngine OpManager and Spiceworks

Other Software Used

SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds IP Address Manager, SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor

Ned Kelley

Cyber Security Engineer / Analyst in Information Technology at RTX (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our organization uses SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) to take over configuration management duties and responsibilities for the networking systems, assets, and devices within our IT environment. Besides that, SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) is being utilized within our organization for its configuration backup and restore capabilities. Also, NCM has the ability to conduct compliance reporting and vulnerability assessment of network resources.

Pros

Network automation
Vulnerability assessment
Network Backups

Cons

Comparable pricing
License options
3rd Party Vendors

Return on Investment

Network Compliance Auditing
Automated IOS Upgrades

ManageEngine OpManager

Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued)

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

What is SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)?

Categories & Use Cases

Media

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