Skip to main content
TrustRadius
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

Overview

What is SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)?

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

Read more
Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Easy Installation and Configuration: Many users have found the installation, configuration, and use of Solarwinds Network Configuration …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Return to navigation

Product Details

What is SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)?

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) can help save time and improve network reliability and security by managing configurations, changes, and compliance for routers, switches, and other network devices.

Network Configuration Manager enables IT Pros with:
  • Out-of-the-box support for major network device vendors, including Cisco®, Juniper®, HP®, Huawei®, F5®, Avaya®, Ruckus®, and more.
  • Automated bulk deployment of standardized device configs.
  • Automatic backups of device configurations, and rollback to the last-known good configurations, if necessary.
  • Identifying IOS® devices with potential vulnerabilities, utilizing the NIST CVE repository service, and even provides the tools to manage the investigation, remediation, or waiver of each vulnerability.
  • Auditing device configs for NIST FISMA, DISA STIG, and DSS PCI compliance.
  • Built on the Orion® Platform, NCM provides the ability to purchase and fully integrate with additional network monitoring modules (network performance monitoring, NetFlow traffic analysis, WAN management, VoIP, device tracking, and IP address management), as well as systems, storage, and virtualization management, all in a single web console.

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) Features

  • Supported: Configuration Change Automation
  • Supported: Configuration Backup and Restore
  • Supported: Change Monitoring
  • Supported: Change Management - Roles & Approval
  • Supported: Baselines and Configuration Drift Monitoring
  • Supported: IOS Vulnerability Scanning
  • Supported: Compliance Assessment and Enforcement
  • Supported: Network Insight for Cisco Nexus
  • Supported: Network Insight for Cisco ASA

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.Screenshot of 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.

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) Video

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Overview

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) Competitors

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows, Windows Server
Mobile ApplicationNo

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) Downloadables

Frequently Asked Questions

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

ManageEngine OpManager and Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued) are common alternatives for SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM).

Reviewers rate Solarwinds Premier Support Rating highest, with a score of 9.5.

The most common users of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(263)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Easy Installation and Configuration: Many users have found the installation, configuration, and use of Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager to be easy. They have mentioned that the product has a simple and intuitive setup process, allowing them to quickly get started with it.

User-Friendly Reporting: Users appreciate the simplicity and ease of reporting provided by Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager. They find generating reports to be a straightforward process, thanks to the product's user-friendly interface. This allows users to easily access and analyze the necessary data.

Seamless Integration with Other SolarWinds Products: Users highlight the compatibility of Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager with other products from the same company. It seamlessly integrates with other SolarWinds tools and can run on the same server instance. This unified experience provides users with a cohesive workflow and enhances their overall efficiency.

Confusing User Interface: Some users have expressed frustration with the user interface of the software, finding it confusing and difficult to navigate. This sentiment is shared by multiple reviewers who feel that the interface hinders their ability to quickly find information and perform tasks efficiently.

Slowness of Orion Platform: Several users have complained about the slowness of the Orion platform, particularly when additional modules and nodes are added. This issue has been raised by a significant number of reviewers, highlighting the need for improved performance optimization to enhance user experience.

Limited Vendor Support: Users have expressed a need for better support for multiple vendors in the software. They feel that currently, there is a lack of vendor-specific equipment profiles and features for non-Cisco devices. Multiple reviewers have suggested expanding the range of supported devices to make the software more versatile and suitable for diverse network environments.

Users of Solarwinds configuration manager have made several recommendations based on their experiences with the product. The three most common recommendations are as follows:

  1. Make it easier to access saved config comparisons - Users have suggested improving the accessibility of saved configuration comparisons. This would enable them to quickly refer to previous configurations and compare them with current ones, aiding in troubleshooting and auditing processes.

  2. Explore Thwack for inspiration from other users' experiences - Users recommend exploring Thwack, Solarwinds' online community platform, to learn from other users' experiences and gain insights into best practices for using the software. This can help users make the most of the features and functionality available in Solarwinds configuration manager.

  3. Add more support for different vendors - Users have noted that while Solarwinds configuration manager is a useful tool, they would appreciate additional support for a wider range of vendor devices. Expanding compatibility and incorporating more device types would enhance the software's usefulness for a broader user base.

These recommendations highlight areas where users find room for improvement or suggest ways to enhance their experience with Solarwinds configuration manager.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 140)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Fast and easy deployment of tool, intuitive interface and good community sources to solve open issues. This helps to deploy and have operational solution in 2 weeks for backup of configuration of devices which was regulatory required.
  • Support is quite well - we had some issues and resolved in [a] week or two.
Jennifer Aguilar | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
  • 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.
Eduardo Ramirez | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • We definitely had positive ROI to manage backups. We decomm many other cron options that we had before, and now with SolarWinds NCM we have all these backups on a single pane of glass.
January 24, 2022

A great time saver!

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • 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.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • Reduced labor when replacing failed equipment, we always have the latest configuration as well as previous configurations readily available. Saves us from needing to rewrite configurations.
  • Reduced labor for adding devices for configuration tracking. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) just works and doesn't require much input from the team to continue operating and pulling configurations for new or existing nodes.
  • Pushing out firmware updates to network devices is incredibly simple using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) which also saves significantly on labor since we can do all nodes from a single location.
  • SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) replaced a variety of other tools that our engineers would use, so instead of managing and configuring each tool only one needs to be configured and maintained.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
  • The time savings from automatic daily backups is significant
  • The compare configuration tool is super helpful at spotting errors when small changes occur that are hard to detect otherwise.
  • The compliance check tool saves countless hours going through configurations for errors.
Return to navigation