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 86)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
David Bothorel | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SolarWinds NCM is principally used to perform configuration backup but also to perform global configuration update like a password change or SNMP community update.
  • Configuration backup
  • Policy violations
  • Execution script
  • A more pre-defined script would be welcome.
  • NCM jobs are quite slow to run.
  • Chart designs are old school.
It's really important to keep a configuration backup of network devices in case of hardware failure. SolarWinds NCM is a great tool to backup configuration and restore if needed. It can also give us useful information about EOS and EOL of each network device which can give us an idea of which one will have to be replaced soon.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager to manage and make changes to configured switches and other network devices. It saves us a lot of time in configuring new devices because the configurations are stored on SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager also makes reports and inventory a lot easier for us. Using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager makes it a lot easier to manage our configurations over the network.
  • Reports. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager allows us to generate config change reports
  • Firmware upgrades. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager allows us to upgrade the firmware on all our networking devices
  • Storing configurations. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is used as part of our disaster recovery strategy to store current configs of all devices
  • Network Insight can be improved to support more vendors.
Whenever a device goes down, I can easily use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager to get the configurations files and reconfigure a new device. When switches and other network devices have a firmware update, I can do it from SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager either using the firmware update, or if the device is unsupported I can script the firmware update saving valuable time. NCM is great at pushing out changes to multiple devices. I have used it to update vlans, snmp, and ntp settings across over 300 devices without issues.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is used to pull backups of network devices. We also try to use it to also push code to out of the box devices, which speeds up setup time. Additionally, we use it for mass code pushes to 40+ switches (VLAN additions, updates, etc.) I have saved countless hours of manual work by utilizing SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager in our environment.
  • Backups
  • Scripting
  • Mass updates
  • N/a
  • N/a
Well suited in an environment with limited rollout time for new network devices. You can easily push code to devices from SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. Solarwinds Network Configuration Monitor would not be recommended in scenarios where there are very few network devices - for instance, five or less.
November 12, 2022

You get what you pay for

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager in our environment to backup configs on all of our network devices, as well as alert whenever there are changes that have been made.
  • config backup
  • alert on config changes
  • compare changes over time
  • reduce the cost
  • sales people are determined
I don't know of a location where SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is not well suited, unless its just on cost.
Jennifer Aguilar | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I manage the network by myself so NCM has made my job much easier simply by automating the downloads and triggering an event when the configuration has changed. I use the config compare to review changes that I have made to ensure that the change has been made correctly. It is almost like I have another employee helping me keep all the configurations in order AND keeping an eye on what changes I have made!
  • 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
  • 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
Network Config manager is a blessing in disguise! I had made a configuration change to my environment and it did not kick back issues for several days. I was able to download the current running config and compare it to the last downloaded config prior to making changes. In any situation where things stop working you have to first ask yourself .. What changes have been made in the environment? I now rely upon config manager to store all my configurations. I no longer have to do copy tftp ugh .. ugh ... ugh .. I can click .. download config, promote to baseline and move on to the next endeavor.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use the SolarWinds NCM to manage the configuration of all of our network appliances, specifically all the switchgear in all of our offices, using it to maintain configuration history.
  • Easy to deploy
  • Easy to configure
  • Easy to manage post initial configuration
  • The main frustration is the overall slowness of the Orion platform, especially as more modules and nodes are added.
If you are looking for a network configuration management solution, this is by far the easiest to deploy, configure and manage. It just works and we have never had any issues with it.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
NCM is being used as our central device change tracking application. It is used to centralize and control our internal processes related to network device configuration change management. The application helps us know who can and does make changes to network devices. It also plays a central role with internal auditing of device configurations policies. The chief advantage of NCM is in the ability to schedule configuration backups jobs and track device configuration changes. Being able to execute a policy audit report related to DISA STIG, PCI, SOX, or other rule sets is also a huge time saver.
  • 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.
  • 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.
Network Configuration Manager really is well suited to any environment regardless of size or vendor mix. It has out-of-the-box support for a large and growing list of network vendors, and provides a user-friendly tool to adjust the tool to work with the occasional device that cannot be recognized by default. NCM would be of particular value to the small IT shop where only a few busy IT staff are responsible for a large number of network devices. The time that is saved by being able to centrally manage configuration management and reporting tasks is huge.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
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.
  • Network automation
  • Vulnerability assessment
  • Network Backups
  • Comparable pricing
  • License options
  • 3rd Party Vendors
There was a need to find an old configuration of a network switch that was accidentally wiped clean. Fortunately, SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) kept and archived a backup copy of the switch device in question! We were easily able to upload the configuration file to the switch and restore the device back on the network in a matter of minutes!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
All the network components of our organization are part of our NCM environment. With [SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)] we can backup all configurations, see any changes, compare configurations against base line. Also the possibility to install firmware updates. For several brands there is even vulnerability management, in order to see firmware updates [that] could be used to 'close' the vulnerability.
  • Automatic config backup
  • Config comparison
  • Config Baseline comparison
  • No improvements required
We had a switch, which the internal power supply was damaged, and thereby damaged the entire switch. Replacement of the switch was required. Just a few days ago configuration to port assignments were done, with the automatic daily backup we could restore the latest configuration to a new switch very easily.
Eduardo Ramirez | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use SolarWinds NCM to push configuration across our network Devices Routers/Switches/Firewalls on the easy way. It does more than resolve problems, we used it to automate the manual processes to save time or for quick reactions to emergency changes.
  • Update ACL on 500 routers switches
  • Updated Passwords on thousands of devices
  • Performance Backups of thousands on Devices
  • Definitely, some things that SolarWinds has to improve is get more script options for vendors different than Cisco.
In my experience one of the best and strongest SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) features are the Backups, you can get these on a really simple cron job, also you can get multiple ones to compare changes in case troubleshooting is needed to compare configurations.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) to manage all of our network devices in data centers and branch offices. It has been used for devices configuration backup and version control. The scripts management tool is quite useful and we have been using it for configuration central deployment.
  • Monitor the current status of network devices
  • Devices configuration backup and change tracking
  • Push out configuration automatically
  • The configuration change template could be more user friendly
It works well to monitor many network devices of the whole network. The configuration scripts can be used to deploy patches or quick fixes/changes quite easily to all managed devices. The configuration backup is helpful for version control and tracing back the change history if needed.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have 13 sites and several hundred switches and routers combined of various models and firmware. Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager is integral to our disaster recovery planning as it is required to monitor the firmware version of each device as well as backup configurations of every device once a change is made.
  • Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager monitors our firmware to ensure we are at risk of any vulnerability
  • Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager back up device configs every time a change is made keeping out recovery documents up to date
  • Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager allows us to push configs to multiple devices at once simplifying the process
  • Network Insight can be improved to support more vendors.
Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager is great for pushing configs to multiple devices, for example, we change the root passwords on all network equipment every 6 months. With Network Configuration Manager we are able to do have this completed across 300 switches in minutes as opposed to doing it manually which took a least a week. Recently we also had cause to change your NTP server and we were able to push out the new values using Network Configuration Manager saving time. Solarwinds Network Configuration Manager is very good at config backups. We use Network Configuration Manager to back up configs daily once a change is detected, allowing us to be ready to replace any and all devices on short notice.
January 24, 2022

A great time saver!

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager has treated us well. All our network equipment is backed up through the Network Configuration Manager module on a daily basis then spits out a report on what has changed day over day. When a device inevitably fails we are able to quickly restore the previous configuration to the replacement device, greatly minimizing downtime. Network Configuration Manager also makes it a breeze to keep configurations consistent across devices. Updating an access list on 100 switches goes from a tedious afternoon to a three minute automated job. The module is also capable of deploying firmware and probably much more but I have not dipped my toe into those waters just yet. Overall a great product for making automation simple!
  • Automating configuration backups
  • Preventing configuration drift
  • Reporting on configuration changes day to day
  • Module can be slow to load.
  • The interface could use a facelift.
  • I'd appreciate more out of the box jobs for common tasks.
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is perfectly suited for small teams or single engineer jack of all trades types who have a lot on their plate. This module will let you quickly import any currently monitored devices to poll for configuration backups and pushing jobs. This can save you a lot of time compared to spinning up an open source tool or rolling some DIY solution. Larger teams can benefit as well given how easy it is to learn/teach the tool.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) at our core and distribution to track configuration changes, since it's a module for Orion it provides a single pane of glass for the team. We have real-time configuration change monitoring enabled for the equipment with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) enabled so once a change has been made we have a record of the change and can easily revert changes from SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) or do a comparison if needed. Previously we had used other products but the setup was more difficult and not all equipment was easily supported whereas SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) has support for a majority of the devices we use out of the box without any additional configuration or customization, although that is an option if needed.
  • Keeping previous configurations
  • Tracking configuration changes
  • Configuration reporting
  • Real-time configuration change tracking via trap notifications
  • 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.
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) works very well for configuration tracking and pulling new configurations from nodes and it does it reliably. The configuration diff baked into SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) is also really nice to have. It's easy to save a configuration right out of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) or revert a change using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM). Reports to see which nodes are not at their baseline work well, this allows us to review changes and set new baselines or revert depending on the change. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) does have configuration approvals that might help with setting the baseline, but we had an existing process before adopting SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) for change management. It seems like this feature was well thought out for SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) but just something we hadn't adopted. We can also see the firmware image of devices in SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) and it will provide CVE details and track equipment support which is great for auditing our environment.
January 20, 2022

Making Networks Better

Richard Chisala, Jnr. MIEEE | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SolarWinds products suite is our defacto systems and network management tool. We use NCM in particular, for Edge user device vulnerability detection, network auditing and inventory management. Operating in rural environments with lack of expert skills for network configuration changes, NCM provides us the ability to automate our configurations and changes across desperate user community networks. As a result, we have better visibility, superior control, and early vulnerability detection.
  • Network Auditing.
  • Network Inventory Management.
  • Vulnerability Detection.
  • Network Configuration Automotion.
  • Threat Management.
  • Edge Security Management.
  • Cloud and Application Performance Acceleration.
  • SD-WAN and Cloud Management.
  • Agent less client device management.
NCM is ideal for network automation, network configuration auditing, and vulnerability detection. However not the appropriate tool for general IT, Databases, and Application Management. In addition, NCM is neither a traffic analyzer nor a network performance monitoring tool required for 24/7 network infrastructure support services. In the past, we used NCM to benchmark a large public services provider as part of the network consolidation and cloud migration project.
January 20, 2022

Best NCM Tool

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is used to obtain switch backups and validate configuration changes. It has been of great help, referring to an erroneous configuration problem, if it had not been, chaos would have been generated in the plant. I use it for the administration of 280 switches backup and it works perfectly. SolarWinds [Network Configuration Manager] NCM is a great addition to the tool bag. Having the ability to scan configurations and make changes on the fly across multiple devices is an immense time saver. Another great future is version caching [which] allows you to see all the changes that have been made and revert if necessary.
  • Network device configuration backup
  • Change reporting
  • Scan configurations
  • Writing new configurations to devices
  • Add recycle bin for deleted node.
  • Needs to monitor the TMM memory out of the box.
It is suitable for scenarios with multiple devices for which a critical backup and accurate inventory must be kept, referring to operating system versions, etc. It is easy to use and configure with structured manuals that are easy to implement. I think it is an excellent management and control tool.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use SolarWinds Network Configurations Manager to download a nightly backup of all of our Cisco and HP/Aruba equipment as well as to provide compliance reporting for various network conditions. The NCM tool is also super helpful when comparing configurations and launching various remediation scripts on your Cisco or Aruba hardware. If your company needs daily backups, this is a must-have tool for any network administrator.
  • Daily backups
  • Compliance reporting
  • Firmware Vulnerabilities Scores
  • End of Support Device Alert
  • To my knowledge (I apologize if I am incorrect) NCM is unable to download backups from Cisco Next Generations Firewalls such as the Firepower 2110 or similar. While the Cisco tool has a backup function of its own, it sits within the Cisco architecture and if that is corrupted it's hard to recover from. Having an external backup sitting in SolarWinds would allow us to have greater redundancies and store the data in multiple locations for high availability backups.
SolarWinds NCM is a must-have for network operations managers who need daily backups of all of their routers, switches and firewalls. Not only are you assured of backup recovery, but you can also perform compliance reporting on all of your configurations and script remediation too.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use [SolarWinds] NCM to backup network equipment configurations, monitor for changes, run compliance and best practices reports, and mass deploy [configuration] changes and updates.
  • Backup of configurations
  • Alerting to configuration changes
  • Allows for mass updating of configurations
  • Simpler deployment scripts/options
SolarWinds NCM meets our need for configuration backup, monitoring, and updating, and [it] does so in a simple dashboard. The product works exactly as we need it and it [is] very easy to manage.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) is used by our Network Team to backup our Network and SAN switches configuration files. Jobs are scheduled to backup running and startup configs. NCM is also used to push out config changes to all our switches without manually logging into each switch. NCM also detects unauthorized changes to out configuration and email alerts are configured to detect version mismatch.
  • 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.
  • More automation options, in incase backups fail or unauthorized config changes [are] detected.
[SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)] is used for backup of all our N/W switches configurations. Authorized users can review the config files from Orion. Single Repository for storing all configurations, version control of all config files.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) allows us to back up configurations, as the latest configurations are readily available whenever we plan to do an upgrade of software version or need to revert back to an older version of the configuration file. The compliance feature allows us to manage vulnerabilities and understand the new issues that arise in our software versions.
  • Configuration backup
  • Compliance
  • Device templates
  • Identifying vulnerabilities
  • Software upgrades
  • Configuration automation
  • Some devices don't use a specific version of ssh and SolarWinds struggles with accessing those devices.
  • Reporting could be made better, as sometimes some reports return empty data.
  • Some SNMP MIBs need to be manually updated in SolarWinds.
It's vendor agnostic, so we can use it with any vendor; it can back up the configuration data. The ability to use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) with any vendor is a great asset and highly recommended. Cisco configurations for the wireless infrastructure--especially Cisco's new wireless infrastructure--needs to be more up to date in SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM).
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is used to obtain switch backups and validate configuration changes, It has been of great help, referring to an erroneous configuration problem, if it had not been, chaos would have been generated in the plant. I use it for the administration of 280 switches backup and it works perfectly.
  • Backups.
  • Restore.
  • Validation.
  • Support multiple vendors.
It is suitable for scenarios with multiple devices for which a critical backup and accurate inventory must be kept, referring to operating system versions, etc. It is easy to use and configure with structured manuals that are easy to implement. I think it is an excellent management and control tool.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use NCM to monitor our network for unauthorized configuration changes as well as to make bulk updates to our network.
  • Configuration Change Management
  • Bulk Updates
  • Firmware Updates
  • Multi-Vendor Support
NCM is perfect for any size network but really excels on a Cisco network.
January 18, 2022

Great Investment

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SolarWinds NCM is a great addition to the tool bag. Having the ability to scan configurations and make changes on the fly across multiple devices is an immense time saver. Another great future is version caching [which] allows you to see all the changes that have been made and revert if necessary.
  • Change reporting
  • Policy Violations
  • Configuration Management
  • Better UI
  • Too many clicks to get to certain features
  • Need Feature Search
It is very easy to apply changes to several units at once. NCM definitely exceeds in this area. Sometimes it can be a bit tough to use when you are doing some of the more granular changes that are specific to an individual device. But it is a dream for some of the more broad changes.
Shahab Razak | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is our prime network management software for our NOC, Network Engineering & Operations. We use it twenty-four seven to manage F5 Load Balancers both in the cloud and on-premises, routers and switches, wireless infrastructure, firewall infrastructure, LAN and WAN, and all other network elements. SolarWinds is also our alerting tool (red, amber, green) threshold management and performance reporting.
  • Alerting
  • Reporting
  • Breadth of supported devices
  • Baseline management
  • Support for integrating network diagrams and maps
  • Better support to customize UI
  • Ability to create and maintain dynamic network maps in line within the UI
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is an excellent tool to consolidate and version all your text-based configuration files for Routers, Switches, Load Balancers, Firewalls, etc. It handles the most popular vendors and you can keep a series of previous backups. SolarWinds Network Configuration manager allows for centralized and scheduled changes and full network automation. Configuration files can be bundled up and stored off-site for disaster recovery.
April 16, 2021

I like SolarWinds NCM

Fernando Villamil | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, NCM, is used by multiple departments to automate configuration backups. There is also a feature that checks for vulnerabilities based on standard compliance reporting. Another feature is the firmware upgrade deployment where you are able to update your device to the latest supported version. This is helpful because we have measured things like configuration standardization and version number compliance. Very helpful when it come to looking at the compliance of our hardware. The leadership team can have real data from the devices instead of spreadsheets.
  • Back up my configuration. Critical when system failures occur.
  • View firmware version(s) across multiple devices, then compare them for the same model or type.
  • Restore and apply changes for one or multiple devices.
  • Run reports on firmware version and compliance to standards.
  • Privilege management is lacking, do I want all my admins viewing sensitive data? Probably not. This certainly can be improved.
  • Everything is based on a windows server, we prefer other OSes. Not necessarily a con, but more of a longstanding request.
  • If you have other SolarWinds modules, it will integrate well with them. This is good, then you go back to my first point. Admin privileges allow access to sensitive data.
  • In the news with a big vulnerability, not my favorite mention.
You can use it while you sleep. My favorite part. If you are not aware of your systems health, don't worry it will tell you. Well first you need other modules from the SolarWinds toolkit. Your other teams will like this because of the flexibility it provides integrating. You now have a centralize system with the ability to give you a good nights rest. If you have silos you will need to review how you can segment your systems, especially security from network.
Return to navigation