For the systems engineer wanting to step up to learn more networking!
March 09, 2019
For the systems engineer wanting to step up to learn more networking!
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager
I'm not a network person by trade, but SolarWinds' tools allow me a great deal of insight into network operations without an overbearing amount of technical requirements. While I keep the systems running, I know NCM is there in the background providing me a backup of configs and, more importantly, an alert if someone makes an unknown change that causes a cascading failure. Within this environment, I can then focus on my day to day goals, while knowing I have NCM covering my back in my department, making things run smoothly and keeping a tighter profile within our organization.
- Network configuration backups are so minor yet so pivotal for maintaining the trust that in the worst scenarios, we can find our settings and not have to start from scratch
- Network change alerts keep peace of mind that hackers or even mistaken coworkers aren't putting a whole network segment in jeopardy
- The integration with SolarWind Orion means I have a single pane of glass, which always sounds not really useful until you realize there is just one location to get all your answers fast, without any wasted effort.
- Network alerts could use some greater flexibility. I don't need an alert if someone is just correcting a misspelling on a VLAN!
- When Meraki networks have a change in registered system admins, the old API key fails, and there is no warning that data is no longer being synced. That was a surprise to me when I took over the role.
- The update pace is good and healthy, but I'd like to see auto-updates within the product.
- I can think of a few occasions where VLAN changes caused a rolling issue that was easily diagnosed with "well, NCM stated we changed this today, so let's rollback". Time is money, and that was the best thing to have on hand.
- When pricing out a disaster recovery plan, having known, good backups of our switches is fantastic and worth the time savings vs. having to pull them/generate them when the chips are down.
- With the same logic, having insight into our Meraki networks without needing to leave the SolarWinds product also keeps eyes focused on the main tool to highlight issues
While not competition, using these other products exposed how little I knew of networking and what tools I needed to have in my arsenal. Moving to NCM was a logical next step, therefore, to provide greater insight across all fronts while still expanding my standard day to day goal and skillset.