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SolarWinds NCM review
September 03, 2019

SolarWinds NCM review

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

We use several SolarWinds products. We use NCM in our Network Infrastructure department to manage the configuration of our switches. We're working on implementing configuration backup of our other equipment as well. Having archives of configurations helps us troubleshoot and look back at recent changes, and restore to previous configs in the case of an emergency or replacing a switch. So far, we haven't had to use it a lot but it's comforting to know we have our most recent and previous configurations ready. Previously, we were copying configs into .txt files to save, but with NCM, our backups are always up to date without needing to do much extra work.
  • NCM does a great job of automatically and reliably backing up our configurations with no extra work on our part.
  • NCM also has a lot of options as far as archiving and reporting on backup status.
  • The change reports feature is a great way to see a quick overview of recent config changes on our network while troubleshooting.
  • The biggest problem I've hit is trying to implement configuration management on new hardware vendors. It's not always super simple, and there could be room for improvement to make that process easier.
  • This aspect isn't a direct part of my role, so I won't be able to be super helpful. I know SolarWinds products can be a bit costly, but they've been great for us. NCM has allowed us to automate a lot of our backups and management of our infrastructure, which gives us peace of mind.
We haven't used any other configuration managers. NCM was in place when I came on board, and we've been happy with it.
SolarWinds NCM is great for larger networks where configurations are changing frequently. In a small office with a smaller amount of equipment, or one where configurations are almost never changing, it probably isn't worth the cost. In our case, we are changing configurations often on a network of about 250 switches, access points, routers, firewalls, etc.