Item: SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is being used in all IT organizations, especially for Cisco Devices. It is helping to identify End-of-Life devices and code standardization that was hidden before.

Pros and Cons

Running configuration vs startup configuration reports
End-of-life report
Policy violation report
Inventory & firmware management

Integration with other vendors (e.g. Aruba, HP, Palo Alto, etc.)

Return on Investment

No negative impact
As a positive impact, we could create the Capex/Opex reports using NCM inventory reports

Alternatives Considered

I'm not evaluating any other NCM competitor.

Likelihood to Recommend

I really recommend using SolarWinds NCM to manage a Cisco environment. It's a great tool that helps with security & compliance management. Also, it is a great tool for coding & inventory management.

Products Replaced

No

Key Differentiators

Product Features
Product Reputation
Prior Experience with the Product

The prior experience with Solarwinds platforms helped to make the NCM buy decision. NCM can help us to cover some uncovered gaps that we had in the network environment.

Support Rating

9

I rate this a 10 for Cisco Devices, but there is still a gap in the integration with other vendors. Sometimes, it requires a special setup in order to work properly for vendors like Aruba, HP, Palo Alto, etc.

Usability

10

SolarWinds NCM is very straightforward to configure and use.

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager for Cisco environment

Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)