SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager review
January 20, 2022

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager review

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

Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

I use it to manage the compliance of our network devices to configuration hardening standards. Our information security program requires that all our network devices, routers/switches/firewalls/etc, have a defined security hardening standard defined and implemented. As a member of the team, I had to come up with an easy way to measure and demonstrate device compliance to defined standards. I tried setting up regex checks against configs stored in ansible but that required all configs to be in ansible, which they weren't, and so I found myself working edge cases and relying on others who had better things to do than help a security guy. I tried a few config managers including the managing engine NCM, which I used for several years at a previous job, but then migrated to the SolarWinds NCM. I like the SolarWinds NCM interface better and since it is part of the Orion suite and our network team was using Orion I was able to add it to their deployment. If I'm being honest I prefer the management engine interface better but found the functionality to be identical between the two. Most valuable thing is having all the device configs available for testing without relying on other teams.
  • Manage network device configurations
  • allow for customization of network device hardening standards
  • visualize the compliance status of your network device configurations
  • The user interface could be more intuitive
  • a stable Linux version would be great
  • better and faster performance
  • Saved many hours of my time and the network team's time with automated remediation to deviations.
  • Saved many hours of time and impressed auditors during security audits
  • ManageEngine Network Configuration Management (NCM)
I actually prefer the ManageEngine Network Configuration Management engine product but switched to SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager to standardize to our Orion deployment.

Do you think SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)'s feature set?

Yes

Did SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) again?

Yes

Well suited if you have a requirement to either harden your network device configs or want to standardize your network device configs. As a network engineer, I found this tool super helpful for managing parts of my Cisco device configs such as the ntp info, logging setup, ssh access lists for interfaces, and ensuring only the services I wanted were enabled. This helped make sure all my devices were set up how I wanted and really empowered my junior guys to move faster in their deployments. I could also use the automation to make config changes as a response to any deviations it found. As a security guy, I found it super useful to define and demonstrate network device hardening configs automatically, this really helped during audits. Not useful if you don't require a third-party tool for compliance or config standardization, panorama comes to mind.