Item: SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM)
Rating: 9
Author: Brian Chernish

Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor in our IT Department to monitor the health and state of our mission critical network in a 911 dispatch center. We have configured alerts to send an e-mail to myself and/or additional technicians in the event performance falters, when a mission critical server fails, or when a critical piece of network equipment quits working as configured. By using Solarwinds NPM I can usually know about a problem before anyone else even notices it.

Pros and Cons

Pros

The Virtualization Tab provides great insight into my VMWare and my Microsoft Hyper-V environments. All the important information for both environments is consolidated in a single pane.
Event Manager is easy and quick to configure especially when compared to other network monitoring systems out there. I was up and alerting in no time with SolarWinds.
The Thwack user community is another great feature with SolarWinds. If I ever run into an issue, with monitoring or configuration, the first place I look is Thwack. Using this method often saves me loads of time in determining what my issue is and how to correct it.

Cons

I wish there was a way to create a printable network map from Solarwinds, show me what is connected where.
Features on the administration page can sometimes be obscured or hard to find.

Return on Investment

Great efficiency in a lightly staffed environment. Without this moniitoring and alerting we would be at the mercy waiting to hear from someone when we have a problem. It goes a long way when I do get a phone call letting me know there is a problem and I can say that I am aware and already working on it.
When I first asked for funding for Solarwinds it was questioned, but our overall performance and general up time speak for themselves.

Alternatives Considered

Spiceworks and HP OpenView

In the past I have "tried" to utilize a couple of different "free" alternatives, including Spiceworks and OpsView. I found both hard to configure and quick to overwhelm me with what I considered useless information. I have also looked at larger network management systems like HP OpenView and the high initial cost and ongoing maintenance completely took them out of my consideration.

Other Software Used

Microsoft Exchange, VMware ESXi, Cisco Ethernet Switches

Likelihood to Recommend

SolarWind Network Performance Monitor is particularly well suited for small to medium sized organizations. The price point is palatable given the number of features included. I have tried to use some of the "free" products out there and to me, none compare. Ease of use is very good which means in a small to medium sized organization you don't have to spend a lot of time learning or going to classes to learn how to use it.

I have never used this product in a large environment (more than 1000 nodes) but given what I see I would expect that it would scale well.

SolarWinds NPM Feature Ratings

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Solarwinds NPM from the perspective of a lightly staffed IT department