NonPlussed Management
December 18, 2015

NonPlussed Management

Adam Hutcheson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor

We are currently using SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor to manage/monitor Windows Servers (including Hyper V) and Network devices such as Cisco. It is used strictly for IT monitoring/alerting/notification, and is not used by other departments.

It provides historical reports/trends on network/storage usage. The main reason for purchasing however, was monitoring/alerting of business critical devices. We did not have a monitoring solution in place and so were often in the dark when an outage would occur. SolarWinds NPM has resolved that issue.

  • Monitoring/Alerting.
  • Historical Data/Trends.
  • Easy to use interface.
  • Network Maps.
  • Wireless Hotspot - they currently do not refresh to show me actual signal strength.
  • Proactive action to down systems.
  • Much quicker alerting to Agency/Staff when there is an issue. We used to react to staff notifications - we now inform them, often before they notice something is wrong.
  • Better indication of storage issues, due to trending. We can now see what File Servers are using, have used - and potentially will use.
We are a small organization, so it works well for us. I cannot really think of any reason not to implement it. The only hold back might be cost/licensing for smaller IT shops.

SolarWinds NPM Feature Ratings

Automated network device discovery
7
Network monitoring
8
Baseline threshold calculation
8
Alerts
9
Network capacity planning
6
Packet capture analysis
6
Network mapping
8
Customizable reports
7
Wireless infrastructure monitoring
5
Hardware health monitoring
8

Using SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor

6 - IT Operations/Development
We usually leverage SolarWinds customer support.
  • Alerting
  • Monitoring
  • History
  • History of traffic over WAN VLANS
  • Adding additional MIB's for devices, such as Equal Logic SAN
  • Hyper V
  • More details on Wireless
  • Hoping to add SolarWinds Net Flow to the suite.
It works really well for us. Cannot see us switching to another product.

SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor Support

Support has generally been good. We had one issue with a migration, where first support technician gave wrong answer/setup. Have not had to use support that often.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
Escalation required
On our migration - the seconnd technician fixed the error created by the first - but also walked me through the process and what to look for next time. Then the technician verified there was nothing else wrong, so I would not have to make a second call.

Using SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor

Solid product. Can be complex - but you can find what you are looking for.
ProsCons
Like to use
Easy to use
Well integrated
Consistent
Convenient
Feel confident using
Requires technical support
Lots to learn
  • Adding devices
  • Adding built in Pollers
  • Changing page formats
  • Setting up LDAP authentication
  • Setting up the Database connection
  • Adding custom polling MIB's
  • Changing custom default pages for devices
  • Network Atlas