SolarWinds NPM - the backbone of network monitoring
Updated January 14, 2020

SolarWinds NPM - the backbone of network monitoring

Joshua Smith | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor

SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor is our backbone for monitoring all network infrastructure for our company. We use it for all devices currently deployed in the field, as well as all data center device monitoring. The ability of NPM to monitor large scale environments such as ours, and the integration with other SW products such as NCM and SAM work very well with NPM.
  • NPM polls devices consistently for status
  • NPM gathers statistical data for logging
  • NPM also has reporting and alerting features that aid in logging historical data and diagnosing issues
  • NPM can be a bit hard to tame on resources in a large scaled environment
  • NPM needs some finesse when running large scaled jobs/reports
  • NPM could stand to be more efficient on the back end. It can be a hog.
  • Live monitoring of systems allows us to view statistics that help us guide our direction
  • Historical data helps us see trends and diagnose problems
  • Keeping systems online and function = revenue
NPM can be a backbone for monitoring network devices in anywhere from small, to large scaled environments. Keeping historical and statistical data, in conjunction with other SW products such as NCM, SAM, and NTA, you can monitor your network and diagnose issue faster than you'd otherwise be able to. It's helped us keep our systems running.

SolarWinds NPM Feature Ratings

Automated network device discovery
9
Network monitoring
9
Baseline threshold calculation
7
Alerts
8
Network capacity planning
7
Packet capture analysis
5
Network mapping
8
Customizable reports
9
Wireless infrastructure monitoring
Not Rated
Hardware health monitoring
Not Rated

SolarWinds NPM ROI Questions

Yes - We used to use a handful of open source and proprietary developed tools for monitoring our infrastructure, in all regards. Across our Corporate, Data Center, and Customer networks, we used different tools for monitoring and alerting. Using SolarWinds NPM has allowed us to not only consolidate and use one tool, but build from there and use a tool that is expansive into other areas and teams for higher effectiveness and cost savings.
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
  • Prior Experience with the Product
  • Existing Relationship with the Vendor
Make no mistake that SolarWinds NPM is probably the best tool as a backbone to any IT org's monitoring and alerting infrastructure. It's versatility and ability to build for future growth is impressive and holds it's value consistently. With that being said, there are 2 pitfalls that I must cite. The lack of a refined API for use with other tools such as PagerDuty and ServiceNow, and also the insanely high cost. If SolarWinds could work on these 2 areas it would be really hard to find bad things to say about these SW tools.

Using SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor