NPM is a valuable tool for Network Monitoring
Updated January 18, 2020
NPM is a valuable tool for Network Monitoring
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor
Our organization uses SolarWinds to gain visibility into the performance of the Network and to alert us to problems an outages. This helps us be proactive in identifying issues within the network and quickly address them. NPM offers high visibility into our network with a user-friendly interface. The product offers a high level of customizability allowing us to hone the monitoring and alerting to meet our needs. Getting the product up and running is pretty straightforward. The learning curve comes in when honing your monitoring. Support is responsive and reliable. The Thwack community also offers helps for deployment and management questions. The interface offers loads of charts and graphs allowing you to show how your network and key interfaces are performing. This is especially helpful when you are presenting to senior-level management and team member who may not fully understand Networking.
Pros
- Easy to Navigate Interface - The user interface is laid out very clearly and it is intuitive to navigate.
- Highly Customizable Alerts - You have the ability to fine-tune alerts to meet your needs.
- Detailed Graphs and Reports - NPM does a great job of translating raw analytical data in to easy to read graphs and reports.
- Ability to Monitor a Wide Range of Devices - There are built in MIBs for a wide range of device vendors and you have the Ability to configure more.
Cons
- Creation of Custom Charts and Reports - Charts and graphs can take a little time to tweak to get the data that's relevant to you. Creating custom reports also isn't intuitive however the SolarWinds support is great at assisting you when needed.
- Licensing Model - You definitely need a good knowledge of what you're trying to see. Licensing is based on the number of elements being monitored (devices and interfaces). This can get costly so you want to have a good understanding of what areas you wish to target if Cost is an issue in your organization.
- No Real Integration with SD WAN Tools - Solarwinds NPM allows you to link with SD WAN APIs but due to API limitations, you only get surface level info. I would like to see them partner with some popular SD WAN vendors.
- Network Atlas - this is the software you use to upload maps into the system. Currently, its a standalone piece of software on the server. I would like to see this integrated into the online console.
- Save us money on underutilized internet circuits - We were able to scale our internet pipes down at various locations based on the information we gathered.
- Help Us Make Our Case to replace Aging Equipment - Some organizations have an "if it isn't broke, don't fix it." mindset. The Health reports gave the detailed data we needed to show upper management where investments needed to be made.
- Targeted Dashboard - We have been able to build trust with our applications teams by providing them a view for network performance as it relates to their applications and servers.
PRTG was the product we used before purchasing SolarWinds. NPM is a more intuitive product and the learning curve isn't as steep. NPM offers a level of customizability with dashboards that PRTG doesn't. With additional modules like NTA and SAM, we have another level of visibility the PRTG didn't provide.
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