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Great Product - Would buy it again and again.
Updated August 27, 2019

Great Product - Would buy it again and again.

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

Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor

We use SolarWinds Network Performance Manager (NPM) to manage our control system for our public safety radio system and call recording. The NPM allows me to instantly capture the system health at a glance, and be notified in or out of the office of any current or impending issues.
  • System monitoring
  • System inventory
  • Notification
  • Better performance of screen refreshes for network maps
  • By being able to virtualize the NPM server we were able to utilize existing hardware
  • We have been able to capture data showing future imminent failure and take action.
SolarWinds has more features and is easier to set up/install
Inventory and control and system wide health status

SolarWinds NPM Feature Ratings

Network Performance Monitoring
7.5
Automated network device discovery
8
Network monitoring
8
Baseline threshold calculation
7
Alerts
7
Network capacity planning
8
Packet capture analysis
Not Rated
Network mapping
8
Customizable reports
6
Wireless infrastructure monitoring
Not Rated
Hardware health monitoring
8

SolarWinds NPM ROI Questions

Yes - Nagios
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
  • Third-party Reviews
The product features and useability we both very important in determining purchase. This product has both amazing features and an easy intuitive interface .

Feature Questions

It’s intuitive yet detailed enough and granular enough to get what you want in a short amount of time.
  • Server uptime
  • IP Endpoint uptime
  • Hardware performance
  • Notifications

Using SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor

4 - Information technology, and administrative
2 - We utilize the techs
  • Checking remote network gateways for our provincial radio system
  • Checking health and uptime of remote radio controllers for provincial radio system
  • Monitoring other agencies in our dispatch radius
It’s what we know, and nothing else comes close

Evaluating SolarWinds NPM and Competitors

Confirm service agreements

SolarWinds NPM Implementation

Needed to make sure the OS had the proper version and the DB was installed correctly
  • Third-party professional services
Westcan ACS
Change management was minimal
  • Proper server OS versioning

SolarWinds NPM Training

  • Online training
  • Self-taught
Would like an in person course
Yes but to get the full benefit would recommend training

Configuring SolarWinds NPM

No it is just about right
None at this time
Some - we have done small customizations to the interface - A slight learning curve
No - we have not done any custom code
None at this time

SolarWinds NPM Support

Great support. I don’t give 10s unless they pay me!! :)
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
No - Not required at this point
Back when I was trying to get a server communicating with the reporting, support went out of their way to assist.

Using SolarWinds NPM

ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • New Device scans
  • Network maps
  • Node edits
  • Changing contact and alert settings
  • Upgrades

SolarWinds NPM Reliability

From the direction and information I have been given it is very flexible and scalelable
Has never failed me
Pages load slow, especially the bettors map. Could be that my server is old.

Integrating SolarWinds NPM

  • Nice recording solutions
  • Avtec consoles
  • Hexagon CAD
  • Motorola P35 radio
yes
  • Single Signon
Nothing at this stage

Relationship with SolarWinds

Had to change the billing info, that was difficult
Westcan has always been awesome
Installation, configuration, testing and as-build ducumentaion
None

Upgrading SolarWinds NPM

Yes - Yes, but the new release did slow the system down significantly
  • Haven’t used it yet
  • Redundant server configuration for high availability