Item: SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM)
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are a University with multiple locations with one Network Engineer to manage and monitor all locations. SolarWinds NPM allows us to monitor all devices from one console including switches, routers, and printers. It
allows us to monitor for hardware errors and bandwidth bottlenecks which is a major help in troubleshooting error and planning for the future.

Pros and Cons

Alert when a network device is down.
Monitor device for hardware errors.
Monitor bandwidth usage across network.

Wireless heat maps could be improved. We have multiple AP vendors and from experience, it only works with certain vendors.

Return on Investment

It has been a game changer in network monitoring the network across our various locations.

Alternatives Considered

Observium, PRTG Network Monitor and NetCrunch by AdRem Software

We tested Observium as an alternative to Solarwinds in the past and it required all host to be added by DNS instead of IP addresses which we prefer. We have over 2000 devices so creating DNS records for all of these was a deal breaker.

We tested PRTG and it required to much resources, after around 100 nodes we could not stop the server from crashing.

We tested NetCrunch and it worked fine for our Cisco devices but we could not get it to work with our Procurve and Fortinet devices

Key Insights

Do you think SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM)'s feature set?

Yes

Did SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) again?

Yes

Other Software Used

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM), SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM), SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM)

Likelihood to Recommend

SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor is well suited for monitoring bandwidth usage on network to find bottlenecks. We use the atlas with our switches and view the bandwidth on the links. This has proven very helpful in many occasions to identifying switches sending high amounts of traffic. SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor is also well suited for monitoring devices for hardware errors. It's very helpful to identify errors that may not be apparent such as one bad fan or failing POE modules on switches. With this info we can schedule a replacement of the device with errors before it becomes a problem for users.

Review of SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor

Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM)