Ixia Hawkeye Reviews

Our objective is to evaluate the performance of GPON and DOCSIS networks which involves considering factors such as pricing, sales, and the technical aspects of conducting tests. To achieve this, various performance tests are carried out, including but not limited to traceroute tests, STP tests, and other performance assessments such as video streaming tests.

The testing process is integrated with SolarWinds and other tools, such as Python, to facilitate a comprehensive assessment. To execute these tests, you select the appropriate API, conduct the generic test, and store the results in an internal database. Subsequently, you analyze these outcomes to identify areas where network performance can be enhanced.

Distinguishing itself from network management systems like SolarWinds Orion and Dataminer, Hawkeye offers a distinctive feature. It empowers network administrators to access specialized and detailed views for specific tests, including video streaming and performance related to specific applications like video games. In contrast, SolarWinds and Dataminer typically offer a more general evaluation of network health. Hawkeye's unique capability enables a detailed analysis of network performance through specific tests, allowing administrators to identify areas in need of improvement and take precise actions to enhance network performance.

Improvements in network performance are essential.

I have been using it for four years.

It contributes to enhancing performance, but at times, it may be essential to combine it with tools like SolarWinds or others to achieve even better performance or gain more detailed insights.

I would rate the scalability capabilities ten out of ten.

I would rate its customer support services nine out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup was straightforward.

The pricing structure is contingent on the number of devices within your network. In larger networks, the costs for licenses tend to be more reasonable, but for smaller networks, it appears relatively costly.

We evaluated SolarWinds as well.

The platform is exceptionally user-friendly and offers the flexibility to easily create and execute programming scripts, whether it's for Linux using Python or batch scripting. I have a strong preference for these features. Overall, I would rate it ten out of ten.

I use this solution differently compared to how others use it. I use it as a traffic generator. We have five people within our team using this solution. This includes network engineers and IT specialists.

The ease of setup is the most valuable aspect of this solution. It's easy to set up and run tests. 

There are quite a few ways that this solution could be improved. You can't delete more than one thing at a time. It would be great to be able to highlight three out of five things and delete them, whether it's a test or an actual report. 

We'd also like to have access to more types of tests. There's no data, SQL or SQL type testing so you can't simulate any type of storage protocols.

When it comes to their traffic mix, it would be nice to have different sets of data that you can send across, especially when you're working on QoS.

I have been using this solution for a year and a half. 

This is a stable solution for what we use it for. 

This solution is scalable from a network point of view. When it comes to scalability and new features, there are features we have been waiting for for a year and a half and that as been disappointing. 

I would rate the technical support for this solution a seven out of ten. The issue that I have is with the emails back and forth. It is difficult getting them on a call to work on the issues.

Neutral

The initial setup is easy and straightforward. 

The value of this solution lies in identifying issues that might occur in production if we promote something in pre-production. 

It cost us approximately 25,000 for two years. This is cheaper than ThousandEyes.

My advice on using this solution depends on what you want to use it for. If you're going to implement it with Hawkeye, I would recommend purchasing it with some type of support where the Hawkeye engineers or SMEs can work with you to set up the conditions within the environment.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten. If they invested some money on engineering and advancements, it would be a ten out of ten. They currently have some limitations.

We are a solution provider and Ixia Hawkeye is one of the products that we implement for our customers. We have a customer in Central America that is in the telco industry and needed to have greater visibility. When they tried it, they loved it and bought it.

Our customer was happiest with the price of this product. It was the lowest cost one and a great price.

Ixia has one flaw, which is that they do not print the license code on the paper licenses that are shipped to the customers. This impacts technical support because once you have to contact the vendor, they begin asking for that number. It's something that should be upfront, part of the order processing, and readily available. Also, when we do the installation or our partner does it, then when we need to start calling people, the number is not available. It's not something that can be easily addressed over the phone because it is long, with a lot of letters in it.

There are features available in the Threat Simulator that are not available in the main product.

The implementation is ongoing, but there have been no problems with stability so far. It is being put in place and everything is going smoothly.

This is a scalable solution and our customer is very large. They purchased 25 points initially, and I think they're going to migrate to 100 points, pretty soon.

I find that technical support is good. However, because of the issue where the license codes are not printed, the first impression that customers often have is that the technical support is lost. We shield this impression, but that is what is happening.

This is was the client's first monitoring software. They choose it because they trust both us and the partner.

The deployment is ongoing right now. We just delivered it last month, but I know that so far, there are no hiccups.

Our customer purchased professional service and training with the product.

We may assist our client with maintenance, although things seem to be doing pretty smoothly.

So far, this product is doing exactly what it is promised to do.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

I use it mainly for proof of concept for our customers, for example, to validate the internet service with different applications. The most common application is Netflix throughput and checks on the website.

The most valuable feature is the deployment because it's very easy to deploy real flow through the network. The deployment and the test are very easy to use. For example, to run a test or to schedule a test is very simple. The throughput test is very useful because I see the maximum bandwidth, the latency, and the packet loss. The graph is also easy to understand.

The customization of tests and even the results can be improved. With the results, you can only create a PDF that can't be modified. At the moment, you can only insert specific KPIs and create a PDF.

In the next release, I want a network operation center to measure the logs. I would also like to see more customization and more graphs. I want a comparison tool to compare two tests or two graphs. For example, run two different tests and compare the results, the graphs, see the values, and see what happened.

I have been using Ixia Hawkeye for almost one year.

The scalability of the solution is great. It's easy to aggregate more and more proofs.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give technical support a ten. I have direct contact, and they are fast. 

The setup was difficult the first time I used it, but the second and the third were very easy. The hardest part is to connect the proof to the server. This took an hour and a half.

I've looked at other solutions that handle millions of proofs. While connecting the proof to the server is okay, it's too difficult to manage it all when you want to increase that number.

I would recommend Ixia Hawkeye because there are some KPIs that are very useful. You can see how you work, how your network is, and if there is a problem with certain sites. It's a useful tool, and I recommend it.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give it a ten.