SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Reviews

For SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, I have worked on the entire SolarWinds Orion Platform. I have worked upon almost all the modules of SolarWinds and I have leveraged the NPM, NCM, SAM, NTA, different modules of SolarWinds to achieve business objectives. I find this tool really good in perspective of network device monitoring. I have integrated this tool in my previous organization with other tools for auto-ticketing.

I have been working with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer for almost five to six years, both in my current organization and my previous organization. To be precise, they want to monitor the traffic to optimize the performance of the infrastructure. If in a particular LAN or in a particular location the traffic is more, then through the SolarWinds NTA module, they can further drill down to where the traffic is going. They can monitor any specific user on a specific site, such as Netflix, YouTube, or something similar, which can be drilled down to that level in SolarWinds.

Regarding applications, I haven't worked much on it, so I am not very aware of that part because mostly I have done traffic monitoring. For applications, we were using different tools for application monitoring, so I'm not very comfortable with that aspect.

The dashboards of the NTA module are very interactive and precise. It provides detailed information with drill-down facility. We can check issues from a subnet to a particular location, to a specific website. To that level, we can drill down in the dashboard.

The dashboard output is good, and we can create modern dashboards. We can leverage the SolarWinds Query Language (SWQL), which is an out-of-the-box SolarWinds language to create modern dashboards. The dashboard features I personally appreciate the most in the SolarWinds module.

Regarding alerting, it has many out-of-the-box alerts configured, such as device down, SNMP not responding, CPU or memory usage. These alerts can be customized as per requirements.

It has excellent alerting features and reporting capabilities. We can create reports based upon alerts or events. Many out-of-the-box reports are present in SolarWinds which we can leverage. For alerts, the dashboards are excellent, allowing us to segregate alerts based upon groups, location, or specific device type. These options are available within SolarWinds, and we can customize them as per requirements.

It provides proactive monitoring, rather than waiting for applications to go down due to heavy bandwidth or latency. We can identify issues ahead of time and resolve them before they become critical situations. This module is particularly helpful in identifying issues before they turn into significant problems.

Regarding improvement, the application monitoring capabilities are not exceptional. If SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer could improve in that area, it would be helpful.

It is less AIOps driven actually.

I have been using the solution for almost five to six years.

The solution is quite stable. I haven't encountered any monitoring issues. I would rate it somewhere around 8 to 9 for stability.

The customer service is good, and I would rate it around 8. Sometimes we encounter engineers who don't have sufficient knowledge, which delays issue resolution. However, most of the time the service is good.

Positive

Before SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, we were using Spectrum, which was earlier managed by CA Technologies, but has been taken over by Broadcom. We call it Broadcom NetOps now, though earlier it was called CA Spectrum. We were using that tool for monitoring network devices and servers. That tool is very costly. Broadcom NetOps is costly, so we moved network monitoring from Broadcom NetOps to SolarWinds.

We did look into other solutions, but when we compared features and pricing, we found this tool ideal for our requirement and environment. Therefore, we chose SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer.

I have been working with different observability, AIOps tools, such as SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, xMatters, Spectrum, and other tools.

NetFlow is a protocol which we use when a router is being monitored. We enable NetFlow, which is mostly done by the network teams. As a solution architect of the tool, we do the configuration required at the SolarWinds end, but at the device end, the network team enables this NetFlow protocol. Once they enable it, the traffic monitoring starts within the SolarWinds console.

Regarding integration, it's mostly the integration of the entire SolarWinds software with other tools. We integrated SolarWinds with ServiceNow for auto-ticketing. It provides out-of-the-box integration with many third-party tools such as ServiceNow, or event management tools such as xMatters from Everbridge or BigPanda. The integration is straightforward, which users can easily achieve.

We primarily monitor bandwidth, latency, and response time. These are the three metrics we monitor frequently.

My overall rating for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is 7 out of 10.

I assess the impact of the alerting and reporting capabilities of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer by using email alerts and SMS alerts, which are very important as we get the instant report of any fault or any issue or any warning by using these SMS alerts and email alerts.

I track the performance and efficiency of our network by following our developed internal escalation matrix and report matrix based on our team strength and different roles of each technical resource.

I use the application recognition feature within SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer.

The application recognition feature of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer has helped me identify and manage bandwidth-intensive applications by providing insight into the applications and their behavior regarding bandwidth consumption, so I can reverse engineer and advise my application development teams if there are any lightweight applications causing unnecessary traffic and using bandwidth that should not be consumed.

The integration of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer with other SolarWinds tools such as Network Performance Monitor is very important for our network visibility, as integration is quite simple and smooth if you follow the standard process mentioned in the SolarWinds guidelines and knowledge base documentation.

There is always room for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, such as implementing instant reporting based on business intelligence reports and more granular filters in their dashboard to improve the GUI view and reporting.

The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model is quite costly compared to other brands. If users are comfortable with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, they have to make the hard decision to invest, and it's suggested from a user's perspective that SolarWinds should improve their financial model and licensing to become competitive, especially for small to medium businesses.

I have been using SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer for around 7-8 years.

I would rate the stability of the product as 8 out of 10.

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is a scalable solution, and by adding licenses, I can use the same deployment and instance to onboard more elements and nodes.

I would rate the scalability of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer as 7 out of 10 because overall the product and infrastructure are stable, but minor issues occur in the dashboards and page crashes that can be resolved by restarting services or the console, which remains an area for improvement.

I rate the support in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer as 10 out of 10 because whenever I open a tech ticket, they respond instantly, and their engineer is well-equipped to resolve the issues.

Positive

I have previously used different solutions such as open source solutions, IBM monitoring systems, MRTG, and OPManager, as I have worked on multiple monitoring solutions.

The deployment of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer was not difficult, as the partner we hired by our company was experienced in SolarWinds deployments and had already performed deployments in many organizations in our country.

The deployment process for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer required around one day for installation of the product and one day for configurations according to our requirement and our network, so it was up and running in a couple of days after the infrastructure was handed over.

Two to three people were actually involved in the installation of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer; one was a database expert and one was the application expert and networks.

There is a return on investment when purchasing SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, as in the long run, there is a return on investments, but businesses with very tight budgets think carefully about all investments, so improving could lead to more business for SolarWinds.

The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model is quite costly compared to other brands.

Before choosing SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, I did evaluate alternatives and considered all available options against their features, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer was preferred for its vast features and visibility that other vendors lack in multiple ways.

I am working with solutions such as SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, and I do know this product. I have not utilized the flow data analysis feature of the SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. I rate this solution 8 out of 10.

We are using SolarWinds and have all the modules with us, including NetFlow and NPM. It is primarily used for Ampeller's Internet connectivity and device health monitoring. 

Additionally, we use it to generate monthly reports to present to management regarding bandwidth usage and clients. To justify the Bandwidth.

The bandwidth indicates the utilization of the devices; if any issue occurs, it triggers an alert for me.

The plotting of the device on the map is not appropriate. It should be like a Meraki cloud, where if you are familiar with Meraki devices, you can locate any device directly on the world map.

We have been using the solution for around six to seven years.

So far, it is a very stable product.

Scaling depends on the ports. The license is based on the count of the ports. If you want to increase or decrease, you need to email them, and they will manage the licensing accordingly.

We have the expertise in-house. Sometimes if we face any issue, we call them for troubleshooting. I would rate support eight out of ten.

Positive

We have one more tool with us: zabbix

If you talk about the device part, device complication takes ten to 15 minutes. For troubleshooting, it may take 30 minutes.

NetFlow does not add any cost-saving benefits. It is just for monitoring purposes. For the support team, it displays which device is up, which site is up and running, and which has issues.

Prices care comparable.

They can explore it based on their infrastructure, capacity, and the cost they plan to spend. There are many free tools available in the market, such as Zabbix, which can fulfill the needs of small-scale environments.

The tool itself is very complicated, so training is required to handle it effectively. Configuration and the streamlining process are very complex. In my view, it is a good product if properly configured and streamlined according to your IT infrastructure. For enterprise-level organizations, SolarWinds is more appropriate than for small and medium enterprises. 

I would rate the solution eight out of ten.

I find this tool very helpful in identifying the top traffic paths from source to destination, and determining which routes are consuming the most resources. In this way, NetFlow provides more insights. For example, consider a scenario where I have a one-gig circuit connecting two locations.

This tool provides insights into top utilization applications or it identifies which circuit or application is consuming the most on the complete one-gig circuit traffic path. This feature makes net flows very visible to me and to customers, showing what is happening at the backend. This is the main feedback I receive from customers about how NetFlow is being managed.

In the NetFlow, there are areas where improvements are needed. Currently, it shows only the top ten applications or ports in use, while the remaining data appears as 'remaining traffic,' causing confusion. This makes it difficult for me and for customers to identify all traffic usage. If SolarWinds can address this, it would benefit many customers, including me. 

Also, the alerting mechanism has limitations. Ideally, NetFlow should have a robust alerting mechanism. In technical support, I notice a delay in high-priority cases. Even when I am purchasing licenses, support responses should not take two or three hours. When I ask for prompt support, they suggest upgrading to premium, which I believe should not be necessary.

I have used the solution for 11 years.

I would rate the stability around eight out of ten.

I would rate scalability as ten out of ten.

In technical support, I face a few issues. They often say that only premium subscribers receive support within one or two hours. For system-down cases, I notice a delay of an hour in response, even for high-priority cases. 

They suggest upgrading to premium for faster support, which seems unreasonable to me as license purchasers should receive timely support. My payment justifies the expectation for efficient service.

Positive

The initial setup is simple, actually, and not that complex.

With the NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, I find that no other tool in the market competes with SolarWinds in the same way. Based on my experience with different tools, such as HP (now Micro Focus), AppDynamics, and Dynatrace, SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer offers a unique solution with more functionalities than Datadog, although Datadog provides somewhat similar features.

I cannot confirm the financial aspect, however, I find that the tool saves time and helps identify root causes. From a cost perspective, I am not the right person to advise. I have not encountered any other tool that exceeds what SolarWinds offers in network traffic analysis. 

The rating is eight out of ten.

We use the network traffic analyzer for network bandwidth utilization and to understand where traffic is slow or unresponsive on the devices. It helps us understand how traffic is traversing the network.

It is also used in the manufacturing industry, but it's primarily for devices connected to the network, both in manufacturing and IT. It's not specific to any industry but rather used for the overall enterprise network.

NetFlow Traffic Analyzer has impacted our troubleshooting processes. It really helps most of the time and gives a lot of information. 

However, there's a bit of a challenge in terms of navigation, and there are some limitations in the current Orion product. The new features in Orion and the high observability might have new features. 

It provides more insights. I can see how spikes or the time interval. I can set up and customize the time when I want to see how I want to see the traffic. For the customization, I can go ahead and put my time interval, which intervals I want to see the traffic, and how it is behaving. 

So I can point out the exact root cause 'why.' If there is a slowness, I can point out what was before the issue or before the slowness, what it is, and what is now so I can really compare. I can determine that. This could be a potential cause. Then I need to drill down why it is causing that spike at that particular point in time. Maybe I need to drill down on the server level and component level.

The product is the response. SolarWinds team's response when there is an issue with the responsiveness to address some of the issues is very slow. And also, if I have a priority issue that needs to be fixed, they don't understand the customer's pain. They go their own way of doing things. They don't understand the customer's pain.

Second, they don't assess the impact. If my monitoring system is not available, maybe something is not getting monitored, or I am unable to pull some availability reports. Maybe I'm unable to analyze it. They don't understand the impact of that unavailability on the business users. This is the only source of truth where I can go ahead and talk to my business and say that, hey, it is not because of XYZ, but because of this reason.

Maybe there could be a possibility that business might be running heavy app job schedules, which might have impacted the network traffic during business hours. If I want to point that out, I need this tool to be available. I'm not saying it should be 100% available, but at least if there is an issue, people should understand and react. There should be some sense of urgency.

This product has a lot more capabilities. If SolarWinds is focused more on how the industry is trending toward creating some dashboards and user-friendly dashboards or a little bit of customization. I guess SolarWinds has more capabilities. The representation might require a little bit of a tweak because SolarWinds has been in the industry for a longer time.

But due to responsiveness of the support and the features. The product is coming up with a lot of features, but the navigation or the way it is being perceived by the customers is not right because of a lack of documentation or the lack of responsiveness as well as a lack of dashboards, especially on the dashboards.

When I use a monitoring tool, it is a single source of truth. If I need to run an NOC or a SOC, it is the only dashboard I can look at, my Analyzer or my technical teams. But that single pane of view is not reversible.

Many customers where I have seen it integrate this with either an open source like Grafana or some Power BI to have their own way of giving the dashboards. That is not necessary because if I compare it with other products, they have their own dashboards, which I can customize, but that's not the case with SolarWinds.

We have been using SolarWinds since 2017. So, like, seven years almost.

Scalability is a new feature. I started seeing new features coming in, but I haven't used them. I started reading about it, and there are a lot of other features they introduced, like observability. I haven't tried it, but from what I've read, there are a lot of things SolarWinds talks about.

It is used by 25 to 30 people in my organization. 

Till now, I haven't experienced a "wow" factor with SolarWinds' technical support. 

Neutral

From SolarWinds, we also use NPM, NCM, IPAM, and NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA).

The initial setup is straightforward. But SolarWinds requires heavy resources.

If I'm on a cloud, they recommend 16 cores and 1 TB or 500 GB of disk, which might not be required for the initial setup. 

But a single setup on Azure, AWS, or Google with the SQL database requires an enterprise edition with an 8-core CPU, which costs INR 45,000.

The pricing is great. I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, where ten is the most expensive and one is cheap. 

We went straight to SolarWinds. In 2017, it was one of the leading products for network monitoring with many capabilities. There were no other products that came close. 

Other products have emerged since then, but at the time, SolarWinds was the master of network monitoring. We didn't evaluate any other products.

I would recommend NetFlow Traffic Analyzer to others considering it , but it's just one module. There are other features like NCM, NTF, topology, and observability. It's an overall product. I recommend SolarWinds for network-heavy organizations like AT&T, which are completely secured in the network. For those organizations, I recommend no other tool but SolarWinds.

Overall, I would rate it an eight out of ten. 

We use SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer primarily to check and collect flow data from multiple devices, including Cisco, Juniper, and Huawei platforms. Our main focus is monitoring bandwidth usage across different devices and regions. Monitoring bandwidth application traffic is the primary concern.

The best feature is customizable reporting, which includes network diagrams and monitoring of various types of bandwidth usage and peak times. These reports are crucial for managing bandwidth usage and network management within our organization.

Deployment needs improvement. The process is complicated, requiring attention to infrastructure settings and installation of components like the origin application server, platform, close storage, and policy agents. Bundling these would be beneficial. Performance and report scheduling could also be improved through high-level reporting enhancements.

We have been using SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer for seventeen to eighteen years.

I would rate the stability of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer as eight out of ten.

The solution is quite scalable, and I would rate it an eight out of ten.

The support is excellent. I received efficient responses to many questions, and I am very satisfied with their technical support, rating it nine out of ten.

Positive

We are happy with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer because it provides this type of support, and we have not worked with other vendors.

The initial setup was straightforward for us, as we have been using the product for a long time.

Technically, we had four people involved in the implementation, including engineers and someone from the vendor side.

We improved cost management, reducing three or four bandwidth links for 2023 budgeting, saving approximately eleven to twelve Mbps of usage.

I am very satisfied with the pricing and provide a rating of nine out of ten.

No alternative solutions were evaluated as we are satisfied with the current product.

The overall rating for the solution is eight out of ten.

We use the solution for capacity planning.

Consider a business that moves into online trading, creating a hybrid environment where the network is partly controlled by a cloud provider and partly by the company. In such a scenario, I could reduce network consumption within the organization by moving some applications to the cloud. By simulating this change, I can analyze the impact on network traffic. If the simulation shows a significant reduction in traffic, it may be more cost-effective to move applications to the cloud rather than reengineer the entire network.

We conduct network traffic analysis for a couple of key reasons. First, we look for traffic anomalies, such as unexpected increases or decreases in network traffic within specific segments. This helps us determine if the network needs to be re-architected.

We also analyze peak bandwidth and bandwidth consumption across various network segments, which is crucial if someone is planning to transition to software-defined networks. The network traffic analyzer tool allows us to simulate scenarios and compare before-and-after results. Additionally, it supports traffic sources like NetFlow and SFlow, and we regularly check the quality of service using NetFlow.

The tool handles a variety of protocols, such as NetFlow version 5 and version 9, JFlow, and SFlow, making it independent of the underlying technology.

The analysis can utilize algorithms like K-means clustering or associative neural networks for predictions rather than relying on generative AI, which is more suited for text. For example, by setting parameters and analyzing current network growth trends of 2% to 3%, the tool can predict when a specific network segment might run out of bandwidth—in six months, eight months, or a year. This allows for early planning and proactive management of network resources.

I have been using SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer since 2015-16. We deployed it at Hamad Port, the Qatar Investment Authority in Australia, and for the Victorian government’s data center. It’s a valuable network tool that almost every network engineer or anyone managing networks would find essential.

The product is very stable.

I rate the solution’s stability a nine out of ten.

It is suitable for medium to enterprise.

I rate the solution’s scalability a nine out of ten.

SolarWinds is excellent with its presets and typically requires an implementation partner, which is beneficial since we are one. However, SolarWinds itself primarily offers product support and not much in the way of technical support. Once the network is set up, you’ll need additional network expertise to handle any technical issues.

Positive

Wireshark is free. It is highly relevant and effective, though it's often considered a lower-cost option. The choice often comes down to budget considerations. It's a far superior product with excellent support and stability. It's easy to deploy and more suited for professional use. While Wireshark is effective for troubleshooting certain tasks, it's not typically used for regular network traffic analysis. Wireshark has its place but is not a standard tool for continuous network monitoring.

The initial setup is straightforward for network engineers due to their high skill level, making it as manageable as any other tool. These tools require deep technical and infrastructure knowledge. It’s not as simple as installing Word or PowerPoint.

Deploying a network traffic monitor as a SaaS model isn't traditionally accepted, and most people aren't comfortable with it. It could become more common, but likely only for budget reasons.

The product is expensive.

I rate the product’s pricing as one out of ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap.

I 100% recommend the solution.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We use SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer primarily for monitoring our network traffic. We are exporting the flows from our network devices to SolarWinds, which then creates graphs showing the amount of traffic and the types of protocols in use, such as HTTP, TCP, and UDP.

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer helps us identify issues when there is a link overload. It allows us to pinpoint which protocol is overloading the link.

The most valuable aspect is its ability to identify issues when there is an overloaded link. It helps with applying QoS or traffic engineering in the network. It offers basic traffic visibility, which is essential in daily network operations.

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer could improve its flexibility and integration with AI to provide analytics beyond just showing up/down statuses and traffic volumes.

Our environment often experiences issues with the stability of the solution due to the large database size. We frequently encounter outages and slow performance.

The scalability of this solution is not impressive. As the number of devices exporting NetFlow data increases, we need to expand our database and server capacities. Eventually, this hits hardware limits, making it more complex to manage.

I do not have direct contact with SolarWinds' customer service. Another team manages that, so I cannot evaluate the quality of support. However, I know some people who do contact them.

Neutral

We have used solutions like NetScout before. NetScout provided more detailed and granular information about protocols and their communications, offering deeper insights than SolarWinds.

The initial setup is relatively complex, involving several servers and databases. It is more complicated than setting up other solutions like ThousandEyes.

At least five to ten people were involved in the deployment, and currently, five individuals work exclusively on maintaining SolarWinds, although they also manage other products.

I think the return on investment for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is not very high. There are other solutions, some cheaper or even free, that offer similar or better quality, making SolarWinds less valuable in this aspect.

We evaluated other solutions like NetScout, which provided better insights and information compared to SolarWinds.

If you are a new company or team looking to invest in a network monitoring tool, I might advise against choosing SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. It is very basic and does not offer anything special compared to other tools.

I'd rate the solution four out of ten.

We use the solution for traffic devices.

The solution helps manage networks.

The solution should improve its automation feature. It's quite limited compared to other products. There is less automation provisioning, requiring much manual work from engineering technicians. If the automation were improved, it would be much better. It would be easy to implement and integrate future requirements.

I have been using SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer for eight years.

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

The solution is scalable. It simplifies management by allowing organizations to scale up and down easily. 

800 users are using this solution. I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten.

The initial setup is straightforward and takes two to three weeks to complete.

The product's pricing depends on the functionality.

I rate the product’s pricing a out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.

We identified the very important skills. This capability allows us to isolate and analyze elements that consume resources, enabling us to allocate dedicated resources. It has also allowed us to classify network devices based on their resource consumption, ensuring they don't overuse the available resources in the pool. Additionally, it helps us plan and reallocate resources for other needs.

The alert system in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is effective for maintaining network stability.

The solution will undergo some integration. Once you have completed the integration, you won't need to intervene frequently. You can create automated workflows to send the data to the lab, enhancing its capabilities.

64 people are needed to do maintenance within an organization for traffic analyzers.

SolarWinds needs to enhance its automation. If the automation were more advanced, it would be even better. Despite this, it's still quite effective from the endpoint perspective.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

We are a distributor for SolarWinds Network Traffic Analyzer (NTA) and the majority of our customers are in the banking sector. For security reasons, we deploy the solution for our customers on-premises (it's not allowed to be cloud-based).

Our customers' standard use case for SolarWinds NTA is the monitoring of bandwidth and all the traffic flowing through their networks.

The bandwidth monitoring functionality is one of the most important features for our customers. When the customer notices that their bandwidth usage is too high for some reason, they will use the traffic analysis within SolarWinds NTA to identify which protocols (e.g. HTTPS) or applications are using up the bandwidth.

Another solid feature of SolarWinds NTA is their reports. They offer real-time traffic reports that show updates every five to 10 seconds.

For the most part, our customers are satisfied with the features already present within NTA, as they mainly use it for checking to see if their bandwidth usage is okay and within reason.

One area that we struggle with is the price. Because the price of this solution is so high, we are largely unable to introduce it into the local market, and only the banking sector has the means to afford it.

The biggest reason for this is because SolarWinds charges their users per ports, such that if you have a 24-port switch, they will charge you for 24 nodes, rather than count it as one single switch. In contrast, solutions such as ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer charge users per switch, which they count as a single node. 

Besides the pricing, I also think that the technical support could be better. When we call SolarWinds' tech support, it usually takes at least 10 to 15 minutes for a response. And when you send an email, you will again have to wait some time for a response, and sometimes this can be upwards of four to five hours.

I have been working with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer for two years.

I would rate SolarWinds NTA a seven out of ten in terms of stability. In my experience, it is more stable than solutions such as ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer, which occasionally has issues with server hangs when viewing real-time reports.

As an enterprise-level product, SolarWinds NTA is certainly scalable. Our customers in the banking sector are able to purchase more than 1,400 nodes at a time, and some customers have purchased up to 15,000 nodes.

The technical support from SolarWinds for this solution is average, in my opinion, and the response times could certainly be improved. We have to wait 10 to 15 minutes for a response when calling them, but when emailing them they sometimes only get back to you four or five hours later.

As a result, we have found that it's much more sensible to call them directly to get a ticket number and start the support process from there.

The setup is not very complicated. The first time I saw it, it looked difficult, but now it's easy to configure.

The price is high, and typically only suitable for our customers in the banking sector. In the local market outside of banking, customers are not interested in SolarWinds NTA because it is so expensive.

SolarWinds' pricing structure is the primary reason why some customers opt for another solution such as ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer. In NTA, you are charged per port, meaning that if you have a 24-port switch you will be charged for 24 individual nodes. ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer, on the other hand, charges per switch, such that if you add a switch, the entire switch will count as one single node.

Two others solutions that we can compare with SolarWinds NTA are SolarWinds NPM (Network Performance Monitor) and ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer.

We have found that our banking customers prefer SolarWinds NPM compared to NTA because in NPM you can also view factors such as CPU and switch utilization, and check which ports are up or down. On the whole, they can monitor much more with NPM, and this is especially important for the banking sector. When it comes to networked devices such as ATMs, NPM provides good notification features where customers can be notified via email or SMS whenever an ATM link goes down.

ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer is another similar solution to SolarWinds NTA, but it's not nearly as good compared to SolarWinds NTA and NPM in terms of real-time reporting. ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer's reporting seems to suffer from server hanging issues and it sometimes takes a minute or more to update the reports.

Overlooking the pricing and the response times from their technical support, SolarWinds NTA is a good solution and our existing customers are satisfied with the product.

I would rate SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer a six out of ten.