SolarWinds Security Event Manager Reviews

I work with all SolarWinds products mostly, including Network Configuration Manager and NPM.

I am a reseller. I usually recommend SolarWinds products for Loop1. It's for the bigger ones; we are the main partner for SolarWinds.

SolarWinds IPAM is quite popular in my region, and more than IPAM, NPM and other products are used, with NPM being the main product.

For SolarWinds Security Event Manager, we are using it for a certain level. I find the most valuable features in SolarWinds Security Event Manager to be NPM, and its modern dashboard.

The dashboard, reports, and alerts are the main features regarding its functionality. SolarWinds Security Event Manager's USB device monitoring is for a certain level; it's not a pure SIEM, but for that certain level, it's a good product.

NCM Compliance Report is a good tool, and it's mostly used in the client environment. It is very powerful, though you need to spend more time on configuration, but it is a great tool.

I find the most valuable features in SolarWinds Security Event Manager to be NPM and its modern dashboard.

The dashboard, reports, and alerts are the main features regarding its functionality.

The log analyzing capability of SolarWinds Security Event Manager should go into more depth than the current environment.

More modification and enhancements are required on the dashboard side in order to make it closer to optimal performance.

From observation and feedback from users, they need more functionality related to monitoring, and in-depth analyzing needs to be improved.

I have been dealing with SolarWinds products for nearly four years now.

Regarding the technical support, we mainly provide it to clients from Loop1. When it comes to SolarWinds, they do provide support, but it's always better going with a partner because SolarWinds direct support is slow.

I would rate the support provided by SolarWinds as a six out of ten. It's not about the quality; it's about the speed of response.

Neutral

I am still dealing with SolarWinds products and use most of their solutions.

User-friendly configuration is key, and the configurations are simple, not complex. The only important part is what we do from the end-device side. It's normal and common for everybody, so there's no challenge in that part.

NCM Compliance Report is a good tool, and it's mostly used in the client environment. It is very powerful, though you need to spend more time on configuration, but it is a great tool.

I rate SolarWinds Security Event Manager a seven out of ten.

I use the solution in my company as it is where we can see what is happening in the network and correlate the information received.

I think the customization area in the tool can be considered as an area of concern where improvements are required

In the future, I want to see the tool have better customization abilities with some third-party vendors. For the on-premise version of the tool, the UI should be improved.

I have been using SolarWinds Security Event Manager for three years. My company has a partnership with SolarWinds.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

I deal with four customers who run medium-sized businesses.

The solution's technical support is helpful. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

Positive

I work with Microsoft.

The product's initial setup phase on the cloud is pretty easy but on an on-premises version, I think it is of a moderate level.

The solution is deployed on the cloud and on an on-premises model.

The time required to deploy the solution depends on the customers' infrastructure, and it may range from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, as it depends on how many additional custom configurations are required.

Around two to three engineers are usually involved in the tool's installation process.

The tool is available at a good price for customers compared to other solutions in the market. I rate the product's price as an eight out of ten.

I chose SolarWinds Security Event Manager over other vendors because our customer required an on-premises solution. SolarWinds Security Event Manager is also cheaper than others in the market.

The product's most effective part in improving security stems from the fact that the solution is deployed for event management, log viewing, and information management.

Speaking about the tool's real-time event correlation enhancing incident response, I would say that it is more than enough for the customer to whom we have deployed it. I don't see any additional improvements needed in the software.

In terms of the product's operational costs and cost-saving benefits, I would say that the solution is efficient.

I recommend the product to others.

I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

We had to integrate with other teams, and the infrastructure deployment didn't take long. The integration involves learning with different teams, networking, and configuring various network devices and servers. Infrastructure deployment only took one or two days. The deployment involves servers, such as the SolarWinds server. However, regarding networking and mapping, integrating all seven service centers took two to three weeks.

We have automated threat detection in the Alliance Security, Antoinette. However, if these features could be further enhanced, it would simplify my work, potentially allowing me to allocate more time to address complex issues. While we possess a robust automated web detection system, I have encountered some use cases where it does not perform as expected.

The only issue is the licensing cost, which is a bit higher. Scaling is very easy as long as we have additional resources and the infrastructure can accommodate the resources we commit to scaling. We may need to purchase additional licenses for configurations.

I have been using SolarWinds Security Event Manager for six years.

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

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

Comprehensive documentation and related materials are available through the support portal. Furthermore, the system's analytics can potentially resolve issues before they arise, enhancing its support capabilities.

Positive

The initial setup is straightforward.

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

We have to protect customer data, including any PII, accessed via the internet terminal. Additionally, we need to monitor events from network devices and servers that may raise suspicion, allowing us to analyze them and determine what is occurring.

SolarWinds affected your overall security costs. Considering the nature of our traffic, it has been very effective. We have proactively identified and addressed issues before they escalate into incidents.

I've noticed a reduced investment in handling event-related cases with SolarWinds Security Event Manager. This reduction includes reducing human resources and the time required for teams to provide 24/7 monitoring. Consequently, there has been a significant decrease in costs. Additionally, the platform enables us to address issues before they escalate into incidents, thus preventing revenue leakage. As a result, the organization experiences reduced costs and avoids revenue leakage.

Since the SolarWinds Security Event Manager implementation, the total budget allocated to security has been reduced by close to five percent. Initially, there was a heavy investment in that aspect, but we have observed this reduction in the allocated budget for the security team.

Since implementing SolarWinds Security Event Manager, the team members' pressure has been reduced. They can now concentrate on more critical tasks and development, promoting growth within their department rather than solely focusing on incident monitoring.

I recommend the solution.

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

We use the solution to monitor a large portion of the IT landscape, which includes our Windows servers, SQL database servers, and IBM servers. Some application-related monitoring is also done through SolarWinds Security Event Manager.

The most valuable feature of the solution is its flexibility because it is a very versatile product. You can use it to monitor Microsoft or Windows-related things. The solution helps you monitor database instances, application instances, other customer application things, Linux servers, IBM servers, and Oracle servers.

One of the drawbacks of being so flexible is that it is also a fairly complicated software application to install, configure, and maintain. Standardizing the monitoring configuration is difficult, and there can be some drift between monitoring targets in terms of the monitoring thresholds. It is quite a lot of work to ensure that everything is set up according to a specific baseline.

I have been using SolarWinds Security Event Manager for two years.

The solution's stability is okay and fairly reliable. We don't have many issues in terms of the stability of the monitoring environment.

I know that it is possible to scale the solution across multiple servers.

I rate SolarWinds Security Event Manager an eight out of ten for scalability.

The solution's initial setup is fairly difficult. I don't perform the actual installation of the product, but I work with the product by adding new monitoring targets and ensuring they are properly configured.

I don't deploy the application, but having monitoring targets, I would say it takes around 10 to 15 minutes to deploy the solution.

Since it is a fairly complicated product, I recommend doing a thorough assessment and product comparison between other comparable monitoring solutions to see if the pricing versus capabilities being offered are satisfactory. There are also other monitoring solutions that are perhaps cheaper or easier to set up, which can also meet your requirements. Double-check to see if SolarWinds Security Event Manager is indeed the monitoring solution you're looking for.

Overall, I rate the solution seven and a half out of ten.

I started using it in response to a job requirement, specifically related to my experience with a team product focused on IT projects and data loss prevention software.

It is an effective tool, serving as a vital component of my Unified Threat Management strategy. It plays a crucial role in applying multiple layers of security to my network and responding effectively to security threats. The security features are robust and responsive, particularly in dealing with various attacks on my network. The management control is commendable, providing a centralized view of all aspects. The user interface is user-friendly, making it easy to navigate and operate.

The installation proved to be significantly challenging. The inconvenience lies in the fact that SolarWinds is not VirtualBox-friendly and installation can be cumbersome. Figuring out the login credentials added another layer of complexity. The price is a big issue. The hardware requirements are demanding and expensive, adding to the overall high cost. Compatibility issues were a significant headache, as it didn't seamlessly integrate with many other software applications. Testing and figuring out the software's functionality took several months, especially considering the variety of software in use. It has limitations in terms of compatibility with certain security systems and solutions, being somewhat restricted in its adaptability.

I have been using it for the last twelve months.

The stability appears to be excellent, but a more extended usage would provide a more accurate assessment. I would rate it nine out of ten.

Scalability poses a challenge, and I rate it a five out of ten. There is room for improvement in this aspect. It is safeguarding the entire network, including around one hundred and fifty devices and all the data housed on the servers.

I am content with the technical support offered. They are efficient and responsive. I would rate it ten out of ten.

Positive

My decision to try SolarWinds was influenced by its prominence in search results.

The initial setup was complex. I would rate it four out of ten.

The entire process took around fifteen minutes, but it's crucial to approach it with professionalism. The challenge arose when it assigned an IP address from outside my network. To resolve this, I needed to create another virtual machine with a similar IP address to access the management console. I am personally responsible for accessing, maintaining, and managing the tool.

The cost is exorbitantly high. The trial version lasts for thirty days, but I found a subscription plan priced at four thousand five hundred monthly, making it thirty-one thousand two hundred and sixty dollars per year. I would rate it nine out of ten.

I explored several alternatives like Symantec ERP, because it stood out as a notable vendor. Recently, I have been evaluating Palantir, but determining the necessary prerequisites for Palantir usage remains uncertain, particularly in terms of resource requirements.

Apart from the pricing concern, it's a solid solution. It performs well, but I would recommend continuing with the free trial rather than purchasing at this point. From a technical standpoint, I would rate them highly, but considering the aspects for improvement, I would rate them eight out of ten.

I use SolarWinds for log and incident monitoring. More than 100 engineers at my company are currently using it. 

SolarWinds has provided greater visibility into incidents and activities on the network. It's crucial to have visibility into user activities, logins, event field attempts, etc.

SolarWinds is easy to configure, and it provides timely alerts.

I don't think SolarWinds is scalable enough. It is somewhat limited when I need to deploy it across multiple environments in a distributed architecture.

I have been using SolarWinds SEM for about four years.

SolarWinds is stable. 

I rate SolarWinds support eight out of 10. They're very helpful. 

Positive

I've used a couple of SEM solutions, like PRTG. SolarWinds is more like a log to get data or a smart listing. In many ways, SolarWinds is unique. I don't think there was a similar product. 

Setting up SolarWinds is straightforward, and you can deploy it in a few hours. One person is enough to deploy and maintain the solution. Our company trains people like me to use multiple solutions. 

For example, I am responsible for more than six solutions: SolarWinds, WhatsApp Gold, PRTG, and firewalls like MAC, TUM, WAF, etc. At other companies, you may have a whole team doing just two of those things. It may differ from company to company, but one person is enough at our firm.

You have to consider the costs of attacks. Sometimes it is not about what you get, but what you prevent yourself from losing. 

SolarWinds costs around $50,000, but I'm not certain because a different unit deals with costs.

I rate SolarWinds Security Event Manager eight out of 10. I would recommend it. Most of my friends are still using the solution. I rate it eight out of 10 because I think it still has room for improvement in terms of scalability. 

I would rate it nine for a small or medium-sized business. However, if I compare what it can do to the global market, it is more of an eight. When it was first released, these technologies were not too common, and SolarWinds LEM was still very popular. 

We use SolarWinds to comply with audit requirements because we must centralize all log collection. We don't use it on a day-to-day basis, but we employ it when we need to investigate, troubleshoot, monitor, or do anything else requiring a fixed-log or event management solution.

Initially, we had a five-person team, but we're still deploying it to other locations. The rest of the technical team will be using it, so ultimately, we will have around 50 users. I don't think there's a licensing limitation on the number of users who can access the system.

SolarWinds is effective for server, network, and log monitoring. It's also good for IP address management. We also have a patch manager, but we're still working on getting that operational. 

The only issue is the pricetag. SolarWinds is a costly solution. 

I have used SolarWinds SEM for around six months. The project is still ongoing. 

In the beginning, it wasn't stable, but it's okay now that we have done some fine-tuning on the database. But now it is okay, now it's okay.

The scalability depends on your hardware and the number of licenses you can purchase. SolarWinds has a license category called "Unlimited" that provides an unlimited number of probes for different locations. I think that's the one we purchased. However, the cost is way higher than our previous solution.

We have worked with SolarWinds support intensively. It's a vast product, so one tech engineer can't be an expert on the entire solution. There are different teams. For example, if we have issues with the network monitoring tools, there's a different team from that. There's another team that specializes in the log management system.

We previously used PRTG, but it cannot do patch management or IP address management. It can only do server and network monitoring. We switched to SolarWinds because it's more powerful than other competing solutions, and it has all the features needed to satisfy the requirements of our audits.

The driver behind our switch to SolarWinds was our internal audit department. When they performed the audit, they highlighted some gaps. For example, we need a patch manager to prevent vulnerabilities. We also needed a centralized log server for troubleshooting. 

Setting up SolarWinds is straightforward on a small network. It may be challenging for a larger, more complex network that extends to multiple remote locations, with firewalls between sites. During the deployment, we encountered some issues related to networks and firewalls, but SolarWinds support helped us make it work. 

You can complete the initial installation in under a day, but configuring it to monitor all your devices will take time. You must adjust some settings on the server and all the network devices you want to monitor.

We worked with a system integrator who is a local SolarWind partner. During project implementation, we also coordinated with SolarWinds technical support for assistance on the backend. 

From a security perspective, we see a return because we need to eliminate vulnerabilities to comply with our internal audits. 

I think we are paying the license on yearly basis.

I rate SolarWinds Security Event Manager eight out of 10. I would recommend it if your company has the budget and a need for the solution because of strict auditing requirements. 

If you are deploying it in a smaller environment, you won't have any issues, but you need to prepare the database and server to deploy in a large environment. You can't deploy out of the box. It requires some enhancements and improvements during the setup.

Its use case is to identify and help prevent and block known spyware or ransomware sites. Ransomware sites typically have bad IPs or domain names.

In terms of the version, I have had our clients log in and update the version a few times.

Some of the rules are most valuable because you can be notified about various things, such as spyware or things that are going on in the internal network.

It is a very technical program. They can simplify it so that it isn't so hard to deal with. 

You can be notified of various things, but you have to configure them. That's the downside. You got to work with it and configure it.

I have been using this solution for a couple of years. When we first started, it was flash-based, and now, it is not flash-based.

It is stable.

Its scalability is good now. Initially, we had some trouble with defining some of the hard drive things with ESXi.

When you get them on the phone, they're good. It could sometimes be tough to connect with them. Sometimes, you find someone who is probably a technician, but you need an engineer.

It is fairly complex, but once we have it installed and running, there is not much need to look at anything. Initially, when you set it up, it'll take a technician about a week to get things running close to right. It also depends on the time he has to sit down and do it.

It will identify things in your network that you just didn't know were going on. It will certainly open your eyes to other things that you might need.

Dot your i's and cross your t's. If you're looking for something specific, then you better specify that when you talk to the sales engineers and the engineers. Always talk to an engineer after you talk to the sales guys, just to confirm that what they said is true and accurate.

For non-Windows or non-Linux devices, they may not have a connector. So, that's where you need to go and ask somebody if it will support your device.

I would rate it a seven out of 10. The only reason for that is some of the complexity of the rules.

I basically use it to look at the logs that are coming in, analyze those logs, and get recommendations of where we have problems.

It has in-depth monitoring capabilities and an easy way for setting up dashboards. I can expand in various areas, or I can reduce areas. It supports different types of breakdowns, filters, and rules. 

It is very simple for an out-of-the-box type of product. It doesn't take a lot of time to figure it out, which is unlike some of the solutions that I have looked at. It meets all the aspects.

Under the new system, it is not upgradable the way they say. When you try to do an upgrade, it doesn't really work unless you dump everything and start from scratch. You lose a lot of your nodes. Whenever you set your nodes up and everything else, they don't want to bring those nodes back in, so you have to really go back and restructure all your nodes. I went from version 6.5 to version 6.6 and then to version 6.7. I then went to version 2019, and now it is version 2020. It would be good if we can upgrade without having to delete everything and start from scratch.

They can maybe build more KPIs and other things for the dashboard. Some of the other systems already have built-in KPIs. SolarWinds is starting to catch up, but it is not there yet. They can include some of the business or industry standards for tracking the time, that is, the meantime to detect (MTTD) and the meantime to resolve (MTTR). They can also find a way to build a KPI that measures the number of instances of port scans experienced in a week or a month.

I have been using SolarWinds LEM for a year and a half.

It is stable.

It is scalable. Altogether, we have about five actual users. I got myself as the administrator, and then there are a couple of people who do the monitoring. I have got 2,000 systems listed on it.

In terms of a team, I would say you need at least three people for what I am doing. I am using the key research logs and pulling data from these logs. For one person, it takes a lot of time to do what I am doing right now.

I am very satisfied with their technical support.

I had another system, but I wasn't happy with it and its service and support. We just let it go.

The initial setup is straightforward. The actual initial installation is not a problem. The problems come when you do your upgrades with it.

It took about a week to set it up and get all little things going in the way I wanted to. To make sure that correct data logs are going in, I tweaked some of the rules and filters and the domain across the net with individual systems.

We originally started out with the seller, but when we did the first upgrade, it didn't go the way it should. From that point, I set it up from scratch and did the upgrade. At that time, it was version 6.6.

It is in the appropriate mid-range. It is not as expensive as some of the other solutions. It is also not cheap.

I would recommend SolarWinds LEM. We plan to continue using it. We have already put in the Orion platform system and brought it into play. We are next looking at the server access management. That probably would be the next step to implement.

I would rate SolarWinds LEM a ten out of ten.

The primary use case is for privilege account monitoring. It's monitoring admin accounts for things such as who logged in, where they logged in from, what time they logged in, and from what devices they used Remote desktop, with the privileged accounts.

It's a good tool to do troubleshooting, you can see extensive Info about Kerberos User Auth tickets or Windows Kerberos Machine Auth tickets, which can alert you to say , failing Kerberos Authentications due to incorrect NTP (Network time).

We're able to do a bit more in terms of forensic analysis.

I am able to correlate  the S.A.M. Service Applications Monitoring in SolarWinds ORION Platform.

I can trace back several things including the performance at a certain date and time. 

It's extremely easy to deploy.

The LEM 6.6, if it's a Windows host, you use the 64-bit or 32-bit installer, and  install it. Immediately, you'll start seeing Windows SYSTEM, SECURITY and Application Logs from the host where you deployed the Agent. So, this makes the deployment very easy to install.

On a daily basis, it's good for PKI monitoring.

It's very good for troubleshooting, and data monitoring. It gives you an advanced warning with your backups. If you have no monitoring tool in place, SolarWinds SIEM is a good place to start and very inexpensive.

They need to do better with the Connectors. I had to battle with the IIS Web server Connector that comes built in with this product. No matter how I configured the IIS Web connector, I never saw SW pull in any IIS logs from my hosts , where Agent was installed.?

They have over 500 connectors, but in my experience only handful work. Also there's no PowerShell Logging connectors, if you want to pull in PowerShell Logging logs from your hosts into the SIEM.

SolarWinds LEM is a product that I have been using for approximately a year and a half.

Very stable. It seems backend database is PostgreSQL and needs no maintanence.

Not very scalable in my opinion. That's why I'm investigating new SIEM replacement.

good. can be hit or miss sometimes, but sometime you get some good tech support over there.

With this company, there was no real SIEM and no real use cases before I deployed it. Because of that, I can develop the use cases the educate the management on what they need in terms of SIS security monitoring.

Very easy setup.

in-house.

very good.

Easy setup, very cheap and licensing cost is very fair and easy to understand

There was no time. Just read several reports from Gartner, IT Central etc. I did try ManageEngine , but it was a product which was already in Test phase implemented by my predeccesor

n/a