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BMC TrueSight Network Automation vs Cisco DNA Center comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 6, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

BMC TrueSight Network Autom...
Ranking in Network Automation
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (20th)
Cisco DNA Center
Ranking in Network Automation
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (1st), Network Monitoring Software (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Automation category, the mindshare of BMC TrueSight Network Automation is 1.0%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 14.5%, down from 18.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Automation
 

Featured Reviews

SumitSrivastava1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables us to configure our network easily and get the most out of it
BMC TrueSight Network Automation transforms manual configuration tasks for network devices, which are complex and vary among different OEMs. With this tool, you can manage and control all new and old devices, ensuring they meet configuration needs. It provides updates on Cisco devices, and if any data is missing, you can generate it using a formula. I recommend BMC TrueSight Network Automation from the network side, as it provides excellent visibility and configuration management for vulnerabilities. The implementation requirements are certainly at level two. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
AvrahamSonenthal - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficiently manages our wireless network and provides valuable monitoring features
The platform's biggest benefit has been in managing our wireless network. Having a single pane of glass to control all wireless controllers and access points and to monitor activity has been a significant advantage. We're a small federal agency with around 300 network devices, so automation is a minor focus. It's more relevant for larger networks. The main benefits we've seen are in inventory management and the potential for configuration automation. However, I recommend using the DNA Centre only for larger networks with over a thousand devices; otherwise, it may not be cost-effective. Before proceeding, ensure that your devices are compatible with DNA Center, as not all Cisco devices are supported. Also, investing in proper training is different from plug-and-play. I rate it an eight.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"This product has helped us because we can now do many tasks at once. Rather than copy one file to one device, we can do an entire group at one time."
"The network security of BMC TrueSight Network Automation has been the best feature."
"It has the best automation features."
"We use it to back up configurations so the configuration management is valuable for us."
"The most valuable feature of BMC TrueSight Network Automation is compliance management, configuration backup, and configuration management."
"The backup and restore configurations are really helpful for a number of network devices, as you can automate them, then know what changes have been done, who made the changes, etc. So, it's quite helpful in the network management area."
"BMC is an excellent configuration manager. It allows you to configure your network easily and get the most out of it."
"The log audit and historical configurations are the most valuable feature."
"The product gives a consolidated view."
"The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated"
"People like to use the dashboards to get an overview of their network."
"It is very versatile in terms of analytics."
"Automation helps configure devices without manual intervention, enabling zero-touch provisioning."
"DNA Center is scalable."
"The most valuable feature of Cisco DNA Center is the AI (Artificial Intelligence) that provides us with valuable information."
"Cisco VXLAN is a protocol that has been around for some time, but the practical implementation and operational capability of Cisco DNA Center bring it to life."
 

Cons

"I believe there could be new features in terms of the latest technology."
"We've been working with BMC support in various ways such as to allow for the high-availability components to the TSIMs to work together. There have been issues there. We've seen randomness in how other pieces of the software work. Integration with the Presentation Server and the TSIMs has been a challenge. The ports that are required for HA to be utilized were not clearly documented anywhere. In fact, they still aren't documented online anywhere, even though we managed to pull it out of some of their support people."
"I'd like to be able to get more devices into compliance with standards, but that means running additional rule sets and that takes time."
"They need to have a single sign-on."
"It is tedious to scale the solution."
"The product should be expanded to include more hardware, beyond Cisco and Juniper devices."
"I would like to see more device supported features, mostly on the new brands and models coming in. For any new version or model, it should be supported by the tool, especially the newest versions. For example, the newest devices, like Aruba Wireless, and routers need support from the tool."
"For customized compliance, it takes some effort to implement things. If the device configuration is quite complex, then you have to do quite number of customizations in the DNA tool for out-of-the-box compliance. These regular expressions have to be modified based on the requirements of the compliance."
"There are some software problems from version to version. It takes a long time for DNA Center to recognize the video and control access devices."
"Cisco DNA Center should improve its configuration management. It is better to have a dev version before pushing it."
"In terms of the clustering part, there are some concerns."
"The product has many features that do not work properly."
"The solution can be quite pricey."
"One area that needs improvement is the upgrade process."
"There is a limitation with the number of VRFs that you can have in your network, and this has caused us problems with some customers."
"The cost is very high."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There's a fee for the licenses themselves, per contract, and then we have a yearly licensing fee that's many thousands of dollars. But that's not just for TrueSight, that's also for support for ITSM, Atrium Orchestrator, BBNA, and other BMC tools in the environment."
"The solution is worth the price."
"The solution is more costly than the other competitors."
"Cisco DNA Center is a licensed product with multiple levels of licensing available such as basic, advanced, and essential. I don't have the exact figure, but Cisco DNA Center is costly. For example, the box has information about the essential license and costs a considerable amount of money. You need to pay extra to use advanced features in Cisco DNA Center. My company sees Cisco DNA Center as a solution that's worth the money, which is why it invested in the solution. If you want centralized management for your network, especially when upgrading it, Cisco DNA Center is perfect, but it's more suitable for a large-scale rather than a small-scale network."
"We get a yearly license at the time we buy the product."
"The solution is a little bit expensive but depends a lot on the customer's usage. If you use it in the right place, you can easily pay for it."
"The price could be better. It's a very expensive tool."
"I do know that Cisco does offer some really good promotions for DNA Center to bring the costs down."
"I rate the product's pricing an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is very cheap, and ten is very expensive."
"We have a three-year license with them."
"The solution is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
19%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BMC TrueSight Network Automation?
The compliance management, patching, and OS upgrades are useful features.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BMC TrueSight Network Automation?
The product is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing a nine out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
What needs improvement with BMC TrueSight Network Automation?
The solution could have cheap pricing along with a simple deployment process.
What do you like most about Cisco DNA Center?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it gives some kind of ease in operations, especially since our company is moving from CLI to GUI-based configuration.
What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?
The system is working fine for me currently.
 

Also Known As

BMC TrueSight Automation for Networks, TrueSight Automation for Networks, TrueSight Network Automation, BladeLogic Network Automation
DNA Center
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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Find out what your peers are saying about BMC TrueSight Network Automation vs. Cisco DNA Center and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.