Cisco DNA Center vs Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform comparison

Cisco DNA Center vs. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

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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

Cisco DNA Center

Ranking in Network Automation

2nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (1st), Network Monitoring Software (12th)

Red Hat Ansible Automation ...

Ranking in Network Automation

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Release Automation (3rd), Configuration Management (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Automation category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 14.5%, down from 18.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is 20.0%, down from 22.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Automation

Featured Reviews

AvrahamSonenthal

Senior Network Engineer at Inside Global

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.

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Surya Chapagain

Senior System Administrator at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Easy to manage and simple to learn

We use Red Hat a lot. I open tickets for the Red Hat cases, however, with Ansible, I haven't opened any cases. My manager worked with them a bit. If we have a problem with some file and we need to get Red Hat to analyze the issue and the file is 100GBs, we'll have an issue since we need to provide a log file for them to analyze. If it is around 12GB or 13GB, we can easily upload it to the Red Hat portal. With more than 100GBs, it will fail. I heard it should cover up to 250GB for an upload, however, I find it fails. Therefore, Red Hat needs to provide a way to handle this.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It does a lot of things automatically, and that's the big thing with it. They're making the software so that you don't need to be as knowledgeable as me on the switching and routing side to get your work done. If you want, you can have DNA troubleshoot your problem for you and give you solutions or fix it itself, if it was something that's just a configuration issue."

"The most valuable features of Cisco DNA Center are wireless assurance and visibility."

"We can monitor all devices and get the required information using the product."

"The product offers an intuitive and automated way to manage user networks. It gives me an insight into the network health."

"The product gives a consolidated view."

"What I found valuable in Cisco DNA Center is the Software-Defined Access Network, so the entire LAN network can be centralized and managed from a single dashboard. Cisco DNA Center is suitable for centralized management and lets you deploy switches in a centralized fashion. You can also do multiple switch port configurations simultaneously and segregate your traffic into multiple fabrics. Another valuable feature of Cisco DNA Center is enhanced security through Scalable Group Tags. Cisco DNA Center can be integrated with your Cisco ISE to enhance the port securities, and this paves the way for Software-Defined Networking in the LAN segment, which is the main advantage of Cisco DNA Center. I also like that you can use Cisco DNA Center for data assurance or correlation. The solution shows your network and client health parameters, which I find convenient for troubleshooting."

"The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated"

"Cisco is a leading network company."

More Cisco DNA Center pros

"The most valuable features of the solution are automation and patching."

"RBAC is great around Organizations and I can use that backend as our lab. Ingesting stuff into the JSON logs, into any sort of logging collector; it works with Splunk and there are other collectors as well. It supports Sumo and that helps, I can go create reports in Sumo Logic. Workflows are an interesting feature. I can collect a lot of templates and create a workflow out of them."

"The biggest thing I liked about Ansible is the check mode so that we can verify, after we've pushed, that the config there is actually what we intended."

"The solution is capable of integrating with many applications and devices in comparison to BigFix."

"The most valuable feature is that Ansible is agentless."

"The development tools are decent and being able to consistently manage those servers is really the key, which is why we went with Ansible in the first place."

"The capacity to install products on the operating system is very valuable."

"The automation capabilities streamline deployment processes, providing reliability and reducing manual intervention and errors."

More Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform pros

Cons

"From the recent DNA point of view, there are some stability challenges with Cisco, but very minor."

"When it comes to deploying wireless fields, integrating defaults into the DNS interface can be challenging."

"What could be improved is the licensing cost of Cisco DNA Center. It's a little bit expensive."

"In terms of the clustering part, there are some concerns."

"An area that needs improvement is the integration with other vendors."

"The weaknesses primarily involve pricing and the ongoing need for increased bandwidth and data throughput."

"DNA Center has been on the market for a few years and they need to update it."

"Integration with analytic tools and API integrations would be ideal."

More Cisco DNA Center cons

"Ansible is great, but there are not many modules. You can do about 80% to 90% of things by using commands, but more modules should be added. We cannot do some of the things in Ansible. In Red Hat, we have the YUM package manager, and there are certain options that we can pass through YUM. To install the Docker Community Edition, I'll write the yum install docker-ce command, but because the Docker Community Edition is not compatible with RHEL 8, I will have to use the nobest option, such as yum install docker-ce --nobest. The nobest option installs the most stable version that can be installed on a particular system. In Ansible, the nobest option is not there. So, it needs some improvements in terms of options. There should be more options, keywords, and modules."

"Performance has been an issue on larger environments, but it has gotten a lot better over the past two years."

"Additional features could be added."

"The job workflow needs to be worked on. It's not really clear to how you actually link things together. What they probably could do is provide an example workflow on how to stitch things together. I think that would be very helpful."

"For a couple of the API integrations, there has been a lack of documentation."

"There are challenges in using the graphical interface, particularly in open-source versions."

"I would like to see improvements in the dashboards. More detailed dashboards would be beneficial because there is a lack of dashboards on Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform."

"There is always room for improvement in features or customer support."

More Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We get a yearly license at the time we buy the product."

"Affordability is a problem because it's created for large enterprises only. So, some customers, even if their engineers want the solution, might have problems with budget limitations."

"It is an expensive solution."

"Our licensing agreement is for three years."

"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."

"The price of the solution is expensive. The hardware is licensed on the device, but the hardware on the server is expensive."

"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive."

"The licensing cost for Cisco DNA Center is not more than that of other solutions."

More Cisco DNA Center pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is pretty standard."

"You don't need to buy agents on servers or deploy expense management when using the solution, which affected our decision to go with it."

"We use the open-source version of the solution."

"It is a little pricey but it is affordable. It is not that bad."

"The cost is determined by the number of endpoints."

"The pricing is okay."

"Users have to pay a per-node cost of around $ 100 per node."

"Red Hat's open source approach was a factor when choosing Ansible, since the solution is free as of right now."

More Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

17%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

32%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco DNA Center?

The cost is very high.

What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?

The system is working fine for me currently.

What is the difference between Red Hat Satellite and Ansible?

Red Hat Satellite has proven to be a worthwhile investment for me. Both its patch management and license management have been outstanding. If you have a large environment, patching systems is much ...

How does Ansible compare to Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (SCCM)?

Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager takes knowledge and research to properly configure. The length of time that the set up will take depends on the kind of technical architecture that your org...

What do you like most about Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform?

The most valuable features of the solution are automation and patching.

Cisco Catalyst Center vs Cisco DNA Center

Comparisons

Compared 10% of the time

Juniper Mist Wired Assurance vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 7% of the time

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 7% of the time

Fortinet FortiManager vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs Cisco DNA Center

Compared 4% of the time

More Cisco DNA Center Competitors

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

Compared 15% of the time

VMware Aria Automation vs Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

Compared 11% of the time

Red Hat Satellite vs Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Intune vs Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

Compared 6% of the time

OpenText Operations Orchestration vs Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

Compared 2% of the time

More Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Cisco DNA Center

Download Cisco DNA Center product report

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

Download Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform product report

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform report

Also Known As

DNA Center

Ansible

Overview

Cisco DNA Center offers a comprehensive platform for network automation and management, providing detailed analytics, enhanced security, and streamlined operations for both wired and wireless networks.

Cisco DNA Center integrates with Cisco infrastructure to deliver efficient network automation and management, helping organizations improve network visibility, security, and control. It supports AI-driven analytics and automated workflows to enhance operational efficiency and reduce errors. Challenges include compatibility with third-party systems, steep learning curve, and complex deployment. Its interface facilitates centralized control, vital for troubleshooting, policy management, and configuration management, with support for zero-touch provisioning and SD-Access.

What are the key features of Cisco DNA Center?

Robust Analytics: Provides detailed insights into network health with AI-driven analytics.
Centralized Security: Integrates with ISE for comprehensive security management.
Automated Device Management: Simplifies device provisioning and configuration transfers.
Wi-Fi Analytics: Offers deep insights into wireless network performance.
Zero-Touch Provisioning: Streamlines new device deployments with minimal human intervention.
Scalable Segmentation: Efficiently segments network traffic ensuring security and performance.

What benefits should users consider?

Operational Efficiency: Automation reduces potential errors and streamlines workflow.
Enhanced Security: Integration with Cisco ISE bolsters security capabilities.
Network Visibility: Comprehensive dashboards and analysis tools enhance monitoring.
Troubleshooting: Real-time monitoring aids in identifying and resolving issues swiftly.

In sectors such as healthcare, finance, and retail, Cisco DNA Center is utilized for its ability to enhance security and compliance, manage large-scale networks, and provide detailed analytics for better operational decision-making. Its support for location tracking and policy automation ensures efficient network management across diverse environments.

Cisco

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is a powerful network automation solution that allows organizations to handle every aspect of their application launch process within a single product. It enables users to share their automations so that teams within an organization can collaborate on various projects with ease. Ansible Automation Platform is designed to be used by all employees involved in the network automation process.

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Benefits

Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by choosing to deploy Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform include:

Maximum benefit for reduced overhead. Ansible Automation Platform is an all-in-one solution that can enable users to do the jobs of multiple products with one. Users do not need to purchase multiple products to handle their network automation and application development needs. It is equipped with prefabricated content from more than one hundred companies that are partnered with it.

Scalable. Ansible Automation Platform is a highly scalable solution. It can easily be scaled up so that automations can be extended across the various devices that make up an organization’s network.

Flexibility. Ansible Automation Platform is highly flexible. It enables users to tackle any and all automation-related tasks.

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Features

Automation analytics. Ansible Automation Platform comes equipped with an automation analytics feature. This feature enables organizations to measure the effects of their automations and plan how they are going to implement automations moving forward. It makes it easy for administrators to spot anomalies in their automations and resolve them before they can escalate and become major issues.

Integration suite. Ansible Automation Platform gives organizations access to a wide variety of integrations that enable them to connect to Ansible’s partners. Now users can augment their capabilities without needing to purchase additional solutions that will enable them to run features that are not normally a part of Ansible’s array of tools. The Ansible environment is built to handle the wide variety of integrations that their partners offer. In order to accomplish this it includes the APIs that users need in order to fully benefit from the integrations.

Centralized interface. Ansible Automation Platform comes with a centralized GUI interface that enables users to manage all of their network automation and application creation activities from a single location. Businesses can guarantee that their operations are going to be handled efficiently and according to a single standard. The management process is greatly simplified. All of the tools that users need are located in one place.

Reviews from Real Users

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is a highly effective solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Two major advantages it offers are its automation manager and its comprehensive centralized GUI-based management interface.

MD J., a solution architect at STBL, says, “The automation manager is very good and makes things easier for customers with multi-cloud platforms.”

Aankit G., a Consultant at Pi DATACENTERS, writes, “We like the GUI-based interface for the tower. Before, we only had a command-line interface to run all the Ansible tasks. Now, the Ansible tower provides the complete GUI functionality to run, manage, and create the templates and the Ansible jobs. This includes the code and YAML file we can create. The GUI interface is the added advantage of this solution, including some integration with the different plugins.”

Red Hat

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

HootSuite Media, Inc., Cloud Physics, Narrative, BinckBank

Cisco DNA Center vs. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform