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Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs HPE Aruba Networking UXI comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Nexus Dashboard Fabri...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
25th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE Aruba Networking UXI
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
24th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
4.3
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) is 0.6%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Aruba Networking UXI is 0.6%, down from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HPE Aruba Networking UXI0.6%
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)0.6%
Other98.8%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

Jagdev Dhaliwal - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Flow monitoring has improved planning for east-west traffic and real-time capacity decisions
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) helps to understand the flows and data plane capacities, which are the primary use cases. Usually, people struggle with east-west traffic flow when they need to decide on firewalls or products. People typically understand north-south traffic flows but usually miss the east-west traffic flows in data centers. I was focusing more on this so that people can accordingly plan, such as after F5, the number of servers, the number of sessions needed, and whether we need to plan the interface for groups from the line capacity perspective. This kind of information was valuable to us. The real-time telemetry feature was beneficial. When experiencing performance issues, I could determine if there were any issues related to flows or areas where bottlenecks were occurring.
Søren Overgaard Bendtsen - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Director at CGL Pack Annecy S.A.S.
Monitoring has provided factual end‑to‑end insights and supports proactive incident response
From using HPE Aruba Networking UXI, I have access to real numbers for latency, packet drops, and other metrics. We also have a pretty intensive alerting mechanism that works on specific IPs for all our sites that are pinging, so if they are not reachable, we will have an alert and an incident created. I assess the value of HPE Aruba Networking UXI's application visibility in enhancing network performance as great. HPE Aruba Networking UXI's remote troubleshooting capabilities help me manage my distributed networks in a great way because we are not relying on user input. We are relying on real facts from HPE Aruba Networking UXI devices that are placed end-of-line on all our factories.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Monitoring system provides a clear indication of what's going on in the network."
"Automation of the ILS."
"It uses push technology, which pushes the changes to all relevant devices to ensure they are updated accordingly."
"The product makes the management of our environment simpler."
"Data Center Network Manager is absolutely stable."
"Stability is not an issue."
"We have had a good ROI from Data Center Network Manager, and there is also a facility on Cisco's website to calculate the ROI from adopting this solution."
"The solution is very stable and it has never crashed on us."
"The integration of HPE Aruba Networking UXI with other security and networking tools is quite robust, allowing us to collect information from firewalls, routers, access points, and more, and present it through Grafana to proactively address issues before clients open support tickets."
"The most valuable feature of HP Aruba Networking UX-I is its 24/7 monitoring capability."
"The performance, elasticity, and efficiency of Aruba products have been exceptional."
"Aruba products have significantly improved our network reliability, as none of my teammates have logged a call to Aruba in the past year."
"HPE Aruba Networking UXI's remote troubleshooting capabilities help me manage my distributed networks in a great way because we are not relying on user input and are relying on real facts from HPE Aruba Networking UXI devices that are placed end-of-line on all our factories."
"There was definitely an ROI with the use cases I have had; when you see that the network issues and trouble tickets that are opening start to decrease, that is where your ROI starts coming in regarding productivity."
 

Cons

"The initial setup is challenging."
"Automation for the RMA process can be added."
"The tool's pricing strategy could be improved to compete more effectively in the market, especially against competitors like Huawei, Aruba, and Juniper."
"Data Center Network Manager is a little complex because it includes a lot of hardware to be installed, so making this simpler would be an improvement."
"We need better performance and reliability."
"It's a relatively expensive product for some clients so perhaps improvement could be made in that area."
"The configuration is too complicated and you have to create templates and use a lot of menus."
"It would be nice to have the ability to more easily collect information from other software when doing some types of analysis."
"It would be beneficial if the tool offered a less expensive subscription as it is currently costly for our clients."
"Some manual administrative tasks still need to be triggered manually, leading to lower efficiency."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We usually opt for a yearly plan, commonly for three or five years upfront. Some customers may not utilize all the features included in the product, and this can lead to them paying for functionalities they don't need."
"I would say that the pricing offers great value for the money."
"The tool is always expensive, but their service, product quality, and support are good. We're happy with it, but it's still an expensive solution. There are cheaper alternatives but no similar platform across all domains."
"The solution is very expensive."
"The product is licensed with contracts that work on a yearly basis rather than a monthly model."
"When we purchase a Nexus box, the MDS CM license comes with it."
"The price of Cisco Data Center Network Manager is expensive compared to other vendors on the market."
"On average, Data Center Network Manager's pricing isn't too costly unless you choose a premier license."
Information not available
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902,417 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
Insurance Company
27%
Healthcare Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise16
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Data Center Network Manager?
The tool is always expensive, but their service, product quality, and support are good. We're happy with it, but it's still an expensive solution. There are cheaper alternatives but no similar plat...
What needs improvement with Cisco Data Center Network Manager?
I do not believe it integrated well with different infrastructures for hybrid environments. I am uncertain because we have never attempted that in our environment, so they could perform better in t...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Data Center Network Manager?
The main use case for URL filtering with PAN-DB is that it performs quite well. Earlier, when I started in 2012, there was a Blue Coat product available during that period. I am not certain whether...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Aruba Networking UXI?
With the pricing and setup cost and licensing for the HPE Aruba Networking UXI, it depends and varies. Many people use these for a short-term solution just to gather their information. Many leverag...
What needs improvement with HPE Aruba Networking UXI?
I actually do not know if there is room for improvement for HPE Aruba Networking UXI because it is my networking team who handles that on a daily basis. They are using it and they are really fond o...
What is your primary use case for HPE Aruba Networking UXI?
The primary use case for HPE Aruba Networking UXI is to obtain fact-based data on what is actually occurring, rather than relying on fluffy user input. I work mostly with HPE Aruba Networking, spec...
 

Also Known As

Cisco Data Center Network Manager
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Banco de Guayaquil, Cox Communications, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Roper St. Francis, University of British Columbia
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. HPE Aruba Networking UXI and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,417 professionals have used our research since 2012.