Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs Zenoss Cloud comparison

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. Zenoss Cloud

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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 Nexus Dashboard Fabri...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

42nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Zenoss Cloud

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

64th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Infrastructure (19th), Event Monitoring (14th), Server Monitoring (25th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (51st), Container Monitoring (8th), Cloud Monitoring Software (41st), AIOps (28th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 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 Zenoss Cloud is 0.9%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)	0.6%
Zenoss Cloud	0.9%
Other	98.5%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Jagdev Dhaliwal

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.

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ClaudiaChen

Cloud Architect - Senior Technology Architect at Telstra

Generates close to real-time alerts so users can resolve issues, but needs more integration and public cloud monitoring features

As Zenoss Service Dynamics is more for network-centric devices and you want to monitor, for example, a server, its services, IP addresses, and interfaces, if it's a network and you're going to monitor multiple items, you'll be charged multiple times. This is what Zenoss Service Dynamics needs to improve to make sure that customers pay just one fee to monitor the entire server. What I'd like to see in Zenoss Service Dynamics in the future is a public cloud monitoring feature, particularly for the Azure public cloud. Another additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is integration with the Azure public cloud because I know that there are some services from Azure that Zenoss Service Dynamics is currently unable to monitor.

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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

"I like that is easy to work on and straightforward."

"It uses push technology, which pushes the changes to all relevant devices to ensure they are updated accordingly."

"VCNM provides a unique capability of managing the admin VDCs of Nexus boxes."

"The tool's most valuable feature is the consolidated dashboard, providing insights into parameters and overall usage of network features. It allows us to easily summarize insights through the dashboards. The solution offers automation capabilities, particularly in the context of connecting LAN sites with websites."

"You can integrate all the networks into the software and file network data center."

"It has a very nice dashboard so you can see what's currently happening in the network and the performance of the back story."

"The most valuable feature is the connectivity monitoring."

"There are many valuable features in this solution: The automation of the ILS, the automation of the small changes, the lands updates, scheduling, integration - basically, the pushing of features that we used to do manually."

More Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) pros

"They have also accommodated many state-of-the-art technologies like Docker and ZooKeeper."

"It's easy to use."

"The most valuable feature is the flexible discovery mechanism."

"It is very cost-effective compared to the tools I worked with in the past."

"With this solution, they can have one million users at the same time with no crashes."

"It is the most flexible solution of this type, but it takes time to adapt."

"Zenoss is more complex than LogicMonitor, but scalable and hugely customizable."

"Its Docker Container concept is mind blowing. It is the first monitoring tool which comes with Docker features."

More Zenoss Cloud pros

Cons

"It's very expensive."

"Automation for the RMA process can be added."

"The reporting is not very intuitive and has room for improvement."

"Sometimes the product gives us problems that require support."

"The automation feature could be improved."

"The solution needs to improve reports."

"More integration features would be beneficial."

"It's very costly."

More Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) cons

"There is room for improvement with the administrative part. They introduced Control Center to manage things in Zenoss 5. The services that Zenoss provides remained the same, but the administrative part, since they introduced Docker, etc., has become a little complex"

"The inclusion of a feature to show a graphical view of the network would be a helpful improvement."

"There was a problem with Zenoss and storage monitoring."

"As Zenoss Service Dynamics is more for network-centric devices and you want to monitor, for example, a server, its services, IP addresses, and interfaces, if it's a network and you're going to monitor multiple items, you'll be charged multiple times. This is what Zenoss Service Dynamics needs to improve to make sure that customers pay just one fee to monitor the entire server. What I'd like to see in Zenoss Service Dynamics in the future is a public cloud monitoring feature, particularly for the Azure public cloud. Another additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is integration with the Azure public cloud because I know that there are some services from Azure that Zenoss Service Dynamics is currently unable to monitor."

"Technical support is 3/10, poor: Incomplete and poor documentation Undocumented processes Inconsistent solutions to problems depending on source"

"It would be ideal if the product offered sound alerts."

"Now it is stable, but they should design threshold parameters in percentage instead of raw values."

"The AI aspect needs to improve."

More Zenoss Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is very expensive."

"The price of Cisco Data Center Network Manager is expensive compared to other vendors on the market."

"The product is licensed with contracts that work on a yearly basis rather than a monthly model."

"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."

"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."

"On average, Data Center Network Manager's pricing isn't too costly unless you choose a premier license."

"When we purchase a Nexus box, the MDS CM license comes with it."

"It is very cost-effective compared to the tools I worked with in the past. The company is gaining a lot with respect to the cost factor. It provides agentless monitoring and in a very cheap way."

"There are additional costs you'll have to pay apart from the license fee for Zenoss Service Dynamics. I can't remember exactly how much my company is paying because I don't handle the finance part, but the cost is paid annually. On a scale of one to five, with one being the cheapest and five being the most expensive, I'm rating the solution three out of five."

"The pricing depends on the environment, the number of services, and the size of the data center. It can go from $100,000 to a million dollars."

"It depends on the customer, what he wants."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

15%

Outsourcing Company

Healthcare Company

Comms Service Provider

14%

Construction Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	16

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Large Enterprise	5

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Product Reports

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Download Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) product report

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) report

Zenoss Cloud

Download Zenoss Cloud product report

Also Known As

Cisco Data Center Network Manager

Cloud Monitoring, Zenoss Service Dynamics

Overview

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller, formerly DCNM, provides a consolidated dashboard offering insights into network operations, real-time telemetry, and automation capabilities. Users noted enhanced data center management and seamless SD-WAN integration.

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller integrates Python, Ansible, and Terraform for efficient traffic management. Comprehensive data center insight and stability highlight its utility across policy updates and network troubleshooting. With support for hybrid environments and enhanced network health data visibility, the platform suits complex, evolving infrastructures.

What are the Key Features?

Automation Capabilities: Simplifies network operations with automated workflows and scheduling.
Programming Support: Facilitates integration through Python, Ansible, and Terraform compatibility.
Comprehensive Dashboard: Provides a centralized view of network performance and health.
Real-Time Telemetry: Enhances decision-making with up-to-the-moment data.
SD-WAN Integration: Ensures seamless traffic flow across network borders.

What Benefits Should Users Look for?

Enhanced Network Monitoring: Allows precise tracking and troubleshooting of network issues.
Efficient Resource Management: Streamlines policy updates and component management.
Improved Security: Facilitates tighter control over Nexus switch configurations.
Centralized Management: Reduces complexity in maintaining data centers through a unified interface.

In data center operations, businesses leverage Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller for improved security, tackling tasks like VPN operations and private cloud development. It enhances storage management, providing robust support to manage Nexus switches for optimized component oversight and security protocols.

Cisco

Zenoss Cloud provides a comprehensive overview of IT environments, supporting cross-cloud functionality, scalability, and robust integrations. It offers dynamic monitoring through its intuitive dashboard and supports hybrid deployments across cloud and on-premises infrastructures.

Zenoss Cloud enables users to monitor network infrastructure and operator platforms efficiently. With features like agentless monitoring and real-time alerts, Zenoss Cloud integrates seamlessly with external systems such as ITSM tools. Its flexible functionality allows for the management of both on-premises and cloud infrastructures like AWS and Azure. Users benefit from easy setup and strong technical support, although they seek enhancements in AI capabilities and simpler installation. The pricing model and complexity for beginners and storage monitoring are areas for improvement.

What are the key features of Zenoss Cloud?

Dynamic Monitoring: Enhances user experience with real-time insights.
Cross-Cloud Functionality: Supports hybrid deployments across AWS and Azure.
Agentless Monitoring: Simplifies deployment with minimal overhead.
Scalability: Grows with your network's demands.
Custom Integration: Supports notifications and alerts tailored to user requirements.

What benefits should users expect from Zenoss Cloud?

Time Efficiency: Quick setup and operation save resources.
Comprehensive Support: Extensive documentation streamlines troubleshooting.
Cost-effective Monitoring: Prevents multiple charges in server monitoring.
Enhanced User Experience: Offers seamless integration with existing IT infrastructures.

Zenoss Cloud is widely used in monitoring solutions for industries including technology and data centers. It supports direct monitoring of systems like vSphere and NetApp, making it ideal for IT operations and managed services. Integration with tools such as ServiceNow and SolarWinds aligns it with diverse IT environments.

Zenoss

Sample Customers

Banco de Guayaquil, Cox Communications, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Roper St. Francis, University of British Columbia

2degrees, Rackspace, State of North Dakota, El Paso Independent School District, NWN Corporation

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. Zenoss Cloud