Cisco Prime [EOL] vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager comparison

"The most valuable feature of Cisco Prime is the heat maps."

"We use Cisco Prime for network mapping and surveys."

"The dashboard is a valuable feature. It's very clear, and the metrics make it easy to see the current network situation."

"It gives you the ability to upgrade switches remotely, schedule the upgrade time, perform backups, and monitor the health of all networks."

"If an AP or any wireless device goes into critical mode, Cisco Prime sends an alert. That is the most helpful feature."

"As a large organization, it is difficult to individually monitor every device. Instead, we use Cisco Prime to keep an eye on the network and services. We do not use it as a node tool, as we have other tools for network operation centers. When services go down, it can cause issues, we rely on Cisco Prime to monitor and notify us of any service disruptions. We mainly use Cisco Prime Infrastructure for configuration-level tasks."

"Cisco Prime has been around for a long time, and it keeps getting better and better."

"The solution helps with the management and support of the enterprise network."

"What's nice with NCM is you can set up policies that you can then check against the configs to ensure that your device configs adhere to a baseline or standard that you've set in place."

"Configuration refers to the specific settings and options that determine how a device or system behaves. It can include things, such as network settings, security settings, and other options that are specific to the device or system in question. One of the most valuable features of the solution was its ability to track and monitor changes to the configuration of devices on a network. This can be useful for troubleshooting and identifying potential issues. By keeping track of who made changes to the configuration and when it can be easier to determine the cause of any problems that may arise."

"Configuration pushing, upgrade capabilities, job backup, configuration backup, and real-time configuration change monitoring are highly beneficial features of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager."

"It allows us to manage backups in big companies. It is also useful in managing the configuration changes."

"The features we find most valuable is the configuration backup automation, the configuration compliance, the security vulnerability detection and upgrading devices."

"I use it for monitoring the entire network for the company. We oversee nodes down, we oversee devices heading up to crossing the threshold for CPU usage. We oversee power so power backups on the switches, we oversee if they're down or if they're failing. We oversee any node down or any router from any vendor."

"The installation is straightforward."

"The solution's view is very nice, and they have a great customized dashboard."

"The onboarding process could be improved and developed to enhance compatibility for non-Cisco devices."

"They could consider offering more flexible pricing options for their customers."

"If you think about a centralized monitoring system, Cisco Prime is not good because it does not support third-party vendors like Palo Alto or FortiGate."

"I would love for Cisco Prime to show bandwidth usage and consumption, but I can't monitor bandwidth usage at a given time."

"Maybe it could be a little cheaper."

"Cisco Prime needs to have lower prices and more customization options."

"Cisco needs to improve Prime's monitoring tab. If any device goes down, there is a 15-second lapse before we know. It would be much better if we were alerted two or three minutes before a device is about to fail, so we can dispatch a field engineer and avoid network downtime. I would like to see a feature that allows you to access the devices directly from Prime's monitoring tab. That would make work easier for us."

"Cisco Prime's initial setup is complex."

"The network logs could be improved. When the error logs come across with those false positive alarms in the error logs."

"I would like to see more features in terms of wireless reporting and more historical information for client connectivity in SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager."

"There are certain limitations of node-related monitoring"

"Its look and feel can be improved. They can also put in more effort into building the THWACK community and use the information about various customer issues and requests to build the new releases."

"Its customer service response could be faster."

"When it comes to the way of managing the network devices, SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager should provide the simplest way that devices can relate to the server. For example, when we want to get the devices on board, we go by SSH to make the SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager create the connectivity with the device. After that, we pull the configuration. It would be helpful if they could combine both so that everything will be done in one step."

"The solution could have better integration."

"Releasing a product compatible with operating systems other than Windows would be advantageous."

"The product is expensive compared to other vendors in the market."

"The price of Cisco Prime was reasonable because we purchased it as part of a Cisco One package. The package was a bundle of Cisco solutions together, such as Cisco ISE and CMX. The price is reasonable com compared to other solutions."

"Cisco Prime is an expensive solution."

"The solution is not inexpensive but is worth it for large-scale environments."

"We update the license every five years."

"I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"I would rate the pricing of Cisco Prime a seven out of ten."

"The product's performance monitoring feature could be more intuitive."

"Additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee are inevitable."

"I have a yearly subscription."

"With a minimal bundle, we pay about $3000 a year in licensing costs. If you have multiple devices in your network, you must buy the bundle, which is 100% identical for your infrastructure. If you have 15 devices, you need 15 licenses, for example. That's one bundle. You don't pay for anything over and above that."

"In Africa, the cost is a major factor in decision-making for many companies. As a result, some companies may choose cheaper solutions, even if they are open-source, over more expensive ones, such as SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. However, as an engineer, I believe that the functionalities and services offered by SolarWinds justify the cost. Nonetheless, many companies in Africa may still view the prices as unaffordable."

"Pricing is reasonable and competitive."

"You have a base license for 50 devices, and then you can add more licenses as you go."

"There is a license needed to use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager."

"The price of the solution is high compared to other solutions."