IBM Tivoli NetCool vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager comparison

"The tool is much easier to manage than running scripts and figuring out how many endpoints have been exceeded."

"The solution has very good integration capabilities."

"The scalability of monitoring, the breadth of supported network components, the scale of the number of monitoring events, and the flexibility in customization make this a well-rounded product."

"The tool had many built-in automation capabilities."

"The feature I have found most valuable with NetCool is how it collaborates all the alarms, and then it does a predictive analysis, providing a consolidated alarm view and management."

"Tivoli NetCool allows us to grasp a lot of data that can be applied toward predictive analytics and auto-remediation."

"Support is one of the best aspects of this solution. NetCool is a good product that has good flexibility. There are a lot of documents available online which is one of the best features of IBM Tivoli Suite. Whenever an issue happens, rather than going to technical support, if you find the exact issue in Google, you can get tech notes for that particular issue."

"Anything is possible with Tivoli. It's quite a robust system."

"The tool is useful for security purposes."

"It's perfect for network configuration management. It's easy to use."

"SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager improves the mean time to repair significantly, bringing measurable benefits to customers."

"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."

"The feature that I really enjoy is the ability to script changes across all of your devices."

"NCM also helps with vulnerability assessment and remediation."

"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 network performance monitoring of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is a vital feature"

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"UI is outdated, very old legacy."

"In terms of improvement, I would like to see more AIOps, Artificial Intelligent Operations in the next release. IBM develops new features for Power BI or Cognos Analytics, which is good. As of now, we use Cognos Analytics, we are not using Power BI. They have the Insight concept but we don't like that."

"Customization and integration that you need to do to make the product fit your needs is very complex. It is not a product that somebody could easily pick up without any prior training or experience."

"The solution is too expensive."

"Tivoli NetCool's has medium scalability - there are some problems with its replications not being mature."

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"Tivoli NetCool is based on a Linux platform, it would be beneficial if they moved it to Windows because not everyone is acquainted with Linux."

"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."

"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."

"We want to be able to store it in a data warehouse format and integrate it with Google single sign-on."

"When we run the SolarWinds NCM jobs at the cellular line, it runs in the morning. They're just not finishing. We're getting false processing."

"The Network Configuration Manager needs to improve the access control list compliance."

"For each device, when you open the network performance monitor, it will give you all of the information about the device, but many of the natural configuration management features are not on that page."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"The price of the product is too expensive."

"Customers are required to pay a licensing fee."

"It costs around 100k for every ten servers, which is lower than similar products from other vendors."

"Pricing is reasonable and competitive."

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

"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."

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

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

"I have a yearly subscription."

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

"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."