NetBrain Reviews

We used NetBrain for troubleshooting our network. For example, it would show an example of latency and then identify where in the process there's a breakdown. We could also see the network traffic, network load, and other statistics.

This product has good network monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities.

Each device needs to be configured to allow NetBrain to poll for the information it needs, which can be very time-consuming for a large network.

At my previous company, I was in charge of the NetBrain implementation for the past five years.

NetBrain is a stable solution.

In my organization, we had 130,000 network devices that needed to be brought into the solution and mapped. NetBrain can handle the scale but the engineers that manage those devices have to go in and update all of them to allow NetBrain permission to poll them.

It can get a little stressful for everybody when you're trying to roll out new stuff when you've got other issues that have to be addressed with other devices. In some cases, our devices had no automation at all. 

One example is the Cisco 3650. Right now, if you went through the inventory list, you see that we have different versions running. Some are on one version, whereas others are on another version. The problem with upgrading them is that they need to be done overnight because we don't want to disrupt any network traffic during business hours. Consequently, it could take us years to upgrade the versions before we can even get them onto these new tools.

This may be an internal issue but it's a big one when you have a lot of devices. Even if you had 10,000 devices, it's still an issue. You have to consider the compatibility of the device against the tool, and being able to use certain commands to upgrade it.

The initial setup was lengthy because we had 130,000 network devices and one of the first things is that you need to reconfigure each of the devices. We had to set the security such that NetBrain was able to poll each one and gather the information that it needed.

Corporate security was another department but in order to get a complete view of the network, we had to allow NetBrain to poll the firewall. The security team had a major issue with allowing us to configure the devices so that they could communicate with NetBrain.

Essentially, you can't get complete end to end monitoring unless you've got agreement from all of the organizations that manage network components.

Licensing is based on a per-device basis, which means that it can get very expensive if you have a large number of devices.

We had a problem with NetBrain because we were re-using licenses after a device was retired, and they didn't like that. They wanted to charge us on a per-device basis, where licenses could not be reused. Ultimately, we had to make a decision on what the highest priority devices were because otherwise, it was far too expensive.

Of our 130,000 devices, approximately 30,000 are Wi-Fi and you don't necessarily want them on NetBrain. However, for the remaining 100,000, we wanted to make sure they were covered. The devices included large pieces of equipment such as load-balancers and firewalls. Load-balancers, in particular, are one of the highest priorities.

This tool is exactly what we wanted and needed. The only problem is that it was taking forever, internally, to roll it out because of all of the different constraints and dependencies that you have.

My advice for anybody who is implementing NetBrain is to have a dedicated project manager and, if possible, a dedicated engineer or a few engineers to work on that project. With the setup alone, if you don't set up the hierarchy correctly, you're going to have to go back and change it. You really have to put thought into how you want to build your devices in NetBrain.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

We were originally using NetBrain for mapping and that was our primary purpose. Since then, I have developed a couple of unique functions inside NetBrain that go out across the network and locate specific pieces of equipment. The parameters for that equipment is a very unique state of interface, a switch port interface, drawing on POE power. The devices I'm looking for are Primex clocks and they continue pulling POE power, but they shut down the interface for data. It creates a down interface state, but a POE up state which is very unusual. I use NetBrain to crawl through the site, particularly where we had a bunch of these installed and were looking for those two conditions. It was a matter of pulling and comparing to get a final result value. That was very helpful. I'm a senior systems engineer and we are customers of NetBrain. 

The original case was mapping and the solution enabled us to draw out our maps instead of hand draw the maps with the links and everything else. It's okay on the value, a bit expensive for just maps, but makes it a lot easier to see things visually and take it from there.

Creating the parsers and QFs from model to model show that the IP interface brief isn't consistent. From a 6500 to a 3750 to a 9300 Cisco switch models, the show IP interface brief is different. There's extra columns and you have to parse for those. Setting those up is a bit of a challenge on this particular version. From what I've been able to gather, the next version, 8.X, is better at that and has more of those, but my perception is that building the parsers out is a bit of a challenge. I've done it but it's a challenge.

Then there's a similar function again with the POE that didn't have the show power in line command and I had to figure that out. Again, that table comes out in a very unique state and then requires parsing down and pulling that out. It's basically using a CLI scraping which should be simplified and a more intuitive process. I don't know if the newer version does APIs or not and if that would have been any easier or better to manipulate, I have no idea.

I've been using this solution for a year. 

So far it's been fairly stable for our needs. It's not like it's hammering the network every day to pull data. It's not like we've got a tied into service now for when there's an incident, we can pull it. We've got the service now. API hooks between the two. It took us a while to figure out what we wanted to do and then we finally got the APIs in place, but we're not utilizing that at all. 

We initially bought 250 nodes. We added another 120 some nodes so we need to up our license count because we're nowhere near pushing scalability. I mean, we're a decent sized enterprise, but we've got a magnitude of 500 total individual switches and a total of 150, 200 nodes at the time. Scalability hasn't been a problem. 

We did find a code bug and reported it and ended up with one of the original developers on the phone with an interpreter because he was Taiwanese, I think, and didn't speak very good English. They took some data and figured out what the problem was, and gave us a patch. The struggle that I have with their tech support is that they don't have American 800 service, it's primary email and they get back to you. It's usually evenings out of West Coast or Asia early in the morning so the timing of some of their responses doesn't always work but It's been okay. Their documentation is pretty good. I was able to go through it and figure out what I needed to do and how to do it. I opened a couple of services when I was trying to do those parsers and build those out.

Because of my programming background, I was able to get through it, and because I've got that mindset I was able to figure out what I needed to get done. When you do need the tech support, it's email and reply back and if you don't specify exactly, or if there was something lost in translation, it's a challenge.

We had the company implement for us, it's part of their professional services. I don't remember if we paid for it or if it was just a part of the package. The polling engine and then the rendering engine, they use a couple of different servers in the back end and it's all Linux-based, and I'm not as strong on Linux or Windows. I'm a network guy. 

The licensing is a node-based structure together with a portion of the purchase price. A node is basically an IP address for either a device or a switch stack. We've got some switch stacks that have six or eight switches in them, but because it's all under one IP address, a single management interface was a node. Even though we've got 150 plus nodes, and even though we've got 500 switches, it's because of the way the stacks work. Licensing is on an annual per node basis because the solution is on-prem. Eventually if they push it to the cloud, it will probably switch to a monthly cost. It's more for getting the updates and contacting tech support. 

If someone is fairly good with Linux, they could probably get this up and running themselves. Once it's up and running and you don't have the strange requirements I had, and you just want some basic maps, it'll work. The new version, 8.X, has got other features and tying and capabilities for more advanced things. So they're always improving. They're into a niche market, so it works for their needs. They're coming at it from a mapping perspective and then expanding back into automation since they've got the database and resources.

I have nothing else to compare this to other than hand drawing and we all know how much that sucks, so I would rate this solution a five out of 10. 

NetBrain is a very simple tool.

It is very good when it comes to network mapping, as it looks for different assets within the network available, so router, firewall, applications, et cetera, and it gives you the full mapping, asset mapping along with the full range including the firmware software update and all those things. 

NetBrain is not an NDR solution. It's very strong doing at layer seven. NDR, looks at seven layers, including application level. NetBrain is stronger at layers three and four and that's it. NetBrain can be very useful if there is any misconfiguration on the firewall or unused policies on the firewall, which could be a triggering point to open back doors for an attacker to come from the internet to exploit vulnerabilities. 

The solution is stable.

It can scale well.

We had no problem setting it up. 

The solution is pretty economical. 

NetBrain is a very simple tool, however, it's not an NDR. It doesn't have the capabilities to run PCAPs and so on.

The solution could integrate more automation.

If the product has to be evolved, it should have more added functionality in the sense of adding PCAPs functionality and looking at the L7 kind of traffic. Also, NetBrain could be very useful if it supported OT (operational technology). I hear a lot of industrial customers, mainly belonging to oil and gas, running the SCADA systems. NetBrain is very good when it comes to IT, however, if they built in the OT part as well, so that we can look at some SCADA systems, HMI, PLCs, and things like that, it would be ideal. It would also give full visibility of what is happening in and around the OT side. Maybe down the line, they will need to add these capabilities. 

I've used the solution for a few years.

It's a stable tool. Performance-wise, it's a simple tool. If you're comparing NetBrain as an NDR, I would rate it as a four or five, however, NetBrain has a different aspect of looking at things within the network. It's a network mapping tool, put simply, and it does that well.

The scalability is good. It's based on the number of IP addresses. The license is based on 500,000 IP addresses. Unless you're within the limit of that range, you're fine.

I've never dealt with technical support.

It's easy to set up. It's plug-and-play. The process is not complex or difficult. 

The solution is licensing and on-premises. You need to download the software and enable the license on any X86 machine server.

We pay a yearly subscription fee. It's economical. It was not very expensive.

I'd rate the solution six out of ten. I'd recommend it to other users.

The most valuable feature of the solution is that you can click once and have a link test. I can see my network. It gives me an overall view of my network and the state of how it is. 

Chain management is a good feature. I don't get it on other solutions.

The interface is very user-friendly.

The pricing needs to be improved.

It would be nice if the setup was a little simpler. Also, if the solution could provide more training materials for new people coming into our company so they can quickly learn how to use the functionalities. 

The solution is stable.

The solution is very simple to scale.

We're very satisfied with technical support. It's really good. It's fast and it's really helpful. 

The initial setup was a little but complex.

We had a consultant assist us with the implementation. They helped a lot.

We use the on-premises deployment solution.

I would recommend it. Although it's expensive, it's worth the money. Compared with other solutions, they're the way to go. They're bigger and probably better.

I would rate the solution eight out of ten.

Our primary use for this solution is providing services for layer 2 and layer 3 network mapping. We go into companies that have engaged us for some type of network product in the collation and we map out the network to do analysis. Because we are mostly using the product for the mapping feature, we have the Consultant Edition of the program which is portable and fits our needs perfectly for servicing clients.

We are managed-service providers, so we get engaged at a project level to make network changes on networks that we've never seen before. NetBrain provides us an overview and background on the network as it currently stands so that I can do a security analysis and move the project forward using an accurate picture of the network. It eliminates the possibilities that the picture will be inaccurate and saves time.

The enterprise edition NetBrain is fine. It's gotten a little more complicated in the last few years to use, but I've never had a problem with either version actually not performing its job.

The mapping is the most valuable feature for my usage. It saves me time because I don't have to walk the network by hand and figure out the relationship between switches and routers on the network. It automatically creates a map for me. The time savings lets me put my energies toward creating the solution rather than doing the footwork.

The product could be improved with easier, better cataloging of the license within a network. Right now it seems a little cumbersome to actually be able to see just a lifting of the devices that are discovered or devices that weren't discovered and why. Better cataloging would resolve that issue.

The Consultant Edition just runs as an EXE so there aren't any stability issues. The opportunity I had to used the installed version the product just seemed to do what it was expected to do. There were a few minor glitches, but I can't really blame the product for lack of stability.

The installed or enterprise version scaled pretty nicely. The Consulting Edition, I'm not sure. The licensing seems a little expensive, so sending out multiple systems for utilization seems problematic.

We haven't had to use technical support recently as there's really no need for it. When I used the installed product before, I wasn't very satisfied with the support. We had a few one-off problems with the server installation, and it seemed to take an excessively long amount of time — in my opinion — for somebody to come back with an answer for me when I had issues.

We didn't actually have a solution and it seemed obvious that getting one would save time and effort. I used the full version of the product probably three or four years before we adopted it in a six-month proof of concept. At that time the full version was easier to use and friendlier. The full server version has gotten quite a bit more complex. We're using the Consultant Edition now, so there were some learning curves. But previous experience with the product was the reason for its adoption.

As far as the initial setup, there really isn't any for the Consulting Edition. It is just an EXE that you have a license for and you run it on a network to do the mapping. The server edition is a little more complex and we actually used NetBrain system engineers to help us with the installation. I can't really speak to doing the installation on my own.

Again, the Consultant Edition is just an EXE that you run. No installation really occurs. The installed version might require assistance but that isn't the version we use.

We have not yet seen a return on investment, but we expect that to come. We do security assessments for companies and this solution will help us deliver our product. We put together a pretty decent product for our clients and the investment in NetBrain should help us make it that more attractive and effective, and in turn enhance our business.

I remember the product being a lot less expensive several years ago when I first evaluated it. The pricing was based on a cost per number of devices. I want to say it was a lot cheaper then it is now. The Consultant Edition, which I originally thought would be more reasonable, quickly became a larger bundle than I expected and more expensive than I thought.

Technically we didn't really bother to evaluate other options when it came time for adoption. We needed a network mapping solution and I had used this solution previously. We went with the Consultant Edition because it made sense and fit our need. The reason I used it initially was, again, proof of concept in which we did a comparison between several different providers specifically to evaluate mapping software. Essentially I'd already done the evaluation.

I would give NetBrain Technologies an eight or seven-and-a-half to eight out of ten. Support can improve response time. Sales engineers will buy their product with a few enhancements. It would help to improve the pricing and make the interface prettier. Right now, it's difficult to use from an engineering standpoint. I'd like to see become a little easier for a nontechnical person to use.  For example, I'd like to be able to send someone to a client who is not an architect — maybe send a helpdesk guy — and tell him to run the executable to gather up the mapping. I would be able to look at the results later and be more efficient.

Other advice to users considering the solution would be: go with NetBrain. It works. It may be expensive, but it's worth it. SolarWinds is a lot more expensive and doesn't do nearly as good a job as NetBrain.

NetBrain will give you the layer 3 and layer 2 network maps. One of the features that I like, but I haven't yet retested in the Consultant Edition, is that within two clicks you can get a fully formatted report of the hardware firmware in a site or company. SolarWinds, by comparison, is a bit of a pain to use for that type of extraction.

• On-Demand
• Full-map
• L2 troubleshooting

They will show more errors than you think! Fix them as you find them and the network gremlins just go away.

On-Demand Mapping of what’s actually configured vs. what the network architect intended at build is incredibly valuable. Things change over time. Subtle changes can be significant.

Crowd-sourced network documentation is a huge time-saver. It’s incredibly simple and level-sets your documentation.

When a trouble ticket comes in, for source and destination protocol, we can map out the environment, and at a glance see if there’s lower layer issues (CRC’s, negotiation, etc.), check routes, and see if there were any changes in minutes. This is an incredible time saver.

Having engineers update their documentation as they work on projects, on-call engineers can instantly see what’s actually there at a moment’s notice. This has greatly reduced our MTTI and MTTR scoring. Having the updated documentation means every engineer can pull up what’s really there, what’s changed and what’s broken in seconds, this is versus having every engineer with varied backgrounds manually tracing paths and figuring out whatever they stumble across.

Netbrain must get AWS functionality done.

They need much greater wireless, specifically wireless controller comprehension. Autonomous AP’s provide little value.

More than two years.

None. Build it right from the beginning.

None. Build it right from the beginning.

An eight out of 10. Fairly responsive.

Manual and SolarWinds. NetBrain is faster, better and level sets the engineering technical sets.

A lot of firewall manipulation, but nothing different than any other tool requiring SSH access.

Autonomous wireless access points count in the licensing, and we haven’t found much value in that.

SolarWinds, Visio, Lucidchart, and Whatsup Gold.

I love the product! Network documentation is something every engineer is supposed to do, but few do well. It’s time-consuming, tedious, and most of the time is out of date as soon as it’s completed. NetBrain is an incredible tool.

Though, it’s only as accurate as the devices it can reach. It’s only as good as the engineers updating it. Figure out your documentation hierarchy first. Have your engineers update what they know.

Foster a sense of crowd-sourcing your documentation from the beginning.

Having someone who understands some base technical scripting would be valuable. There is tremendous capability with the qApp functionality.