SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Reviews

We use the solution in our organization. We also implement it for our customers. The tool is used not only for monitoring purposes but also for device management. We can back up the running and startup configurations for all vendors. It’s the main use case of the tool.

The product is also used for network automation. If we want to configure the network devices, we can put the configuration in thousands of devices through the tool. It enables automation. The client mainly uses the automation features.

Sometimes, we have to push the configuration into 50 to 100 devices. We usually configure it on one device and check its compatibility for one to two days. If everything works well, we make rules and push the configuration into 1000 devices.

If we want to check something available out of the box, we create rules using the command in a policy. These rules can then be embedded in the policy, and the policy runs against the node. It will help detect vulnerabilities or check anything particular in the devices.

The backup and configuration-pushing features are valuable. We also use the product for vulnerability management. It provides out-of-the-box vulnerability policies. It provides a list of CVEs and helps us understand which CVE is more vulnerable. The tool is useful for security purposes.

I started working with compliance six to seven months ago. I have worked on compliance reports for some Cisco devices. The compliance features are fine. The product detects compliance well. If we find any compliance or vulnerability issues in the devices, we can correct them from the SolarWinds console. We can create some rules to detect issues. If there is a need for alteration, we can do it directly from the console.

The vendor recently introduced AI features to detect alerts. The AI features do not work well. It would be good if the vendor developed the AI feature so that we could understand what patterns the AI is detecting and what changes we can make to our environment to avoid such alerts in the future. The AI feature must be enhanced. I have already raised the concern with the support team, and the vendor is working on it.

I have been using the solution for seven years.

I rate the product’s ease of use and scalability a nine out of ten.

I always recommend the product for network automation and backup of network devices. However, it's only for the network devices, not the server. I have worked with other tools, too. SolarWinds has most of the functionalities.

Many customers use it for monitoring and security purposes. SolarWinds NPM’s NetPath feature has some limitations. We cannot add the cloud broker firewall. It would be great if the vendor could add the feature to NPM. They are working on it, and we can expect it in the next release.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

At our company, we use the solution for remote network configuration. As part of our organization, we configure the database to all the branches; the solution helps in auto-detecting all the branches through a simple command. From the head office of our organization, we can detect branches of remote offices using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. 

The network performance monitoring of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is a vital feature. The vendor has recently introduced IP SLA management with direct UL or device lifetime users.

The aforementioned feature is able to provide information related to health check management. For instance, if multiple devices go beyond the iOS version, then specific reports will be generated, and obsolete versions can be identified. 

There are certain limitations of node-related monitoring in SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. One probe is limited to around 10,000 elements in the solution, if the need arises to monitor beyond the limit, another probe or module needs to be deployed. If multiple probes of the solution are used in a project, often SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager operates slower than usual. 

At our company, we face some communication issues with the tool because there are no local distributors of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager around the country. 

I have been using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager for five years. 

The solution is majorly aimed at large enterprises, and other small and medium companies would often choose an open-source tool over SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. 

On behalf of our organization, we have contacted the support team a few times, and they have been helpful enough. I would rate the customer support a seven out of ten. 

Neutral

Recently, our company adopted the Dynatrace tool for POC purposes, and we have received demonstrations of the solution. Our company is planning to switch because of the poor application performance monitoring in SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. 

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is available at a moderate price. 

Network configuration monitoring is related to managing the network pipeline and users, for which SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is most suitable, but Dynatrace is better suited for application performance monitoring. Our company has a large infrastructure and network for applications, and we are looking for a tool that can handle both network configuration and application performance monitoring. 

The solution is capable of handling the latest monitoring and implementing configurations by integrating other configuration management tools to provide storage center locations. In addition to SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, we have another similar tool as a backup in our organization so that operations are not disrupted and dependency on a single tool can be minimized. 

If any remote unit or device belonging to our company goes down, we can easily restore the device for the backup standalone device's configuration. I would recommend SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager to others, but I would also suggest they compare similar and more capable solutions in the market. I would rate the solution a seven out of ten overall. 

We have more than 200 devices in our network. We use the product to check all the changes in the configuration and keep a base configuration. If we have new routers or switches, we have to compare them with this standard configuration.

The product is simple. Sometimes it gets difficult to remember the standard we have to keep for our configuration. When you have new devices or even critical issues in your network, you have to review the configuration. Also, it acts as evidence if the change made by someone causes a problem. The solution helps us find who made the configuration and which command changed it. You can also download and upload the configuration in one click without entering the command line interface.

The solution's view is very nice, and they have a great customized dashboard. You can add the maps, import any pictures you need, and see all the information in the dashboard. Also, the solution is simple from the management side because, for each menu, you can see the same structure.

Adding an AI feature would allow me to add the configuration by sentence instead of writing the command on the devices. This would be useful if you don't know everything about the command line. For instance, AI can help me to name a router if I don't know how to write the command line to name the device.

Also, it would be good if the product could give me alerts in case of any configuration change. If the product could send me a notification when there is a configuration change in any device, I wouldn't need to check the console every time.

The network flow is a problem for this solution. The network flow in other solutions is better for each device, and you can see the bandwidth or the traffic for each interface. I'm unsure if SolarWinds currently has this feature because I don't have the latest update.

I have been using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager for more than eight years.

The solutions’ stability is good.

The solution is scalable because you can add any number of devices using a legal license. Also, the integration gives us more information even though we didn't ask for it. For instance, the system automatically gives us information about wireless network configuration, controller configuration, and connected ADs.

We have not needed customer support's help as the solution runs smoothly.

Previously, I have used Nagios and Cacti.

The initial setup is easy. The deployment process is very fast. I did that in the past. SolarWinds has a good graphical interface that allows users to save the credentials if they enable the SNMP credential or community strings. The software provides instructions for the configuration and all the needed features. Also, users can test their credentials before finalizing their configuration. So it's very simple. It's good.

It's more expensive than other products, but the solution's benefits and value are good.

I don't remember the pricing because we bought it a long time ago, more than eight years ago, to be specific. The price of the solution is high compared to other solutions. Most of the local market prefers low-price solutions.

We use the SolarWinds NPM module and SolarWinds IPAM for many IP addresses. We also use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. My organization is the end user of the product. I am currently not working with the latest version of the product.

A single person can handle the solution’s deployment. Sometimes we face issues with the solution’s database.

I like SolarWinds because you see all the features live, even on real devices. Even before I buy it, I can see all the features. So you can connect to any set of devices and see all the features live.

I recommend SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager because it gives me full visibility of our network.

Overall, I rate SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager an eight out of ten.

We have deployed SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager in a financial institution. 

The solution is used to control all the equipment, configurations, backups, configuration management, and schedule jobs from a single point. There is a bit of automation involved.

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.

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.

There are times when you schedule a job or do another action, if an issue happens or something does happen in the network, you would like to receive reports, whether via SMS or via mail. However, sometimes it doesn't come. This needs improvement. Sometimes it takes time before it comes, and sometimes it doesn't come at all. You could then falsely be accusing yourself of not scheduling something properly, or maybe the timing doesn't match, or maybe the NCP is not synchronized with the server. You then realize everything working fine, but still, the notification doesn't come the way it's supposed to.

I have been using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager for approximately four years.

When you first deploy a solution there will be problems from time to time. You will have to address the issues as they arise.

I rate the stability of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager a six out of ten.

The company where I deployed the solution had approximately 17 branches across the country. The devices that were managed with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager at that time I was there were approximately 1,200 devices.

I have had experience using other network management solutions in addition to SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. Although it may be more expensive than some other options, SolarWinds is currently one of the best solutions available on the market.

I rate the scalability of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager an eight out of ten.

The vendor contacted us to inquire about the status of the solution and offered their assistance with the deployment. We informed them that we had everything under control, but appreciated the documentation they provided to guide us through the process. Although we did not end up needing further support, they were helpful and available to assist if necessary.

The initial setup process for the SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager was somewhat complex, particularly due to the need to ensure that the devices being managed had the necessary base configuration, such as SSH, in place. However, once the devices were registered with NCM, we found it easier to navigate and use.

For the most recent deployment of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, a team of five engineers was involved. One engineer was responsible for managing the dashboard, while the other four were distributed to the site to ensure that the base configuration was properly set up on the devices to allow them to be registered with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. This project we recently worked on it took approximately six weeks to deploy. It was a large network.

The first step in deploying the SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager was to ensure that the network was properly set up and that all the devices had the necessary base configuration in place to allow them to communicate with the solution. This included preparing the desktop where SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager would be installed and ensuring that it had connectivity with all the other devices on the network.

After setting up the network and preparing the devices for communication with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, the next step was to prepare a database for the solution to use to store the configuration data. Once the database was set up, the next step was to configure SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager to connect to the database before proceeding with registering the other network equipment with the solution.

Lastly, we provide training for the network administrator who is going to take charge.

I rate the initial setup of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager a nine out of ten.

The return on investment of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is decent.

I rate the ROI from SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager a six out of ten.

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.

The cost of the license for SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager starts at $1,000 annually. Whatever the functionalities that you need, there are licenses for it, and every license comes with its own price. 

There was a time when we wanted to use one particular SolarWinds functionality, and the license to unlock it was approximately $10,000. The cost depends on the functionality you choose.

I rate the price of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager a four out of ten.

The company we worked with did not have a maintenance contract with SolarWinds for the Network Configuration Manager. This may be because they were only interested in using certain specific features of the solution, such as configuration, backups, and scheduling jobs, and did not need the full range of options offered by the solution. 

My advice to others is if you want to use good technology, or solutions, then you need to be ready to spend the money. If you want something good, you want quality, you want good performance for your network, or you want to be able to do everything in a simple way, then you should be able to spend the money so that everything can be done in the simplest way.

I rate SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager a nine out of ten.

With NPM, I've created a couple of dashboards because I have a SOC view. I also have a few device groups because we provide services to customers. We're like a small ISP. So I've set up groups with alerting and maps. Visually, we have screens in the office, so if anything happens on the network, we can see it on our three or four SOC pages. We have all the top ten interfaces, so, at any given time, we can see if there's a lot of bandwidth traffic before it becomes an issue. That's where I use NPM most of the time.

NCM is for backing up the configs, checking compliance, and running backup jobs every night. That's also very helpful. There aren't many tools in the market with configuration backups and conformance checks. What's nice with NCM is you can set up policies that you can then check against the configs to make sure that your device configs are adhering to a baseline or standard that you've set in place. This way, you can get a sort of order to port, which is quite nice.

For me, the most valuable features include backing up the config. And being able to compare contexts every day, so you don't have to make any changes to your config.

The only thing that requires some experience, and training doesn't fix, is how to set up your custom policy-based reports to check compliance. But, other than that, NCM is the one product that I wouldn't change because it works well.

For the next release, I can only think that it would be helpful to have a visual indicator on the dashboard to see if a device fails to back up quickly. A small icon next to the device could indicate that it was not backed up successfully the last time. It would help me catch any backup issues since the system works so flawlessly that I don't check it every day.

I've been working with IPAM for more than ten years now since I started with NPM, IPAM, and NTA, all at the same time.

It's stable. I've had an issue once or twice, but it's more related to Microsoft updates than anything else. I've had it happen once or twice over a period of a year or two, where one of my jobs got stuck.

So I back up my configs most every night and split my backups into multiple sessions so that I don't back up all the devices at once. I back up the core, or back up the edge, or back up the age, all different stations at different times. And then I found one of the jobs got stuck, which I'm not sure why, but I never did it before. So I suspect it's either another .NET update or a Windows security patch. And it's very inconsistent. As I said, it's so small and insignificant that I haven't worried about it because it doesn't present itself often.

I would give the scalability a nine out of ten because I don't give high ratings easily, but it scales very easily. I recently went through a network upgrade project and added forty devices to my network without any issues.

Whenever I've had issues, they were able to help me. I had once upgraded from an old version to the current version, and the base wasn't happy. They walked me through the steps to rectify and fix it, and we didn't lose any data. So, the times I had to deal with technical support, I think, were very good. So I can't complain. The response is pretty quick and efficient.

The initial setup is simple. I deployed the solution on-prem and have used the on-premises version for over ten years.

SolarWinds is sitting between two out of ten, where one is a high price and ten is a low price. Because they are quite expensive compared to other products in the market, it's like Cisco - it's a good product but comes at a premium, and you pay the price for it, and it's not the cheapest option out there.

For me, none of the competitors come close to SolarWinds in terms of backup configuration. Some may require using Python scripts and NetMeco, or platforms like Ansible, but they don't provide the same dashboard and GUI as SolarWinds. So, I don't think many products in the NCM space offer what SolarWinds does, and that's why we're still using it.

I'm using SolarWinds, including Network Performance Manager, IPAM, Configuration Manager, and Network Traffic Analyzer. I also have the toolkit and the Network Topology Mapper.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.

I implemented SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager for one of the large service providers in my building. The solution is used for troubleshooting network or device issues, such as the device not receiving the correct data.

The most valuable Real-time fault detection is beneficial as it enables the identification of changes made to a device's configuration through the SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. This makes it easy to pinpoint which configurations were added or removed, potentially causing network issues. Such changes are saved in logs for future reference.

The third-party plugins available in the solution could improve. I have received some issues with the templates.

I have been using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager for approximately three years.

The stability of the solution is good. However, it was not always the best. There was an issue where the National Security of the USA was hacked through the solution.

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is scalable.

We have more than 60 clients using the solution.

The documents for setting up SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager are straightforward, but configuring the monitored device is a challenge because our support team lacks the necessary knowledge. It's crucial to assess the impact of these configuration changes on the integration with the NCM module, such as high resource utilization or other potential issues. It's essential to evaluate the effects of these changes on both sides.

The deployment tool one to two days because we had to verify the setup and configure the devices. We have to add the devices through the SSMP We are not only doing one device, we are doing more than 20. The more devices added to the solution will add more time. 

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

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager a ten out of ten.

We are using the solution mainly for running backup jobs and comparing integrations. 

NCM is a very good tool. We can use it to compare configurations, for example, and download configurations to see whether something is running configurations. It is good for managing Cisco devices and managing their configurations. 

It is pretty straightforward to set up.

The solution is stable.

It is scalable. 

Nowadays, since last week, I've been facing one issue with the NCM jobs.

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. They're just stuck at a point and just showing me post-processing is happening. So it's not completing, and whenever I cancel it and run it again, it gives me the error. However, not all the time. It gives me the connection refused or a time-out. And when I go to the device, only the job is running. I find the connection profile is running fine and there is no blocking, and there is nothing at the network devices level. However, when I run the job, it's just giving me the connection refused by that particular device. I have raised one case with the vendor about this issue. However, they are just looking at it now, and they will respond to me when they identify something. I haven't gotten an answer on what the issue is.

I've been using the solution for three to four years.

We have been using NCM for a long time, and many of the clients are using it. It's been stable for us. If my client is happy, I'm all happy.

This is a scalable product.

I'd rate the scalability at a seven or eight out of ten.

We're using the solution across multiple projects. I'm not sure how many users are on it in total. It's likely more than 1,000.

I just recently raised an issue with support. 

Apart from that, I haven't had any issues with NCM. I had issues with other modules, just not with NCM. With relation to NCM, this new ticket is my first experience with SolarWinds vendor support and I'm expecting them to give me me some sort of valuable resolution.

I'm not sure why we chose this solution. 

It was not my decision. The stakeholders and my sales team took that decision. They just purchased it and asked me to deploy it. If it was in my hand, I would go for another tool also to explore options. I'm not sure what the other tools are, however, I would have explored a bit more before choosing. 

I've been using SolarWinds for a long time. I'm using NBM, NTA, and other models also. For me, it was not a tough task to set up the solution. That said, I only am familiar with the ORM platform and its features. 

If someone does not have any knowledge of ORM or SolarWinds and they just start with the NCM, then they may face issues and may consider it difficult to deploy. 

Therefore, while deployment is easy, whenever someone is new, they may face some issues running the jobs, and figuring out the jobs and configurations and it all works. For me, it was easy since I already have certain experience and certifications.

NCM deployment takes the usual amount of time as compared to other modules. I deployed on two to three instances and along with other modules. It doesn't take much time. I would not say it's unresponsive. It just takes time.

I'm not from the sales team. I don't handle licensing. The cost structure might be available on their website. 

We are a partner.

I have different projects. I'm not working on a single project. Some of the clients are using a cloud-based instance. Some of them have physical on-premises setups. Most of them are on the cloud.

Before using anything, I would advise new users just go look at the requirements. For example, what are the requirements that you have to monitor? If you have just some devices by which you want to monitor the status of and need only some of the statistics, then NCM is not needed. Companies should not purchase anything blindly; they should understand the infrastructure and requirements.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

We use the solution to manage the configuration for different vendors.

They should enhance the solution's visibility for features. There should be an easier way to have the topology of our network. Also, they should include more automation features.

We have been using the solution for one and a half years.

It is a stable solution.

The solution is scalable. It is most suitable for small and medium enterprises.

The solution's technical support service response could be faster.

Positive

The solution's initial setup process is moderately complex. Before starting the deployment, the network engineer must take specific training for the tool.

The solution's cost depends on the deployment requirements. It ranges from $3 to $30,000. We have to pay additionally for support and maintenance.

We evaluated Zabbix, PRTG, DNA Center, AirWave, etc. In comparison, SolarWinds is low-cost and has integration with different vendors.

I advise others to find the right business partner to help them with the solution. I rate it as a seven.