SolarWinds NPM Reviews

Our primary use case for the solution is to monitor whether certain devices are up or down, monitor bandwidth utilization and have a network performance monitor.

The ability to quickly identify downtime is the most valuable because we use the solution for monitoring. For example, a map that shows all of our switches, which make up our core infrastructure, and then the small firewalls that connect to the other locations so that we can see how our devices are running. Hence, the monitoring ability to create those maps and monitor everything on warmup is a very valuable feature for us.

The solution works very well for our current use case, but the price of the solution can be improved.

We have been using the solution for a while and are currently using version 12.4, but we are considering upgrading it.

We have not had issues with stability. I rate the stability a nine out of ten.

The solution is scalable, and there is currently only two staff utilizing the solution in our organization, but we have plans to increase usage further.

We have a fairly small environment, but this is because we only have about 15 switches, some servers, and our remote locations, so we're using a couple of hundred nodes altogether, but we can scale up to probably thousands or even tens of thousands because there is room to add additional servers. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten.

We dealt with customer service and support once for a license issue, and they resolved our concerns swiftly.

SolarWinds NPM was the first network monitoring solution we used

The initial setup was complex as there was quite a bit of work that had to be done in terms of setting up databases and making sure the database was linked to the application.

We implemented the solution through a vendor team the first time, but further installations were done in-house.

The licensing costs are fairly high. I rate it a five out of ten.

I rate the solution a nine out of ten based on our current version. The solution is a robust and stable product but can be improved by reducing its licensing costs. Therefore, I recommend the solution to users considering implementing it.

The primary use case is for cybersecurity, as they did not want it on their own personal cloud. 

We found that it was easy to operate, and it was simple if anyone has entry-level working experience or even if someone is not experienced.

The improvement would be that SolarWinds NPM thoroughly checks its patches before releasing them to the market. Better testing, alpha testing, and then releasing it to the market.

I have been working with SolarWinds NPM for the past one to two years.

The stability is very good and informative.

We were able to quickly expand and include any other active equipment or any new buildings which became requirements. We were able to easily take into consideration everything and set it up.

Technical support is good, however somewhat delayed due to the time difference. We had some troubleshooting issues because new people were working on it, but SolarWinds NPM responded back and it was easy for everyone to go through it.

Positive

Deployment was straightforward and we had an expert of SolarWinds NPM who we employed. The process was completed within a couple of hours.

We had one person from a third party help us through the deployment process.

I would rate SolarWinds NPM a nine out of ten.

We use SolarWinds for network monitoring. It's suitable for mid-sized or enterprise-scale companies. It can work for a small business, too, because it's not too expensive. 

SolarWinds' network and server application monitoring features are strong.

SolarWinds could offer more support and insights for a broader range of devices. Currently, it focuses on routers, switches, and some load balancers. However, it lacks an out-of-the-box dashboard for monitoring firewalls and some other modern network security devices. We have to customize it a lot.

At the same time, some tools don't have the ability to customize, so SolarWinds is ahead of the competition, in that regard. I would also like to see more support for software-defined network platforms and enhanced API monitoring capacity.

I have been using SolarWinds NPM for more than five years.

SolarWinds offers some options for scalability, but there is a bottleneck on some features. I hope the scale of NetFlow can be increased. Also, SolarWinds uses the Microsoft SQL database, which doesn't allow distributed architecture or scaling options.

I rate SolarWinds support seven out of 10. The quality varies depending on who picks up the phone.

In most cases, setting up SolarWinds is simple. However, when customers have some special requirements, the deployment can become highly complex.

I rate SolarWinds NPM six out of 10 for pricing. It isn't the cheapest solution, but it's still affordable.

I rate SolarWinds NPM eight out of 10. I would recommend this product for medium-sized and enterprise-scale companies.

We used SolarWinds for network switches, routers, firewalls, and servers, and to collect performance data for items on a global scale. We have 1,000 to 1,500 users.

The ability to customize the views and dashboards is nice. SolarWinds also allows us to access the data via the API. That's probably the feature I liked the most.

It would be nice to have a test to check if you can access a particular device via API without installing it and waiting for a poll cycle. You should have the capacity to initiate a test to see if it was reachable and get the results almost immediately.

I have been using SolarWinds NPM for four or five years.

SolarWinds was pretty stable.

SolarWinds NPM is scalable.

SolarWinds provides good support.

Setting up SolarWinds NPM was relatively straightforward. There is always some complexity, but it's usually pretty straightforward. Two technicians were able to set it up.

We set up SolarWinds NPM in-house. 

I rate SolarWinds NPM eight out of 10. I recommend taking advantage of the online training that's available. Get an account on THWACK, the online user group. It's good for getting help.

SolarWinds NPM is used for searching equipment in the network, troubleshooting the network, and mapping the networking.

The most valuable features in SolarWinds NPM are the network search and diagnostic tools.

SolarWinds NPM could improve by adding the deepest inspection, performance networking, and IP address discovery.

I have been using SolarWinds NPM for approximately three months.

SolarWinds NPM is stable.

The scalability of SolarWinds NPM is easy to do.

We have three or four users using this solution.

The support is very good for SolarWinds NPM.

The initial setup of SolarWinds NPM is easy.

The cost of the personal perpetual license for SolarWinds NPM is approximately $2,000.

I recommend this solution to others.

I rate SolarWinds NPM a nine out of ten.

We use it for network monitoring, internet monitoring purpose and server monitoring purposes.

It allows me to see a summary of the network being monitored at a glance.

SolarWinds dashboard is very fast. Also, their interface is very good, it looks very user-friendly.

The time monitoring could be improved from every five seconds to every second. If they can move to an every-second basis, then it will improve the monitoring analysis.

I would also like to see the security system updated to prevent virus attacks.

I have been using SolarWinds NPM for around 10 to 12 years.

We have found it is definitely stable.

This product is scalable by purchasing extra modules for more servers.

They're one of the most responsive companies when it comes to support.

Positive

The initial setup wasn't complex, but not as easy as some systems either. It requires someone with experience with the network monitoring system. 

It was implemented in-house.

The charge is currently made per module for the product, and there is no option to buy it as a full system bundle which makes it costly. Also, charges are made annually, it's not a perpetual purchase.

It would not be affordable for SME level organizations.

The other solutions I evaluated were:

• PTRG
• Cisco
• WhatsUp Gold.

I would rate this product at 7.5 out of 10.

If there's a connectivity issue, the packets have dropped, or the traffic is going through any of the routers, you can see where that is just stuck.

The individual’s bandwidth we do not know. For monitoring purposes, we can find the exact amounts through this NPM, Network Performance Monitor, and Network Traffic Analyzer. We can see who is using how much bandwidth and where the traffic is stuck. It provides visibility to show what the issue is in our network.

The solution is very good. Previously, in the solution, there was no more option for customizing the reports and the alerts. However, they’ve improved. Now, in the last two years, since 2021, they have had a new release, a new version, and there are a lot of options for customization of the dashboard, alerts, and reports. 

Over the last couple of years, they have introduced features like NetPath and PerfStack. That is very helpful for any of the admins to troubleshoot issues to know precisely what is going on in nodes.

If we go for the NT license, then we have to purchase the NPM, Network Performance Monitor. That is a dependency. In all of the SolarWinds products now, there are only these products. For example, Net Traffic Analyzer is a product. If we go for the licensing, then we have to purchase a Network Performance Monitor. There's dependency there. If they could combine everything into one product, that would be very helpful.

The NT is the enhanced version of the NPM. They have not put a license on the different monitors of the NT. However, they have to include in the same manner in the NPM itself.

For NetPath services, right now, we have to manually install the events in the nodes. If there was something from the console side, we could post the event to the nodes. If there was automation, that would be helpful. Already there's automation for other types of things or in other features, like for communication of the nodes. However, for the NetPath feature, if we could automatically move the event from the console side to the application side, that would be a great feature.

I’ve been using the solution for the last five years.

It’s stable.

In 2020, as most people know, there was an attack on SolarWinds. At that time, there was a problem. However, in 2021, everything was good. If it wasn’t, we would have been looking for another solution. Everything has been stabilized.

We are using one in five total devices connected to that SolarWinds. We are using an AP, Additional Polling engine that will scale the solution. Scalability is there.

Only the licensing part is different. We have to purchase more licenses on that part. Currently, we are monitoring 12,000 nodes. If we want to go to the 13,000 nodes, then we have to purchase one additional license, the Additional Polling license.

We have about 50 people using the solution. They are system admins. In the North, the solution is used vastly. In the South, the solution is used by the different departments. I'm not part of the South. I'm part of the North.

We do have plans to increase usage.

For L2 or L1 problems, we are giving the support. For the L3 level, if the issue is beyond our reach, then we contact the support team from Solarwinds.

We have an online number. We have to call that number, and we’ll get support. They will support you, for example, if the system is down. Otherwise, you can open a support ticket, and they will help.

Overall, the support is good.

Now we are using Tripwire also for some of our customers. It is also good.

I am not using any other products. However, there are some solutions that are free tools.

The initial setup is straightforward. We have to just go to NetPath and just connect to the database. Once the connection is established to the database, then we will be up on both devices. There are a lot of options for onboarding the devices. It is easy. Anyone can do it.

There's an admin guide. There's a very helpful guide that SolarWinds has provided on their customer portal. There are training options too. You are well prepared.

The deployment took two to three hours to install the product and five to six hours for the entire deployment. It’s pretty fast if you have a good strategy.

While one person is enough to deploy or manage the solution, it would depend on how many devices you are dealing with.

If you are going to monitor 2,000 devices, one person is enough. If you're going to monitor a large number of devices, you might need two managers for all devices.

We are the third-party vendor for the bank. We deploy the solution, and we support them. We provide professional services as well.

The basic ROI is the fact that the client is happy, and that’s all that matters.

I’m only a technical person. I don’t have access to the pricing.

Extra costs come under support and maintenance. Obviously, we always consider support and maintenance under the same licensing cost. They'll only provide one year of support and maintenance.

We had to go for the SolarWinds. We are not able to work with any other solution.

Once the solution is implemented, we'll populate whatever the dashboard is. However, some of the things will not populate. There is a need for services there. We can use the NetPath services feature. We can export that feature to the dashboard. However, it will be easy for any of the system admin to troubleshoot the issue.

I’d rate the solution ten out of ten.

We use SolarWinds as a monitoring platform.

It monitors all of our network gears for up-down status, for the most part. We can also see utilization being high at a given location.

The alerting has been the biggest aspect we appreciate. In regards to utilization, it can be proactive in regards to addressing situations before some cases arise before the users even see them.

The initial setup is simple.

It integrates really well with the Cisco platform. We are a Cisco shop. I don't know how well it's going to integrate with us moving to Aruba or going with other vendor hardware, how well it's going to integrate, I guess we'll find out.

It is scalable.

Technical support is helpful.

The stability is good. 

The only real caveat that we have or that I have an issue with is when I go on vacation, it's a little hard for me to go and modify alerts so that I don't get alerted about things when I'm on vacation. There's not a way to turn me off from alerts easily.

There really hasn't been anything that we've needed that it hasn't been able to provide. 

I've used the solution for at least 17 years. 

The solution is stable. there are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.

We've got about nine different Sys admins that use it on a day-to-day basis, at different locations, to check on different things.

Contact support was great. They're very knowledgeable. They knew what we needed, once we explained our problem. In some cases, they helped us figure out a different solution than what we were looking at. They knew the product pretty well for everybody that we've dealt with.

Positive

We didn't use a different solution. That's what was here when I started 17 years ago and that's what we've stayed with.

The setup was pretty straightforward. We just went through a complete redeployment part of upgrading to the latest and greatest as we upgraded servers and databases and the whole nine yards. We just simply did a fresh install. It was pretty easy.

It probably took us about a couple of days. We had to go back in and once we re-added the location, we had to go back and tweak what we wanted to monitor, and that kind of stuff. We didn't simply just do a migration. It was a little bit of doing the network re-discovery and then going in and tweaking the individual locations. 

The one thing we did migrate over was the alerts. We didn't have to recreate alerts from scratch, however, it took us a while. We've got 400-plus devices that we monitor. It took a little while to get all of the devices back in the way they originally were.

We did everything in-house. We did not use consultants or integrators. 

I don't know anything about pricing. It's not an aspect I deal with.

We deal directly with Solarwinds. 

We have been keeping the solution updated. 

I would recommend the solution. A lot of our colleagues use it and we like the way it works. I'd rate it ten out of ten. 

I'd advise potential new users to give it a good rundown and see if it really fits what they need. Don't just try it with one or two things. Do the 30-day evaluation. I have folks that have used it and try to find some way to break it really. Load it up the way that you want to run it and actually take time to dig down into it. So far, there hasn't been anything that it hasn't been able to do for us. However, it's designed for that Cisco environment and that's what we've always been. I can't really talk about it outside of the box.

We are using SolarWinds NPM to monitor our network. For example, we monitor Cisco Meraki for WAN, and other Cisco routers, and for LAN we monitor Cisco switches and firewalls.

There are a lot of valuable features with SolarWinds NPM. We can receive a lot of detailed data from the monitoring that can use useful for investigations, especially when you are troubleshooting. It is very helpful. Overall it was a very good experience.

SolarWinds NPM could improve the graphics of the interface and more customized reporting.

I have been using SolarWinds NPM for approximately one year.

SolarWinds NPM is stable. We haven't faced any major outages.

The scalability of SolarWinds NPM is good, and it is simple. We have approximately 5,000 nodes.

The support we have received from SolarWinds NPM has been very good. Initially, there were some issues with the solution but the support help us figure it out.

I rate the support of SolarWinds NPM a four out of five.

The knowledge base of the support could improve. However, every organization has its own use cases. Sometimes it's not a common use case and the support has not seen the particular problem. We might have something unique, which other clients never faced.

We have used Centreon previously. We have evaluated it for some time. It was very easy to use but the requirements we had, were not fulfilled. We have engaged with some Centreon providers, and the support was not great. We bought a license for one year for Centreon, and the support from France was not great. That's why we decided that we cannot go with it for a longer time and on a larger scale. Additionally, we have used Alaloop for quite some time, and it was good.

We switched to SolarWinds NPM mainly because we were expanding, and in Alaloop we were mainly using it for WAN only, not for the LAN. Additionally, Alaloop was much more expensive compared to SolarWinds NPM.

The initial setup of SolarWinds NPM was not straightforward. We had some difficulty configuring some of the new features for the devices properly. However, this was because we were new to the solution. We had the documentation which was helpful.

The full implementation took approximately one month.

I rate the initial setup of SolarWinds NPM a three out of five.

We used third-party support for the implementation. The solution requires maintenance but we have not had any issues.

SolarWinds NPM has different pricing models available. The cost of the solution is less than some competitors.

I would recommend SolarWinds NPM to others but it depends on how complex the network they have is and how large it is. Based on that information, you need to make a decision if the solution is the best fit. If their infrastructure is quite large, the good thing is they can expand it, even for the server infrastructure, not only for network infrastructure. 

I would recommend the solution for a larger organization.

I rate SolarWinds NPM an eight out of ten.

One of my clients is a bank. SolarWinds is primarily used in banking to limit network downtime to less than one or two minutes. All the ATMs are connected with SolarWinds, so the bank can respond quickly when the network is down. You only need about three or four people monitoring this software at a time. SolarWinds is deployed on-premises for security reasons. Banks do not allow cloud solutions for this purpose. 

Network performance is the main issue clients are facing. SolarWinds checks if a node is down, and we can set thresholds for performance metrics. For example, we set it up to get an alert automatically if a value is over 80 percent. It has a full dashboard that covers CP, hard disk, and node monitoring.

Each model has different features, so clients need to purchase a separate model for SQL monitoring, database monitoring, network traffic analyzer, HTTP traffic, etc. So each feature they need is in a different model, but customers would prefer an all-in-one solution.

I have been working with SolarWinds NPM for two years.

SolarWinds is stable. We sometimes have crashes here and there because we are monitoring so many features and routers.

SolarWinds is easy to scale.

We don't use technical support because we handle everything in-house. We already make customized dashboards, reports, notes, etc. ourselves.

I used PRTG, but it's not used in any banks. About 80 percent of banks I know use SolarWinds. PRTG is mostly popular in manufacturing companies. It's cheaper, so manufacturers can easily afford it. 

Setting up SolarWinds is somewhat complex because the data is encrypted and banks require so many policies. The reporting and dashboards are also complex. 

SolarWinds is expensive. That's why it's primarily banks using the solution. Small businesses can't afford it. Due to its pricing, most smaller enterprises like manufacturing companies are not interested. For example, we have a client who is also interested in traffic monitoring, but they are not purchasing SolarWinds because of the cost. 

I rate SolarWinds NPM seven out of 10.