Senior Manager - Global Network Ops with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
Apr 7, 2015
SolarWinds should be scalable to be used in network solution provider environments. It uses SQL as its backend database which is accessible for customization or integration with billing or other applications.
License costs would be what needs to be considered. Most providers I worked with either use open source versions or custom developed applications. While products from major vendors like Cisco are supported out of the box, otherwise will need creation of custom pollers. IPSLA modules will need to be purchased to enable QoS and SLA. NCM module will need to be purchased if configuration management is necessary. NTA module will need to be purchased if visibility of traffic (Netflow) is needed. As a large number of features are available a fair amount of time and resource needs to be considered to tailor the application to suit specific requirements. It is important to consider hardware and software needed to host the application as well as its architecture (eg. Is high availability a requirement ?)
Works at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
Mar 31, 2015
Most import would be to have the correct MIBS that work with hp for all the protocols also all protocols that he is trying to collect data from should be configured and enabled. Lastly he hast to make sure that the right firmware if on the device the latest and greatest. NPM can get as granulated as you want it to get you just have to make sure the right protocols are fully enabled.
Network Engineer at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
Mar 30, 2015
I haven’t worked with NPM for a couple of years. When I last used it, it could program routers and switches to send simulated traffic to test QOS. They do have an IT Helpdesk product now but I haven’t used it.
I'm currently testing NPM and it may work for what you need from simply a monitoring perspective. But, the pricing may work against you and there is no accounting aspect to the application. There are other applications out there that work nicely and much better in a MSP space. However, this is one of those things that would be better answered by the sales engineers at SolarWinds since they know their product best and would help you navigate the licensing landscape.
General Manager at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
User
Mar 30, 2015
Why would you want to have an additional platform when the HP NNM can do that for you? They have something called 'Smart plugin' module that is supposed to do what you want.
CEO at a energy/utilities company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Mar 30, 2015
The Short answer is YES, but that's a very qualified yes. A Network Solution Provider needs much more
than just a passive alarm monitoring system to send an Alert when something goes out of SLA parameters.
I have been researching and testing software tools for some time now. The best answer depends on how large, how many customers need monitoring, what level you are getting into Managed Services.
Hardware, Software, System Application level , all this has to be taken into account. Without a lot of additional details , anyone in this business, knows that Vendor specific questions, about Will this or that work , is Dangerous ground. I don't recommend specific products, , except with a full understanding of how and why its needed.
Sorry there are no simple answers, except with in depth analysis of the need. If you cannot do that for yourself then
outside expertise is the only answer. The are plenty of good consultants out there in this field.
SolarWinds NPM is a network monitoring solution that enables you to detect, diagnose, and resolve network performance issues and outages quickly and efficiently. The solution is a powerful tool that can help you increase service levels, reduce downtime with multi vendor network monitoring, simplify the management of complex network devices, improve operational efficiency, and much more.
SolarWinds NPM Features
SolarWinds NPM has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones...
SolarWinds should be scalable to be used in network solution provider environments. It uses SQL as its backend database which is accessible for customization or integration with billing or other applications.
License costs would be what needs to be considered. Most providers I worked with either use open source versions or custom developed applications. While products from major vendors like Cisco are supported out of the box, otherwise will need creation of custom pollers. IPSLA modules will need to be purchased to enable QoS and SLA. NCM module will need to be purchased if configuration management is necessary. NTA module will need to be purchased if visibility of traffic (Netflow) is needed. As a large number of features are available a fair amount of time and resource needs to be considered to tailor the application to suit specific requirements. It is important to consider hardware and software needed to host the application as well as its architecture (eg. Is high availability a requirement ?)
Hope this is helpful.
Regards
Ashley
And the reporting module can produce any detailed report and you have the ability to fully customize to your needs.
Most import would be to have the correct MIBS that work with hp for all the protocols also all protocols that he is trying to collect data from should be configured and enabled. Lastly he hast to make sure that the right firmware if on the device the latest and greatest. NPM can get as granulated as you want it to get you just have to make sure the right protocols are fully enabled.
I haven’t worked with NPM for a couple of years. When I last used it, it could program routers and switches to send simulated traffic to test QOS. They do have an IT Helpdesk product now but I haven’t used it.
I'm currently testing NPM and it may work for what you need from simply a monitoring perspective. But, the pricing may work against you and there is no accounting aspect to the application. There are other applications out there that work nicely and much better in a MSP space. However, this is one of those things that would be better answered by the sales engineers at SolarWinds since they know their product best and would help you navigate the licensing landscape.
Why would you want to have an additional platform when the HP NNM can do that for you? They have something called 'Smart plugin' module that is supposed to do what you want.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Network_Management_Center
The Short answer is YES, but that's a very qualified yes. A Network Solution Provider needs much more
than just a passive alarm monitoring system to send an Alert when something goes out of SLA parameters.
I have been researching and testing software tools for some time now. The best answer depends on how large, how many customers need monitoring, what level you are getting into Managed Services.
Hardware, Software, System Application level , all this has to be taken into account. Without a lot of additional details , anyone in this business, knows that Vendor specific questions, about Will this or that work , is Dangerous ground. I don't recommend specific products, , except with a full understanding of how and why its needed.
Sorry there are no simple answers, except with in depth analysis of the need. If you cannot do that for yourself then
outside expertise is the only answer. The are plenty of good consultants out there in this field.