We performed a comparison between Cisco DNA Center and SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Network Automation solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."The most valuable features of Cisco DNA Center are wireless assurance and visibility."
"The solution helps in user microsegmentation."
"Cisco is a leading network company."
"I like that we can easily configure any new hardware. It's also easy to deploy and easy to troubleshoot."
"The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated"
"The solution helps with the management and orchestration of campaigns. It helps with visibility and analytics. I also like its SDA configuration."
"The product offers an intuitive and automated way to manage user networks. It gives me an insight into the network health."
"Has a good processing feature with a high level of accuracy."
"The configuration compliance aspect of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager allows for easy comparison of configuration settings across branches, ensuring adherence to security guidelines and best practices. Automation capabilities have greatly impacted workflows, enabling tasks such as configuration backups, template deployment, and firmware upgrades to be automated, thereby streamlining processes and saving time. Compliance reporting features provide valuable insights into network compliance, offering pre-built security audit reports and customizable options to meet specific requirements."
"SolarWinds NCM provides updates on the status of your network infrastructure. If any issues arise, such as a link failure or a device going offline, you will receive notifications and alerts. Additionally, if someone unplugs a cable, SolarWinds NCM will detect it. It also features a Topology Mapper that displays the connectivity of your network devices, giving you a visual representation of the network's structure. With SolarWinds NCM, you have a clear understanding of what's happening within your network and can generate comprehensive reports."
"It is a stable solution."
"The scanning features have proven to be highly valuable, particularly due to the comprehensive information they provide."
"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."
"It allows us to manage backups in big companies. It is also useful in managing the configuration changes."
"The features we find most valuable is the configuration backup automation, the configuration compliance, the security vulnerability detection and upgrading devices."
"The most valuable features the solution offers are compliance, reliability, and information about reliability."
"The weaknesses primarily involve pricing and the ongoing need for increased bandwidth and data throughput."
"When it comes to deploying wireless fields, integrating defaults into the DNS interface can be challenging."
"Cisco DNA Center should improve its configuration management. It is better to have a dev version before pushing it."
"From the recent DNA point of view, there are some stability challenges with Cisco, but very minor."
"The solution's technical support is an area with which my company's clients have a problem. Cisco doesn't provide good technical support unless a user has a big account that Cisco wants to retain."
"What I want to see in Cisco DNA Center in the future is more support for other platforms so that you can manage third-party products, such as Fortinet."
"Integration with analytic tools and API integrations would be ideal."
"Cisco DNA Center was a new technology for us, at the beginning, it was not easy to do, but Cisco did a lot of training with us to a level we could handle everything. The team is managing itself now without the assistance of Cisco."
"The interface of solar winds could be improved."
"I'd like to see additional features like support for devices that don't use CLI for configuration backups, expanded inventory support for other vendors beyond Cisco, and compatibility with newer SD WAN devices. These enhancements would further improve the product's versatility and utility for users. we hope for future enhancements, especially in supporting security devices that lack CLI backup options."
"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."
"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."
"The third-party plugins available in the solution could improve. I have received some issues with the templates."
"The Network Configuration Manager needs to improve the access control list compliance."
"I would like to see more integration tools. Something like dialysis, for example."
"The network flow is a problem for this solution."
More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Pricing and Cost Advice →
Cisco DNA Center is ranked 1st in Network Automation with 37 reviews while SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is ranked 3rd in Network Automation with 22 reviews. Cisco DNA Center is rated 7.8, while SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Cisco DNA Center writes "Practical implementation of VXLAN is good and provides centralized control". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager writes "Network configuration is done well; great pricing". Cisco DNA Center is most compared with Cisco Prime, Aruba Airwave, Huawei eSight, Juniper Mist Wired Assurance and Fortinet FortiManager, whereas SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is most compared with Cisco Prime, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, OpenText Network Node Manager i, VMware NSX and IBM Tivoli NetCool. See our Cisco DNA Center vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager report.
See our list of best Network Automation vendors.
We monitor all Network Automation reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.