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reviewer2009733 - PeerSpot reviewer
MS Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
MSP
Network mapping helps me visualize where everything is, and alerts enable us to tackle problems right away
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature in Auvik is that it lets us know when a network is down. It lets us know right away and we can find out what's causing it: whether it's the firewall, an AP, or there's a whole network outage. It makes things easier by giving us an "eye in the sky" when we're not on the site. It's great for monitoring."
  • "I would like to see some recommendations in terms of steps that could be taken to assess the alerts. A platform that I have used is Darktrace, which does security testing, and it let us know what was going on, what may have caused it, and what could be done... if Auvik could recommend common ways to go about doing what needs to be done to resolve an alert, that would be helpful."

What is our primary use case?

We use it to monitor network devices, and for alerts when things are down and when devices need to be fixed. It lets us know about outside-facing IP addresses, external and internal MAC addresses. We use it to monitor everything on all our clients' networks.

How has it helped my organization?

It has saved us, as an organization, a lot of time, although I don't know the exact quantity. It lets us get on things right away, when we get those alerts, so that we can tackle things and get them done within the SLA. It's really quick.

For me, personally, it allows me to learn how a network is mapped out for each site and have a better understanding of what connects to what in terms of location. Auvik is good for helping me to visualize where everything is. In past environments, when working at different companies, I didn't really have that so we didn't know what was going on. It was more that if something went left or broke, we would hear about it by word of mouth. We didn't have the chance to see or have a system that would let us know.

When things are down, it lets us know what to do next. We can remote in or try to power up using PoE and it lets us know from that step. It is our first line of alerting, and from there we'll take the next steps into remoting and using other platforms to then get to the issue. That visibility is really great. It's important due to the fact that, when things are going on, we can easily know. If we're focused on other tasks, or we have a project coming up, it lets us know what's happening across our different clients' networks. 

Based on past experience, Auvik saves me three to four hours daily.

The solution's automation has had a positive effect on our IT team's availability. Compared to where I was before, it saves us hours just identifying what exactly the issue is, where it's happening, and what may have caused it. When major things are down, the other tiers will look at it, while the lower-level alerts will be handed off to level-ones, which they can assess. That saves a lot of time by distributing workload.

And the fact that Auvik keeps device inventories up to date saves us about 
70 percent of the time that would otherwise take.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Auvik is that it lets us know when a network is down. It lets us know right away and we can find out what's causing it: whether it's the firewall, an AP, or there's a whole network outage. It makes things easier by giving us an "eye in the sky" when we're not on the site. It's great for monitoring.

Also, for an audit, Auvik will help us know why something happened and what it was doing before that.

It's really great for visualizing the network. Usually, you only see where things are either in person, or you know how a switch is connected, or to what AP, as well as at the port. But seeing it online, and everything tied together, is amazing. It's something I had never seen before. You really see the design and everything. It's really easy to read and know how it works.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see some recommendations in terms of steps that could be taken to assess the alerts. A platform that I have used is Darktrace, which does security testing, and it let us know what was going on, what may have caused it, and what could be done. Even though everyone has their own troubleshooting style, if Auvik could recommend common ways to go about doing what needs to be done to resolve an alert, that would be helpful.

Buyer's Guide
Auvik Network Management (ANM)
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Auvik Network Management (ANM). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Auvik for about a month.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable platform.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's a scalable solution. We use it for over 90 customers, small and medium-sized businesses, with a total of over 15,000 users. As we get more customers, and as we add devices, we reach out to use more features.

How are customer service and support?

I haven't reached out for any technical issues yet.

I watched some of their videos and that led me to read some of their documentation. It was good, an easy step-by-step guide. There were some pictures too, which made it a little bit more helpful. Most documentation is just text, but they give you a view of the actual platform. That is good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have one other application that we use, ConnectWise RMM, but this is the one that we use heavily. 

How was the initial setup?

First starting out, it was a little bit difficult to use, but I did some training that they provide in the resource library, which was really great. From there on, it was self-explanatory. It was really easy to know how to navigate to the dashboard, review alerts, and use the system in general.

What was our ROI?

Auvik saves you time. It's worth the money.

What other advice do I have?

Auvik has been here since I've been here and it has been great, for the most part. I don't know if our organization was down and out before, but I do know that it's a great platform. It takes the stress off. You have to get your hands on it to truly know what it feels like, but there are no special requirements. I would recommend it.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1994772 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
MSP
Allows us to manage our customers and collect configurations, diagnose issues, trace cables, and access devices remotely
Pros and Cons
  • "The ability to trace cables is the most valuable feature. The solution provides link detection and port detection features with the switches. It's invaluable to have the ability to see where one device is connected and identify the exact port without having to trace any cables."
  • "I like the auto-mapping feature, but I would like to see more layouts and predefined views."

What is our primary use case?

We are a managed service provider, but we look after a couple of thousand customers all over Australia. We look after their total IT solutions, and we use Auvik as a network monitoring platform and alerting engine. 

We use Auvik to manage our customers and collect configurations, diagnose issues, trace cables, and access devices remotely. We also use it internally for our own support purposes.

We're an outsourced IT company, so we provide IT to other companies that don't have their own departments or don't have the skills. We might go into a company with an IT department and do projects for them that they don't have the skills or resources to do.

How has it helped my organization?

We will be able to better meet our SLAs with this solution. We have quicker resolution times, and we waste less time on troubleshooting. As an MSP, we charge per user, per month. We charge a fixed fee to our customers, so saved time results in direct profits for us.

The solution's automation has supplemented our IT team's ability. It has saved us in a few niche cases. We're able to access equipment that was otherwise inaccessible.

Auvik helps keep device inventories up to date. We use it with ScalePad, which is a warranty tracking system that generates reports. We use that report and go to our customers and say, "You have five switches that are at end of life and need to be replaced." It helps us a lot.

What is most valuable?

The ability to trace cables is the most valuable feature. The solution provides link detection and port detection features with the switches. It's invaluable to have the ability to see where one device is connected and identify the exact port without having to trace any cables.

It's easy to use the monitoring and management functions. We trained most of our staff on how to administer and monitor the solution without any issues. We have a range of techs from entry-level, all the way to experienced engineers. We haven't found it to be difficult, even with the new people.

Auvik is one of many tools that we use, but it integrates with our other platforms to share data and fit in with our ecosystem.

We have seen time-to-value with Auvik. It has saved us a lot of time. A good example is the automatic configuration backup. One of our customers recently had a switch fail, and it was quite complicated. Reverse engineering what was in place and recreating the configuration would have taken 10 to 20 hours, and the customer would have been down for days. We were able to pull the previous configuration that was automatically generated from Auvik, restore it to a new switch, and have the customer back up within two hours.

What needs improvement?

I like the auto-mapping feature, but I would like to see more layouts and predefined views. At the moment, we're restricted to default views without much customization. The devices and reporting provide a nice map, but it's not at the point where we could generate a 100% accurate topology map because of some of the equipment at some of our customer sites.

The solution doesn't reduce repetitive low-priority tasks through automation as much as we had hoped. The repetitive issues that we see could be solved if Auvik's reporting engine was more configurable. The default reporting is basically limited to what is available out of the box. We can't customize any of the notifications for specific issues. We had to turn off the automatic case generation because it wasn't able to do what we needed it to do.

The reporting engine could definitely be improved, but I've been told that an overhaul is happening.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is great. Every time there's been an outage or an interruption, we've been notified. The uptime is within what we'd expect. No platform is 100% perfect, but it's on par with the market leaders.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We don't have any problems with the scalability.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate technical support a nine out of ten.

Technical support is excellent. I've never had an issue with them. They've always been responsive and more than willing to help.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We evaluated SolarWinds and some other vendors several years ago. We chose Auvik because of the integration with vendors. All of the vendors we use are supported. The instructions on integrations are great. The device communication is easy, and the platform is very intuitive and well-polished. Our only complaint is that it's lacking a few key features, but it has ticked most of the boxes and has required the least amount of overhead.

How was the initial setup?

The setup was straightforward. The knowledge base is quite comprehensive. Everything we wanted was documented. If we had any questions, the support team was excellent.

We implemented Auvik out of the box. For accurate results, it took 24 hours after implementation before our network mapping started to populate.

It took 1/10th of the time to set up Auvik compared to other solutions.

Four people were needed for implementation. Their responsibilities were to configure sites. We're an MSP, so we initially deployed Auvik at 50 sites. The tasks were delegated. We have an internal process for everything we do, which includes snippets from the Auvik documentation, but we created our own customized documentation. 

I was responsible for project management, documentation creation, and task delegation. I delegated setting up the sites and configuring the sites to our senior engineers, and they deployed Auvik at 50 customer sites.

What about the implementation team?

We're an integrator, so we did the setup ourselves.

What was our ROI?

The solution has saved us time by 80%.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution as eight out of ten. 

There are a few things that are missing that we've been promised in the future and that would make the product excellent for our needs. In terms of what we need, it definitely adds value. 

To someone comparing network monitoring solutions but concerned about pricing, my advice is to make sure that the solution fits your needs. Check out the feature set and the reporting, and be realistic about what you expect it to do.

The solution is scalable. You pay for what you use. It's a comprehensive solution to monitor everything. The pricing is fair, and you only pay for what you use and for the devices that are managed by Auvik. It's quite affordable compared to other solutions, and it's scalable.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: MSP
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Auvik Network Management (ANM)
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Auvik Network Management (ANM). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Junior System Administrator at IT Firm
Real User
The network visualization is highly intuitive because you can select all the devices from the top to see the firewall, switches, and endpoint devices
Pros and Cons
  • "In the past, I would manually input the credentials and IP address of a single device from my machine and access the device, which took a lot of time. A task that previously took 40-45 minutes can be completed in less than five minutes with Auvik. It reduces the time needed to check a device for a single company, so we can act quickly before a disaster happens."
  • "Onboarding devices could be easier. When you first add a device to the Auvik platform, you need to add each one by hand. It would be nice if they could automate the process where we only need to run a script."

What is our primary use case?

I use Auvik to monitor, check, and access all network licenses for different companies, including firewalls, servers, and other devices. The Auvik collector is deployed on the servers and in the management station. The agent collects all the information in the network and sends it to Auvik. Auvik's network map will display all of the devices. If a device is offline, it won't show, but the collector will automatically add it to the Auvik platform when it comes online.

How has it helped my organization?

I had never used software like Auvik. In the past, I would manually input the credentials and IP address of a single device from my machine and access the device, which took a lot of time. A task that previously took 40-45 minutes can be completed in less than five minutes with Auvik. It reduces the time needed to check a device for a single company, so we can act quickly before a disaster happens.

Auvik enabled me to automate a lot of repetitive tasks, saving me about an hour each day. It also improved our overall visibility by helping us to visualize the entire network topology and it made troubleshooting much easier because we can see what is happening with a device or throughout the entire network. When we receive an alert, we can look at the network topology to see if the issue is isolated to one device or if it's affecting other components. This gives us a better understanding of the problem's overall impact. 

The solution has also freed our team members up to do other tasks because they no longer need to check all the devices manually. We can do other tasks while Auvik is running in the background and monitoring the situation for us. Auvik keeps our device inventories up to date. When the inventory is added to Auvik, it keeps a register of all the information. It will notify us if we need to update or change something. 

What is most valuable?

What I like most about Auvik is that I can access all devices from a single location, and I don't need to input or remember all the information of the device like the IP address or the credentials.

Auvik sends lots of alerts if something is happening with a certain device. For example, if a device is offline, it will send you an email to say you need to check that. It will notify you if Auvik sees something irregular, like a process using excessive CPU or memory. Configuring it is somewhat difficult, but the monitoring is simple. It's essential because we would need to manually research if something is happening with a device, and that takes a long time.

It's fairly simple to see all the devices in the topology. The only difficult part is to add the devices themselves Auvik won't discover devices automatically. We need to add them manually and input the credentials. After that, it's effortless to examine and check all the devices and troubleshoot a situation by only looking at the topology.

The network visualization is highly intuitive because you can select all the devices from the top to see the firewall, switches, and endpoint devices, like all the computers and servers. You can see all the connections between all those devices. It is handy for a network engineer to see all the connections and pick a device to see its information.

What needs improvement?

Onboarding devices could be easier. When you first add a device to the Auvik platform, you need to add each one by hand. It would be nice if they could automate the process where we only need to run a script. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Auvik for nearly a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Auvik is fairly stable. We rarely have any issues with the platform or installing the collectors on the devices. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We can apply Auvik to everything, and I don't see any limit for it to keep growing. You can implement it in any company on any network, and it will give you all the information about your devices.

How are customer service and support?

I rate Auvik support a nine out of ten. We once had an issue installing the collector on a server. It was on a virtual machine, but Auvik's support was helpful in that case. They responded quickly and were kind. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

I wasn't present for the initial setup, but I have deployed Auvik on other sites that we need to integrate. It was a little complex in the beginning because I was unfamiliar with the platform. My coworkers had to explain how this works, including how to integrate a device and check all the logs. Once I learned how to do that, it was pretty straightforward because it only involves a few steps. The network map starts to populate within 10 minutes. 

In terms of maintenance, Auvik is lightweight on our side because the vendor handles all of the upgrades. When there is scheduled maintenance, we usually see a message at the top of the Auvik platform saying that there will be an interruption of service. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Auvik a nine out of ten. The only difficult part about this solution is the installation because it's something new. Everything goes smoothly after the first step.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Daniel Hayes - PeerSpot reviewer
Centralized Services Team Leader at Morefield Communications
Real User
It gives us better insights into network device performance, so we can proactively catch issues before they become serious problems

How has it helped my organization?

Auvik gives us better insights into network device performance, so we can proactively catch issues before they become serious problems. Auvik also makes us more efficient by providing automated network maps and allowing us to automate low-priority tasks like configuration backups for firewalls and switches. That's a big one. We used to have to do that manually.

The solution's ease of use is essential because our company is split up into different operating groups. We have an IT and network team. This tool allows people who aren't necessarily familiar with firewalls and other IT solutions to get more information at a glance. You don't need to know the ins and outs of a Cisco ASA to figure out what's happening. It also has historical graphs and other features that are helpful for troubleshooting. 

Our customers are distributed and remote, and Auvik helps our onsite engineers support them effectively. It improves our IT support's overall availability because we can detect problems earlier. It's easier to fix something before it's broken completely. 

What is most valuable?

Auvik's automated network mapping has been helpful because we no longer need to do it manually. It can also monitor router switches, switch stacks, firewalls, and controllers. Auvik has a few other features that are nice to have, like the ESXI monitoring. The ability to monitor printer status, toner level, and aspects like that is also helpful. It fits our need for SNMP monitoring and then some.

I love Auvik's tools for visualizing the network mapping topology. Network visualization is relatively intuitive. It can get cumbersome on a larger network, but it lets you filter the map. If you aren't using any filters and have 1,000 devices, the network is just a bunch of tiny dots that you can't see. At that point, it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack, so you have to use the filters and zoom in. In my opinion, it's functioning as designed.

What needs improvement?

I don't like how Auvik handles their multi-site and site terminology compared to other tools. The sites are customers, and the multi-sites are generally partner accounts, but it could also be a customer account with multiple sites underneath it. Their documentation isn't clear on what to use in which scenario. It's up to your best judgment.

Other RMM tools like ConnectWise Automate have customers and sites. Auvik refers to customer accounts as the "multi-site," and the sites underneath are their actual sites unless you have a reason not to set it up that way. Then you can have all the sites under one site. It's confusing. 

I also think Auvik's integration with ConnectWise Manage could use some additional features for excluding certain configuration types. We have that turned off because it's overriding configurations when we don't want it to. I believe the ability to exclude those configuration types is on Auvik's roadmap. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using Auvik for about a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I don't need to contact support often, so that's a good performance indicator. I haven't had to troubleshoot it since the initial deployments. Usually, it's something like a particular device that doesn't have something enabled. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Auvik is suitable for most MSP use cases depending on the size and maturity of the MSP. It's an excellent fit for the average MSP. I manage 60 environments with 412 devices. The device coverage varies. 

How are customer service and support?

I rate Auvik support eight out of 10. I can't complain. They were able to fix my issues whenever I had them. I never had any long-standing tickets. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In the past, we were primarily a ConnectWise shop. Automate does network mapping and SNMP monitoring, but it leaves a lot to be desired and requires a lot of manual configuration. 

We started looking into tools like Auvik and LogicMonitor. Ultimately, we went with Auvik because we felt like it was a good fit. The price was right, and it had all the features that we needed. We weren't using ConnectWise Automate's probe functionality often because there was too much setup involved. I would say it's more akin to us coming from nothing to something.

How was the initial setup?

Auvik is relatively easy to use and deploy. If you're doing it as a Windows service, you can deploy the collector in under five minutes, but setting it up on a virtual machine might take around an hour. After you set it up, you need to configure it to scan the different subnets. 

You have to supply credentials and set the devices up to be monitored. It's reasonably straightforward. If we're deploying it for a net-new customer, we can usually get it done in an afternoon, depending on the customer size. Everything works out of the box, but we needed to set up integration with tools like Manage, ITGlue, and Opsgenie.

It's somewhat hard to estimate the onboarding time because we did it for us first as the MSP, then we onboarded many customers within the first month. It depends on the size of the customer, but it took about six hours.

There's a lot of work to do in the beginning. You have to fine-tune the alerts, which are slightly noisy when you first set it up. That part took a couple of months. We were starting from a blank slate because it was a new solution. We left the default settings and then adjusted them as we went along. It was a little bit of work spread out over a couple of months as we figured out what we did and didn't need.

After that, we didn't need to do much to maintain the tool. You have to check every time you add a new device to ensure it can be scanned. However, if configured correctly, the device will show up automatically when it scans again. 

What about the implementation team?

We just did the onboarding through Auvik.

What was our ROI?

I don't have metrics about the return on investment, but Auvik's SaaS model saves us the cost and hassle of maintaining the infrastructure to host the solution. Auvik's team handles the security, so we're not paying somebody to manage it. 

That's the big advantage over an on-prem solution because then you have to dedicate resources to management. We only need to manage the configuration of the SaaS solution. We started to see value from the solution as soon as we deployed it because it met an immediate need. We were searching for a solution to proactively monitor networks. Auvik satisfied that need and more.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Auvik is worth every penny. I thought it was fairly priced compared to tools like LogicMonitor, which are a lot more expensive. It's reasonably priced for the market.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Auvik eight out of 10. Before deploying Auvik, you should check to ensure it integrates with all your current solutions, including your RMM, documentation tools, and PSA. That's crucial because it's automating inventory and configuration updates. It integrates with ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, ITGlue, Opsgenie, and Meraki, but I'm unsure which solutions are incompatible. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Network Administrator at Kingman Unified School District
Real User
We're able to jump into switches and change the VLANs, and maps are updated almost instantly
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Auvik are the alerting and monitoring. Those functions mean it easily more than pays for itself. I have it integrated with Slack with multiple channels set up for our IT office. When just about any part goes down that I have assigned in the alerting portion, it will let the right people know within minutes."
  • "It would be cool if they came out with an app, but running the browser isn't bad."

What is our primary use case?

I use Auvik every day for everything. I can remote-terminal in, meaning I can be anywhere and jump in from my phone and make any changes I need to on switches.

How has it helped my organization?

We have some pretty large energy overhaul stuff going on right now. They're changing out all of our lights and adding big solar panels to all the parking lots at all of our school sites. It's nice being able to use Auvik to jump into those switches and change the VLANs when they need different sensors put in. Having that service is invaluable.

Auvik lets us know about problems before others find them. There have been some instances where I didn't set up an alert correctly, but as soon as I fixed it, it started giving us a heads-up before we got phone calls about the issue. That's the biggest advantage of having it. We don't get those calls nearly as often anymore.

The automation of network mapping frees up my time. I'm the sole network guy. We have some technicians that intermittently have an interest in networking. I have given them basic access to it so they can get in and see the maps, and they get the alerts too, so that they know what is happening at their assigned sites. Suppose a camera is down somewhere. They can go into Auvik because I have it set to hold devices for 10 days. They can see where it was connected and we can check the switch and see what the issue is.

Auvik also updates the maps almost instantly. Within about 30 seconds they're updated.

And in terms of reducing MTTR, we went from having nothing to having something. We would sometimes go a week or a month without knowing about an issue. I am able to track things down faster and implement solutions for things that I would otherwise have had no idea were even a problem in the first place.

The solution provides automated, out-of-the-box device configuration backups, as well. As soon as it starts scanning, it copies the running config on all the network hardware. I'm able to go in and restore them if I need to, but there's no setup for that feature. That has saved us time, absolutely. You can use that same panel to check differences. For example, when there's a configuration update, you can pull the backup and the current running, and run them together and it will highlight any differences.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Auvik are the alerting and monitoring. Those functions mean it easily more than pays for itself. I have it integrated with Slack with multiple channels set up for our IT office. When just about any part goes down that I have assigned in the alerting portion, it will let the right people know within minutes.

It's also straightforward to use. That was one of the reasons I went with Auvik. It has a little link tree on the left side and you can pretty much navigate through the whole system. It's MSP software. Each of our school sites is set up as if it were a separate client. Each has its own webpage, and I can drop down the menu on the left and change to any school site to see its whole page. It's as straightforward as it gets.

The network discovery capabilities are pretty good. You do have to go in and allot permissions to scan separate subnets. If someone doesn't know what they're doing, they're not going to know how to get it to discover the networks. As long as you know what subnets you're supposed to be scanning, it's as easy as clicking a checkbox and hitting "Scan."

What needs improvement?

It would be cool if they came out with an app, but running the browser isn't bad.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Auvik for just over a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is great. They're really consistent in sending out notifications about any maintenance windows or updates that they're rolling out. 

The only time I've had a false positive from Auvik is when our VM has gone down, the one that's running the collector. That will cause a bunch of things to pop off here and there. But I've cleaned that up on our end.

There was recently an issue with logging in, but they were on top of it within minutes and then they had a whole status web page about it. I can't complain at all about the stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Because it runs from a VM collector and it's fast, I could add another site if I wanted to and it would take me minutes.

In terms of increasing our usage of Auvik, we have a site that's running from a different ISP and I'm having issues remotely managing it. As soon as I'm able to get that straightened out, I'll be adding that entire site to our service.

How are customer service and support?

Their technical support is awesome. They're proactive. If there's anything going on, they let me know by sending me emails. And if I ever need to hit them up, they're super quick. We have a designated rep and she's pretty responsive.

They recently added an idea portal. If I come across an idea or something that I want them to add in, I can throw it in there. Users then up-vote or down-vote ideas and Auvik chooses to implement them or not after that.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We had SolarWinds and then something happened to our database, internally, that we were using to manage it. We then went to having no monitoring at all for about two years. When I took over, we got with Auvik. So technically, we replaced all of SolarWinds' services with Auvik.

How was the initial setup?

The setup was really straightforward. When we were doing the proof of concept, I went through their resources and got their certification by following their courses. And I pretty much did the entire deployment by myself, with a little help from their sales rep. But it was super straightforward. It took about 10 minutes.

The setup was super easy compared to others that I've done. With Auvik you're just putting a service on a VM. Depending on how large your network is you might need more VMs or more services running, but that's literally it.

And as a cloud-based solution it requires zero maintenance.

What was our ROI?

The time to value is great. We were up and running within an afternoon.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

They charge for switches and some networking hardware, but everything else is free. In our environment there are a lot of things that we aren't billed for by Auvik. We're almost one-for-one on students. APs and cameras are shown by IP address in Auvik. It doesn't tell you exactly what that device is, but it does tell you there's something there and where it's connected in the maps. You can monitor any workstation using the service. If you can name them it makes it a lot easier to keep track of them. Intercom systems are included as well. All of those devices are not billed and we have thousands and thousands of those kinds of devices.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We had to look at other options. We checked out SolarWinds and we also evaluated NinjaRMM and PRTG. The latter teamed up with NetBrain and together they do network automation ticketing.

SolarWinds and NinjaRMM were significantly more expensive, although they did do more. But they were more server-related and covered more of that end. Auvik is more network-centric and checked more boxes, in terms of what I was looking for, than the others.

What other advice do I have?

Give Auvik a shot. Do the demo. It doesn't take long to do the proof of concept. And during the proof of concept they give you access to their resources so you can go in and do that Auvik certification. The most important part of that is being able to go through all of their material and really see what they're capable of. During the demo you can dig deep.

I love it. I use it every day, multiple times a day.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
CIO at Pierce Companies
Real User
Top 20
Started providing value right away by immediately sending out alerts
Pros and Cons
  • "Auvik is easy to use. The first thing you see when you open it up is a map of the United States or wherever you are, and it shows the locations of all of your network endpoints. For discovery, you set credentials and manage the credentials and it tells you when it needs a new credential. So you just click the "Manage Credentials" button and it takes you to the right spot. You enter in a new credential and then it starts looking closer at the device. It can give you all kinds of information from inside the device's log. We use it for CIS logs and we use it for just regular logging. The CIS log was something I was looking for in the other products, just so we have a place for the CIS logs to congregate so we can look them up."
  • "The map would be the first thing I would like to see improved because sometimes the maps get really odd-looking and the automated placement of things on the map, devices on the map is sometimes not right. In fact, I was just looking at the map and something got moved. I'm sure it didn't get moved, it's just that Auvik realized it was supposed to go somewhere else. So the map could be better if there was a little bit of manual manipulation that you could do."

What is our primary use case?

We use Auvik to monitor two different domains and to review any trouble that might come up. It's opened our eyes to some problems that we've had on the network and now we're working to fix those.

How has it helped my organization?

One of the things we noticed is that our wifi access points were throwing a bunch of errors. So we're in the process to replace those access points.

It is also very good at notifying you if the network goes down, and then it'll tell you if it's cleared or if it's come back up. 

Auvik started providing value right away. The APs immediately started sending alerts. It's really important that the wireless network works properly over at that location. Looking at the alerts, it's got big problems, and it's just because of old devices.

What is most valuable?

The alerts that it sends out are the most valuable aspect of this solution. The maps are okay. The interface is okay, but the alerts are what I really like.

Auvik is easy to use. The first thing you see when you open it up is a map of the United States or wherever you are, and it shows the locations of all of your network endpoints. For discovery, you set credentials and manage the credentials and it tells you when it needs a new credential. So you just click the "Manage Credentials" button and it takes you to the right spot. You enter in a new credential and then it starts looking closer at the device. It can give you all kinds of information from inside the device's log. We use it for CIS logs and we use it for just regular logging. The CIS log was something I was looking for in the other products, just so we have a place for the CIS logs to congregate so we can look them up.

The menu on the left-hand side is very straightforward and clear. If you want to see it, just log on to a certain endpoint, bring up that endpoint, click CIS log on the left-hand side, and you'll see the CIS log.

It's easy to navigate. Everything is intuitive and easily accessible.

The network discovery capability is very good. Last week we refreshed one of our locations, and while an employee was out there refreshing the location or replacing devices, I could sit and watch Auvik find the new device and start mapping it. It automatically updates our network topology.

There's only one other team member and he doesn't use it. So it's just me that uses it. And I use it to make sure that there are no loops in the network or the network is not configured wrong. Every once in a while, the map will do something funny and we'll have to try to figure out what it did. You are better off if you physically document the ports that things are plugged into and then put those into Auvik, which is not hard. You just click on the connection line and go ahead and edit it.

We never would have known that the access points were a problem until Auvik came along. The location that has the bad access points was running slow and we could not figure out why without Auvik. The network was basically configured wrong. Something was plugged in and created the loop. Within hours, we could have somebody go onsite to fix it.

We use the TrafficInsights feature a little. It shows us network bandwidth usage without the need for expensive inline traffic decryption. The part that's important to me is the application breakdown. It breaks down the applications that are running and taking up bandwidth. It lists all the applications that are taking up bandwidth.

What needs improvement?

The map would be the first thing I would like to see improved because sometimes the maps get really odd-looking and the automated placement of things on the map, devices on the map is sometimes not right. In fact, I was just looking at the map and something got moved. I'm sure it didn't get moved, it's just that Auvik realized it was supposed to go somewhere else. So the map could be better if there was a little bit of manual manipulation that you could do.

Everything else is pretty simple and straightforward and easy to use.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Auvik for six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's always been stable for me and available. They do have scheduled downtime, but that's usually in the middle of the night and it's usually pretty quick.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have a small network. We do have two domains, which a lot of things don't work well with as far as network tools, but Auvik works great. It just picks out both networks and we go from there. 

We're monitoring 575 devices with Auvik. We've maxed out on our network. We might add other devices.

It requires zero maintenance from our side. 

How are customer service and technical support?

I've used support once or twice and they were efficient, quick, and solved the problem. I don't remember what the problem was, but they were quick and efficient about it.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very easy. We use VMware, so we set up the connectors that we needed and Auvik just started working. It started going through the network and building maps at each location. It was very simple. The setup took a few hours to a day.

What was our ROI?

It's too soon to have seen ROI, but I'm sure we will.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The value is there. It's not that expensive per device and it's licensed per device. Unlike some of the other tools that I use, it's not really expensive. It's a good value for the price.

Out of those 575 devices, 49 of them are billable. The non-billable devices are workstations and printers.

What other advice do I have?

Everything just worked. The important thing is to set up your devices properly so that there are passwords and ports that Auvik can use so that it can get in, get the configuration, and also flag any alerts.

I would rate Auvik an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Service Engineer at Progression IT Business Solutions B.V.
Real User
Top 20
Helps with the overview of every switch or router in a location
Pros and Cons
  • "Auvik Network Management really helps with the overview of every switch or router in a location."
  • "The solution's loading time could be improved because when you click on a switch, it usually takes some time before it has everything loaded."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for networking. If a router or a switch is down, we can look that up very quickly in Auvik Network Management, and then diagnose the problem.

How has it helped my organization?

Auvik has a lot of conventions or online meetings where we are explained how a new feature works. We don't need to figure it out ourselves, which saves us a lot of time to know what exactly we need to do to find a specific problem or switch.

What is most valuable?

Auvik Network Management really helps with the overview of every switch or router in a location. We tried other programs, but they just didn't work the same as Auvik.

Auvik provides an intuitive interface that is quite easy to navigate. It helps a lot because I can quickly diagnose the problem, which saves me a lot of time and a lot of money for the client.

It has empowered our entry-level technicians to solve more tickets on their own. Managers only need to explain the solution once, and then everybody understands how it works. Auvik is a time saver and money saver for everybody. The solution is easy to navigate.

Auvik has helped to decrease our mean time to resolution by five to ten minutes per problem.

The time-to-value is a lot better than that of other solutions. It took about a month from the time of deployment of Auvik for us to realize the time-to-value benefits.

Critical devices in our network are monitored by Auvik at no charge. This free monitoring is important to us because it shows that Auvik cares about us. We can know for sure that if we have a month that doesn't go very well, the critical devices will still be okay.

Auvik allows us to spend less time on the solution's setup and maintenance. It saves a lot of time because the solution's setup is easy. It doesn't require a lot of steps, and you can explain it to an apprentice very easily, which saves much time. We used the time saved to ensure that all the smaller problems were also addressed. We could use the time we saved to ask the clients what they think about this new setup.

What needs improvement?

The solution's loading time could be improved because when you click on a switch, it usually takes some time before it has everything loaded.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Auvik Network Management for almost one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We haven’t faced any issues with the solution’s stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Auvik Network Management is a scalable solution. About ten users use the solution in our organization, and it has about 280 endpoints.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support team's response time is great. Problems are solved very fast, with no long waiting time.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used Domotz but switched to Auvik Network Management because Domotz didn't have many features. Auvik Network Management's strength is its ease of usability. Auvik's disadvantage is that it sometimes takes a lot of time to load. The solution's setup is very easy, making the loading time acceptable most of the time because you can save a lot of time elsewhere.

What other advice do I have?

Auvik's network map and dashboard usually give us a real-time picture of our network. However, it sometimes takes a long time to load. If I want to look up something, it needs some time to process, which can be frustrating at some point. It's not difficult to use the network map and dashboard to gain real-time visibility into our network, but it sometimes has a waiting time.

We use the SaaS version of the solution. The solution requires almost no maintenance, which saves us time. We have the solution deployed across multiple locations. I would recommend the solution to other users.

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

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
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reviewer2404419 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Developer at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 20
Easy to use with good reliability and excellent network visibility
Pros and Cons
  • "The automated mapping or alerting has impacted our daily operations since now we receive alerts directly to email. We don't have to wait to to get a notice from the clients."
  • "I would like to use different network protocols that we could implement."

What is our primary use case?

We mainly use the product to analyze the remote networks. We are a managed service provider, so we have a lot of networks that are not really close, physically. We still have to keep control of them. This allows us to do so remotely. We put monitors on firewalls, routers, et cetera, so that we can see, for example, if something has gone down, and where. 

How has it helped my organization?

The solution provides good visibility into our network. We've also been able to respond to outbreaks and issues much faster. Previously, we'd have to get a call from a client telling us they've lost access. Now, we can start to troubleshoot before the client's even noticed there's a problem.

What is most valuable?

The discovery feature is useful. We've found network devices we didn't even know about. 

The reliability is excellent. It doesn't go down. It also doesn't occupy a lot of RAM. It's very lightweight.  We just configure it and we don't have to worry about it after that.

The intuitive interface helps support ease of use. 

We've saved time troubleshooting network issues. I can go directly to the client network and see what's going on, what has gone down exactly. It makes troubleshooting a very fast process. 

The Auvik network map, along with a dashboard, gives us a real-time picture of our network.

The time to resolution has sped up 20% to 30% since we can start troubleshooting much faster. We don't have to wait for a client to let us know there's an issue. 

It has empowered entry-level technicians to solve more tickets on their own.

The life cycle is a unique and important section of the tool. 

The automated mapping or alerting has impacted our daily operations since now we receive alerts directly to email. We don't have to wait to get a notice from the clients. On the client side, we waste less time, and there are cost savings in that aspect. The hours we invest trying to solve issues have been reduced since we can be more proactive and productive. 


What needs improvement?

I'd like the devices to be more integrated and easy to access. I find I have to move through various stages when it could be at least a side of the dashboard or something. 

I would like to use different network protocols that we could implement. It could help us with very specific problems. I wouldn't want them to focus too much on adding new features, as sometimes more features end up loading the system or the software with too much stuff.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used Auvik since December of last year (2023).

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable solution. I haven't had an issue with it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have five people using the solution and 200 network devices on it. 

The scalability is very good. It expands very quickly. I'd rate scalability eight out of ten. 

How are customer service and support?

We haven't had to open up any cases with customer support. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We weren't using any specific solution before this product.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment process is very straightforward. It's pretty quick; we didn't waste much time deploying it. Deployment times vary, depending on the size of the network. With small networks, with maybe one to twenty workers, we can do it in a couple of days. We can deploy it in maybe two hours and then configure it over a day or two.

If it's configured right, you don't need to do any maintenance. It just works on its own in the background. 

What was our ROI?

We've gained ROI via productivity; we've likely helped each person gain 15% to 20% in productivity alone. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is fairly priced. 

What other advice do I have?

I'm an Auvik customer. 

Auvik's AI capabilities are helping a bit with my network tasks. However, I'm not sure to what extent. We don't use much of the AI aspect.

I'd recommend the solution to others. It's very stable and quick to deploy. It hasn't given us any issues and it's very lightweight. We gain a lot of information about the network when we're using it. People should do a demo and see if it fits with their organization.

Overall, I'd rate Auvik nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Auvik Network Management (ANM) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: November 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Auvik Network Management (ANM) Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.