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BMC TrueSight Network Automation vs Cisco DNA Center comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 6, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

BMC TrueSight Network Autom...
Ranking in Network Automation
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (21st)
Cisco DNA Center
Ranking in Network Automation
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (1st), Network Monitoring Software (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Network Automation category, the mindshare of BMC TrueSight Network Automation is 1.1%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 15.0%, down from 19.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Automation
 

Featured Reviews

SumitSrivastava1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables us to configure our network easily and get the most out of it
BMC TrueSight Network Automation transforms manual configuration tasks for network devices, which are complex and vary among different OEMs. With this tool, you can manage and control all new and old devices, ensuring they meet configuration needs. It provides updates on Cisco devices, and if any data is missing, you can generate it using a formula. I recommend BMC TrueSight Network Automation from the network side, as it provides excellent visibility and configuration management for vulnerabilities. The implementation requirements are certainly at level two. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.
AvrahamSonenthal - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficiently manages our wireless network and provides valuable monitoring features
The platform's biggest benefit has been in managing our wireless network. Having a single pane of glass to control all wireless controllers and access points and to monitor activity has been a significant advantage. We're a small federal agency with around 300 network devices, so automation is a minor focus. It's more relevant for larger networks. The main benefits we've seen are in inventory management and the potential for configuration automation. However, I recommend using the DNA Centre only for larger networks with over a thousand devices; otherwise, it may not be cost-effective. Before proceeding, ensure that your devices are compatible with DNA Center, as not all Cisco devices are supported. Also, investing in proper training is different from plug-and-play. I rate it an eight.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"We use it to back up configurations so the configuration management is valuable for us."
"The most valuable feature of BMC TrueSight Network Automation is compliance management, configuration backup, and configuration management."
"The backup and restore configurations are really helpful for a number of network devices, as you can automate them, then know what changes have been done, who made the changes, etc. So, it's quite helpful in the network management area."
"Depending on who's looking at the data, they need to configure that data in different ways, and the dashboards help us to do that better than what was previously available."
"It is helpful if you schedule daily or weekly archiving for your config groups. Then, you can go by what are in those configuration groups, before and after, if you make changes. So, configuration management is really helpful in network management."
"The network security of BMC TrueSight Network Automation has been the best feature."
"BMC is an excellent configuration manager. It allows you to configure your network easily and get the most out of it."
"It has the best automation features."
"Automation is another key highlight. With automation, you can automate everything through a single port."
"I think that their LAN automation is a very good feature."
"Cisco DNA Center provides operational support, compliance support, security vulnerability detection, and automatic scheduling."
"Automation helps configure devices without manual intervention, enabling zero-touch provisioning."
"DNA Center is scalable."
"It offers automation, security enforcement, analytics, and integration with other Cisco technologies, making it a key driver for efficient network operations and compliance with security protocols."
"It is simple to manage and it is all done from a single dashboard."
"We have many people from the team who manage a lot of devices. By using Cisco DNA Center, it has taken some of that burden away, we are impressed with it. We did the investment in CAPEX, but in the OPEX was very low."
 

Cons

"I'd like to be able to get more devices into compliance with standards, but that means running additional rule sets and that takes time."
"There could be automated processes to retrieve the CVS and create a compliance tool."
"It is tedious to scale the solution."
"BMC TrueSight Network Automation can improve by having a better UI. The overall quality of the UI could be better."
"I believe there could be new features in terms of the latest technology."
"The product should be expanded to include more hardware, beyond Cisco and Juniper devices."
"I would like to see more device supported features, mostly on the new brands and models coming in. For any new version or model, it should be supported by the tool, especially the newest versions. For example, the newest devices, like Aruba Wireless, and routers need support from the tool."
"We've been working with BMC support in various ways such as to allow for the high-availability components to the TSIMs to work together. There have been issues there. We've seen randomness in how other pieces of the software work. Integration with the Presentation Server and the TSIMs has been a challenge. The ports that are required for HA to be utilized were not clearly documented anywhere. In fact, they still aren't documented online anywhere, even though we managed to pull it out of some of their support people."
"The solution needs to improve the dashboard."
"There should be an option for automation of template deployment by using the stored data. It is not easy to save configuration information for lots of devices without using other tools. There should be a tighter, better repository of information that can be merged with the templates."
"The cost is very high."
"We encountered issues with their response times, which had a big impact on our workflow."
"There is a limitation with the number of VRFs that you can have in your network, and this has caused us problems with some customers."
"What could be improved is the licensing cost of Cisco DNA Center. It's a little bit expensive."
"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."
"The network, data center, and SD-WAN are all being treated as different services, but I would like to have only one solution to manage all of them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is more costly than the other competitors."
"There's a fee for the licenses themselves, per contract, and then we have a yearly licensing fee that's many thousands of dollars. But that's not just for TrueSight, that's also for support for ITSM, Atrium Orchestrator, BBNA, and other BMC tools in the environment."
"The solution is worth the price."
"Cisco DNA Center is expensive."
"Cisco DNA Center is too expensive."
"We get a yearly license at the time we buy the product."
"The price of the solution is expensive. The hardware is licensed on the device, but the hardware on the server is expensive."
"Our licensing agreement is for three years."
"I do know that Cisco does offer some really good promotions for DNA Center to bring the costs down."
"The partnership price is notably high, but it ultimately depends on the chosen business model."
"The tool's licensing may not come across as something that may be friendly for users."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Government
5%
Computer Software Company
19%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BMC TrueSight Network Automation?
The compliance management, patching, and OS upgrades are useful features.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BMC TrueSight Network Automation?
The product is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing a nine out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
What needs improvement with BMC TrueSight Network Automation?
The solution could have cheap pricing along with a simple deployment process.
What do you like most about Cisco DNA Center?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it gives some kind of ease in operations, especially since our company is moving from CLI to GUI-based configuration.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco DNA Center?
I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive.
What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?
One area that needs improvement is the upgrade process. The time required for downloading and installing packages during upgrades is too long, often taking around ten hours. This is a significant i...
 

Also Known As

BMC TrueSight Automation for Networks, TrueSight Automation for Networks, TrueSight Network Automation, BladeLogic Network Automation
DNA Center
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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Find out what your peers are saying about BMC TrueSight Network Automation vs. Cisco DNA Center and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.