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Cisco DNA Center vs Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
8.2
Red Hat Ansible Automation expedites provisioning, reducing costs and burnout, while enhancing efficiency and scalability across hybrid environments.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.5
Cisco's customer service experiences range from excellent to inadequate, highlighting issues with expertise, communication, and support consistency.
Sentiment score
6.8
Red Hat Ansible provides valued community resources and variable official support, with high user ratings and some module limitations.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco DNA Center offers scalable, flexible network management, praised for ease of configuration despite costly licensing and limited IPv6 support.
Sentiment score
7.1
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform scales well but requires adjustments for environments exceeding 500 servers, like clustering and provisioning.
Ansible can face scalability issues, such as limitations when trying to scale up infrastructure.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Cisco DNA Center is generally stable, rated highly by users, despite occasional minor issues with logs and database errors.
Sentiment score
7.6
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is praised for stability and reliability, with minor compatibility concerns easily adaptable.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco DNA Center struggles with compatibility, pricing, training, and features, impacting user experience and system performance.
Red Hat Ansible requires improvements in scalability, user interface, module support, integration, documentation, and compatibility for enhanced usability.
More library support for microservices architecture and Kubernetes would be helpful.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise buyers should consider Cisco DNA Center's high cost and potential licensing fees, but promotions may lower expenses.
Enterprise buyers find Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform pricing influenced by nodes and endpoint choice between free and paid versions.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco DNA Center offers analytics, AI-driven insights, centralized management, and automation, enhancing network operations with scalability and ease of use.
Red Hat Ansible Automation excels in agentless automation, ease of use, scalability, role-based access, and extensive community support.
The automation capabilities streamline deployment processes, providing reliability and reducing manual intervention and errors.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco DNA Center
Ranking in Network Automation
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (1st), Network Monitoring Software (18th)
Red Hat Ansible Automation ...
Ranking in Network Automation
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
Release Automation (3rd), Configuration Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Network Automation category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 20.7%, down from 24.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is 13.9%, down from 14.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Automation
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Muralitharan KS - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient server management and detailed reporting with flexible deployment capabilities
We are primarily using Ansible for automation purposes as it is a configuration management tool. It is utilized for various activities such as DNS activity, changes to web servers, virtual host settings, and other day-to-day tasks, all of which are templated in Ansible Ansible allows us to manage…
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
6%
Educational Organization
31%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What is the difference between Red Hat Satellite and Ansible?
Red Hat Satellite has proven to be a worthwhile investment for me. Both its patch management and license management have been outstanding. If you have a large environment, patching systems is much ...
How does Ansible compare to Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (SCCM)?
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager takes knowledge and research to properly configure. The length of time that the set up will take depends on the kind of technical architecture that your org...
What do you like most about Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform?
The most valuable features of the solution are automation and patching.
 

Also Known As

DNA Center
Ansible
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
HootSuite Media, Inc., Cloud Physics, Narrative, BinckBank
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco DNA Center vs. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,121 professionals have used our research since 2012.