Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs ThousandEyes comparison

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. ThousandEyes

Download the complete report

Helped 831,997 peers since 2012

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

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabri...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

19th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

ThousandEyes

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

8th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Monitoring Software (17th), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) is 0.5%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ThousandEyes is 4.2%, up from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Olajide Olusegun

Network Team Lead at Atlas Security

Easy to deploy, stable, scalable and best data center manager for your infra.

The reporting is not very intuitive and has room for improvement. I opened a case with Cisco regarding the DCNM report, however, they were unable to help me. The report comes in the form of a programmable report, which requires high-level knowledge of Python and JSON script. As I was in a meeting and had to present the report, I had to settle for generating an Excel sheet to showcase the data. Unfortunately, this was not well-received as they expected a more detailed report. In order to identify any issues in the data center, we must thoroughly examine a variety of components such as links, errors, SSPs, supervisor engines, power supply, and more. Forty of each element need to be examined.

Read full review

Satyavrat Nirala

Founder at Mindclick Consulting Services

Offers user monitoring and Internet insights and include customer journeys

It’s evolving; I feel it needs more holistic integration. It needs more improvement. It’s very good, but the integration can be slightly complicated on different platforms. I used it for a healthcare organization, and the integration was slightly challenging. In future releases, I would like to explore AI capabilities. AI would be more valuable because it works across different cloud and server systems. It looks into issue detection and insight modeling, so that is something I feel will be very helpful in the near future. More AI because of compliance and other challenges, not because of the product challenge. It’s about regulations, and we have HIPAA laws in the US and many different kinds of laws. Because of that, these specific elements and certain units don’t allow the tooling system to be fully utilized. We also support a certain segment of healthcare, which is the army healthcare segment, which is more government-controlled. There are certain restrictions in moving into the cloud. That’s where I thought those elements might need some more improvement. Also, looking into how we’ll be able to use more data visualization. It has it, but it doesn’t give you everything. If you look into the elements of use and so many other elements are there, but the UI/UX also has to be improved a bit, I feel. From a developer’s standpoint, it’s very easy, but from a consultant’s standpoint, there can be more enhancement, like one-click view and one-click report generation. Those things should be more seamless.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It uses push technology, which pushes the changes to all relevant devices to ensure they are updated accordingly."

"The tool's most valuable feature is the consolidated dashboard, providing insights into parameters and overall usage of network features. It allows us to easily summarize insights through the dashboards. The solution offers automation capabilities, particularly in the context of connecting LAN sites with websites."

"VCNM provides a unique capability of managing the admin VDCs of Nexus boxes."

"It has a very nice dashboard so you can see what's currently happening in the network and the performance of the back story."

"The automation capability is more than enough. It depends on how we consider and integrate the automation engine. We need to ensure the automation engine and then how to perform it. It depends on the policy making, API integration, and other integrations."

"The product has excellent stability."

"Fabric suite automation is a great feature."

"The product makes the management of our environment simpler."

More Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) pros

"The tool's most valuable feature is its scalability. It is a good tool for network admins."

"The installation process is not hard at all."

"The authentication overall - including to the VPN and LAN - is excellent."

"The solution's most valuable feature is the path analyzer, which identifies the node causing the errors."

"The company provides excellent service."

"It's fairly easy to set up."

"The most valuable features of ThousandEyes are the full monitoring capabilities and the ability to identify the exact location of problems in the path between the application and the end-user."

"One feature I liked is end-user monitoring."

More ThousandEyes pros

Cons

"The solution needs to improve reports."

"The automation feature could be improved."

"The configuration is too complicated and you have to create templates and use a lot of menus."

"The delivery Cisco Data Center Network Manager could improve if it was easier. Additionally, some feature improvement is needed."

"The initial setup is challenging."

"We need better performance and reliability."

"It is not very easy to monitor or to browse."

"The reporting is not very intuitive and has room for improvement."

More Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) cons

"ThousandEyes should expand its application monitoring to monitor some communication applications."

"Presently, it lacks the ability to integrate with other Cisco products."

"ThousandEyes could improve the dashboards by adding more features."

"We can show the traffic path in some cases, but it's almost impossible to do so in cloud networks like CDN, Akamai, or Microsoft."

"It's an expensive solution."

"They only offer synthetic requests."

"I feel it needs more holistic integration. It needs more improvement."

"It would be nice if the solution covered other areas like server monitoring."

More ThousandEyes cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is very expensive."

"When we purchase a Nexus box, the MDS CM license comes with it."

"I would say that the pricing offers great value for the money."

"We usually opt for a yearly plan, commonly for three or five years upfront. Some customers may not utilize all the features included in the product, and this can lead to them paying for functionalities they don't need."

"The product is licensed with contracts that work on a yearly basis rather than a monthly model."

"On average, Data Center Network Manager's pricing isn't too costly unless you choose a premier license."

"The tool is always expensive, but their service, product quality, and support are good. We're happy with it, but it's still an expensive solution. There are cheaper alternatives but no similar platform across all domains."

"The price of Cisco Data Center Network Manager is expensive compared to other vendors on the market."

"The solution costs several thousand dollars per year."

"The solution's pricing is cheap; I rate it a five out of ten."

"It is a quite expensive solution."

"The solution is cheap."

"In our company, we incur a yearly expense in our company for the licensing part. I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten since it is expensive."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Monitoring Software solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

831,997 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

24%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

12%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

23%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Data Center Network Manager?

It uses push technology, which pushes the changes to all relevant devices to ensure they are updated accordingly.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Data Center Network Manager?

The tool is always expensive, but their service, product quality, and support are good. We're happy with it, but it's still an expensive solution. There are cheaper alternatives but no similar plat...

What needs improvement with Cisco Data Center Network Manager?

In a mixed architecture where Nexus switches are used as border devices and are connected to a Palo Alto firewall (e.g., version 9.1 or 10.1), you might encounter issues with BGP peering. For insta...

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

It actually depends on the exact purpose or requirements. Some tools are better for only network devices while others are better from a cloud monitoring or APM monitoring perspective. You can check...

What do you like most about ThousandEyes?

The solution is very easy to use.

What needs improvement with ThousandEyes?

When I first started using ThousandEyes, I found it challenging to extract useful information due to the numerous options available. I needed some training to effectively troubleshoot. More detaile...

Cisco DNA Center vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Comparisons

Compared 48% of the time

Marvis Virtual Network Assistant vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Compared 23% of the time

Zabbix vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Compared 18% of the time

Icinga vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Compared 11% of the time

More Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) Competitors

SolarWinds NPM vs ThousandEyes

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance vs ThousandEyes

Compared 8% of the time

NetBrain vs ThousandEyes

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs ThousandEyes

Compared 6% of the time

Dynatrace vs ThousandEyes

Compared 5% of the time

More ThousandEyes Competitors

Product Reports

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Download Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) product report

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) report

ThousandEyes

Download ThousandEyes product report

Also Known As

Cisco Data Center Network Manager

No data available

Overview

The Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC) offers a comprehensive solution for managing Cisco NX-OS switches in hybrid-cloud environments, providing automation, visibility, and consistent operations. Designed to simplify and enhance data center management, NDFC integrates with Cisco Nexus Dashboard to streamline network connectivity, reduce deployment times, and ensure seamless transitions with minimal disruptions. Its modular architecture, new user interface, and support for non-Nexus OS platforms make it a robust tool for LAN, SAN, and IP Fabric for Media management. Additionally, NDFC enhances fabric reliability, automates workflows, and supports cloud connectivity with AWS and Microsoft Azure, making it ideal for businesses adapting to increasingly complex digital environments.

Cisco

ThousandEyes is a Network Intelligence platform that delivers visibility into every network an organization relies on, whether public or private. ThousandEyes enables users to optimize application delivery, end-user experience and ongoing infrastructure investments.

With cloud, enterprises can innovate much faster, but the growing number of cloud and SaaS applications means that more apps are being delivered over the Internet. This increases dependence on the Internet, a public “best effort” network, and other third-party infrastructures, substantially reducing the ability of IT teams to predict, visualize and control operational behavior. This results in a chaotic and unmanageable IT environment, making issue resolution a time-consuming ordeal, potentially impacting reputation and revenue. ThousandEyes has innovated an approach based on an unmatched distribution of smart agents across the Internet and enterprise, providing visibility all the way to the end user. ThousandEyes gathers and analyzes massive volumes of Network Intelligence data from all of these vantage points, enabling organizations to solve even their most obscure performance problems in minutes. By using ThousandEyes in the planning and testing phases of cloud adoption, customers can also strategically identify and fix underlying problems before production deployment of business-critical applications.

The ThousandEyes solution is ubiquitous across industry sectors, and since launching in mid-2013, customers have come from a diverse set of industry sectors, which include Silicon Valley technology companies, financial services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, retail, manufacturing and education.

Cisco

Sample Customers

Banco de Guayaquil, Cox Communications, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Roper St. Francis, University of British Columbia

Wayfair, GitHub, Craigslist, Comcast, SurveyMonkey, Lyft, Box, HP, Zendesk, IO Data Centers, Good Technology, NNTCommunications, Proofpoint, Schneider, Crowdstrike, Avera, Pitney Bowes, InstartLogic, Shutterfly, Shutterstock, Condé Nast, Roche, Jive, Actelion, Brocade, Infor, Okta, JLL, DigitalOcean, Zuora, NetSuite, CloudFlare, One, DemonWare, Quantcast, Carbonite, CareerBuilder, Prosper, Oscar, Slack

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. ThousandEyes