IBM Tivoli NetCool vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager comparison

"The scalability of monitoring, the breadth of supported network components, the scale of the number of monitoring events, and the flexibility in customization make this a well-rounded product."

"The tool is much easier to manage than running scripts and figuring out how many endpoints have been exceeded."

"Tivoli NetCool allows us to grasp a lot of data that can be applied toward predictive analytics and auto-remediation."

"It's very easy to use."

"The tool had many built-in automation capabilities."

"Support is one of the best aspects of this solution. NetCool is a good product that has good flexibility. There are a lot of documents available online which is one of the best features of IBM Tivoli Suite. Whenever an issue happens, rather than going to technical support, if you find the exact issue in Google, you can get tech notes for that particular issue."

"The feature I have found most valuable with NetCool is how it collaborates all the alarms, and then it does a predictive analysis, providing a consolidated alarm view and management."

"The solution has very good integration capabilities."

"The installation is straightforward."

"SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager improves the mean time to repair significantly, bringing measurable benefits to customers."

"The most valuable features the solution offers are compliance, reliability, and information about reliability."

"The feature that I really enjoy is the ability to script changes across all of your devices."

"This solution has helped our organization by allowing us to store all the device configurations for the various network devices in NCM and making it easy for us to retrieve and look them over."

"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."

"We push all our configurations to the servers with ease and the logs capture almost all the transactions needed for an internal audit."

"Configuration pushing, upgrade capabilities, job backup, configuration backup, and real-time configuration change monitoring are highly beneficial features of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager."

"The solution is not user-friendly."

"Tivoli NetCool is based on a Linux platform, it would be beneficial if they moved it to Windows because not everyone is acquainted with Linux."

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"In terms of improvement, I would like to see more AIOps, Artificial Intelligent Operations in the next release. IBM develops new features for Power BI or Cognos Analytics, which is good. As of now, we use Cognos Analytics, we are not using Power BI. They have the Insight concept but we don't like that."

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"Tivoli NetCool's has medium scalability - there are some problems with its replications not being mature."

"UI is outdated, very old legacy."

"The solution does not have any AI capabilities."

"There is room for improvement in automation."

"The AI features do not work well."

"The solution could have better integration."

"I would like to see more integration tools. Something like dialysis, for example."

"The network flow is a problem for this solution."

"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."

"The network logs could be improved. When the error logs come across with those false positive alarms in the error logs."

"Further improvements in automation are needed. Currently, there are limitations in performing tasks without logging into routers directly, and we expect more comprehensive device control."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"It costs around 100k for every ten servers, which is lower than similar products from other vendors."

"Customers are required to pay a licensing fee."

"The price of the product is too expensive."

"In Africa, the cost is a major factor in decision-making for many companies. As a result, some companies may choose cheaper solutions, even if they are open-source, over more expensive ones, such as SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. However, as an engineer, I believe that the functionalities and services offered by SolarWinds justify the cost. Nonetheless, many companies in Africa may still view the prices as unaffordable."

"Available at a moderate price"

"There is a license needed to use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager."

"With a minimal bundle, we pay about $3000 a year in licensing costs. If you have multiple devices in your network, you must buy the bundle, which is 100% identical for your infrastructure. If you have 15 devices, you need 15 licenses, for example. That's one bundle. You don't pay for anything over and above that."

"You have a base license for 50 devices, and then you can add more licenses as you go."

"Pricing is reasonable and competitive."

"The pricing is good."

"The price of the solution is high compared to other solutions."