IBM Tivoli NetCool vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager comparison

"It improves customer satisfaction, deploy-ability, adaptability, flexibility, scalability, and reduces cost of operation."

"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."

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

"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."

"It's very easy to use."

"Support is one of the best aspects of this solution; NetCool is a good product that has good flexibility, and there are a lot of documents available online which is one of the best features of IBM Tivoli Suite."

"It's very easy to use."

"The solution is very fast, there's no lag or delay between the IBM solution and the other solutions like Huawei and Nokia."

"The solution's view is very nice, and they have a great customized dashboard."

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

"NCM has provided for the following benefits - Mainly to to with audit readiness on 3 fronts - regular configuration backups, configuration hardening and Vulnerability management."

"The network performance monitoring of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is a vital feature"

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

"The features we find most valuable is the configuration backup automation, the configuration compliance, the security vulnerability detection and upgrading devices."

"Compared to other vendors, like NetBrain, managing the solution is easy. They made it very user-friendly."

"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."

"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 solution is not user-friendly."

"IBM's technical support takes a long time to do root cause analysis, and we have to go through several levels of help before getting a solution."

"UI is outdated, very old legacy."

"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."

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

"The solution could improve by being more secure."

"I'd like to see additional features like support for devices that don't use CLI for configuration backups, expanded inventory support for other vendors beyond Cisco, and compatibility with newer SD WAN devices. These enhancements would further improve the product's versatility and utility for users. we hope for future enhancements, especially in supporting security devices that lack CLI backup options."

"We do health checkups for the network devices. However, compared to NetBrain, the NCM health checkup is getting very bad."

"The third-party plugins available in the solution could improve. I have received some issues with the templates."

"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."

"The Network Configuration Manager needs to improve the access control list compliance."

"When it comes to the way of managing the network devices, SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager should provide the simplest way that devices can relate to the server. For example, when we want to get the devices on board, we go by SSH to make the SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager create the connectivity with the device. After that, we pull the configuration. It would be helpful if they could combine both so that everything will be done in one step."

"There are certain limitations of node-related monitoring"

"The price of the product is too expensive."

"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."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"Additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee are inevitable."

"Pricing is reasonable and competitive."

"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."

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

"I have a yearly subscription."

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

"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."

"There is a license for the use of this solution and it is priced well, there is a lot of value for the money."