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IBM Tivoli NetCool vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Tivoli NetCool
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (11th)
SolarWinds Network Configur...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (13th), Network Automation (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM Tivoli NetCool is designed for Network Management Applications and holds a mindshare of 3.5%, up 2.0% compared to last year.
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, on the other hand, focuses on Configuration Management, holds 3.0% mindshare, up 1.4% since last year.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Tivoli NetCool3.5%
Cisco DNA Center9.4%
OpenText Network Node Manager5.5%
Other81.6%
Network Management Applications
Configuration Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager3.0%
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform10.5%
Microsoft Configuration Manager7.8%
Other78.7%
Configuration Management
 

Featured Reviews

Petar Ganev - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Enterprise Monitoring Engineer at Commerzbank
Reliable for enterprise monitoring but no longer actively developed
There are problems with the latest security requirements because many things have changed in recent years, and now the security audits are very strict. And we need to switch to something else. We need to patch it constantly. Moreover, it is a very old tool and a little bit difficult to support. Otherwise, they work okay.
AB
MD at Thembanet
Flexibility and reliability enable effective network monitoring with integrations and compliance reporting
The flexibility and reliability of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager are particularly valuable. It allows for a significant amount of integrations, including with collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams and Telegram, as well as ServiceNow and Microsoft BI. The solution facilitates compliance reporting through an NCM module, effectively generating out-of-the-box reports on software vulnerabilities and outdated software versions. Additionally, the real-time change detection feature significantly reduces the time to resolve issues by allowing alerts to be tracked through to resolution. The use of templates helps in deploying configuration standards, preventing configuration errors.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"NetCool has a huge database that can collect and process about one million alarms a day."
"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 had many built-in automation capabilities."
"It improves customer satisfaction, deploy-ability, adaptability, flexibility, scalability, and reduces cost of operation."
"Tivoli NetCool allows us to grasp a lot of data that can be applied toward predictive analytics and auto-remediation."
"Full featured - event/fault management, performance management, topology map, discovery, RCA, event enrichment, Proviso will chart data from almost any source with a variety of aggregation options."
"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 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."
"SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager can be used for backing up network device configuration, which helps you be more secure because when you have a system failure, you can get the information back."
"We push all our configurations to the servers with ease and the logs capture almost all the transactions needed for an internal audit."
"It is pretty straightforward to set up."
"The feature that I really enjoy is the ability to script changes across all of your devices."
"It's a helpful tool and I really like it."
"It is a stable solution."
"Compared to other vendors, like NetBrain, managing the solution is easy; they made it very user-friendly."
"We push all our configurations to the servers with ease and the logs capture almost all the transactions needed for an internal audit."
 

Cons

"This is another one of those suites glued together from a myriad of acquisitions and it shows once you get under the hood."
"From a customer perspective, it is quite an expensive solution to initially implement and then support."
"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."
"It was a bit expensive to purchase but the benefits outweigh all the cons by far."
"Tivoli NetCool's has medium scalability - there are some problems with its replications not being mature."
"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."
"I will email them and I won't see the response for another two or three hours. I have to give them a call and it's a pain, it's a nightmare."
"There are certain limitations of node-related monitoring"
"The AI features do not work well."
"I would like to see more integration tools. Something like dialysis, for example."
"The network flow is a problem for this solution."
"I would like to see more features in terms of wireless reporting and more historical information for client connectivity in SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager."
"We had issues with the FailOver Engine module installation, due to the resources of each SolarWinds server."
"The Network Configuration Manager needs to improve the access control list compliance."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of the product is too expensive."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"Customers are required to pay a licensing fee."
"It costs around 100k for every ten servers, which is lower than similar products from other vendors."
"We have to pay additionally for its support and maintenance."
"There is a license needed to use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager."
"You have a base license for 50 devices, and then you can add more licenses as you go."
"There is a license for the use of this solution and it is priced well, there is a lot of value for the money."
"Additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee are inevitable."
"The pricing is good."
"I have a yearly subscription."
"Pricing is reasonable and competitive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
6%
Government
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all kind of software in monitoring from infra to end to end, it depends on the funct...
What needs improvement with IBM Tivoli NetCool?
The main challenge is its licensing model, which is very complicated.
What is your primary use case for IBM Tivoli NetCool?
NetCool is the manager of managers in the stack. It basically combines the devices of the whole network. We are the mobile network operator, so we use it to assist us in cross-domain correlations a...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager?
The licensing costs of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager are expensive, but considering its reliability, feature enhancements, and support, it is worthwhile.
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager?
NCM could benefit from enhanced automation capabilities — for instance, enabling workflow-based configuration automation tasks. While regex and command-line scripting are available, they require sp...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager?
I work with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager ( /products/solarwinds-network-configuration-manager-reviews ) as a significant part of our operations. Our primary use case involves handling c...
 

Also Known As

Tivoli NetCool
SolarWinds NCM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Claranet, Consolidated Communications, Telus, €sterreichische Bundesbahnen (€BB), Telekom Srbija, Bendigo Community Telco, Capgemini, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB)
United Lincolnshire Hospitals, Air Rarotonga, NetSuite, Thai AirAsia, REA Group, 335th Signal Command, Agilisys, Marine Expeditionary Force
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2023.
892,487 professionals have used our research since 2012.