DX Spectrum Reviews

There are a number of features that make this product to standout from other competing products:

• Easy implementation with scalable architecture
• Seamless HA capabilities with no issues
• Integrations with other products including both north/south bound capabilities
• NCM - Network Configuration Manager for Device level configurations
• Expert CA support for the product.

In our environment, I have implemented CA Spectrum in HA. There is also Spectrum SOI integration for alert forwarding. We have created global collections to group the infrastructure with policies applied as per requirement. Also the SANM (Spectrum Alarm Notification Manager) has proven to be very useful for managing critical devices and immediate action to be taken with email notification etc.

The only area which I found that can be improved is that sometimes issues come up with alert clearing i.e. alerts don't clear when triggered and clear events occur too fast. CA should come up with ways where the alert is not valid, Spectrum should be able to re-verify and take action accordingly.

I have been using CA Spectrum for more than four years now. These four years include:

• Implementation of the solution in production environments
• Setting up of failover (High Availability)
• Integrations with other CA products like CA BOXI (for reporting), CA Service Desk (for ticketing), and CA SOI integration through connectors

No issues with deployment.

Never faced any issues with scalability. As the network infrastructure grows, to add new Spectrum servers is very straight forward with almost zero defects in existing architecture.

With expert CA Support, issues with the product can have a quick resolution so 4.5/5.

CA Spectrum is one of the products from CA which has great technical expertise to support it.

I have been working on Spectrum from day one but I have experience with other similar products. I found Spectrum as being a complete network management solution with a great user friendly GUI.

The best feature of this product is the simplicity of its architecture, which, once understood, makes the implementation very easy. I have never ever faced any issues with the initial setup.

I have implemented the complete initial setup myself. I have also done implementation with failover (High Availability) and integrations with other EMS products.

There are other similar products from IT majors IBM, and HP but we found Spectrum to be the most suitable for all of the major requirements of my organisation.

I would definitely recommend going ahead with the product. It will able to answer most of the network management related requirements of any organisation.

I use the solution for network discovery, performance monitoring, and integration with service desk platforms.

The benefit of Spectrum is its advanced connection capabilities and user-friendly interface, which engineers find easy to navigate.

The solution's most valuable feature is its web interface.

The solution's pricing could be better. Also, the customization of its web interface needs enhancement.

I have been using the solution for ten years.

The solution's stability needs improvement.

We have 30 solution users in our organization.

The solution's initial setup process is easy for Windows. However, it is complicated to deploy it for Linux. The process involves two modes, including standalone and distributed. It takes around two hours and requires one engineer for execution.

The solution's cost needs improvement.

I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

The most valuable feature is the detection of minor, major and warning alarms, showing through different colors. Spectrum is not SOI, but it gave the possibility of putting a view, a dashboard, showing servers that were part of a VMware server architecture.

The response detection of an incident was very low, that is, I could work more efficiently and effectively in my incident management. Many times, the customer did not even notice the unavailability of the service.

I did not see the best level of usability.

We used it from August 2014 through May 2016.

I did not encounter stability issues. Even when the client disconnected because of a network problem, there was a change of state that would allow me to do some troubleshooting.

I did not encounter any scalability issues.

The technical support level from Vectra Consulting and Services was highly specialized.

Recently, I opted for an open-source tool, due to the budget constraints of the place where I currently work.

Initial setup was complex because the client's infrastructure was very complex. Besides, we had another supplier that did not pass along complete information to the Spectrum configuration.

I am not aware of the pricing and licensing, since this information was kept by Vectra Consultoria e Serviços or with the client (a public body).

Before choosing this product, we did not evaluate alternatives, but I already knew how to listen.

I would say that if you have the financial budget to get this solution, you would be well taken care of.

• Scalability
• Customizability

• Automatic alerting
• Integration with incident systems
• Integration with reporting tool eHealth

Topology features need improvement, namely -

• Weight of links
• Less critical links
• High critical links weighing

I used it for seven years, but not for the last nine months.

There were some issues with deployment.

Sometimes a restart of the Tomcat Daemon was required, and sometimes the archive manager ran out of resources.

No issues with scalability.

We used the mailing list as a support forum - which was very alive with skilled professionals and their invaluable experience.

We did not consult them, as we used the forum.

It's straightforward - install, and run.

We implemented it in-house.

I can only say that we had three engineers working full time on the system.

Smarts was a challenger.

It will aid in troubleshooting and daily operations, and is invaluable in fault resolution.

We are using DX Spectrum as a network management system.

The most valuable features have been the interface and the ability to do equipment management.

The solution could improve by allowing the ability to monitor the network shortly after installing the software and adding an auto-discovery function.

I have been using this solution for more than 10 years.

When we have a high capacity of traffic, we have problems with the stability of the system. This could be improved on in the future.

The scalability of this solution is good enough for enterprise networks. However, for use in the telecommunications industry is does not scale enough. We can configure the systems correctly, but it is not enough for a telecommunication use case.

The support we have been receiving has been really good. They were about to answer all the questions we had.

The installation is straightforward.

The price of the solution is reasonable.

The most important area for us is stability and they need to improve on this for larger use cases.

I would recommend this solution for enterprise networks but not for the telecommunications industry.

I rate DX Spectrum an eight out of ten.

Actually, the whole network is monitored with this product.

It helps out the infrastructure team to be more proactive. We know about the problems at the moment when they occur.

It's very difficult to use and customize. In order to maintain the software, we need specialized help. The usability is an issue for us.

I have been using this solution since 2012.

We lost our database at the end of 2016, and we spent weeks trying to restore it.

There were no scalability issues, as such.

We don't use the CA technical support itself. Instead, we use the partner's support. The word that best describes it is insufficient.

I used another solution in another company, but in my current organization, the solution was already installed.

The great aspect about the CA Spectrum tool is not what it does, but the integration that it provides with the other CA monitoring tools, such as CA APM.

The setup was complex. The installation is complex with CA products. They involve a lot of steps and customizations.

I really don't recommend it for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

It is absolutely necessary to hire the installation service, along with the license.

Again, this solution is not for SMBs. Look at Gartner Magic Quadrant, as there are other options available that are more reliable.

However, if you have a complex scenario with lots of integration with other monitoring tools, namely IT service management (ITSM), project and portfolio management (PPM) etc., then this is the right one for you.

We evaluated other solutions, namely OpManager, Zabbix, Nagios, Ipswitch, and WhatsUp Gold.

It is our network infrastructure monitoring tool.

The product’s stability and robustness are valuable. It is capable of efficient fault management irrespective of the size of the network.

The product should provide performance management features.

I have been using the solution for around 20 years.

I rate the tool’s stability a ten out of ten.

I rate the tool’s scalability a ten out of ten. In my region, five to ten customers are using the solution. We are a small market in Turkey.

The technical support is very mature. The team provides good implementation support.

The initial setup was straightforward. The time taken for deployment depends on the project and architecture. Simple projects take only a couple of days.

The product’s price depends on the deal we make with the vendor.

The solution releases new updates every quarter. It is easy to implement. It is the number one product in the market for complex and difficult-to-manage networks. It covers all our needs. The solution’s capabilities are far better than its competitors. Overall, I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

Monitoring our network devices and our weighing devices out to our clients. It is an awesome product. It works really well.

It covers a lot of different types of hardware. It can do a lot and saves us time.

The breath of the product.

A better integration with the UIM, as far as being able to do root cause analysis and that type of analytics. 

They are separate products. There is some integration recently of the two, but not really at what I will say at the analytics level to tie the two, from one problem to the other. 

It is very stable. We have not had any major issues in over 10 years.

It scales really well.

I have not used technical support, but other people on my team have. I have not heard anything negative about the support.

I was not involved in the initial setup.

I would consider this at the top for doing this type of monitoring.

Sometimes it can be overly complex, but at the same time, it does give you a lot of capabilities. It is complex in just the varieties and the capabilities it has.

Most important criteria when selecting a vendor: Combination of meeting the requirements and the cost.