SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Reviews

We have deployed SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager in a financial institution. 

The solution is used to control all the equipment, configurations, backups, configuration management, and schedule jobs from a single point. There is a bit of automation involved.

Configuration refers to the specific settings and options that determine how a device or system behaves. It can include things, such as network settings, security settings, and other options that are specific to the device or system in question. One of the most valuable features of the solution was its ability to track and monitor changes to the configuration of devices on a network. This can be useful for troubleshooting and identifying potential issues. By keeping track of who made changes to the configuration and when it can be easier to determine the cause of any problems that may arise.

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 times when you schedule a job or do another action, if an issue happens or something does happen in the network, you would like to receive reports, whether via SMS or via mail. However, sometimes it doesn't come. This needs improvement. Sometimes it takes time before it comes, and sometimes it doesn't come at all. You could then falsely be accusing yourself of not scheduling something properly, or maybe the timing doesn't match, or maybe the NCP is not synchronized with the server. You then realize everything working fine, but still, the notification doesn't come the way it's supposed to.

I have been using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager for approximately four years.

When you first deploy a solution there will be problems from time to time. You will have to address the issues as they arise.

I rate the stability of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager a six out of ten.

The company where I deployed the solution had approximately 17 branches across the country. The devices that were managed with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager at that time I was there were approximately 1,200 devices.

I have had experience using other network management solutions in addition to SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. Although it may be more expensive than some other options, SolarWinds is currently one of the best solutions available on the market.

I rate the scalability of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager an eight out of ten.

The vendor contacted us to inquire about the status of the solution and offered their assistance with the deployment. We informed them that we had everything under control, but appreciated the documentation they provided to guide us through the process. Although we did not end up needing further support, they were helpful and available to assist if necessary.

The initial setup process for the SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager was somewhat complex, particularly due to the need to ensure that the devices being managed had the necessary base configuration, such as SSH, in place. However, once the devices were registered with NCM, we found it easier to navigate and use.

For the most recent deployment of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, a team of five engineers was involved. One engineer was responsible for managing the dashboard, while the other four were distributed to the site to ensure that the base configuration was properly set up on the devices to allow them to be registered with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. This project we recently worked on it took approximately six weeks to deploy. It was a large network.

The first step in deploying the SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager was to ensure that the network was properly set up and that all the devices had the necessary base configuration in place to allow them to communicate with the solution. This included preparing the desktop where SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager would be installed and ensuring that it had connectivity with all the other devices on the network.

After setting up the network and preparing the devices for communication with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, the next step was to prepare a database for the solution to use to store the configuration data. Once the database was set up, the next step was to configure SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager to connect to the database before proceeding with registering the other network equipment with the solution.

Lastly, we provide training for the network administrator who is going to take charge.

I rate the initial setup of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager a nine out of ten.

The return on investment of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is decent.

I rate the ROI from SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager a six out of ten.

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.

The cost of the license for SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager starts at $1,000 annually. Whatever the functionalities that you need, there are licenses for it, and every license comes with its own price. 

There was a time when we wanted to use one particular SolarWinds functionality, and the license to unlock it was approximately $10,000. The cost depends on the functionality you choose.

I rate the price of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager a four out of ten.

The company we worked with did not have a maintenance contract with SolarWinds for the Network Configuration Manager. This may be because they were only interested in using certain specific features of the solution, such as configuration, backups, and scheduling jobs, and did not need the full range of options offered by the solution. 

My advice to others is if you want to use good technology, or solutions, then you need to be ready to spend the money. If you want something good, you want quality, you want good performance for your network, or you want to be able to do everything in a simple way, then you should be able to spend the money so that everything can be done in the simplest way.

I rate SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager a nine out of ten.

At our company, we use the solution for remote network configuration. As part of our organization, we configure the database to all the branches; the solution helps in auto-detecting all the branches through a simple command. From the head office of our organization, we can detect branches of remote offices using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. 

The network performance monitoring of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is a vital feature. The vendor has recently introduced IP SLA management with direct UL or device lifetime users.

The aforementioned feature is able to provide information related to health check management. For instance, if multiple devices go beyond the iOS version, then specific reports will be generated, and obsolete versions can be identified. 

There are certain limitations of node-related monitoring in SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. One probe is limited to around 10,000 elements in the solution, if the need arises to monitor beyond the limit, another probe or module needs to be deployed. If multiple probes of the solution are used in a project, often SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager operates slower than usual. 

At our company, we face some communication issues with the tool because there are no local distributors of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager around the country. 

I have been using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager for five years. 

The solution is majorly aimed at large enterprises, and other small and medium companies would often choose an open-source tool over SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. 

On behalf of our organization, we have contacted the support team a few times, and they have been helpful enough. I would rate the customer support a seven out of ten. 

Neutral

Recently, our company adopted the Dynatrace tool for POC purposes, and we have received demonstrations of the solution. Our company is planning to switch because of the poor application performance monitoring in SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. 

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is available at a moderate price. 

Network configuration monitoring is related to managing the network pipeline and users, for which SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is most suitable, but Dynatrace is better suited for application performance monitoring. Our company has a large infrastructure and network for applications, and we are looking for a tool that can handle both network configuration and application performance monitoring. 

The solution is capable of handling the latest monitoring and implementing configurations by integrating other configuration management tools to provide storage center locations. In addition to SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, we have another similar tool as a backup in our organization so that operations are not disrupted and dependency on a single tool can be minimized. 

If any remote unit or device belonging to our company goes down, we can easily restore the device for the backup standalone device's configuration. I would recommend SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager to others, but I would also suggest they compare similar and more capable solutions in the market. I would rate the solution a seven out of ten overall. 

We're interested in utilizing SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager for various purposes, including network monitoring, SNMP monitoring, and creating customized layouts and maps. We're particularly keen on the ability to customize maps to visualize our network infrastructure effectively. Additionally, we value features like the dashboard, which provides insights into recent issues, helping us stay on top of any potential problems.

In our network operations, we employ SolarWinds Configuration Manager to oversee all our devices, including network switches, computers, servers, virtualized equipment, POCs, and power meters. Whenever possible, we activate SMP capability for these devices and utilize it to gain insights into potential issues such as performance degradation, resource exhaustion, or downtime.

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager has greatly enhanced our network configuration and compliance management, revealing previously unnoticed issues with our switches. It has identified constraints in some of our links, indicating suboptimal quality. The built-in tools within the software have alerted us to any discrepancies in configuration that could potentially impact link performance.

With SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, real-time change notifications play a crucial role in mitigating network issues. We adopt a "manage by exception" approach, where notifications are configured to alert us to any deviations from the norm. Two key factors are critical in this process: the timing of these alerts and their integration into our reporting and fault-finding procedures. These alerts are instrumental in conducting root cause analysis and identifying the reasons behind network downtime.

The scanning features have proven to be highly valuable, particularly due to the comprehensive information they provide. Previously, we only received basic up and down status notifications, but now we're gaining deeper insights. We can now identify the types of addresses and devices connected to our portal switches, a level of detail we had never accessed before.

When considering network management tasks, I find certain features particularly beneficial. For instance, the mapping functionality is extremely valuable. Being able to create detailed maps and drill down into specific areas is essential for our operations. This capability enables us to filter alarms and organize different maps, providing us with a comprehensive overview. It effectively addresses our needs in problem identification and resolution.

Improvements are needed in the automatic network mapping function. Currently, the default setting generates care maps by end, which is not ideal. Additionally, navigating between maps can be cumbersome. You have to right-click, then click on the three dots, and finally select the desired map. A shortcut should be implemented where double-clicking on a map instantly takes you to it, eliminating the need for the right-click step. One aspect I find lacking in SolarWinds compared to the previous tool is the ability to view the history of an object, including its static up and down status, simply by clicking on it. In SolarWinds, accessing this information entails browsing the database within a specified timeframe, which is less user-friendly, particularly for reporting purposes. The concept is to have the device icon represent its current status. Upon double-clicking on the icon, I immediately see how long it has been in its current state. For instance, if it's showing an error, it would indicate the duration, such as "Error for twenty-five minutes." This instant visibility would be beneficial when troubleshooting or assessing device statuses.

I have been working with it for two weeks.

Initially, we encountered sluggish performance, prompting us to reassess our system specifications. We realized that operating with only 8GB of RAM and a quad-core CPU wasn't sufficient for our needs. Consequently, we upgraded the RAM to 42GB and boosted the CPU performance. With these enhancements, we've achieved satisfactory performance.

The scalability with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager involves acquiring additional licenses to expand the product's capacity. Initially, we started with a five-hundred-license limit. However, certain devices, like the DLCs and remote IO, as well as some file monitoring needs, don't support SNMP. Currently, we've only utilized around sixty licenses for the tasks we've undertaken. As we progress and potentially require more than five hundred licenses, we'll discuss acquiring additional licenses with management.

We reached out to tech support regarding an issue with scanning QNAP DNS boxes. Initially, the equipment type was not identified correctly, prompting advice from the support team. However, it was determined that upgrading the firmware on the QNAP device would resolve the problem. Following the firmware upgrade, the issue was successfully resolved. I would rate it nine out of ten.

Positive

We previously utilized the MicroTech Elite. However, the new versions operate atop the router, which deviates from our company's cybersecurity standard. Therefore, to align with our cybersecurity protocols, we opted for SolarWinds. Comparing the two platforms, they appear quite similar. In the previous tool, we didn't perform scans like we do now; instead, we assigned things by IP. Additionally, our ability to create custom maps seemed better in the previous tool compared to SolarWinds, mainly due to the need to manually connect links between objects in SolarWinds.

The initial setup is straightforward. It begins with a scan to populate the database with asset information. Once the scanning process is complete and the database is filled, you can easily manipulate and customize the view of these assets. Once you grasp the necessary steps, the process becomes simple and manageable.

Our deployment plan involves managing twenty-two plants and approximately three hundred and fifty computers, in addition to around a hundred and fifty switches. Currently, our focus with the Network Configuration Manager involves three main tasks. Firstly, we use it to scan our networks. Secondly, we utilize it to implement backups of our Cisco switch network configurations. Lastly, it provides us with comparison capabilities to identify any changes. Given the complexity of our network environment and the various tasks involved, we need to proceed through these steps systematically. We've divided our network into two main areas: the network area and the plant area. The network area comprises around ninety devices, while the plant area has approximately sixty devices. These are the initial areas we've chosen to focus on for learning purposes. On the first day, we successfully scanned all the devices in these areas. Overnight, we let the scanning process continue. By the second day, we began optimizing device names and creating maps to enhance our network management capabilities. The process was done by a team of four individuals. While database maintenance is essential, ensuring regular backups will be crucial moving forward.

Although it's early to determine the ROI, one immediate benefit we've noticed is the responsiveness of SolarWinds in flagging faults as alarms. This heightened visibility prompts us to investigate and address issues more promptly.

The licensing process wasn't particularly smooth. It required the machine to be connected to the internet for activation, which was a bit inconvenient.

I would recommend it as it will certainly indicate the issue, but it may not immediately provide the root cause. Additionally, it will display the devices connected to each port, albeit not always with their names, but with MAC addresses. If you have a DHCP server or a similar tool that can correlate MAC addresses to machines, it becomes easier to identify the device. Conversely, if you know the IP address, you can input it into SolarWinds to determine the switch it's connected to. Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.

The primary use cases include configuration compliance, backup and restoration procedures, configuration change management, vulnerability management for core devices, and inventory capture of network devices.

The primary benefit of using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is its ability to save time and improve productivity. For example, in the event of an outage at a branch location, such as a bank with multiple branches, having network configuration backups allows for quick restoration of settings on a new device, eliminating the need to configure from scratch. This feature significantly reduces downtime and streamlines the recovery process.

The configuration compliance aspect of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager allows for easy comparison of configuration settings across branches, ensuring adherence to security guidelines and best practices. Automation capabilities have greatly impacted workflows, enabling tasks such as configuration backups, template deployment, and firmware upgrades to be automated, thereby streamlining processes and saving time. Compliance reporting features provide valuable insights into network compliance, offering pre-built security audit reports and customizable options to meet specific requirements.

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've been using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager for almost eight years. 

NCM is highly user-friendly and scalable, easily scoring a nine or ten in terms of ease of use. It's been efficiently handling over twenty-five thousand devices for our clients and deployment 

Technical support is reliable, earning around an eight or nine rating.

Positive

Prior to NCM, we hadn't worked with a similar product, and we don't see any significant weaknesses in NCM.

It typically takes under an hour, with us assisting our clients throughout the process.

Pricing is reasonable and competitive.

With NPM, I've created a couple of dashboards because I have a SOC view. I also have a few device groups because we provide services to customers. We're like a small ISP. So I've set up groups with alerting and maps. Visually, we have screens in the office, so if anything happens on the network, we can see it on our three or four SOC pages. We have all the top ten interfaces, so, at any given time, we can see if there's a lot of bandwidth traffic before it becomes an issue. That's where I use NPM most of the time.

NCM is for backing up the configs, checking compliance, and running backup jobs every night. That's also very helpful. There aren't many tools in the market with configuration backups and conformance checks. What's nice with NCM is you can set up policies that you can then check against the configs to make sure that your device configs are adhering to a baseline or standard that you've set in place. This way, you can get a sort of order to port, which is quite nice.

For me, the most valuable features include backing up the config. And being able to compare contexts every day, so you don't have to make any changes to your config.

The only thing that requires some experience, and training doesn't fix, is how to set up your custom policy-based reports to check compliance. But, other than that, NCM is the one product that I wouldn't change because it works well.

For the next release, I can only think that it would be helpful to have a visual indicator on the dashboard to see if a device fails to back up quickly. A small icon next to the device could indicate that it was not backed up successfully the last time. It would help me catch any backup issues since the system works so flawlessly that I don't check it every day.

I've been working with IPAM for more than ten years now since I started with NPM, IPAM, and NTA, all at the same time.

It's stable. I've had an issue once or twice, but it's more related to Microsoft updates than anything else. I've had it happen once or twice over a period of a year or two, where one of my jobs got stuck.

So I back up my configs most every night and split my backups into multiple sessions so that I don't back up all the devices at once. I back up the core, or back up the edge, or back up the age, all different stations at different times. And then I found one of the jobs got stuck, which I'm not sure why, but I never did it before. So I suspect it's either another .NET update or a Windows security patch. And it's very inconsistent. As I said, it's so small and insignificant that I haven't worried about it because it doesn't present itself often.

I would give the scalability a nine out of ten because I don't give high ratings easily, but it scales very easily. I recently went through a network upgrade project and added forty devices to my network without any issues.

Whenever I've had issues, they were able to help me. I had once upgraded from an old version to the current version, and the base wasn't happy. They walked me through the steps to rectify and fix it, and we didn't lose any data. So, the times I had to deal with technical support, I think, were very good. So I can't complain. The response is pretty quick and efficient.

The initial setup is simple. I deployed the solution on-prem and have used the on-premises version for over ten years.

SolarWinds is sitting between two out of ten, where one is a high price and ten is a low price. Because they are quite expensive compared to other products in the market, it's like Cisco - it's a good product but comes at a premium, and you pay the price for it, and it's not the cheapest option out there.

For me, none of the competitors come close to SolarWinds in terms of backup configuration. Some may require using Python scripts and NetMeco, or platforms like Ansible, but they don't provide the same dashboard and GUI as SolarWinds. So, I don't think many products in the NCM space offer what SolarWinds does, and that's why we're still using it.

I'm using SolarWinds, including Network Performance Manager, IPAM, Configuration Manager, and Network Traffic Analyzer. I also have the toolkit and the Network Topology Mapper.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.

I implemented SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager for one of the large service providers in my building. The solution is used for troubleshooting network or device issues, such as the device not receiving the correct data.

The most valuable Real-time fault detection is beneficial as it enables the identification of changes made to a device's configuration through the SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. This makes it easy to pinpoint which configurations were added or removed, potentially causing network issues. Such changes are saved in logs for future reference.

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

I have been using SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager for approximately three years.

The stability of the solution is good. However, it was not always the best. There was an issue where the National Security of the USA was hacked through the solution.

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is scalable.

We have more than 60 clients using the solution.

The documents for setting up SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager are straightforward, but configuring the monitored device is a challenge because our support team lacks the necessary knowledge. It's crucial to assess the impact of these configuration changes on the integration with the NCM module, such as high resource utilization or other potential issues. It's essential to evaluate the effects of these changes on both sides.

The deployment tool one to two days because we had to verify the setup and configure the devices. We have to add the devices through the SSMP We are not only doing one device, we are doing more than 20. The more devices added to the solution will add more time. 

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

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager a ten out of ten.

They are four areas that we use the Network Configuration Manager for

1. Automate configuration backup. 

2. Configuration compliance. We have created checklists for different types of devices and check for configuration compliance as per our config guidelines.

3. Security vulnerability detection for Cisco devices. Identify open CVE's with devices.

4. Firmware upgrades / IOS upgrades of Cisco devices. This feature has seen one major improvement in the ability to perform parallel upgrades.

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

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

We have used SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager for more than six years now. We are on the near latest release 2020.2.5 HF1 as of June 2021. We have adopted an N-1 version deployment policy.

Platform stability is extremely good. A few areas of improvements required - better handling of NCM jobs failing - for example if an NCM job has multiple devices to be backed up, a detailed report/log of the success or failed status is required.

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is very scalable. We have a deployment that covers over 12,000 network devices.

We have used technical support many times. They're good if you escalate properly. It is an area that needs a bit of improvement in terms of helping prioritize the ticket. Whenever we open a ticket with them, I think by default it lands up in an open bucket. So I don't have the option of saying that there is an absolutely critical requirement and I need some urgent help. I can't classify that when opening up a ticket for the first time.

The initial setup was pretty straightforward. The initial setup did not take very long. I think the base platform was set up in a day's time. But I think configuration compliance policies, which is actually more of writing the policies rather than anything to do with SolarWinds, are slightly more time-consuming. The creation of policy is time-consuming. That has more to do with the organization policy, i.e., do I need Telnet enabled, do I need Telnet disabled, etc.

I would highly recommend SolarWinds Network Configuration Management to other customers. I rate this product at a nine out of ten.

We really did not evaluate many other options. We were actually using the Kiwi CatTools version which is also a part of SolarWinds. But I think SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is a big brother of Kiwi CatTools and I think since we were already familiar with Kiwi CatTools the migration to NCM was pretty easy.

We use the solution to manage the configuration for different vendors.

They should enhance the solution's visibility for features. There should be an easier way to have the topology of our network. Also, they should include more automation features.

We have been using the solution for one and a half years.

It is a stable solution.

The solution is scalable. It is most suitable for small and medium enterprises.

The solution's technical support service response could be faster.

Positive

The solution's initial setup process is moderately complex. Before starting the deployment, the network engineer must take specific training for the tool.

The solution's cost depends on the deployment requirements. It ranges from $3 to $30,000. We have to pay additionally for support and maintenance.

We evaluated Zabbix, PRTG, DNA Center, AirWave, etc. In comparison, SolarWinds is low-cost and has integration with different vendors.

I advise others to find the right business partner to help them with the solution. I rate it as a seven.