SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Reviews

It allows us to manage backups in big companies. It is also useful in managing configuration changes. 

SolarWinds is currently in the process of a strategic change. They recognized some of the issues they had and are changing the way that they are delivering their software on-premises and on the cloud. You will be able to benefit from these changes sometime in 2023/2024.

Its look and feel can be improved. They can also put in more effort into building the THWACK community and use the information about various customer issues and requests to build new releases.

I have been using this solution for about four years. 

It is stable. 

It is scalable.

This solution works in conjunction with SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor. Usually, you first buy SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor and then SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. You have to go with both.

I would recommend this solution. Typically, while recommending a solution, I look at what the management needs in terms of strategy, how a solution integrates, and how powerful is the IT department. Based on that, I recommend a solution that meets the needs and integrates with ITSM.

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

We primarily deploy it for our customers. We don't use the solution ourselves. Customers schedule it with us and we troubleshoot for the customer as well. We have files and templates from NCM as well as confirmation templates. We sometimes schedule the backups too.

Since the customer is the primary user, they'd have a better idea of the best features.

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

On NCM, reporting could be a bit better. It's completely become just one report. When I try to create a custom report, the solution just commits old server data.

They need to make a health checkup report in a new release.

We've been using the solution for one year, but this year we are switching to NPM NCM. It's a request from our engineers. We are not monitoring the servers with either and we want to monitor the servers with something going forward.

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

The technical support for the solution is very good.

We also use NPM and NetBrain as well.

The implementation process is very user-friendly. Deployment takes about three hours with customization. You only need a few people to handle the deployment; it doesn't take too many. You might need one on the server-side and one for the application.

We are using version 7.9 of the solution. We migrated from 7.7 to 7.9 about three years ago.

We use both the cloud and on-premises deployment models. We had production on the on-premises model in 2016.

I'm an implementation engineer for SolarWinds so I'm not using the NCM devices any longer.

I'd advise others who may be installing the solution for the first time to just use the 7.9 version of the solution. It's the latest version. If you are using FortiGate you'll be able to configure everything and have a backup and be able to use the data.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

We primarily use the solution to check the configuration for Cisco, Juniper or L3 devices in our network.

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

The solution could offer a better compliance report. GDPR has many security standards. If a company is working with an international client, it must be compliant with any standards. We work with a bank, financial companies, and an insurance company. They need to be compliant and the core customer compliance is our main challenge.

The interface of solar winds could be improved.

I've been using the solution for one year.

The stability of the solution is good. We haven't faced any issues.

The scalability of the solution is good. We haven't had any problems with scaling.

Technical support is okay. We've contacted them many times and they've been fine.

The initial setup is easy. If it is already done with existing network infrastructure, deployment takes only two to three hours.

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.

We use the on-premises deployment model. We're a SolarWinds distributor.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.