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PeerSpot user
Implementation & Support Specialist at 360Factors
Real User
Helpful support, good alerting and reporting facilitate troubleshooting of network problems
Pros and Cons
  • "We have configured multiple alerts for our network devices, including routers and switches, so that we are notified if any interface goes down."
  • "Fortigate firewalls are one example of a product that we are unable to monitor properly via SolarWinds NPM."

What is our primary use case?

We have been using this tool to monitor our multiple network devices, interfaces, physical and virtual memory, application servers, databases, and applications to keep a track of what is causing an issue that we are having.

Either it is the network, or it is the application, or it is the database queries that are causing our users to experience slowdowns. Due to alerting mechanism, we get notified if anything is responding slowly or if anything goes down so that we can resolve the issue as quickly as possible and keep providing best services to our customers.

How has it helped my organization?

We had been having some issues recently with network choking at a specific time, and we had been working on multiple things to identify the root cause. Using those methods, we were unable to trace it.

We decided to install a tool that would show us where the issue is being produced, and we can monitor our internal and external network traffic. We are able to determine whether the issue is being caused at the ISP end or our internal network, and with the help of SolarWinds NPM, we were able to track down the root cause of the issue.

What is most valuable?

We have configured multiple alerts for our network devices, including routers and switches, so that we are notified if any interface goes down.

In the event an interface goes down, we have multiple reports that include availability monitoring, network uptime monitoring, and network downtime monitoring. These reports are on multiple schedules such as the end of the day, end of the last business day of the week, monthly, and quarterly. This gives us the ability to provide reports to our management and let them know the performance of our network.

What needs improvement?

Even though SolarWinds NPM provides monitoring for a vast number of vendors and products, they do not support all of them. They should keep in mind that due to ongoing threats and daily malware attacks, companies have deployed network security and hired security professionals who are doing penetration testing. Certain devices provide ongoing security features, which can keep our network secure.

Fortigate firewalls are one example of a product that we are unable to monitor properly via SolarWinds NPM.

Buyer's Guide
SolarWinds NPM
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about SolarWinds NPM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
831,071 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using SolarWinds NPM for more than two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of SolarWinds NPM is very good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability-wise, it is very good.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support from SolarWinds is the best.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used ManageEngineOpManager, but we switched because it did not have enough features.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was pretty straightforward. We had to do some customizations, which was great to provide better visibility of our entire network.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it through a vendor and their level of expertise made us choose this tool. They gave such a great demo that we didn't even have to consider other options.

What was our ROI?

We achieved ROI within six months.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing is based on the number of nodes, interfaces, and volumes.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We were recommended SolarWinds by a friend so we tried it and purchased it. We did not evaluate other options.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1008018 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager of Network Services with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Dashboards are very useful but it should have better integration with other solutions

What is our primary use case?

We use NPM to monitor our enterprise for up/down status on network devices.

How has it helped my organization?

We consolidated five different products into a series of applications which helps us monitor our production network.

What is most valuable?

Dashboards are very useful.

What needs improvement?

SolarWinds should have integrations back into products like ExtraHop, VIAVI, Riverbed, and NETSCOUT.

For how long have I used the solution?

Less than one year.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
SolarWinds NPM
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about SolarWinds NPM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
831,071 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PeerSpot user
Works at a manufacturing company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
It enables us to monitor the health and functionality of our nodes on the MPLS.

What is most valuable?

It gives us an insight on what we need to monitor on our network. We get granulated data on where issues are occurring in regards to traffic latency and bandwidth utilization. Also we can monitor the health and functionality of our nodes on the MPLS.

Both the NPM and the NTA modules. We are able to track down information in regards what kind of traffic is being generated on our network and also help us determine what applications we can allow and what not to allow.

How has it helped my organization?

We were able to determine if end users were using the network to do work related stuff or otherwise and reduce bandwidth hogging for non-business related activities on the network.

What needs improvement?

So far I am satisfied with the result but I am still learning how it works.

For how long have I used the solution?

One year

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No it was very straight forward. You have understand the concept of networking to apply the tool. If you do then implementing it is easy. There were some version releases that had stability issues but the support team was very good at letting us know what we needed to do to fix the issues.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There were some version releases that had stability issues but the support team was very good at letting us know what we needed to do to fix the issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability was not a problem. We only monitor nodes that matter most on the environment. This makes managing the environment easier. Less is more`

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

They have always been helpful when we needed support I have no complaint at all.

Technical Support:

I would rate it at an 8 out of 10

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used network instruments. For what we were trying to accomplish it was not just doing it to the level we needed and it was not very straight forward to use either.

How was the initial setup?

The initial set up was very straight forward. I think complication comes with differences in environment.

What about the implementation team?

It was an in house implementation and I did it myself.

What was our ROI?

ROI on this has been fantastic. It was supposed to be a very expensive investment. We got a good deal and the product did not disappoint it has definitely help us dodge several bullets on several occasions.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Product including support was about $6000 but I would say for what its able to help us do its more than that.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes I was able to go through a whole bunch of options such as managed engine but I was not very impressed with the licensing scheme. Also most products were SAAS and we wanted independence and ownership over the product.

What other advice do I have?

I would say understand your environment and what you want to see. Also know what you deem important to your business and policies that guide your network usage. Not everyone one would find this particular product to their liking but for those who want to get to the granular level of assessment this is definitely a product to look at.

Also they have now added a feature where the traditional style of setting up monitoring reports is no longer necessary. Initially you had to create complex alerting to know what happened at a particular time. Now you just have to filter by date and time and you can choose what network protocols to filter by to see what happened at a particular point and time in real time stats.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user657444 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user657444Works at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User

I am among the few Solarwinds Certified Professional and have been working on Solarwinds for around 8-10 years now. I have been amazed at the way it has been consistently improving to cater to the ever-growing needs of infrastructure monitoring. The extreme reliance on IT in the current scenario makes monitoring of the system more critical than ever. From the days of Up/down monitoring things have gotten smarter and smarter and Solarwinds has been keeping up very well. I have worked on majority of their modules at Small, Medium as well as Large enterprise level. And for the most part Solarwinds suite has not disappointed me. Agreed that there is no perfection and always a scope to improve what keeps Solarwinds surging ahead is their agility to quickly encompass path breaking enhancements or an altogether new module.

Some highlights:
The quick installation which results in a satisfying experience of having the system up and running in no time is still their advantage.
The seamless integration and lucid interface makes it easy to get to the root cause in no time.
Flexible options now to have a few standalone modules as well.
The fantastic Thwack community with priceless contribution.
Ease of administration for the most part. A small portion is a bit convoluted which can be due to the fact that it has many features and is now a giant suite of software.
Abundance of knowledge base

Some areas of improvements:
Some features are still old school - like requesting new OID/MIB and then downloading and updating them
Complicated upgrade
Some features have been requested for years and is still not implemented.
Web based alerting is a pain compared to the original windows application where once could simultaneously work on multiple alerts at the same time and copy paste content.
Not the most satisfactory Failover/standby solution.

Overall it is an extremely feature rich suite of monitoring software with a hunger to get into the Gartner's leader quadrant .

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PeerSpot user
Senior Network Engineer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
It helps locate in which region the network is down so that we can take immediate action to restore it.

Valuable Features

  • Polling engines
  • Alerts
  • Backup configuration

Improvements to My Organization

Basically, it helps in monitoring the device status. It helps locate in which region the network is down so that we take immediate action to restore it.

Room for Improvement

All the software has room for improvement, nothing is perfect.

Use of Solution

I've used it for about five to six years alongside NCM v7.0.2.

Stability Issues

We do see issues, but not so many major ones.

Scalability Issues

No issues encountered yet.

Customer Service and Technical Support

Customer Service:

At least an 8/10.

Technical Support:

At least a 7/10.

Implementation Team

We implemented with a mix of an in-house team and a vendor one.

Other Advice

If your infrastructure is big, and requires a good kind of reporting tool, then SolarWinds fulfills all these requirements.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user216399 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user216399Senior Network Engineer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User

Let me know if you need any help on Solarwinds NPM,NCM.i will try to help.

See all 4 comments
PeerSpot user
Systems Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
Strengths include steady development and strong focus on Windows but don't install it on a multi purpose server

Solar Winds Orion is a strong contender in network monitoring up to (at least) mid size enterprises. It’s particular strengths are steady development and a strong focus on Windows. This focus gives it the ability to drill deeper into application monitoring with less effort than most of it’s competitors through WMI. SNMP is also supported for non windows devices to round out the mix. The interface is primarily the web console, which is highly configurable and can display completely different options for different users/groups. However, building maps and setting most alerts require a separate installed application for the former and console access to the Orion server for the latter. Orion uses MS SQL on the back end, and with more than a small network requires a separate DB server from the web server and agent server(s). Yes, you can use multiple monitoring servers for large networks. Pricing is tiered, both for the type of monitoring (straight network, application, and specialty items like VMWare are separate SKUs) and # of monitored objects.

Competitors - quite a few. Whatsup Gold was purchased by Solar Winds a couple years ago but is still a separate product. Others include Nagios, MRTG, Cacti, on the open source side, and a host of ‘monitoring’ systems on the paid product side. Keep in mind that some of these are less monitoring than ‘is it up’ ICMP pings, but there is a good range of monitoring. I’ll let you inspect the field - this review is pretty good: http://www. . Orion was selected as winner by the site, but keep in mind your needs and resources may vary.

Resist the urge to install monitoring on a multi purpose server, and think very hard before using a ‘spare workstation’ or old server. It benefits from lots of memory, and the DB needs adequate disk performance. Database activity is greater than you’d think from the size (especially when opening a graph or running a report). Also keep in mind the aphorism that when problems occur it’s impossible to always self-monitor; the very tool used may be the problem.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user69183 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user69183Systems Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor

First, I hope you've updated - the current release (10.6) of NPM has some really neat features, like instant access to server error logs and process monitors. Second, if you're just using the Network Performance Module (NPM) you're missing a lot. Application monitoring gives a much better picture of what's going on with your servers; the two together are pretty impressive.
As for sizing, we found that the newer capabilities a couple years ago added so much load we had to move the database to a separate server. Even then we were dropping data (empty space on the graphs) and replaced the monitor server last fall with a virtual system. We were on an older 32 bit server with 4 GB of RAM, moving to a 64 bit system gave us plenty of power and we no longer drop data. However our database server should be replaced; some reports and screens run slow when a lot of data is requested. It's a user experience issue, not a failure, so your milage may vary. Again, older hardware and 32 bit processors. Approach this in a stepwise fashion (separate the database first, etc) and you'll be fine.
Last point - be careful when adding monitors. It's easy to monitor too much; separate what is 'must have' from 'nice to have', add the 'must have' first and check system performance. That includes slow or saturated WAN links; it is possible to overload these with the extra traffic.
Let us know how the project goes!

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it_user68013 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
If you REALLY want to get the information we crave, you need to buy some of the plug-ins.

Out of the box, Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor does an adequate job of monitoring the basics of your network. Things like Bandwidth Utilization, syslog capture and reporting, circuit outages, etc. However, If you REALLY want to get the information we crave, you need to buy some of the plug-ins.

You start out with NTA, Netflow Traffic Analyzer. Now you don't just know that your bandwidth is being consumed. You know WHAT is taking a big bite out of that ALWAYS important bandwidth. Is it legitimate traffic and you need to add bandwidth or is it frivolous and you need to block it?

Next, if you operate call centers you might want to add on the VoiP and Network Quality Manager. I'm unfamiliar with this but it must have evolved from IP SLA Manager, a product I loved for it's ability to tell me how well my voice traffic was moving across the network. It looks like they've added integration with Call Manager so now you can really dig down into those voice related issues.

There's another piece you may consider indispensable if you have a lot of apps running across your network; Server and Application Monitor. Now we're cooking with gas!

Nowadays, it's just not enough to know that you still have bandwidth available. What you REALLY need to know is, do you have bandwidth available to ALL your key applications? QOS might be dropping packets while you are blithely examining your bandwidth utilization, thinking everything is running smoothly.

While Voice and one or 2 other apps may be blissfully travelling down the carpool lane of your network, what about the rest of your traffic? Is it stuck in a traffic jam, staring hungrily at those empty lanes? You NEED to know these things. And that's where the plugins will make your monitoring get up and DANCE! And once you KNOW what's going on on your network, YOU'LL be dancing too!

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT Security Architecture & Implementation Manager at Banque Saudi Fransi
Real User
A comprehensive monitoring system that is reliable and easy to use
Pros and Cons
  • "The interface is user-friendly, making it easy to use."
  • "Having more technical and support resources available in Saudi Arabia would be helpful."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use this solution for network troubleshooting and monitoring.

What is most valuable?

The interface is user-friendly, making it easy to use.

This is a comprehensive product that covers security, networking, and more.

What needs improvement?

Having more technical and support resources available in Saudi Arabia would be helpful.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with SolarWinds NPM for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Up to now, everything has been reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In terms of scalability, it is very much so. It is not determined by the number of end-users for this type of solution, but rather, by the capacity of network flow. This is something that we expect will increase in the future.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is something that is very important for us. It is the number one factor.

We are dealing with the vendor directly and are satisfied, although having more local engineers, support, and other resources in Saudi Arabia would be helpful.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I find that the pricing is acceptable.

What other advice do I have?

This is a valuable and powerful product that will provide users with more than they expect, all in one place. Other products, by comparison, often have limitations in the features. SolarWinds is comprehensive and covers everything, and I recommend it.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Information Technology Director at a transportation company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Flexible options for remote access saves time maintaining workstations, but better integration with endpoint security solutions is needed
Pros and Cons
  • "I can do everything remotely, including running PowerShell scripts or performing standard updates."
  • "I would like to see integration with antivirus or other security endpoint solutions."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution to monitor workstations and to remotely perform workstation software upgrades.

How has it helped my organization?

This solution has improved our organization because it saves time, in that I do not need to visit every workstation in order to update it. I can do everything remotely, including running PowerShell scripts or performing standard updates. I can also help customers remotely.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is remote access and the fact that there are multiple options to choose from. These include VNC (Virtual Network Computing), RPC (Remote Procedure Call), and Splashtop.

What needs improvement?

This pricing for this solution needs to be better.

I would like to see integration with antivirus or other security endpoint solutions. There are only one or two solutions that they integrate with.

For how long have I used the solution?

Less than one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sometimes, the responsiveness is slow, but overall the stability of this solution is good. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We only have between one hundred and one hundred and fifty nodes, so it is difficult to judge the scalability of this solution based on that.

We have two people in the company who are responsible for this solution, and it is used on a daily basis.

We do not plan to increase its usage because we do not expect to increase the number of workstations or network devices.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is a paid service for this solution.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use another solution prior to this one.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup for this solution is pretty straightforward.

It took about a week to set up everything. First, we started with all of the networking devices and then we moved on to the workstations and servers.

What about the implementation team?

I handled the implementation myself.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The cost is based on the number of nodes, so it is expensive when you have a lot of them.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to anyone who is implementing this solution is to be well prepared. You need to know your network infrastructure before you start implementing. Otherwise, it will take longer than necessary to set up.

This product does what it is meant to do, although it takes ample time to get what we want. I would say that whatever is indicated in the product description, it does well.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SolarWinds NPM Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SolarWinds NPM Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.