Sr System Engineer at a outsourcing company with 501-1,000 employees
Robust and highly scalable monitoring with a comprehensive view of the network. But it lacks a good UI.
What is most valuable?
Single page view of all the servers lets me monitor them at a glance.
I can expand and see all the details at as single click expand.
I can capture real-time visibility into network performance issues to quickly determine who, where and what is impacting the network.
Very easy to set alerts for unusual happening.
Highly configurable.
Graphical view lets us compare the values within a particular time frame.
What needs improvement?
User Interface needs improvement as it is not very attractive.
I was not able to properly monitor my SNMP based online UPS.
What other advice do I have?
Our company needed a highly reliable network and bandwidth manager/monitor as we were unable to monitor all servers /networks manually. Our search finally ended at this Orion’s NPM tool which has great scalability and reliability.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Engineer at a retailer with 51-200 employees
The most efficient Network Performance Monitor with its added characteristics like sniffing, alerting system, and fault discovery.
Valuable Features:
• Simplicity of Use, instinctive, lots of attributes, simple to Install and keep, economical, and makes network management easier.
• Sturdy network error and accessibility management.
• Well established SNMP based network performance check, which allows for adding wireless, Voice over Internet Protocols, and Net Flow checking support as required. It also offers simple and configurable custom attentive and reports.
• Network Performance Monitor can also receive Syslog output and SNMP traps for fault discovery and alerting.
• Alerting system of Network Performance Monitor is strong, supple, and comparatively simple.
• The product has module based pricing, meaning that you only have to purchase the required features.
Room for Improvement:
• Bulk Node attach is chaos
• TCP Service Monitoring
• Unable to perform stop or edit for several events
• Slightly costly
• Latest web based interface does not have some characteristics of the traditional Graphic User Interface.
• I am having a problem with putting up a reliance structure.
Other Advice:
The monitoring system of Orion is powerful and has become a positive feature in the company. Latest versions need no extra training, further software installation, added licensing, and no other exertion. Updates are flawless and consistent. The application is highly self documented and sufficiently instinctive and competent, reasonably priced, and flexible. For basic enterprise network monitoring or a complete set of network diagnostic tools and monitors, Orion is the best option for its complete attribute set and simplicity of use.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
SolarWinds NPM
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about SolarWinds NPM. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.
System Administrator at a recruiting/HR firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Allows us to recognize problems based on thresholds we set up for various resources.
What is most valuable?
- Polling
- Automatic ticket creation of server resources (CPU, Memory, Reboots etc.)
How has it helped my organization?
We can sometimes fix a problem before it is even recognized by our user community based on the thresholds we set up for various resources on a production server.
What needs improvement?
They could make the process of adding various devices easier and more intuitive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for nine months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues encountered.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's very scalable and customizable.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
They have good customer service.
Technical Support:They have good technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I haven't used another solution like NPM before.
What was our ROI?
It's significant in my opinion.
What other advice do I have?
You can and should put the not so obvious devices onto SolarWinds. An example would be a server's back-up power supply. Otherwise you won't realize when the back-up is not functioning until the main power supply goes down and it's too late at that point.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Very valuable inputs regarding NP monitor ; Thank you for sharing Ravi Suvvari
Network Engineer at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
Awesome product with a lot of info available and great support team.
What is most valuable?
Multicast
How has it helped my organization?
We are a small ISP in FL. Having this tool has been helping us a lot with time responds critical outages and troubleshooting.
What needs improvement?
Map section and Bandwidth.
For how long have I used the solution?
Been using Solarwinds now for 4 years and happy with the system.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
No issues.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Yes
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
9 out of 10
Technical Support:10 out of 10
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Netcool was just an outdated system.
How was the initial setup?
Straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
Vendor team - I'd rate them a 10 out of 10
What other advice do I have?
Awesome product with a lot of info available and great support team.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Director of IT at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Network Performance Monitor (NPM) is the SolarWinds Orion entry in the monitoring and alerting systems market.
Valuable Features:
- Powerful network fault & availability management.
- Mature SNMP-based network performance monitor; lets you add wireless, VoIP, and NetFlow monitoring support as needed; provides easily configurable custom alerts and reports.
- NPM can also receive Syslog output and SNMP traps for error detection and alerting.
- NPM’s alerting system is powerful, flexible, and relatively easy to use.
- The product features modular pricing, so you can buy only the features you need.
Room for Improvement:
- New, web-based interface lacks some features of traditional GUI.
- One of the problems I've had in the past, is building out a dependency structure.
Other Advice:
NPM uses Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) ping requests to gather basic connectivity and response-time information. It allows network devices that support this, to gather additional information, by using SNMP queries and Cisco IOS NetFlow. NPM can also receive Syslog output and SNMP traps for error detection and alerting. Add-on modules let Orion NPM monitor NetFlow devices, wireless appliances, and VoIP networks and also let NPM monitor more devices as your network grows. Whether you want basic enterprise network monitoring or a full suite of network diagnostic tools and monitors, I recommend Orion 9 for its full feature set and ease of use.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Managed Services Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Is easy to use and install, but security needs improvement
Pros and Cons
- "SolarWinds NPM has a colorful UI and many easy-to-use features. It does not need to be configured as much and is also easy to install."
- "It would be good to have high security."
What is most valuable?
SolarWinds NPM has a colorful UI and many easy to use features. It does not need to be configured as much and is also easy to install.
What needs improvement?
It would be good to have high security. This is a concern after the attacks.
They also need to focus more on the application side.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using it for nearly six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable.
How was the initial setup?
It was easy to set up.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We compared it to Zabbix. You can do a lot of parameters in Zabbix, but you have to configure them all. Also, it is not as easy to install.
What other advice do I have?
It's good to go for SolarWinds NPM, but make sure that you do all the upgrades on time.
I would rate SolarWinds NPM at seven on a scale from one to ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Network Manager at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Orion NPM is a great real time network activity & performance tracking utility. Web interface is great, but needs minor improvements
Valuable Features:
Orion NPM is a mature and reasonably priced product. It is easy to deploy and configure, and has an excellent user and network mapping interface.
Room for Improvement:
Resource utilization is heavy so you need to analyze the server before using it for multiple roles. We are unable to use web console to configure new alerts.
Other Advice:
SolarWinds Orion NPM tracks bottlenecks in your network infrastructure and lets you troubleshoot them before a disaster happens. It uses protocols and tools like ICMP, SNMP, Cisco NetFlow, and Syslog to provide you with the alerts and statistics you need to run your network at optimal performance and speed. The product is easy to deploy on top of an IIS and .Net framework. It also has excellent built-in thresholds and alerts available to help you get started, yet provides the option to create custom thresholds and alerts as required by your specific network and infrastructure requirements. A comprehensive web interface is available to identify inconsistencies and trouble spots in your network.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Business Consultant. at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Has good support is absolutely stable
Pros and Cons
- "I like SolarWinds support because it's 24/7. You describe your issues, your situation and maybe two or three hours later you can discuss a solution with a technical engineer."
- "It would be nice if SolarWinds added some technical protocols like Modbus. The market needs a simple solution for monitoring a technical device."
What needs improvement?
It would be nice if SolarWinds added some technical protocols like Modbus. The market needs a simple solution for monitoring a technical device.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using SolarWinds for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is an absolutely stable platform.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's very easy to scale. The scalability is brilliant. If you need additional monitoring resources or if you need to plug in your secondary data center, it takes thirty minutes. It's easy to use.
How are customer service and technical support?
I like SolarWinds support because it's 24/7. You describe your issues, your situation and maybe two or three hours later you can discuss a solution with a technical engineer.
How was the initial setup?
The setup took approximately two to three hours. You need about two hours for tuning. If you use only two or three modules like network performance monitors or network traffic analyzers, you need two or three hours, not more.
The setup required two staff members. One network administrator who needs to pre-configure the network infrastructure and one administrator. You need only two administrators.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
You pay for the license you need. You buy it and use. The next year you will have to buy a renewal.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to someone considering it.
I would rate it a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Distributor
Buyer's Guide
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sharing their opinions.
Updated: October 2024
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I totally agree with Systemad5157. Network monitoring is an integral role of a network administrator and this program makes the task much easier. The network admin is not just able to detect the network component at fault but also get to fix it in order for the network to perform optimally and keep the company running.