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Aruba Airwave vs OpenText Network Node Manager comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Airwave
Ranking in Network Management Applications
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
OpenText Network Node Manager
Ranking in Network Management Applications
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Aruba Airwave is 3.1%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Network Node Manager is 5.4%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenText Network Node Manager5.4%
Aruba Airwave3.1%
Other91.5%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Edward Zeng - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
Troubleshooting obstacles occur but technical support excels
My general opinion on Aruba Airwave is that it's acceptable, but it's not ideal because we are accustomed to Cisco. We didn't use Aruba much, but once you set it up, you probably don't need to worry about it too much. The version we are using is quite old now, probably around version four. I can't remember the version exactly because a lot of the products require Aruba Central, but we haven't used Aruba Central yet. I face challenges with Aruba Airwave, particularly with troubleshooting. When someone has a problem, we try troubleshooting, but the end-to-end users' messages show some details that are not always up-to-date, and sometimes the information from the GUI is not exactly aligned with what's on the website. If Aruba Airwave can apply AI capabilities, that would be even more perfect. I'd appreciate integration with Aruba Central; it would be great if they could incorporate it into Airwave.
Ahmed-Salman - PeerSpot reviewer
Performanc Monitoring and Application Architect at Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Reliable network monitoring and proactive analytics enhance decision-making with areas for configuration improvement
NNMi is an OpenText product and serves as the OpenText Network Node Manager monitoring tool. OpenText Network Node Manager is used for network monitoring of switches, routers, firewalls, load balancers, and all network devices. It can support any SNMP protocol. The advantages of OpenText Network Node Manager stand out because it can build the topology, Layer 2 topology, and Layer 3 automatically once devices are added, connecting them together, such as device one, for interface one, connected with interface one on another device. The integration capability of OpenText Network Node Manager is excellent because it integrates directly, and I can configure the integration to feed the CMDB, from where I can get all information from network monitoring into the CMDB, linking it with the infrastructure and correlating events. I use advanced fault monitoring and management features in OpenText Network Node Manager for topology and fault monitoring, as it can alert or generate an event if the value exceeds or falls below a predefined threshold for SNMP traps. The predictive analytics impact planning and optimization strategies because the product can be linked with another product for analytic analysis, allowing me to see the interface utilization trend and proactively take action if the utilization increases. The automated network discovery features and topology mapping in OpenText Network Node Manager have a positive impact. It supports a bundle with another product for NetFlow to monitor traffic, ports, protocols, and SLAs, and I can build compliance reports to address security vulnerabilities, such as identifying all devices using outdated protocols.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"AirWave definitely helps us troubleshoot and get to the root cause of the issues. It gives you an excellent indication of what's going on within your network at different locations. You can get to the area, take a look at the AirWave analysis, and make informed decisions."
"This solution gives you a lot of reporting capabilities, and it has a very good interface."
"I would rate the overall solution nine out of ten."
"The solution is not overly expensive."
"The technical support services are good."
"The solution's most valuable features are its usage, bandwidth existence, device capacity, and utilization."
"The most beneficial feature for network monitoring in Aruba Airwave is the Live Heat Map. It helps identify interferences, coverage issues, and user connectivity issues. The device management capability of Aruba Airwave is good. It provides end-to-end visibility from the user to the access point, the switch, and the internet breakout. From a monitoring, management, and orchestration standpoint, it is very effective and can manage any scale of deployment."
"The Clarity feature makes it easy to use and understand what is going on with your network in a nice dashboard, and it contains valuable features for engineers to C-level executives, who want visibility, performance, statistics, and a platform which can take action for them without manual intervention, saving time and money."
"The platform has good stability."
"Real time network monitoring application: It is very stable, which provides quick root cause analysis (RCA) for any network faults."
"A good enterprise-level solution."
"The HPE suite is amazingly beautiful, has a fantastic user experience, and provides a high amount of simplification across transactions when adopting cloud technologies significantly."
"We do not have any issues stability-wise."
"Our monitoring and network teams of less than 100 people use this solution, and the availability and fault monitoring are good."
"I would recommend the solution to others due to the fact that it's quite stable and mature."
"You can utilize the main file from various vendors for integration."
 

Cons

"More devices or vendors should be onboarded to Aruba Airwave."
"The main challenge we've faced with Aruba Airwave is its high cost, especially regarding high availability and failover licenses, which can be relatively expensive for customers. As for recommendations for improvement, considering that Aruba is planning to retire Airwave soon and introduce a new solution, it's crucial that the new product meets or exceeds the current Airwave's feature set. Customers expect a seamless transition without losing any functionality, so Aruba needs to ensure that the new solution is ready with all the essential features and capabilities from day one to avoid any gaps or dissatisfaction among users and partners."
"When attempting to copy a floor plan, it does not copy well, so I often have to redraw the walls. It's somewhat annoying since other Wi-Fi design software we use is easier for drawing walls and including floor plans."
"The tool's expensive nature is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"Whenever you get an error it doesn't immediately tell you what the thing is that is causing the error. You have to sit down and research it. If it could say what error is causing the issue, it would make my troubleshooting a lot quicker."
"Pricing for Aruba Airwave could be cheaper, which is an area for improvement in the solution."
"I would like to see an integration of services into one system, rather than having multiple systems to do multiple things."
"My general opinion on Aruba Airwave is that it's acceptable, but it's not ideal because we are accustomed to Cisco."
"The technical documentation takes experience and much reading to master."
"It needs better management for the routing protocol, which right now is really not very good."
"Micro Focus Network Node Manager is not powered to drill down for traffic visibility."
"In terms of improvement, I would say that the resources utilized could be a bit higher, and that is one of the challenges that isn't optimized to my expectations."
"Configuration was a bit cumbersome for SNMP traps on the routers and configuration of the SPIs was a little complicated."
"The solution should integrate with NAC servers."
"I haven't had a great experience with this solution because the dashboards are not customizable and it's not user-friendly."
"The deployment architecture and installation part needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This product is not expensive."
"Run a 90 day free Proof of Concept (PoC) for each product by implementing and using it fully in your environment. This way you will be educated on its features, functionality, and manageability."
"We must buy a new license to connect more devices to scale up the solution."
"I rate the product’s pricing a five out of ten."
"The cost is perfect because the devices have a lifetime warranty, and the licensing is good as well."
"It's device-based licensing. One device requires one license."
"The licensing is on an yearly basis."
"AirWave is a very expensive solution. If you implement it in a wide range network, it will cost a lot. There is no option to sell it outside that price segment, which is a problem."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"It's an expensive solution."
"It is more inexpensive than other products in the market."
"The solution is priced mid-range compared to the competition."
"I wasn't involved in the pricing, but I think it's quite expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Outsourcing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Aruba Airwave?
They have other sensors which can manage and control all the sites. There is an IoT component where we can restrict internet services such as Facebook and YouTube. These things can also be managed....
What is your primary use case for Aruba Airwave?
For Aruba Airwave, I am using the wireless devices for the Wi-Fi for the full company with access points. This is the top product I feel, and I see in the Gartner also. It is a good product and eas...
What needs improvement with Micro Focus Network Node Manager?
The disadvantage of OpenText Network Node Manager is related to configuration, which is straightforward since it is agentless and solely relies on SNMP protocol, and although it requires some effor...
What is your primary use case for Micro Focus Network Node Manager?
I remember working with OpenText Network Node Manager at my previous company. I am now working at a different company focusing on data center migrations and DR preparation. In my current role, I ha...
What advice do you have for others considering Micro Focus Network Node Manager?
I would rate OpenText Network Node Manager an eight out of ten, as it is very good, and I appreciate its ability to link faults with network configuration management, allowing me to identify root c...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Micro Focus Network Node Manager, Network Node Manager, HPE Network Node Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Henkel, University of Findlay, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Iowa
IPC, Exelon, VivaCom, 
Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Airwave vs. OpenText Network Node Manager and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.