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Aruba Airwave vs OpenText Network Node Manager comparison

 

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
4th
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
7th
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 June 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Aruba Airwave is 3.3%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Network Node Manager is 5.4%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Aruba Airwave3.3%
OpenText Network Node Manager5.4%
Other91.3%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmet Bulbul - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Consultant at Data Market
Reports generation remains efficient while support and updates require attention
The biggest problem for not using Aruba Airwave extensively now is that HP is not upgrading this tool. They're not investing money and time into it, which is why we're not using it. I find the price of Aruba Central compared to Aruba Airwave to be more expensive. Customers start to complain and get annoyed about the license price. For example, when customers have 500 access points and features about access point licenses, moving to Central requires purchasing new licenses. This makes customers annoyed and complaining about this situation. It's hard to move from on-premises to Central because they always compare costs. If Aruba gave free licenses, they could move. But going to cloud and Central means more investment, and their budget doesn't cover the new investment. This creates problems for local partner companies.
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

"The Clarity feature makes it easy to use and understand what is going on with your network in a nice dashboard.​"
"All the technical support goes through our contractor. It is a local support, and it is perfect."
"Aruba Airwave provides a robust solution for monitoring and configuring Wi-Fi networks."
"I think everybody needs this solution; it helps a lot with technical troubleshooting and no matter what end products you have, Airwave is a good solution for everybody."
"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."
"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."
"It can interact with other vendors better than Cisco, which is a good point of AirWave. It is easy to use, and its reporting is good."
"The monitoring and administration allow configurations for checking the association of the user to the network, then to the AP, then to the switch, and back to the controller."
"Our monitoring and network teams of less than 100 people use this solution, and the availability and fault monitoring are good."
"The solution is very stable, and once it's configured properly, stability and maintenance are strong with no issues in performance."
"Scalability is actually one of the reasons why we picked Node Manager."
"The platform has good stability."
"It is stable for fault and availability."
"Most valuable function would have to the internal causal engine and its root cause analyzer which keep us updated on critical errors and incidents in our network environment."
"A complete solution for network monitoring."
"The most important benefit is to have one controller and to get all information to a single point."
 

Cons

"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."
"Pricing for Aruba Airwave could be cheaper, which is an area for improvement in the solution."
"Support is good, but it is not as good as Cisco. Cisco's support is faster."
"Cost is always a big issue for partners."
"I would like to see an integration of services into one system, rather than having multiple systems to do multiple things."
"The tool's expensive nature is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The integration with other platforms like Cisco needs to be improved."
"I want a management solution to manage and monitor everything from a single dashboard. This is not there with Airwave."
"We had some issues with some of the features, some modules are not meeting expectations."
"Configuration was a bit cumbersome for SNMP traps on the routers and configuration of the SPIs was a little complicated."
"It needs better management for the routing protocol, which right now is really not very good."
"The technical documentation takes experience and much reading to master."
"Reporting. Even though this is available in separate software (iSPI) there is potential in making the reporting more SLA-aware and more intuitive."
"Technical support could be much better and work much faster. Typically, it is taking some time to solve tickets."
"We have not had a good experience with technical support from OpenText. Many cases take a month to be resolved."
"We are very dissatisfied with the technical support. We have multiple demands and even the engineers are not satisfied."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing and pricing are extremely straightforward."
"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."
"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 licensing cost for Aruba Airwave increased from $72 to $210 within a few months. It would be better if the pricing for the solution were cheaper."
"This product is not expensive."
"It is an expensive solution."
"Aruba Airwave is an expensive solution."
"It's device-based licensing. One device requires one license."
"The solution is priced mid-range compared to the competition."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"It's an expensive solution."
"It is more inexpensive than other products in the market."
"I wasn't involved in the pricing, but I think it's quite expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
8%
Construction Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Construction Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
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: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.