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Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabri...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (28th)
Gigamon Deep Observability ...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (40th), Event Monitoring (10th), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (30th), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (44th), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (31st), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (22nd), Network Packet Broker (NPB) (1st), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (17th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) is designed for Network Monitoring Software and holds a mindshare of 0.6%, up 0.5% compared to last year.
Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline, on the other hand, focuses on Event Monitoring, holds 1.1% mindshare, up 0.5% since last year.
Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)0.6%
Zabbix10.1%
SolarWinds NPM4.2%
Other85.1%
Network Monitoring Software
Event Monitoring Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline1.1%
ServiceNow IT Operations Management16.0%
OpsRamp12.9%
Other70.0%
Event Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

Upul Abhayasena - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust management tool with an easy setup and room for more features
DCNM is used by one of the airline customers in Qatar to manage many data centers and rack switches running on normal Nexus or NX-OS mode. They required a controller platform to manage these Nexus switches, and thus, they utilized DCNM as a Fabric controller. Given that ACI deployment is very low…
LeonardoAlves - PeerSpot reviewer
Improved the capability to analyze the environment and network problems with easy setup
It improved the capability to analyze the environment and network problems. It also helped streamline your security and performance monitoring The application I use is a script. My environment is a mix of technologies. I have many passionate people in my network who are on a journey in…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The automation capability is more than enough. It depends on how we consider and integrate the automation engine. We need to ensure the automation engine and then how to perform it. It depends on the policy making, API integration, and other integrations."
"The monitoring capability is the best in Cisco Data Center Network Manager. It helps me improve network management tasks and optimize processes."
"It has a very nice dashboard so you can see what's currently happening in the network and the performance of the back story."
"It uses push technology, which pushes the changes to all relevant devices to ensure they are updated accordingly."
"I don't have to rely on the on-site engineer who can do the configuration. I can have our team just plug the devices and perform remotely. I can also do the templates."
"Stability is not an issue."
"The most valuable feature is the connectivity monitoring."
"Automation of the ILS."
"The tool's most valuable feature is the encryption feature. From a security perspective, the solution hasn't significantly strengthened our security posture. However, it has greatly improved performance by streamlining encryption processes and avoiding encryption at multiple layers. This has also simplified troubleshooting, as we can whitelist certain processes."
"It offers straightforward integration."
"The most valuable feature is NetFlow."
"The most valuable feature for improving network visibility with Gigamon is the packet filtering capability."
"It is a good product. It provides network visibility, which is important. Gigamon can bring some optimizations to my network. It is helpful for security inspection, and it makes my firewall work fast because my firewall doesn't have to do the inspection of the SSL connections, for example."
"It has high stability."
"The Pipeline's Comprehensive Insights into data flows have helped improve operational efficiency and security."
"The solution is straightforward to set up."
 

Cons

"Could integrate better with VMware products."
"We need better performance and reliability."
"It's very costly."
"More integration features would be beneficial."
"The delivery Cisco Data Center Network Manager could improve if it was easier. Additionally, some feature improvement is needed."
"The tool's pricing strategy could be improved to compete more effectively in the market, especially against competitors like Huawei, Aruba, and Juniper."
"In the next release, I would like to see it merged with Prime and I think that it should be more unified."
"It's a relatively expensive product for some clients."
"The security should be improved."
"The graphical user interface could be improved."
"The Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline should have a feature showing the traffic flow within its platform. Currently, customers have to use separate tools for monitoring, which is inconvenient. If it had its visibility feature, it would make monitoring easier and more complete without needing extra tools."
"They should increase the solution's cluster capacity."
"It only inspects a specific kind of traffic. There should be different kinds of use cases."
"Its filtering feature needs improvement."
"In terms of improvement, while the initial setup is not overly complicated, we did encounter a few issues."
"Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline needs to improve its performance. I face issues with performance because we use SPAN, and the SPAN traffic is not good."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Cisco Data Center Network Manager is expensive compared to other vendors on the market."
"On average, Data Center Network Manager's pricing isn't too costly unless you choose a premier license."
"When we purchase a Nexus box, the MDS CM license comes with it."
"The product is licensed with contracts that work on a yearly basis rather than a monthly model."
"The solution is very expensive."
"I would say that the pricing offers great value for the money."
"The tool is always expensive, but their service, product quality, and support are good. We're happy with it, but it's still an expensive solution. There are cheaper alternatives but no similar platform across all domains."
"We usually opt for a yearly plan, commonly for three or five years upfront. Some customers may not utilize all the features included in the product, and this can lead to them paying for functionalities they don't need."
"The solution is highly-priced."
"The solution's price is reasonable."
"I would rate the solution as expensive, around an eight or nine out of ten. There are other competitive solutions available."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Healthcare Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco Data Center Network Manager?
It uses push technology, which pushes the changes to all relevant devices to ensure they are updated accordingly.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Data Center Network Manager?
The tool is always expensive, but their service, product quality, and support are good. We're happy with it, but it's still an expensive solution. There are cheaper alternatives but no similar plat...
What needs improvement with Cisco Data Center Network Manager?
In a mixed architecture where Nexus switches are used as border devices and are connected to a Palo Alto firewall (e.g., version 9.1 or 10.1), you might encounter issues with BGP peering. For insta...
What do you like most about Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline?
The most valuable feature for improving network visibility with Gigamon is the packet filtering capability.
What needs improvement with Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline?
Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline needs to improve its performance. I face issues with performance because we use SPAN, and the SPAN traffic is not good. They need to improve their performance.
What is your primary use case for Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline?
I am working with Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline and Firemon, and I have been working with it for a year.
 

Also Known As

Cisco Data Center Network Manager
Gigamon, GigaSecure
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Banco de Guayaquil, Cox Communications, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Roper St. Francis, University of British Columbia
Amica Insurance, College of William & Mary, Gamma, IntercontinentalExchange, OppenheimerFunds
Find out what your peers are saying about Zabbix, Auvik, Datadog and others in Network Monitoring Software. Updated: October 2025.
873,003 professionals have used our research since 2012.