Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

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 (18th)
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) (29th), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (45th), Web Application Firewall (WAF) (33rd), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (26th), 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 0.4% compared to last year.
Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline, on the other hand, focuses on Event Monitoring, holds 0.7% mindshare, up 0.5% since last year.
Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)0.6%
Zabbix11.7%
LibreNMS4.6%
Other83.1%
Network Monitoring Software
Event Monitoring Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline0.7%
ServiceNow IT Operations Management17.8%
OpsRamp14.5%
Other67.0%
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 interface of this solution is easy to use overall."
"The tool's most valuable feature is the consolidated dashboard, providing insights into parameters and overall usage of network features. It allows us to easily summarize insights through the dashboards. The solution offers automation capabilities, particularly in the context of connecting LAN sites with websites."
"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."
"Fabric suite automation is a great feature."
"It uses push technology, which pushes the changes to all relevant devices to ensure they are updated accordingly."
"You can integrate all the networks into the software."
"It has a very nice dashboard so you can see what's currently happening in the network and the performance of the back story."
"The feature I find most valuable, is the stability of the solution."
"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 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."
"The most valuable feature for improving network visibility with Gigamon is the packet filtering capability."
"It offers straightforward integration."
"The most valuable feature is NetFlow."
"It has high stability."
"The solution is straightforward to set up."
"The Pipeline's Comprehensive Insights into data flows have helped improve operational efficiency and security."
 

Cons

"The configuration is too complicated and you have to create templates and use a lot of menus."
"Automation for the RMA process can be added."
"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."
"One of the biggest challenges is that we aren't always able to push the configuration onto the target device. Whenever this happens, we have to do a factory reset, put on the script, and then reconfigure it again. In the next release, I would like to have a troubleshooting feature."
"Could integrate better with VMware products."
"The automation feature could be improved."
"The solution needs to improve reports."
"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."
"Its filtering feature needs improvement."
"The graphical user interface could be improved."
"It only inspects a specific kind of traffic. There should be different kinds of use cases."
"The security should be improved."
"They should increase the solution's cluster capacity."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When we purchase a Nexus box, the MDS CM license comes with it."
"On average, Data Center Network Manager's pricing isn't too costly unless you choose a premier license."
"The price of Cisco Data Center Network Manager is expensive compared to other vendors on the market."
"I would say that the pricing offers great value for the money."
"The solution is very expensive."
"The product is licensed with contracts that work on a yearly basis rather than a monthly model."
"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 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."
"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."
"The solution is highly-priced."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Monitoring Software solutions are best for your needs.
867,676 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
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, SolarWinds and others in Network Monitoring Software. Updated: September 2025.
867,676 professionals have used our research since 2012.