Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs NetBrain comparison

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabri...

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75% willing to recommend

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) and NetBrain based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Zabbix, Datadog, SolarWinds and others in Network Monitoring Software.

To learn more, read our detailed Network Monitoring Software Report (Updated: October 2026).

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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

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (42nd)

NetBrain

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Troubleshooting (18th), Network Automation (6th)

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 0.6% compared to last year.
NetBrain, on the other hand, focuses on Network Troubleshooting, holds 3.3% mindshare, up 2.8% since last year.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)	0.6%
Zabbix	3.7%
SolarWinds NPM	3.7%
Other	92.0%

Network Monitoring Software

Network Troubleshooting Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
NetBrain	3.3%
Wireshark	18.8%
AirMagnet Survey PRO	8.5%
Other	69.4%

Network Troubleshooting

Featured Reviews

Jagdev Dhaliwal

Network Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Flow monitoring has improved planning for east-west traffic and real-time capacity decisions

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) helps to understand the flows and data plane capacities, which are the primary use cases. Usually, people struggle with east-west traffic flow when they need to decide on firewalls or products. People typically understand north-south traffic flows but usually miss the east-west traffic flows in data centers. I was focusing more on this so that people can accordingly plan, such as after F5, the number of servers, the number of sessions needed, and whether we need to plan the interface for groups from the line capacity perspective. This kind of information was valuable to us. The real-time telemetry feature was beneficial. When experiencing performance issues, I could determine if there were any issues related to flows or areas where bottlenecks were occurring.

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Deborah Gamelin

Vice President at Asset Track for Cloud, LLC

Good monitoring and troubleshoot capabilities, improves overall network traffic visibility

In my organization, we had 130,000 network devices that needed to be brought into the solution and mapped. NetBrain can handle the scale but the engineers that manage those devices have to go in and update all of them to allow NetBrain permission to poll them. It can get a little stressful for everybody when you're trying to roll out new stuff when you've got other issues that have to be addressed with other devices. In some cases, our devices had no automation at all. One example is the Cisco 3650. Right now, if you went through the inventory list, you see that we have different versions running. Some are on one version, whereas others are on another version. The problem with upgrading them is that they need to be done overnight because we don't want to disrupt any network traffic during business hours. Consequently, it could take us years to upgrade the versions before we can even get them onto these new tools. This may be an internal issue but it's a big one when you have a lot of devices. Even if you had 10,000 devices, it's still an issue. You have to consider the compatibility of the device against the tool, and being able to use certain commands to upgrade it.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The monitoring system in this product is valuable, providing a clear indication of what's going on in the network and the server processing, power, etc., and the user interface is also very good and very informative."

"The most valuable features of Cisco Data Center Network Manager are consistency and the core server. The teams have had a good experience."

"VCNM provides a unique capability of managing the admin VDCs of Nexus boxes."

"I like running the scripts. With the help of a Python script, we deployed within the configuration and built up the code."

"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 interface of this solution is easy to use overall."

"After installation, you almost forget that it is working."

"Cisco's support I would rate as a 10 compared to all other vendors."

More Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) pros

"Chain management is a good feature. I don't get it on other solutions."

"Other advice to users considering the solution would be: go with NetBrain."

"This product has good network monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities."

"Once it's up and running and you don't have the strange requirements I had, and you just want some basic maps, it'll work."

"This tool is exactly what we wanted and needed."

"NetBrain is faster, better and level sets the engineering technical sets."

"Enables maps to be drawn out."

"NetBrain is a very simple tool."

More NetBrain pros

Cons

"If the customer thinks about using additional solutions, Cisco should make sure they are not left out."

"Data Center Network Manager is a little complex because it includes a lot of hardware to be installed, so making this simpler would be an improvement."

"The visibility of applications is not great, which is why we study upscalability."

"The solution needs to improve reports."

"More integration features would be beneficial."

"Sometimes the product gives us problems that require support."

"It's very expensive."

"It is not very easy to monitor or to browse."

More Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) cons

"It's okay on the value, a bit expensive for just maps, but makes it a lot easier to see things visually and take it from there."

"The solution could integrate more automation."

"Licensing is based on a per-device basis, which means that it can get very expensive if you have a large number of devices."

"The IP interface brief isn't consistent."

"The pricing needs to be improved."

"If you're comparing NetBrain as an NDR, I would rate it as a four or five, however, NetBrain has a different aspect of looking at things within the network."

"When I used the installed product before, I wasn't very satisfied with the support."

"Each device needs to be configured to allow NetBrain to poll for the information it needs, which can be very time-consuming for a large network."

More NetBrain cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"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 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 product is expensive, but less expensive than some of the competition and worth the price."

"Licensing is based on a per-device basis, which means that it can get very expensive if you have a large number of devices."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

14%

Outsourcing Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Energy/Utilities Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	16

No data available

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Cisco Data Center Network Manager?

I do not believe it integrated well with different infrastructures for hybrid environments. I am uncertain because we have never attempted that in our environment, so they could perform better in t...

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What is your primary use case for Cisco Data Center Network Manager?

The main use case for URL filtering with PAN-DB is that it performs quite well. Earlier, when I started in 2012, there was a Blue Coat product available during that period. I am not certain whether...

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What advice do you have for others considering Cisco Data Center Network Manager?

I do not have experience with Cortex. I worked primarily with Strata firewalls, Global Protect, and Prisma. These are the three primary products I have worked on. I am familiar with Prisma Access b...

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Comparisons

SolarWinds NPM vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Compared 7% of the time

Arista Data ANalyZer vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Compared 7% of the time

Zabbix vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Compared 7% of the time

SolarWinds Network Automation Manager vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Compared 7% of the time

Marvis Virtual Network Assistant vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Compared 6% of the time

More Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) Competitors

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs NetBrain

Compared 11% of the time

Forward Enterprise vs NetBrain

Compared 8% of the time

SolarWinds Network Automation Manager vs NetBrain

Compared 7% of the time

Cisco DNA Center vs NetBrain

Compared 6% of the time

Auvik Network Management (ANM) vs NetBrain

Compared 6% of the time

More NetBrain Competitors

Product Reports

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Download Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) product report

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) report

Download NetBrain product report

Also Known As

Cisco Data Center Network Manager

No data available

Overview

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller, formerly DCNM, provides a consolidated dashboard offering insights into network operations, real-time telemetry, and automation capabilities. Users noted enhanced data center management and seamless SD-WAN integration.

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller integrates Python, Ansible, and Terraform for efficient traffic management. Comprehensive data center insight and stability highlight its utility across policy updates and network troubleshooting. With support for hybrid environments and enhanced network health data visibility, the platform suits complex, evolving infrastructures.

What are the Key Features?

Automation Capabilities: Simplifies network operations with automated workflows and scheduling.
Programming Support: Facilitates integration through Python, Ansible, and Terraform compatibility.
Comprehensive Dashboard: Provides a centralized view of network performance and health.
Real-Time Telemetry: Enhances decision-making with up-to-the-moment data.
SD-WAN Integration: Ensures seamless traffic flow across network borders.

What Benefits Should Users Look for?

Enhanced Network Monitoring: Allows precise tracking and troubleshooting of network issues.
Efficient Resource Management: Streamlines policy updates and component management.
Improved Security: Facilitates tighter control over Nexus switch configurations.
Centralized Management: Reduces complexity in maintaining data centers through a unified interface.

In data center operations, businesses leverage Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller for improved security, tackling tasks like VPN operations and private cloud development. It enhances storage management, providing robust support to manage Nexus switches for optimized component oversight and security protocols.

Cisco

NetBrain offers a comprehensive network automation tool designed to streamline and enhance the efficiency of network management, providing dynamic visibility and facilitating prompt issue resolution through an intuitive platform.

NetBrain allows IT professionals to automate complex network tasks, improving operational efficiency and reducing the likelihood of human errors. Designed with scalability in mind, NetBrain provides dynamic network mapping, instant visibility of network changes, and seamless integration with existing network tools. These capabilities ensure IT infrastructure operates smoothly, thus enhancing productivity and reducing operational costs. NetBrain is widely used by organizations seeking to optimize their network operations and reliability.

What are the key features of NetBrain?

Dynamic Network Mapping: Automatically generates real-time visual maps of network topology.
Runbook Automation: Automates repetitive tasks to enhance efficiency and accuracy.
Incident Diagnosis: Quickly identifies and resolves network issues, minimizing downtime.
Integration Capabilities: Seamless integration with existing network management tools.
Network Change Management: Monitors and documents changes to ensure compliance and avoid conflicts.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in NetBrain reviews?

Reduced Operational Costs: Decreases the need for manual interventions and resource allocation.
Improved Efficiency: Streamlines network operations, saving time and effort.
Enhanced Network Reliability: Proactively addresses network faults, reducing downtime.
Scalability: Supports growing network demands without compromising performance.
Increased Productivity: Provides tools that enable IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives.

NetBrain is implemented across industries such as healthcare, finance, and telecommunications, where dependable network performance is crucial. In healthcare, it ensures uninterrupted network service for critical applications. In finance, it bolsters security and operational efficiency. Telecommunications firms use NetBrain to handle large-scale networks, reducing the risk of outages and improving customer service.

Sample Customers

Banco de Guayaquil, Cox Communications, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Roper St. Francis, University of British Columbia

CompuCon, TD Ameritrade, Move Inc.

Network Monitoring Software