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Cisco DNA Center vs OpenText Network Node Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 19, 2025

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 DNA Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (13th), Network Automation (2nd)
OpenText Network Node Manager
Ranking in Network Management Applications
15th
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 August 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 23.6%, down from 29.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Network Node Manager is 2.8%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmed  Helmy - PeerSpot reviewer
Experience unified visibility and monitoring for enterprise campus and significant time savings and enhanced troubleshooting with reliable support
We have been working with Cisco DNA Center for ten years. Our clients use Cisco DNA Center for unified visibility/monitoring across Enterprise Campus both LAN & WLAN along with Access and fast technical issues troubleshooting The solution provides fast troubleshooting capabilities and fast…
Ahmed-Salman - PeerSpot reviewer
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

"People like to use the dashboards to get an overview of their network."
"The most valuable features of the solution are all of its security features...It is a highly scalable solution."
"The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated"
"It is simple to manage and it is all done from a single dashboard."
"It enables monitoring of various components such as access points, switch cards, and other elements within the company's solutions."
"Cisco is a leading network company."
"The most valuable features were the monitoring, maintenance, and configuration."
"I think that their LAN automation is a very good feature."
"It is stable for fault and availability."
"You can utilize the main file from various vendors for integration."
"Overall, the tool helps maintain the health of the network."
"Topology creation is the most valuable feature."
"It's quite a mature solution."
"Our monitoring and network teams of less than 100 people use this solution. The availability and fault monitoring are good."
"It gives us a good overview of what's happening in our networks and the devices in the networks."
"Real time network monitoring application: It is very stable, which provides quick root cause analysis (RCA) for any network faults."
 

Cons

"The solution’s security side could be improved."
"Cisco could improve the security side of their solutions."
"They can improve the network visibility. Licensing and its maintenance are also needed."
"The tool's IoT integration should be better."
"The tool's deployment is complex. It also needs to improve its GUI."
"I would like is to have a small information pointer available. It could be a plus feature that I want to implement. When I hover my mouse over the user interface, it should provide a brief explanation. It would be helpful to have it incorporated into the UI."
"There is a limitation with the number of VRFs that you can have in your network, and this has caused us problems with some customers."
"Requires more focus on the digital side of things."
"Reporting. Even though this is available in separate software (iSPI) there is potential in making the reporting more SLA-aware and more intuitive."
"The deployment architecture and installation part needs improvement."
"As the technologies evolve, also these solutions or the monitoring tools should evolve to cover the progress in technology, including capabilities related to monitoring of virtualized devices today, as the DNS is on the table in this way."
"Micro Focus Network Node Manager is not powered to drill down for traffic visibility."
"The way the solution currently works means I'm not able to customize my own reports."
"When I open a ticket, usually they respond very late. Some of the people I negotiate with seem undertrained."
"The dashboards are not customizable and it's not user-friendly."
"Micro Focus Network Node Manager is not the best when it comes to drilling down for more visibility, especially regarding traffic."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We get a yearly license at the time we buy the product."
"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"Cisco DNA Center is a licensed product with multiple levels of licensing available such as basic, advanced, and essential. I don't have the exact figure, but Cisco DNA Center is costly. For example, the box has information about the essential license and costs a considerable amount of money. You need to pay extra to use advanced features in Cisco DNA Center. My company sees Cisco DNA Center as a solution that's worth the money, which is why it invested in the solution. If you want centralized management for your network, especially when upgrading it, Cisco DNA Center is perfect, but it's more suitable for a large-scale rather than a small-scale network."
"Cisco DNA Center is too expensive."
"The licensing cost for Cisco DNA Center is not more than that of other solutions."
"The solution is a little bit expensive but depends a lot on the customer's usage. If you use it in the right place, you can easily pay for it."
"The price could be better. It's a very expensive tool."
"Cisco DNA Center is expensive."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"It's an expensive solution."
"I wasn't involved in the pricing, but I think it's quite expensive."
"It is more inexpensive than other products in the market."
"The solution is priced mid-range compared to the competition."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco DNA Center?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it gives some kind of ease in operations, especially since our company is moving from CLI to GUI-based configuration.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco DNA Center?
After evaluating other solutions, we will provide feedback.
What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?
We have utilized the software-defined access (SDA) feature of Cisco DNA Center. The AI-driven needs enhancements and Integration and unification of visibility and monitoring to include other areas ...
What needs improvement with Micro Focus Network Node Manager?
The interface is outdated and needs to be more dynamic and faster. It would be better if the product was a single module rather than requiring additional modules and licensing for APIs and extra fe...
What is your primary use case for Micro Focus Network Node Manager?
We use OpenText Network Node Manager i ( /products/opentext-network-node-manager-i-reviews ) primarily for network monitoring and diagnostics in our organization. We use this product for fault and ...
 

Also Known As

DNA Center
Micro Focus Network Node Manager, Network Node Manager, HPE Network Node Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
IPC, Exelon, VivaCom, 
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco DNA Center vs. OpenText Network Node Manager and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,140 professionals have used our research since 2012.