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Cisco DNA Center vs OpenText Network Node Manager comparison

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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

Cisco DNA Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (36th), Network Automation (3rd)
OpenText Network Node Manager
Ranking in Network Management Applications
5th
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 November 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 7.2%, down from 19.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Network Node Manager is 5.4%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco DNA Center7.2%
OpenText Network Node Manager5.4%
Other87.4%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Mahir Öztürk - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at NGN Bilgi ve İletişim Hizmetleri
Client history has helped resolve past network issues more efficiently
I mostly use the client history feature of Cisco DNA Center. I didn't use the real-time monitoring capability of Cisco DNA Center because I primarily used it for client history regarding issues and problems. I don't use it for real-time monitoring. If there is a problem, I can inspect the situation and see what is happening, which is beneficial.
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

"People like to use the dashboards to get an overview of their network."
"I think that their LAN automation is a very good feature."
"Cisco DNA Center is easier to use than Fortinet FortiManager."
"It gives us automation capabilities for pushing out a configuration to branch networks, and it also provides visibility into the health of user network devices."
"The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated"
"What I found valuable in Cisco DNA Center is the Software-Defined Access Network, so the entire LAN network can be centralized and managed from a single dashboard. Cisco DNA Center is suitable for centralized management and lets you deploy switches in a centralized fashion. You can also do multiple switch port configurations simultaneously and segregate your traffic into multiple fabrics. Another valuable feature of Cisco DNA Center is enhanced security through Scalable Group Tags. Cisco DNA Center can be integrated with your Cisco ISE to enhance the port securities, and this paves the way for Software-Defined Networking in the LAN segment, which is the main advantage of Cisco DNA Center. I also like that you can use Cisco DNA Center for data assurance or correlation. The solution shows your network and client health parameters, which I find convenient for troubleshooting."
"In terms of software-defined networking, I think it's an outstanding product."
"It does a lot of things automatically, and that's the big thing with it. They're making the software so that you don't need to be as knowledgeable as me on the switching and routing side to get your work done. If you want, you can have DNA troubleshoot your problem for you and give you solutions or fix it itself, if it was something that's just a configuration issue."
"Because of the topological network mapping, our management can quickly take action when there's a network problem."
"The best feature is the solution's entire credibility with all vendors."
"Real time network monitoring application: It is very stable, which provides quick root cause analysis (RCA) for any network faults."
"If you install one node on Network Node Manager and want to scale it up, it's pretty easy to create more nodes."
"It provides very good scalability from 200 nodes to 30,000 nodes and from 2,500 interfaces to 60,000 interfaces."
"It's quite a mature solution."
"You can utilize the main file from various vendors for integration."
"I would recommend the solution to others due to the fact that it's quite stable and mature."
 

Cons

"In terms of the clustering part, there are some concerns."
"The solution's technical support is an area with which my company's clients have a problem. Cisco doesn't provide good technical support unless a user has a big account that Cisco wants to retain."
"In my opinion, the client history in Cisco DNA Center can be longer than 10 days, perhaps extending to 15 or 20 days."
"They can improve the network visibility. Licensing and its maintenance are also needed."
"The task failure reporting or provisioning failure reporting could be a little bit better in the UI, with more information given to the user."
"The cost is very high."
"DNA Center has been on the market for a few years and they need to update it."
"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."
"The way the solution currently works means I'm not able to customize my own reports."
"We have not had a good experience with technical support from OpenText. Many cases take a month to be resolved."
"The main issue with OpenText Network Node Manager is not its scalability but its network topology capability limitations, while installation and deployment types are supported across various platforms."
"Right now, we have open tickets and they are not closing as expected."
"Sometimes technical support is not so amazing. We need to wait a long time to get a solution for a ticket."
"We had some issues with some of the features, some modules are not meeting expectations."
"The technical documentation takes experience and much reading to master."
"The solution should integrate with NAC servers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"We get a yearly license at the time we buy the product."
"Affordability is a problem because it's created for large enterprises only. So, some customers, even if their engineers want the solution, might have problems with budget limitations."
"The product is very costly."
"I do know that Cisco does offer some really good promotions for DNA Center to bring the costs down."
"It is an expensive solution."
"The tool's licensing may not come across as something that may be friendly for users."
"The solution is expensive."
"It is more inexpensive than other products in the market."
"It's an expensive solution."
"The solution is priced mid-range compared to the competition."
"I wasn't involved in the pricing, but I think it's quite expensive."
"The solution is quite expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Outsourcing Company
17%
Construction Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

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?
The deployment of Cisco DNA Center was complex due to the fact that on the data center side, we have a Juniper infrastructure, which created some complexity, though not significant. The deployment ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco DNA Center?
In my organization, we currently have some Cisco devices such as access switches, and we also have infrastructure, but that is not part of our responsibility. We do not manage that infrastructure. ...
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

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: November 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.