Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs DX Unified Infrastructure Management comparison

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. DX Unified Infrastructure Management

Download the complete report

Helped 861,803 peers since 2012

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...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

16th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

DX Unified Infrastructure M...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

75th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

120

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (23rd), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (54th), Cloud Monitoring Software (40th), AIOps (25th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of DX Unified Infrastructure Management is 0.5%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Upul Abhayasena

Manager - Technology at a engineering company with 10,001+ employees

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…

Read full review

Mark Tukh

Principal Presale Consultant at Ness Technologies

Great scalability, versatility, infrastructure coverage and ease of implementation

I rate the initial setup an eight out of ten. The number of people needed for deployment depends on the customer, but we usually need at least one person and two to three at other times. The initial implementation takes about two months. The full implementation can be infinite because you may want to implement more. The product does not require a lot of maintenance. To increase the implementation, we push additional services in the first and second years to make it more robust and fully implemented. We usually sell to big enterprises. It can also be affordable for smaller enterprises, but we don't work with them a lot. We have from 2,000 to 10,000 workers. So the product itself can have five, ten or even 20 users.

Read full review

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."

"It uses push technology, which pushes the changes to all relevant devices to ensure they are updated accordingly."

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

"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."

"You can integrate all the networks into the software."

"Stability is not an issue."

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

"Monitoring system provides a clear indication of what's going on in the network."

More Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) pros

"It delivers our customers many metrics, so they may make decisions"

"Easy admin functionality. You can quickly do all the admin functionality without reducing cycles."

"Latest version of tool comes integrated with Jaspersoft reporting solution, giving excellent reports."

"This solution allows us to have an overview of the infrastructure and identify areas where the performance isn't optimal, or where upgrades could be carried out."

"I definitely appreciate the flexibility and ease of use. We've been using UIM for almost three years now. It's pretty much point and click, very easy to use. And we've had no problems scaling it to our own environment."

"What I like about DX Unified Infrastructure Management is that it's a very good product. The feature I found most valuable in the solution is the MCS feature, which is the automatic deployment of the objects you want to monitor. You can set up a system, for example, if it's a Windows machine and I want to test specific devices on it, I could do that through DX Unified Infrastructure Management. That type of deployment is very good because it means you won't miss any monitoring aspect on any server."

"DX Unified Infrastructure Management offers visibility into network activities, integration capacity, and enhances monitoring at the core and application levels."

"I would recommend DX Unified Infrastructure Management to others as it is a good and reliable solution."

More DX Unified Infrastructure Management pros

Cons

"The reporting is not very intuitive and has room for improvement."

"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."

"It's very costly."

"Automation for the RMA process can be added."

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

"The configuration is too complicated and you have to create templates and use a lot of menus."

"API lacks robustness."

"The solution needs to improve reports."

More Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) cons

"We have experienced challenges with finding a mechanism to deploy the agents, but it's only on the first deployment so it's not a big issue."

"I'm very happy with DX Unified Infrastructure Management, but what could be improved is its user interface because currently, it has many wide spaces. All the information you need is in DX Unified Infrastructure Management, and it's a reliable tool, and though that's more important than the gaps in the user interface being smaller or wider, those gaps still need some improvement. I know the team is working on it. My company had some backend problems with DX Unified Infrastructure Management in the past that have now been solved. The setup for the tool also needs improvement because it's complex. Another room for improvement in DX Unified Infrastructure Management is its technical support because it's sometimes not as knowledgeable or responsive. What I'm suggesting to be added to the tool is an open-standard ELK Elastic-based database where you can put in all data, so that you can use the data in other systems as well."

"Making a GUI with criteria such as selection by robot/hub/probe etc."

"Currently lacks a mobile application which would be helpful."

"How we can get more native information from CA's solutions."

"I would like to see auditability. We've built our own audit functionality to ensure that every CI has the desired model configuration applied to it. And we run that on a daily basis. If that became part of the product, I think it might be a little bit less intensive in terms of resource, because we're doing it with scripts."

"We would like to see automatic network topology."

"It would be good to implement views showing the aggregated status graphically."

More DX Unified Infrastructure Management cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would say that the pricing offers great value for the money."

"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 price of Cisco Data Center Network Manager is expensive compared to other vendors on the market."

"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."

"When we purchase a Nexus box, the MDS CM license comes with it."

"The solution is very expensive."

"On average, Data Center Network Manager's pricing isn't too costly unless you choose a premier license."

"The product is licensed with contracts that work on a yearly basis rather than a monthly model."

"This product is expensive compared to other vendors (SolarWinds, ManageEngine)."

"Reasonable setup cost and licensing prices."

"CAD $400,000 annually."

"Pricing for DX Unified Infrastructure Management isn't cheap at all. It's a complex tool, so you have to pay more. No one is happy with a large bill to pay, but if it's a complex product and you designed a complex solution to be monitored, it'll be your fault that you need to buy an expensive product, and that would be implicit in the design of DX Unified Infrastructure Management. Monitoring is just a small part of it. Sometimes you have to pay a significant amount of money for a complex yet very good solution."

"The license cost depends on the number of probes and robots."

"The product-price ratio is better than other brands such as Fortinet or SonicWall."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Monitoring Software solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

861,803 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

12%

Financial Services Firm

Real Estate/Law Firm

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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 is your primary use case for DX Infrastructure Manager?

We are an integrating company that offers DX Unified Infrastructure Management to customers. We help them set it up, do the integration, and provide support. Our end customers include financial ins...

What advice do you have for others considering DX Infrastructure Manager?

I would recommend DX Unified Infrastructure Management to others as it is a good and reliable solution. I would rate it nine out of ten due to its robust functionality and capability to support inf...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for DX Infrastructure Manager?

The pricing of DX Unified Infrastructure Management is high and often a concern for customers. The cost is higher compared to other Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), which is feedback we hav...

Cisco DNA Center vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Comparisons

Compared 61% of the time

Zabbix vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Compared 15% of the time

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

Compared 14% of the time

Icinga vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Compared 10% of the time

More Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) Competitors

Zabbix vs DX Unified Infrastructure Management

Compared 15% of the time

Datadog vs DX Unified Infrastructure Management

Compared 14% of the time

Dynatrace vs DX Unified Infrastructure Management

Compared 12% of the time

Ixia Hawkeye vs DX Unified Infrastructure Management

Compared 12% of the time

Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs DX Unified Infrastructure Management

Compared 10% of the time

More DX Unified Infrastructure Management 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

DX Unified Infrastructure Management

Download DX Unified Infrastructure Management product report

DX Unified Infrastructure Management report

Also Known As

Cisco Data Center Network Manager

DX Infrastructure Manager, DX Infrastructure Manager for Z Systems and CA UIM for zSystems, CA UIM (DX Infrastructure Manager), CA Nimsoft Monitor, CA UIM, DX Infrastructure Manager

Overview

The Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC) offers a comprehensive solution for managing Cisco NX-OS switches in hybrid-cloud environments, providing automation, visibility, and consistent operations. Designed to simplify and enhance data center management, NDFC integrates with Cisco Nexus Dashboard to streamline network connectivity, reduce deployment times, and ensure seamless transitions with minimal disruptions. Its modular architecture, new user interface, and support for non-Nexus OS platforms make it a robust tool for LAN, SAN, and IP Fabric for Media management. Additionally, NDFC enhances fabric reliability, automates workflows, and supports cloud connectivity with AWS and Microsoft Azure, making it ideal for businesses adapting to increasingly complex digital environments.

Cisco

DX Unified Infrastructure Management is the only solution that provides an open architecture, full-stack observability and zero-touch configuration for monitoring traditional data center, public cloud, and hybrid infrastructure environments.

Designed to ensure an optimal end-user experience, this solution provides a modern HTML5 operations console that makes it easy and fast for today’s IT teams to implement, use, and scale – leading to faster time to value.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

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

CBNCloud, IIJ Global Singapore, AT&S, AXSOS, Aozora Bank, HCL Technologies, IntelliNet, Securex

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. DX Unified Infrastructure Management