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Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs HPE Aruba Networking UXI 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...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HPE Aruba Networking UXI
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
40th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
4.3
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Aruba Networking UXI is 0.9%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)0.7%
HPE Aruba Networking UXI0.9%
Other98.4%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

Jagdev Dhaliwal - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
BP
Deputy General Manager at Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd
Reliable network operations improved by seamless technology, though efficiency could benefit from reduced manual tasks
Aruba products have significantly improved our network reliability, as none of my teammates have logged a call to Aruba in the past year. The performance, elasticity, and efficiency of Aruba products have been exceptional. Extreme Ethernet fabric technology offers less administrative effort in extending VLANs due to its loop-free environment. We have been satisfied with this robust performance.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Data Center Network Manager is absolutely stable."
"We use the product to manage access points."
"Stability is not an issue."
"After installation, you almost forget that it is working."
"Fabric suite automation is a great feature."
"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 product has excellent stability."
"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."
"There was definitely an ROI with the use cases I have had; when you see that the network issues and trouble tickets that are opening start to decrease, that is where your ROI starts coming in regarding productivity."
"HPE Aruba Networking UXI's remote troubleshooting capabilities help me manage my distributed networks in a great way because we are not relying on user input and are relying on real facts from HPE Aruba Networking UXI devices that are placed end-of-line on all our factories."
"The performance, elasticity, and efficiency of Aruba products have been exceptional."
"The most valuable feature of HP Aruba Networking UX-I is its 24/7 monitoring capability."
"Aruba products have significantly improved our network reliability, as none of my teammates have logged a call to Aruba in the past year."
"The integration of HPE Aruba Networking UXI with other security and networking tools is quite robust, allowing us to collect information from firewalls, routers, access points, and more, and present it through Grafana to proactively address issues before clients open support tickets."
 

Cons

"It's a relatively expensive product for some clients."
"The reporting is not very intuitive and has room for improvement."
"Could integrate better with VMware products."
"It is not very easy to monitor or to browse."
"I do not believe it integrated well with different infrastructures for hybrid environments."
"It's very costly."
"The automation feature could be improved."
"Sometimes the product gives us problems that require support."
"Some manual administrative tasks still need to be triggered manually, leading to lower efficiency."
"Some manual administrative tasks still need to be triggered manually, leading to lower efficiency."
"It would be beneficial if the tool offered a less expensive subscription as it is currently costly for our clients."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is licensed with contracts that work on a yearly basis rather than a monthly model."
"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."
"The solution is very expensive."
"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."
"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."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Insurance Company
35%
Healthcare Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise16
No data available
 

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?
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Aruba Networking UXI?
With the pricing and setup cost and licensing for the HPE Aruba Networking UXI, it depends and varies. Many people use these for a short-term solution just to gather their information. Many leverag...
What needs improvement with HPE Aruba Networking UXI?
They could improve their services. The AI-driven insights of the HPE Aruba UXI for optimizing network operations are pretty comprehensive. There is still room for improvement in that sense, but it ...
What is your primary use case for HPE Aruba Networking UXI?
I have used the HPE Aruba Networking UXI more in complex types of environments, mainly in enterprise environments. I have used them extensively in healthcare industry where certain areas within hos...
 

Also Known As

Cisco Data Center Network Manager
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Banco de Guayaquil, Cox Communications, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Roper St. Francis, University of British Columbia
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. HPE Aruba Networking UXI and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.