Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor comparison

Cisco and IDERA are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Cisco is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.1, while IDERA is ranked #97. Cisco holds a 0.7% mindshare in NMS, compared to IDERA’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of IDERA users who would recommend it.

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabri...

Read 26 Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) reviews

1,291 Views
1,239 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

IDERA Uptime Infrastructure...

Read 5 IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor reviews

670 Views
462 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabri...

IDERA Uptime Infrastructure...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller and IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor compete in the network management category. Cisco Nexus has the upper hand in support, while IDERA stands out with its extensive feature set.

Features: Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller provides advanced network automation, fabric management, and specialized security applications tailored for data centers. It excels in deep integration with Cisco hardware. IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor focuses on infrastructure visibility, performance monitoring, and real-time alerts and offers comprehensive solutions across various infrastructures.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Nexus could benefit from simplifying its complex implementation process and enhancing compatibility with non-Cisco systems. Its licensing structure could become more transparent. IDERA could improve by broadening its hardware integration, strengthening its support services, and enhancing performance analytics to match enterprise-level requirements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cisco Nexus requires complex deployment with particular compatibility needs, yet it is noted for exceptional customer support. IDERA emphasizes a straightforward setup with user-friendly experiences, though it may require additional resources to achieve optimal support effectiveness.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller has a higher setup cost, reflecting its enterprise-grade solutions, delivering significant ROI for infrastructures utilizing Cisco systems. IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor offers a more cost-effective setup with flexible solutions for diverse environments, providing steady ROI by reducing downtime and optimizing resource allocation.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor

December 2025

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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...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

13th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IDERA Uptime Infrastructure...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

97th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (70th)

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 IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor is 0.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)	0.7%
IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor	0.4%
Other	98.9%

Network Monitoring Software

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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Nafiu Garba

Special Assistant to the Governor ICT COO at a tech services company with 201-500 employees

It offers different licensing types that allow you to extend the services to clients; it lets you look into device performance and optimization and helps apply best practices

What I like best about IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor is that it offers different licensing types. Hence, it allows my organization to extend the services to clients and not just use the solution within the organization. My organization can leverage IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor to learn more about how clients perform because the solution lets you monitor and optimize devices and apply best practices.

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

"I don't have to rely on the on-site engineer who can do the configuration. I can have our team just plug the devices and perform remotely. I can also do the templates."

"The product makes the management of our environment simpler."

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

"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."

"It has a very nice dashboard so you can see what's currently happening in the network and the performance of the back story."

"I like that is easy to work on and straightforward."

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

"Data Center Network Manager is absolutely stable."

More Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) pros

"My organization can leverage IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor to learn more about how clients perform because the solution lets you monitor and optimize devices and apply best practices."

Cons

"More integration features would be beneficial."

"The tool should be more user-friendly and improve AI integration."

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

"It would be nice to have the ability to more easily collect information from other software when doing some types of analysis."

"It's a relatively expensive product for some clients."

"It's very costly."

"We need better performance and reliability."

"API lacks robustness."

More Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) cons

"What I want to improve in IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor is the community aspect, where IDERA would provide customers with updates on functionalities, what comes next, what IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor upgrades would be released, etc. I also want the sustainability of IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor to improve."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

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

"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."

"I'm based in Nigeria, and the conversion rate affects the pricing for IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor, but globally, pricing is reasonable. I'm rating pricing for the solution seven on a scale of one to ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

No data available

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 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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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Comparisons

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Compared 45% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

Zabbix vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Compared 14% of the time

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

Compared 12% of the time

Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

Compared 8% of the time

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SolarWinds NPM vs IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor

Compared 23% of the time

IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) vs IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor

Compared 21% of the time

Zabbix vs IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor

Compared 20% of the time

NetFortris LiveWatch vs IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor

Compared 20% of the time

TruView vs IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor

Compared 17% of the time

More IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)

January 2026

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) report

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

Buyer's Guide

Network Monitoring Software

January 2026

IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor report

Download IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor product report

Also Known As

Cisco Data Center Network Manager

IDERA UIM, uptime software up.time

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

Uptime Infrastructure Monitor helps IT administrators to unify performance monitoring and optimization of IT infrastructure. Unlike its competition, it provides monitoring of a broad range of platforms and applications, ability to set service-level agreements, and support of both agent and agentless monitoring.

IDERA

Sample Customers

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

TeleComputing; Manitoba Hydro; Blevins Inc.; City of Malmö

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. IDERA Uptime Infrastructure Monitor

December 2025

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