Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs NetBrain 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...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (13th)
NetBrain
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Network Troubleshooting (16th), Network Automation (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) is designed for Network Monitoring Software and holds a mindshare of 0.7%, up 0.5% compared to last year.
NetBrain, on the other hand, focuses on Network Troubleshooting, holds 3.0% mindshare, up 2.1% since last year.
Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)0.7%
Zabbix6.9%
SolarWinds NPM3.4%
Other89.0%
Network Monitoring Software
Network Troubleshooting Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
NetBrain3.0%
Wireshark12.7%
LinkRunner10.1%
Other74.2%
Network Troubleshooting
 

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.
Deborah Gamelin - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President at Asset Track for Cloud, LLC
Good monitoring and troubleshoot capabilities, improves overall network traffic visibility
In my organization, we had 130,000 network devices that needed to be brought into the solution and mapped. NetBrain can handle the scale but the engineers that manage those devices have to go in and update all of them to allow NetBrain permission to poll them. It can get a little stressful for everybody when you're trying to roll out new stuff when you've got other issues that have to be addressed with other devices. In some cases, our devices had no automation at all. One example is the Cisco 3650. Right now, if you went through the inventory list, you see that we have different versions running. Some are on one version, whereas others are on another version. The problem with upgrading them is that they need to be done overnight because we don't want to disrupt any network traffic during business hours. Consequently, it could take us years to upgrade the versions before we can even get them onto these new tools. This may be an internal issue but it's a big one when you have a lot of devices. Even if you had 10,000 devices, it's still an issue. You have to consider the compatibility of the device against the tool, and being able to use certain commands to upgrade it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"VCNM provides a unique capability of managing the admin VDCs of Nexus boxes."
"I like that is easy to work on and straightforward."
"It uses push technology, which pushes the changes to all relevant devices to ensure they are updated accordingly."
"After installation, you almost forget that it is working."
"Fabric suite automation is a great feature."
"The product has excellent stability."
"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 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."
"Chain management is a good feature. I don't get it on other solutions."
"A reliable, time-saving tool for providing accurate layer 2 and layer 3 network mappings."
"This product has good network monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities."
"NetBrain is a very simple tool."
"Enables maps to be drawn out."
 

Cons

"It's very costly."
"I do not believe it integrated well with different infrastructures for hybrid environments."
"It would be nice to have the ability to more easily collect information from other software when doing some types of analysis."
"Sometimes the product gives us problems that require support."
"We need better performance and reliability."
"API lacks robustness."
"The configuration is too complicated and you have to create templates and use a lot of menus."
"In the next release, I would like to see it merged with Prime and I think that it should be more unified."
"Each device needs to be configured to allow NetBrain to poll for the information it needs, which can be very time-consuming for a large network."
"It would be nice if the setup was a little simpler. Also, if the solution could provide more training materials for new people coming into our company so they can quickly learn how to use the functionalities."
"Support needs to improve for the installed product and some of the reporting could be more flexible to provide more complete cataloging."
"The IP interface brief isn't consistent."
"The solution could integrate more automation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"On average, Data Center Network Manager's pricing isn't too costly unless you choose a premier license."
"When we purchase a Nexus box, the MDS CM license comes with it."
"I would say that the pricing offers great value for the money."
"The solution is very expensive."
"The product is licensed with contracts that work on a yearly basis rather than a monthly model."
"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."
"The price of Cisco Data Center Network Manager is expensive compared to other vendors on the market."
"The product is expensive, but less expensive than some of the competition and worth the price."
"Licensing is based on a per-device basis, which means that it can get very expensive if you have a large number of devices."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Monitoring Software solutions are best for your needs.
879,927 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
 

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...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

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
CompuCon, TD Ameritrade, Move Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. NetBrain and other solutions. Updated: May 2020.
879,927 professionals have used our research since 2012.