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Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs NetXMS 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
22nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetXMS
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
78th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) is 0.6%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetXMS is 0.3%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)0.6%
NetXMS0.3%
Other99.1%
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.
UK
AGM Cybersecurity at Microscan Computers Private Limited
Offers custom monitoring functionality, user-friendly interface, custom maps feature and open source
Based on my experience, there should be options for using the latest communication methods, like social media integration. Telegram is already integrated, but SMS and other alert options would be beneficial. So, integrating social media notifications into NetXMS would be a good thing. As a large company, we integrate different systems together. We'd like to see some improved functionalities for enhanced integration. For example, our incident management system isn't currently integrated with NetXMS. Ideally, we'd like the alerts generated in the monitoring system to automatically create tickets in our ticketing system, similar to how some other systems function. NetXMS doesn't offer this functionality itself because they are not an incident management or ticketing system vendor. They allow integration with other vendors, but our ticketing system isn't currently supported. So they recommend using it with any other application of our choice.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Automation of the ILS."
"Fabric suite automation is a great feature."
"The most valuable features of Cisco Data Center Network Manager are consistency and the core server. The teams have had a good experience."
"For our purposes, excellent stability is the most valuable feature because we provide services for clients who need a dependable solution."
"It uses push technology, which pushes the changes to all relevant devices to ensure they are updated accordingly."
"Stability is not an issue."
"After installation, you almost forget that it is working."
"It has a very nice dashboard so you can see what's currently happening in the network and the performance of the back story."
"We have a large network spanning over 1000 kilometers. NetXMS provides visibility and sends alerts. Typically, most monitoring systems monitor every 60 seconds, but NetXMS allows us to adjust this. For critical links, we can set it to check every second. For our high-priority financial customers, we monitor every second. So, every three seconds, we receive another email and a Telegram alert. This helps us meet our SLAs (Service Level Agreements) with our high-priority customers."
 

Cons

"The visibility of applications is not great, which is why we study upscalability."
"If the customer thinks about using additional solutions, Cisco should make sure they are not left out."
"We need better performance and reliability."
"The reporting is not very intuitive and has room for improvement."
"Could integrate better with VMware products."
"It would be nice to have the ability to more easily collect information from other software when doing some types of analysis."
"The technical support is a gap for us as a company."
"I do not believe it integrated well with different infrastructures for hybrid environments."
"Based on my experience, there should be options for using the latest communication methods, like social media integration. Telegram is already integrated, but SMS and other alert options would be beneficial. So, integrating social media notifications into NetXMS would be a good thing."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 product is licensed with contracts that work on a yearly basis rather than a monthly model."
"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."
"On average, Data Center Network Manager's pricing isn't too costly unless you choose a premier license."
"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 solution is very expensive."
"Since it's open-source, there are obviously no licensing fees. There are additional operational costs, like the cost of hosting it somewhere."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
8%
 

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 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 primary use case for Cisco Data Center Network Manager?
The main use case for URL filtering with PAN-DB is that it performs quite well. Earlier, when I started in 2012, there was a Blue Coat product available during that period. I am not certain whether...
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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
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