IBM Tivoli NetCool vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager comparison

"Anything is possible with Tivoli. It's quite a robust system."

"Support is one of the best aspects of this solution. NetCool is a good product that has good flexibility. There are a lot of documents available online which is one of the best features of IBM Tivoli Suite. Whenever an issue happens, rather than going to technical support, if you find the exact issue in Google, you can get tech notes for that particular issue."

"The feature I have found most valuable with NetCool is how it collaborates all the alarms, and then it does a predictive analysis, providing a consolidated alarm view and management."

"It's very easy to use."

"Tivoli NetCool allows us to grasp a lot of data that can be applied toward predictive analytics and auto-remediation."

"It's very easy to use."

"The solution has very good integration capabilities."

"The tool is much easier to manage than running scripts and figuring out how many endpoints have been exceeded."

"The scanning features have proven to be highly valuable, particularly due to the comprehensive information they provide."

"The configuration compliance aspect of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager allows for easy comparison of configuration settings across branches, ensuring adherence to security guidelines and best practices. Automation capabilities have greatly impacted workflows, enabling tasks such as configuration backups, template deployment, and firmware upgrades to be automated, thereby streamlining processes and saving time. Compliance reporting features provide valuable insights into network compliance, offering pre-built security audit reports and customizable options to meet specific requirements."

"The installation is straightforward."

"It is pretty straightforward to set up."

"The features we find most valuable is the configuration backup automation, the configuration compliance, the security vulnerability detection and upgrading devices."

"The most valuable Real-time fault detection is beneficial as it enables the identification of changes made to a device's configuration through the SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. This makes it easy to pinpoint which configurations were added or removed, potentially causing network issues. Such changes are saved in logs for future reference."

"We push all our configurations to the servers with ease and the logs capture almost all the transactions needed for an internal audit."

"NCM also helps with vulnerability assessment and remediation."

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"The solution is not user-friendly."

"The solution does not have any AI capabilities."

"In terms of improvement, I would like to see more AIOps, Artificial Intelligent Operations in the next release. IBM develops new features for Power BI or Cognos Analytics, which is good. As of now, we use Cognos Analytics, we are not using Power BI. They have the Insight concept but we don't like that."

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"Tivoli NetCool's has medium scalability - there are some problems with its replications not being mature."

"UI is outdated, very old legacy."

"Tivoli NetCool is based on a Linux platform, it would be beneficial if they moved it to Windows because not everyone is acquainted with Linux."

"The network logs could be improved. When the error logs come across with those false positive alarms in the error logs."

"The network flow is a problem for this solution."

"For each device, when you open the network performance monitor, it will give you all of the information about the device, but many of the natural configuration management features are not on that page."

"The Network Configuration Manager needs to improve the access control list compliance."

"The third-party plugins available in the solution could improve. I have received some issues with the templates."

"Releasing a product compatible with operating systems other than Windows would be advantageous."

"Our experience has shown that most of the problems we've had with SolarWinds NCM are related to software issues."

"Its look and feel can be improved. They can also put in more effort into building the THWACK community and use the information about various customer issues and requests to build the new releases."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"The price of the product is too expensive."

"Customers are required to pay a licensing fee."

"It costs around 100k for every ten servers, which is lower than similar products from other vendors."

"You have a base license for 50 devices, and then you can add more licenses as you go."

"In Africa, the cost is a major factor in decision-making for many companies. As a result, some companies may choose cheaper solutions, even if they are open-source, over more expensive ones, such as SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. However, as an engineer, I believe that the functionalities and services offered by SolarWinds justify the cost. Nonetheless, many companies in Africa may still view the prices as unaffordable."

"The pricing is good."

"Additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee are inevitable."

"We have to pay additionally for its support and maintenance."

"Available at a moderate price"

"I have a yearly subscription."

"There is a license for the use of this solution and it is priced well, there is a lot of value for the money."