IBM Tivoli NetCool vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager comparison

"The scalability of monitoring, the breadth of supported network components, the scale of the number of monitoring events, and the flexibility in customization make this a well-rounded product."

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

"The scalability of monitoring, the breadth of supported network components, the scale of the number of monitoring events, and the flexibility in customization make this a well-rounded product."

"The Netcool solution is great, and 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."

"The solution has very good integration capabilities."

"NetCool has a huge database that can collect and process about one million alarms a day."

"The solution is a complete package; it has various useful elements including inventory management and incident management packaged inside it, and anything is possible with Tivoli since it is quite a robust system that offers a lot of useful integration capabilities."

"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."

"I use it for monitoring the entire network for the company. We oversee nodes down, we oversee devices heading up to crossing the threshold for CPU usage. We oversee power so power backups on the switches, we oversee if they're down or if they're failing. We oversee any node down or any router from any vendor."

"The most valuable features the solution offers are compliance, reliability, and information about reliability."

"We can proactively monitor our infrastructure in a single pane of glass, unlike before when there were a lot of network management tools that would need to be looked at."

"SolarWinds NCM provides updates on the status of your network infrastructure. If any issues arise, such as a link failure or a device going offline, you will receive notifications and alerts. Additionally, if someone unplugs a cable, SolarWinds NCM will detect it. It also features a Topology Mapper that displays the connectivity of your network devices, giving you a visual representation of the network's structure. With SolarWinds NCM, you have a clear understanding of what's happening within your network and can generate comprehensive reports."

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

"It's a helpful tool and I really like it."

"It allows us to manage backups in big companies. It is also useful in managing the configuration changes."

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

"The solution is too expensive."

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

"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."

"It was a bit expensive to purchase but the benefits outweigh all the cons by far."

"The solution is not user-friendly."

"IBM's technical support takes a long time to do root cause analysis, and we have to go through several levels of help before getting a solution."

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

"It would be great if they include a network service manager, network performance manager, or a privileged assessment in the next release."

"There is room for improvement in automation."

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

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

"When we run the SolarWinds NCM jobs at the cellular line, it runs in the morning. They're just not finishing. We're getting false processing."

"Improvements are needed in the automatic network mapping function."

"The interface of solar winds could be improved."

"Its customer service response could be faster."

"The price of the product is too expensive."

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

"Customers are required to pay a licensing fee."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"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."

"With a minimal bundle, we pay about $3000 a year in licensing costs. If you have multiple devices in your network, you must buy the bundle, which is 100% identical for your infrastructure. If you have 15 devices, you need 15 licenses, for example. That's one bundle. You don't pay for anything over and above that."

"There is a license needed to use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager."

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

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

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

"I have a yearly subscription."

"Pricing is reasonable and competitive."