SolarWinds NPM Reviews

Name: SolarWinds NPM
Brand: SolarWinds
Rating: 4 (39 reviews)

4.1 out of 5

39 reviews

4,691 followers

What is SolarWinds NPM?UNIXBusinessApplication
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SolarWinds NPM is a network monitoring solution that enables you to detect, diagnose, and resolve network performance issues and outages quickly and efficiently. The solution is a powerful tool that can help you increase service levels, reduce downtime with multi vendor network monitoring, simplify the management of complex network devices, improve operational efficiency, and much more.

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Featured reviews

Angela Bustamante

Monitoring and Process Analyst at Seguros SURA

Apr 28, 2022

There are some areas for improvement in SolarWinds NPM. One is that their dashboard needs to be friendlier. We want them to take their dashboard to another level. For example: with our databases, we develop services and we want to put those on the dashboard, while making them more visual. This would be good to improve in the tool. The integration of SolarWinds NPM with other tools is also another area for improvement. For example, we'd like to have the ability to manage the unit with other tools, because we need to have better control to manage the alerts. How can you load that capacity with only that kind of information? We also had to be attentive to vulnerabilities, because SolarWinds NPM have some issues in that area. We had to work with our security team, so that they could help us check and backup the data, and check what they needed to secure. You have to do a test, find what needs to be improved, then make the corrections on SolarWinds NPM. You have to be very attentive when using the tool, but it's an area to improve not just in SolarWinds NPM, but for any tool.

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ChrisPalmer

IT Infrastructure Analyst at Textron Systems Corporation

Jun 24, 2022

So far, it's been pretty good, however, due to the whole solar flare thing that happened two years ago, a lot of cybersecurity and leadership's kind of looking to replace it with something else. We're currently just trying to find other info or anybody else who's comparable in terms of other network monitoring solutions. Wireless monitoring needs improvement. We need to get a little bit more information from the thin clients or wireless LAN controllers than we already do. It's very minimal at this point and getting more information would be pretty vital. There should be a little bit more integration in some of the other tooling and utilizing the APIs of devices or tools could be a little bit better. It would help to present information - rather than trying to get the highest level of administrative access to present minimal information. There are a lot of aspects where they give you base information, however, for other necessary gleams of information, you may need to have high-low. For instance, for Linux servers, you need to have pseudo access to get the necessary information to monitor and that's kind of a hassle.

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reviewer1271415

Senior Technical Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

Jul 5, 2022

If we go for the NT license, then we have to purchase the NPM, Network Performance Monitor. That is a dependency. In all of the SolarWinds products now, there are only these products. For example, Net Traffic Analyzer is a product. If we go for the licensing, then we have to purchase a Network Performance Monitor. There's dependency there. If they could combine everything into one product, that would be very helpful. The NT is the enhanced version of the NPM. They have not put a license on the different monitors of the NT. However, they have to include in the same manner in the NPM itself. For NetPath services, right now, we have to manually install the events in the nodes. If there was something from the console side, we could post the event to the nodes. If there was automation, that would be helpful. Already there's automation for other types of things or in other features, like for communication of the nodes. However, for the NetPath feature, if we could automatically move the event from the console side to the application side, that would be a great feature.

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Pricing

The pricing for SolarWinds NPM varies, although it is considered reasonable and affordable. Some reviewers mentioned that the pricing is decent and reasonable compared to other tools in the market. However, there were also mentions of the licensing costs being high and somewhat costly.

ROI

The users have found that SolarWinds NPM has provided a good return on investment. The solution has been helpful in maintaining a healthy environment and being proactive in network management.

Primary Use Case

SolarWinds NPM is used for monitoring network devices, servers, and applications in various industries such as banking, mining, and corporate IT infrastructure management. It is utilized for network health, bandwidth utilization, uptime monitoring, and performance analysis.

The solution is suitable for mid-sized or enterprise-scale companies, but can also be used by small businesses due to its affordability. SolarWinds NPM is deployed on-premises in certain industries, particularly for security reasons. It provides real-time notifications, easy-to-use dashboards, and comprehensive reporting features.

Valuable Features

The most valuable features of SolarWinds NPM, according to the reviews, include the ability to quickly identify downtime and monitor devices on a map, the user-friendly interface, the customized application monitoring and script customization, the network and server application monitoring features, the ability to customize views and dashboards, the application health monitoring system, the ability to access data via the API, the network search and diagnostic tools, the fast dashboard and user-friendly interface, and the reporting capabilities.

Users like the NetPath feature for visualizing network performance, the alerting system, the ability to receive detailed data for troubleshooting, the performance monitoring for memory and CPU utilization, the tracking feature for devices, the strong tool for monitoring network devices, switches, and routers, the easy-to-use nature of the solution, the reporting tools and ability to create customized reports, the efficient support team, the scalability, the language support and technical support.

They also appreciated the way it monitors the environment and the user-friendly console, the ability to put systems in maintenance mode and obtain disk space statistics, the monitoring capabilities, the stability and functionality of the tool, the collection and investigation of net flow information, the customizability and ease of deployment, and the capability to tune alarms.

Room for Improvement

Improvements that can be made to SolarWinds NPM based on the reviews include better integration with video apps, lower pricing, coverage of endpoint monitoring, and improved security for ADR.

Users also expressed a need for more automation, clearer problem identification, a longer data retention period, a more mature database, and enhanced customization options for groups.

Other areas for improvement include better correlation and combination of KPIs in reports, thorough testing of patches before release, expanded support for a broader range of devices including firewalls and software-defined network platforms, increased capacity for polling engines, integration with additional SDN technologies, longer evaluation time for large corporations, improved test capabilities, enhanced dashboards for clearer network view, improved IPAM component, better integration with APIs and web servers, deeper inspection and performance networking capabilities, and more frequent time monitoring.

Initial Setup

The initial setup for SolarWinds NPM varied in complexity and duration. Some users found it straightforward and easy, with one person able to handle it in a relatively short amount of time.

Others mentioned that it required specific knowledge and experience with network monitoring systems.

In some cases, a third party was involved in the setup process. The deployment time ranged from a few hours to a couple of weeks, depending on the size and complexity of the network. The setup involved tasks such as setting up databases, ensuring proper security access, and manually adding devices.

Scalability

SolarWinds NPM is highly scalable. Multiple users mentioned that they have plans to increase usage, and there is room to add additional servers to accommodate thousands or even tens of thousands of nodes. Users mentioned that the solution is easy to scale and can be expanded quickly to include new equipment or buildings. However, there were a few mentions of limitations or bottlenecks on certain features, such as the scale of NetFlow or the use of the Microsoft SQL database.

Customer Service and Support

Many reviewers have rated the support as good, excellent, or very good. They appreciate the responsiveness of the support team and the fact that they can reach a live person when they need assistance. Some reviewers have mentioned that the support team is knowledgeable and helpful in resolving their concerns.

However, there are a few reviewers who have had mixed experiences. Some have mentioned delays in support due to time differences or issues with the quality of support depending on who picks up the phone. There have also been cases where support was not as attentive to evaluation version users.

Stability

Users have consistently praised the stability of SolarWinds NPM. It is described as very stable, reliable, and not prone to crashing or freezing. There are no reported bugs or glitches, and it has been used extensively for many years without major outages. There was a notable hack incident in the past, however, the solution has since been stabilized.

Pricing

ROI

The users have found that SolarWinds NPM has provided a good return on investment. The solution has been helpful in maintaining a healthy environment and being proactive in network management.

Primary Use Case

Valuable Features

Room for Improvement

Improvements that can be made to SolarWinds NPM based on the reviews include better integration with video apps, lower pricing, coverage of endpoint monitoring, and improved security for ADR.

Users also expressed a need for more automation, clearer problem identification, a longer data retention period, a more mature database, and enhanced customization options for groups.

Initial Setup

The initial setup for SolarWinds NPM varied in complexity and duration. Some users found it straightforward and easy, with one person able to handle it in a relatively short amount of time.

Others mentioned that it required specific knowledge and experience with network monitoring systems.

Scalability

Customer Service and Support

Stability

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our SolarWinds NPM Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Learn more about SolarWinds NPM

SolarWinds NPM Features

SolarWinds NPM has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Increased scalability
Fault, performance, and availability monitoring
Dynamic network discovery and mapping
Cross-stack network data correlation
Customizable topology
Dependency-aware intelligent alerts
Intelligent maps
Automated capacity forecasting, alerting, and reporting
Logical and physical network monitoring
Monitor Azure vNet gateway visibility

SolarWinds NPM Benefits

There are several benefits to implementing SolarWinds NPM. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Comprehensive monitoring for advanced network devices: With SolarWinds NPM, you can gain insight into the health and performance of your load balancers, Cisco ASA and Palo Alto Networks, firewalls, and Cisco Nexus switches.

Hardware health monitoring: SolarWinds NPM makes it easy for you to monitor, alert, and report on key device metrics, including power supply, fan speed, and temperature.

Customizable performance and availability reports: With this feature, you can choose from more than 100 templates to schedule and also generate custom network performance reports.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by PeerSpot users currently using the SolarWinds NPM solution.

PeerSpot user Andrew N., Senior Network Engineer at Element Critical, says, “The "Performance Analyzer" feature is the solution's most valuable aspect. It's able to do the bounded graphs of all the interface stats, from errors to broadcasts and to current traffic. With a click of a button you're able to, in one interface, look at historical data for those items.” He also adds, “From the troubleshooting point of view, just having that peace of mind is great. And, The solution is extremely stable. We haven't had any issues in that regard. We haven't had issues with bugs, glitches, or crashes."

Daniel S., Systems and Data Warehouse Supervisor at MMSD, mentions, “The alerting and usage tracking is a valuable feature because it alerts us when we're getting near capacity on disk space, network utilization or processor utilization. It helps us manage our capacity and enables us to be proactive.”

A Senior Vice President and CIO at a financial services firm explains, “As we look to add more servers to our virtual environment and to understand the impact, the solution allows us to dig into the historical charts related to capacity planning. It also gives us visibility of spikes and allows us to track down the reasons for their occurrences. So too, it makes room for potential processes that have gotten hung or runaway and to know when it's time to reboot a server or service.”

Dinesh N., Digital Innovation at Bobcat Company, states, “The best part of the solution is the sharing display. It gives a general public ID wherein everyone can link to a public display. That's a good feature.”

Fazal A., Implementation & Support Specialist at 360Factors, comments, “We have configured multiple alerts for our network devices, including routers and switches, so that we are notified if any interface goes down. In the event an interface goes down, we have multiple reports that include availability monitoring, network uptime monitoring, and network downtime monitoring. These reports are on multiple schedules such as the end of the day, end of the last business day of the week, monthly, and quarterly. This gives us the ability to provide reports to our management and let them know the performance of our network.”

SolarWinds NPM was previously known as Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer.

SolarWinds NPM is the #3 ranked solution in best Network Monitoring Tools, #4 ranked solution in top Cloud Monitoring Software, and #5 ranked solution in Infrastructure Monitoring tools. PeerSpot users give SolarWinds NPM an average rating of 8.2 out of 10. SolarWinds NPM is most commonly compared to Zabbix: SolarWinds NPM vs Zabbix. SolarWinds NPM is popular among the midsize enterprise segment, accounting for 52% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a educational organization, accounting for 47% of all views.