Senior Technical Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 5
Easy to set up with high availability and good technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "It supports high availability, which is very helpful."
  • "We'd like more customization capabilities."

What is most valuable?

The initial setup is very straightforward and simple. 

It can scale quite well. 

The File Integrity Monitoring is great. In FIM, if you want to know who has changed a file, when that file was changed, et cetera, you have that visibility. You can make the reports from the console directly. That is out of the box. The report is there for you to use. The customization for the reports and alerts is also very easy. It helps maintain compliance and security. You also can easily analyze the logs as needed. 

This is a stable product.

It supports high availability, which is very helpful. 

It captures all of the requirements clients tend to need. It has everything. 

What needs improvement?

We'd like more customization capabilities. We need to post events on the end of the devices. Sometimes, the event does not respond. There seems to be a compatibility issue at play. For the customized UX, if you post events, there are compatibility problems. The OEM needs to work on that part.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for six years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable and reliable. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

Buyer's Guide
SolarWinds Security Event Manager
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about SolarWinds Security Event Manager . Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scaling is easy. You just have to add VMs. 

How are customer service and support?

The support is good. Previously, the support was not good. However, they've improved it over the last two years.

2020 there was an attack on SolarWinds software. They had trouble then. Now, it is stable and the support is very, very good. They have expanded their offices all over the world. I am located in India. They have a branch here so we can deal with local people.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is very easy. Even if you are non-technical, it's not an issue to get everything up and running. 

You only need maybe two people to monitor and manage it once it is deployed. However, if the environment is quite large, you may need more. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

If a person prefers to pay for a subscription, the cloud deployment is the way to go. However, they can also choose to go on-premises and have a perpetual license. I can't speak to the exact costs, as I am on the technical side. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We compared the solution to QRadar.

What other advice do I have?

We are partners. 

This can be deployed both on the cloud and on-premises. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Communications and Networks Engineer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
A solution that offers easy operation and configuration with a straightforward setup
Pros and Cons
  • "We did previously use a different solution, but SolarWinds is much better. It's easy to interact with SolarWinds. It's easy to operate, easy to configure and is generally easier compared to what we were working with before."
  • "The solution's technical support is okay, but we don't have an SLA, and sometimes the response times are very slow."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for monitoring the network.

What is most valuable?

The NTA & NPM are the most valuable features of the solution.

The solution is very user-friendly.

What needs improvement?

We're currently looking for an application monitoring solution and maybe a DHCP management module. It would be ideal if the solution could add these in its next release.

The solution should offer better support and better SLAs.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution since 2005.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is fairly simple if you have the right licenses in place

How are customer service and technical support?

The solution's technical support is okay, but we don't have an SLA, and sometimes the response times are very slow.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did previously use a different solution, but SolarWinds is much better. It's easy to interact with SolarWinds. It's easy to operate, easy to configure and is generally easier compared to what we were working with before.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. The deployment took about two weeks. You only need two people for both deployment and maintenance.

What about the implementation team?

We handled the implementation ourselves in house.

What was our ROI?

It gives the business visibility as to what is down so that the turnaround time for fixes is much less.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We do a yearly license renewal.

What other advice do I have?

We are using the on-premises deployment solution.

It is a good solution to work with and it's very easy to use. I would only ensure that the organization that decides to implement the solution has the internal capability to manage it. If not, then I would ensure that direct support or an SLA is in place to help handle any issues or troubleshoot problems. 

I would rate the solution nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
SolarWinds Security Event Manager
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about SolarWinds Security Event Manager . Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
770,141 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Quality Control/ Clinical Research Associate at a pharma/biotech company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Stable, scalable, but third part implementation required
Pros and Cons
  • "SolarWinds Security Event Manager has been generally working well."
  • "The company had to use a third party for the implementation of the solution."

What is our primary use case?

SolarWinds Security Event Manager is used for retrieving events and suspicious activities.

We are only studying the solution.

What is most valuable?

SolarWinds Security Event Manager has been generally working well.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using SolarWinds Security Event Manager for a couple of months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

SolarWinds Security Event Manager is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of SolarWinds Security Event Manager is good.

We might increase our usage of the solution in the future.

How are customer service and support?

I have contacted the support from SolarWinds Security Event Manager and they are good.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment of the solution took a couple of weeks.

What about the implementation team?

The company had to use a third party for the implementation of the solution.

What was our ROI?

I have seen an ROI by using this solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of SolarWinds Security Event Manager is reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

We have more than one person who does the maintenance of the solution.

I rate SolarWinds Security Event Manager a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
ISO at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Provides in-depth monitoring capabilities and an easy way to set up dashboards
Pros and Cons
  • "It has in-depth monitoring capabilities and an easy way for setting up dashboards. I can expand in various areas, or I can reduce areas. It supports different types of breakdowns, filters, and rules. It is very simple for an out-of-the-box type of product. It doesn't take a lot of time to figure it out, which is unlike some of the solutions that I have looked at. It meets all the aspects."
  • "Under the new system, it is not upgradable the way they say. When you try to do an upgrade, it doesn't really work unless you dump everything and start from scratch. You lose a lot of your nodes. Whenever you set your nodes up and everything else, they don't want to bring those nodes back in, so you have to really go back and restructure all your nodes. I went from version 6.5 to version 6.6 and then to version 6.7. I then went to version 2019, and now it is version 2020. It would be good if we can upgrade without having to delete everything and start from scratch. They can maybe build more KPIs and other things for the dashboard. Some of the other systems already have built-in KPIs. SolarWinds is starting to catch up, but it is not there yet. They can include some of the business or industry standards for tracking the time, that is, the meantime to detect (MTTD) and the meantime to resolve (MTTR). They can also find a way to build a KPI that measures the number of instances of port scans experienced in a week or a month."

What is our primary use case?

I basically use it to look at the logs that are coming in, analyze those logs, and get recommendations of where we have problems.

What is most valuable?

It has in-depth monitoring capabilities and an easy way for setting up dashboards. I can expand in various areas, or I can reduce areas. It supports different types of breakdowns, filters, and rules. 

It is very simple for an out-of-the-box type of product. It doesn't take a lot of time to figure it out, which is unlike some of the solutions that I have looked at. It meets all the aspects.

What needs improvement?

Under the new system, it is not upgradable the way they say. When you try to do an upgrade, it doesn't really work unless you dump everything and start from scratch. You lose a lot of your nodes. Whenever you set your nodes up and everything else, they don't want to bring those nodes back in, so you have to really go back and restructure all your nodes. I went from version 6.5 to version 6.6 and then to version 6.7. I then went to version 2019, and now it is version 2020. It would be good if we can upgrade without having to delete everything and start from scratch.

They can maybe build more KPIs and other things for the dashboard. Some of the other systems already have built-in KPIs. SolarWinds is starting to catch up, but it is not there yet. They can include some of the business or industry standards for tracking the time, that is, the meantime to detect (MTTD) and the meantime to resolve (MTTR). They can also find a way to build a KPI that measures the number of instances of port scans experienced in a week or a month.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using SolarWinds LEM for a year and a half.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. Altogether, we have about five actual users. I got myself as the administrator, and then there are a couple of people who do the monitoring. I have got 2,000 systems listed on it.

In terms of a team, I would say you need at least three people for what I am doing. I am using the key research logs and pulling data from these logs. For one person, it takes a lot of time to do what I am doing right now.

How are customer service and technical support?

I am very satisfied with their technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I had another system, but I wasn't happy with it and its service and support. We just let it go.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. The actual initial installation is not a problem. The problems come when you do your upgrades with it.

It took about a week to set it up and get all little things going in the way I wanted to. To make sure that correct data logs are going in, I tweaked some of the rules and filters and the domain across the net with individual systems.

What about the implementation team?

We originally started out with the seller, but when we did the first upgrade, it didn't go the way it should. From that point, I set it up from scratch and did the upgrade. At that time, it was version 6.6.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It is in the appropriate mid-range. It is not as expensive as some of the other solutions. It is also not cheap.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend SolarWinds LEM. We plan to continue using it. We have already put in the Orion platform system and brought it into play. We are next looking at the server access management. That probably would be the next step to implement.

I would rate SolarWinds LEM a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Systems administrator at a healthcare company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Helps maintain logs of access and changes
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is the ease of use for the end user."
  • "It can be difficult for users who are inexperienced with the solution."

What is our primary use case?

We have a hyper requirement to maintain logs of access and changes, so this solution logs everything.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the ease of use for the end user. 

What needs improvement?

It can be difficult for users who are inexperienced with the solution. 

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

How is customer service and technical support?

It is managed by our tech support team that is in-house, so we do not need their tech support help. 

What other advice do I have?

My advice to users of this solution is to make sure that you know what it is you are looking for, and what it is you are trying to log. Otherwise, it will be difficult to manage.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user1137249 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Provides good visibility for login events
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of this solution is the visibility into both attempted and failed logins."
  • "I would like to be able to dig deeper into the visibility of events or incidents to determine whether they are malicious, such as by doing behavior analysis."

What is our primary use case?

I use this solution to examine our logs and the logs of our customers

We have experience with on-premises deployments.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of this solution is the visibility into both attempted and failed logins.

What needs improvement?

The query capability in this solution needs improvement. When you watch to fetch logs at specific times, sometimes there are issues.

The filtering engine needs to be improved to make it more accurate. When you are filtering, it comes with a lot of unwanted data.

I would like to be able to dig deeper into the visibility of events or incidents to determine whether they are malicious, such as by doing behavior analysis.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution. I have seen issues, but they have been related to the platform, and not to the product itself. We use this solution on a daily basis.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I don't think that this solution would do well for very large organizations. For smaller organizations, it should be good.

We have approximately three hundred users. The users are a mixture of programmers, system engineers, database administrators, and others in our IT company. 

When we were doing the scoping we left room to grow, I don't expect that we will be expanding our usage anytime soon.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used IBM QRadar. It is a SIEM solution, but it can do what LEM can do.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of this solution is straightforward.

The length of deployment depends on how big the infrastructure is. Most of the deployments take less than a week, but some go beyond that. In my experience, it all depends on how many boxes you have and how many we are taking logs from. Some people will give you a whole list, while others will choose only specific things. You have to give people something that is unique to their environment.

One person is enough for the deployment.

What about the implementation team?

I take care of the implementation and deployment of this solution.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other options before choosing this solution. Some of the customers have their preference and will ask for something else, so that is what we will do for them.

What other advice do I have?

My advice for anybody who is considering this solution is to really review their expectations. I know that some people who do not review their expectations are upset after the implementation because they feel that they are getting less than what they bargained for.

People also have to consider the system resources, and what they will be on the physical box or on a VM. If the proper resources are not assigned then it will impact the solution.

This is a good solution but there is no perfect system.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner.
PeerSpot user
it_user313953 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Its alerting feature enabled us to fix issues before logging a call with the helpdesk.

How has it helped my organization?

We were suffering from a lack of visibility into our logs, so we implemented SolarWinds LEM. After building a few rules and alerts, we were notified when events happened before our end users notified us. Many times we were able to fix an issue before a call to the helpdesk was made.

What is most valuable?

  • Alerting
  • Searching

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution was a little slow when running some larger queries. After upgrading our SAN many of the problems disappeared.

How are customer service and technical support?

Tech support was always on top of things. I usually got a response within a couple hours of opening a ticket and once on the phone, they took time to answer my questions.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We needed a product but didn’t have one. We found it when it was still Trigeo, and followed it to SolarWinds.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very easy to start getting logs to the solution. It took some time to understand what data to get and what was important.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation. My advice, understand what you want in the system and after letting it collect some data, swing back and make sure you have everything setup that you need. Give it some time, and learn it to get the most use out of it.

What other advice do I have?

It’s a great product, but like other SIEM software solutions, you only get out what you put into it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Technical Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 5
Easy to use with good reporting and alerting functionality
Pros and Cons
  • "This tool is simple to use."
  • "I would like to have a more customizable dashboard."

What is our primary use case?

We work with and resell all of the SolarWinds products, and SolarWinds LEM is one of the solutions that I have experience with.

This solution is used in conjunction with others to find the root cause of problems when a user is not able to access an application.

What is most valuable?

This tool is simple to use.

The reporting and alerting capabilities are really nice.

The Heat Map is a very good feature that is related to Wi-Fi and helps to monitor access points.

What needs improvement?

It takes a long time to perform a root cause analysis.

I would like to have a more customizable dashboard.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with SolarWinds LEM for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have had no issues with stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is a scalable solution. We have deployed it both in Windows and Linux environments.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have contacted SolarWinds technical support six or seven times and I think that the support is very good. The only problem is that when the system goes down, the diagnostics might take a long time.

For example, in a large environment, we had a situation where the application was down for one or two days. Normally, at most, it will take three or four hours for a large environment. In a small environment, the time that it will be unavailable due to diagnostics is about an hour and a half.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is totally straightforward. It takes a maximum of two hours to deploy.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SolarWinds Security Event Manager Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free SolarWinds Security Event Manager Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.