Network Performance Monitor Software

We use this to monitor client network. Mostly on the infrastructure side but can also be used to monitor services.

Pros

Excellent software for network visibility. Lots of feature for managing and monitoring your network.

Cons

Older versions we're lacking support for many devices. Fixed with recent updates

Pros

Accurate Performance to every network devices.

Cons

It takes 3 min of time to trigger the device down mail alert.

It can use some improvements, but still, in 8 years we've been using NPM on a service provider scenario, it has solved about 80% of our customers requirements for network monitoring. When complemented with other products from the same vendor, it provides maybe 95%, since there's always something than need a specialized tool.

Pros

In the world of enterprise network monitoring, NPM has one of the shortest learning curves, its web GUI is very inutitive and you can start monitoring your assets almost immediately.
It's support for different monitoring mechanisms (snmp, wmi and agent) provides adaptability to mostly any network.
It possesses a very robust engine to configure thresholds, events and actions, so you can get the proper reaction to different events.
SolarWinds provides a very complete ecosystem of network monitoring and management tools with seamless integration.

Cons

The licensing model is not the best for a service provider scenario and it seems like the vendor doesn't even consider this option.
Reporting capabilities are sort of buggy , specially when exporting complex and large reports. This tasks will also consume a lot of resources. There's an opportunity for the vendor to maybe decouple reporting capabilities to a BI module which can be deployed on an independent server, and maybe use for it a read only replica of the production DB.

perfect for solving your network issues and live monitoring is awesome

Pros

perfect for monitoring an large scale environment. awesome yearly events to attend. easy to drill down in devices that have been configured

Cons

Difficult to setup initially, UI is abit intimidating at first .

Pros

SolarWinds NPM (Network Performance Manager) is one of the most gratifying products to use. After installing on a server, you can literally in minutes begin collecting actionable network performance if you have previously configured SNMP on your network equipment. Most of the products integrate, building on each other and adding more value. I have always been impressed with how their new versions add significant features and value for just paying maintenance on the product. Their online training is also very valuable.

Cons

More advance features will take more effort to configure and generate actionable results. You can easily be overwhelmed by alerts and syslog if you do not make an effort to manage what you really need to see.

Got us through a transitional period where we were short on IT staff.

Pros

It is a really clean solution that was easy to install and use. It is aesthetically appealing and I can better visualize my own network.

Cons

It does not really do anything that I could not do on my own, so it is really 100% bells and whistles. I would not recommend this software unless you are new to networking and you do not have the knowledge or manpower to manage/monitor an existing enterprise network. That being said, it is incredibly expensive for what you really get, but can be helpful if your use-case is a good fit.

Pros

The level of detail included about network assets. It provides a wealth of information that makes troubleshooting a breeze.

Cons

Sometimes the user interface seems less than intuitive and can be a little confusing. There is a lot of information presented and often times I find myself forgetting how I navigated to a particular display.

Pros

Easy to setup and get going. Will scan your network and add devices automatically if you want. Interface is easy to read and navigate.

Cons

Can be inconsistent with reporting. Seems to lag up my system a bit and sometimes reports devices offline when they are not.

Pros

This is just one of the many suite of applications that SolarWinds offers to help manage the Network. Ease to use and helps diagnose / troubleshoot issues. Easy to automate alerts to notify you of problems afterhours. Great graphical interface as well.

Cons

Is more costly than other tools but worth the cost as SolarWinds will take less time to manage over time.

Pros

This has to be by far the best networking and services monitoring tool I have ever used. It is rich in features and it just works.

Cons

It is an amazing system and I would recommend to anyone. It is however a little time consuming to set it up, for some people even a little challenging.

Pros

I can pull up any piece of networking information in a matter of seconds. There is not a big learning curve.

Cons

Sometimes it seems to be too minimal, some features that are present in other network performance monitors are lacking in SolarWinds' version.

Pros

Fast, clear status of performance and possible outages.
Easy integration with other tools and custom alert mechanisms.
A focused company who is very involved in making great tutorials.

Cons

The GUI is starting to look dated, it could use a complete overhaul.
License needs can be tricky to determine.

Pros

The dashboards are incredible I am able to troubleshoot the network quickly and efficiently right down to the node.

Cons

I wish there was a way to see what an IP belongs to on the exterior of our environment like a whois this Ip

Management of firewalls, routers and printers.

Pros

Real time follow up of changes. Every time I change something, like an IP address or moving to a new Site, this software allows me to maintain and updated map. Something hard to achieve with other vendors.

Pros

Easily monitor network devices and their performance .Track for network issues and have to ability to narrow down issues to specific ports. Easily customize view to show only what I need to see.

Cons

Not able to limit events across solarwinds platform to only devices I need to monitor. Have to manually Setup maps. (option to purchase mapping software separate) .

Pros

You can not fix something you do not know is broken. NPM allow you to be notified as soon a any component you are monitoring goes off line. Its a game changer for IT pro's trying to get a handle on their network and hardware.

You can trust this software to watch over the network while you perform other tasks. If there is an issue, you will be alerted immediately

Pros

Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor gives you in-depth details about every server and switch. Once it is installed and configured, you just sit back, relax and engage in worry free monitoring of your network (unless of course it gives you an alert)

Cons

It is very expensive. The company that I worked for that used SolarWinds had no issue spending the money though, so after I left it was like leaving a family member behind.

Pros

This is a full featured product with many optional add on modules to keep a "single pane of glass" for IT departments.

Cons

Finding personnel with fine tuning experience, education and knowledge is somewhat difficult at times, making many implementations half completed.

Pros

Being able to monitor and receive real time information about known devices on your network as well as having the forecasting ability so that you can plan for future growth easily.

Cons

Some of the alerts may require you to do some customization in order for them to work. Licensing for some of the modules may get some what pricey if you go into a higher level tier.

Pros

Right out of the box, admins can begin using this software. Alerts are already configured for common needs such as when a server goes down, or when it reboots. Disk space, CPU and RAM usage, etc.

Cons

Can be a bit difficult to discern which variables do what when formatting alerts and email notifications. First initial load of the portal takes a few minutes. After the initial load, portal loads fast each time, until the next day.