ExtremeCloud IQ vs. Progress Chef

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
ExtremeCloud IQ
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
ExtremeCloud IQ provides unified management driven by Machine Learning (ML). It features configuration workflows, realtime and historical monitoring, comprehensive troubleshooting, and integrated network applications. Designed to take full advantage of Extreme’s end-to- end networking solutions, it delivers unified, full-stack management of access points, switches, and SD-WAN.N/A
Progress Chef
Score 6.5 out of 10
N/A
Chef IT infrastructure automation suites were developed by Chef Software in Seattle and acquired by Progress Software in September 2020. The Chef Enterprise Automation Stack is an integrated suite of automation technologies presented as a solution for delivering change quickly, repeatedly, and securely over every application's lifecycle. The Chef Effortless Infrastructure Suit is an integrated suite of automation technologies to codify infrastructure, security, and compliance, as well as…N/A
Pricing
ExtremeCloud IQProgress Chef
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ExtremeCloud IQProgress Chef
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ExtremeCloud IQProgress Chef
Features
ExtremeCloud IQProgress Chef
Configuration Management
Comparison of Configuration Management features of Product A and Product B
ExtremeCloud IQ
7.6
Ratings
6% below category average
Progress Chef
-
Ratings
Infrastructure Automation6.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated Provisioning8.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Parallel Execution8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Node Management7.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Logging7.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Version Control7.40 Ratings00 Ratings
User Ratings
ExtremeCloud IQProgress Chef
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(0 ratings)
8.9
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.3
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.7
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ExtremeCloud IQProgress Chef
Likelihood to Recommend
In complex environments where redundancy is required or a high density of client devices is in use. It is helpful to small enterprises with limited IT staff, as once the auto-provisioning is set up with AP templates, it means APs can be installed by non-IT staff. Licensing can be complex due to all the models, but the ability for co-term licenses to end on the same expiry is essential.
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Chef is a very nice tool for establishing and maintaining a consistent configuration across a range of servers. In addition, Automate allows the continued monitoring and maintenance of servers so they don't drift from established standards. Overall, it deals very well with complex systems. Chef is slightly less applicable for a micro-services approach where the servers are replicated from a simple and known starting point.
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Pros
  • GTAC support is excellent; they understand the issue and do not hesitate to help in detail.
  • The layout is very intuitive and easy to use, especially the templating of switch port types. It makes it simple to use context-based names so the purpose of the port can be understood.
  • The auto channel selection now works very well, including the SDR dual 5GHz mode.
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  • Chef is very easy to learn. Written in ruby, Chef code is high enough level for non-ruby coders to get a general idea of what the script is doing.
  • Chef can be a one stop shop for writing code, testing infrastructure, and deployment of applications.
  • The Chef support team is very helpful in their auto manager support as well as active support in their Slack channels from development engineers & architects.
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Cons
  • Licensing as a whole is a nightmare. If you have a device RMA'd - you have to email their licensing team to have the device license transferred to your new hardware. Licensing renewals are also a pain, as oftentimes they don't have the licenses correctly tied to each device you own. Definitely the biggest issue I have with ExtremeCloud IQ Networks
  • Hardware is tied to you once you purchase it, so there is no resale market/secondary market for the devices you purchase - should you try to sell them when they're end of life within your organization
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  • One main concern with Chef is the maintainability of Chef master.
  • The Chef-client should be installed on every node we want to do any automation.
  • It is mostly Ruby and there's a learning curve. Need to understand the fundamentals of Chef very throughly to play around with attributes, templates etc etc.
  • The Chef-client agent needs to be run on the nodes frequently to update the details of it state to master. And also to index the nodes based on tags.
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Usability
Being a web platform, it is very easily accessible. The user interface is very simple, intuitive, and visually well-designed. The learning to use it was very quick and can be done even without specific user manuals. Access to the analytics and troubleshooting tools is also extremely intuitive and very well-crafted.
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The suite of tools is very powerful. The ability to create custom modules allows for unlimited potential for managing all aspects of a system. However, there is pretty significant learning curve with the toolset. It currently takes approx 3-4 months for new engineers to feel comfortable with our implementation
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Performance
No answers on this topic
It loads quick enough for basically all our systems. Because we have this for local dev environments, speed isn't really a big issue here. Yes, depending on the system, sometimes it does take a relatively long time, but it's not an issue for me. One thing that is annoying is that if I want to make a small change to a cookbook and re-run the Chef client, I can't just make the change in the cache and run it. I have to do the whole process of updating the server.
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Support Rating
No answers on this topic
Support for Chef is easily available for fee or through the open source community as most the issues you will face will have been addressed through the Chef developer community forums. The documentation for Chef is moderate to great and easily readable.
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Alternatives Considered
I previously used Aruba APs in the early 2010s - but have no other experience since then
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Chef is the more developer-oriented of the three main tools in this space. It has a steeper learning curve as a result but it allows you to do more. Puppet seems to be more geared towards automated the management of the operating system. Ansible is an excellent tool but requires you to allow SSH connectivity into all of your instances.
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Return on Investment
  • Extreme has allowed us to significantly reduce the time required for incident resolution.
  • Close to zero-touch greatly enhanced our business.
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  • We can deploy tens to hundreds of servers in a small amount of time.
  • We can grow our infrastructure very quickly with limited resources adjusting to customer demand as soon as the need arises.
  • We are able to automate many of the mundane tasks that used to occupy the time of our engineers allowing us to focus on more critical tasks.
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ScreenShots

ExtremeCloud IQ Screenshots

Screenshot of the ExtremeCloud IQ Dashboard