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OpenNMS Meridian vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    OpenNMS Meridian

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AOpenNMS Meridian is a scalable open source network management platform with network traffic analysis, network discovery, alerting, and monitoring. It's presented as a solution to monitor enterprise network performance and ensure the availability and performance of critical network services.

    $42,000

    per year

    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/ASolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is network diagnostics and troubleshooting technology, from Austin-based SolarWinds.N/A
    Pricing
    OpenNMS MeridianSolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Editions & Modules
    Essential
    $42,000
    per year Up to 2 Meridian and cores Up to 25 Minions
    Premier
    $56,700
    per year Up to 4 Meridian cores and Up to 100 Minions
    Premier+
    Custom
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    OpenNMS MeridianSolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
    Additional DetailsAdd-Ons: -24/7 Emergency Support: $24,000 / year -Mini OpenNMS Appliance: $750 ea.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    OpenNMS MeridianSolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Considered Both Products
    The OpenNMS Group
    No answer on this topic
    SolarWinds
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Would buy again
    33 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    88%
    Delivers good value for the price
    30 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    34 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    30 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    31 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    OpenNMS MeridianSolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Small Businesses
    Pulseway
    Score9.9 out of 10
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    Medium-sized Companies
    Cisco Meraki Dashboard
    Score9.3 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued)
    Score8.5 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    OpenNMS MeridianSolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.4
    (4 ratings)
    9.4
    (141 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.1
    (6 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.1
    (8 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.7
    (9 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    OpenNMS MeridianSolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    The OpenNMS Group
    I would recommend all system administrators use some form of network monitoring if they are not already doing so, and I'd definitely recommend people consider OpenNMS if they're shopping around. Small businesses will benefit from the low-cost of entry (it's free!), whilst getting all the enterprise features. Larger businesses can benefit from paid support plans.
    However, there's no getting around the fact that you will require some advanced networking and sysadmin knowledge to get the most out of OpenNMS, or at least, be prepared for a steep learning curve. If you don't have the resources to devote this time initially, you may struggle.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    If your IT team isn't proficient in automation and scripting, Solarwinds NCM can fill that gap (assuming your company's security team signs off on approving SW in your environment given the hack.) Basic device configuration, pushing mass changes reliably and backups are NCM's strong suites. If you have a complex scenario where if/then cases are needed, NCM is a bit lack luster. Auto discovery isn't as easy either as certain parameters need to be met for that feature to work 100% of the time
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    The OpenNMS Group
    • Report on SLA
    • Group network areas
    • Discovery of elements
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Integrates with Network Performance Management for Alerting and Reporting.
    • NetPath and detects issues due to Configuration Change.
    • Keeps a record of which user made the change.
    • Which devices are not being backed up, devices where backups are failing, dashboard and alerting available.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    The OpenNMS Group
    • We've had a few issues with delayed alerting.
    • I haven't quite figured out how to make topologies work yet, but I haven't spent a ton of time on it either.
    • We've also had a bit of trouble importing some MIBs, but that usually boiled down to working with the vendor to make sure we had the right MIBs and dependencies.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • For our use case, it does everything great and some of the features we underutilize but I would like to be able to set a configuration baseline when initially adding a node instead of after the configuration is pulled but it's not a particularly big deal to let it pull the configuration then set it as the baseline.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    The OpenNMS Group
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    Medium complexity to set up in the beginning if using any non-standard devices or configurations, else fairly easy (e.g. Cisco Nexus or IOS-based devices). Reports are fairly straightforward to set up. Updates to the platform are fairly straightforward and don't take a major effort. Easy to add or remove devices.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    The OpenNMS Group
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    The user interface is lacking. It is difficult to navigate at times and things can be done multiple ways. Quite often I am confused by how their notification structure works. It is not very intuitive. They do offer a free Academy. They also offer a community of other technical folks. I have enjoyed both.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    The OpenNMS Group
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    To be fair, I have not had to involve Support in a number of years, but when I did, I was greeted with enthusiastic engineers who wanted to understand and solve the issue. It was a fairly complex scenario and I have discovered in my most recent implementation that engineering included that option as a standard now.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    The OpenNMS Group
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    Solarwinds has actually produced new training since I last used it that is available on their site at any time. Their previous training was more than enough to get us started but now there is significantly more content. Since I'm comfortable with the Orion platform and the products we use I haven't checked the new training out yet but we have new staff go through portions of that training and they always come away with an understanding of the platform and ready to use it
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    The OpenNMS Group
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    it was a fairly easy implementation and everything was pretty straightforward. only challenge we had was getting all the snmp communities updated on the networking equipment
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    The OpenNMS Group
    OpenNMS's more attractive GUI and its price break were the main reasons our company chose to explore and use this product. However, it never managed to actually replace Nagios which had a much more established hold within the company. Perhaps we were over-monitoring, but our company claimed a $100k loss per hour of downtime.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is a great tool and matches much of the functionality of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. Nothing about Ansible will likely be overwhelming to an engineer with a little time to spare, but that spare time combined with SolarWinds already being our monitoring tool made the decision easy. Time is at a premium in small teams and SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is very easy to use right out of the box without all the tweaking required by powerful command line driven tools like Ansible.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    The OpenNMS Group
    • Initial adoption required quite a lot of resources and time to get everything right. Totally worth it for us; just be prepared for a gradual process that will get better and better with time.
    • Once setup and running smoothly, it provides us with all the reporting we could hope for, at near zero cost.
    • With OpenNMS, we're able to offer a much more reliable service to our customers, and spend a lot less time dealing with issues.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • The time savings from automatic daily backups is significant
    • The compare configuration tool is super helpful at spotting errors when small changes occur that are hard to detect otherwise.
    • The compliance check tool saves countless hours going through configurations for errors.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) Screenshots

    Screenshot of Network Automation -  manage rapid change across complex and multi-vendor networks, reduce time needed to complete repetitive tasks, and maintain standards and service levels for uninterrupted ITScreenshot of Config Backup - rest easy knowing you can locate the most current configuration and quickly apply it to a replacement spare, or to roll back a blown configuration.Screenshot of Vulnerability Scanning - Take the hassle out of vulnerability scanning using NCM's integration with the National Vulnerability Database and access to the most current CVE’s to identify vulnerabilities in your Cisco devices.Screenshot of Inventory Management - Be able to know what devices are connected to your network, their hardware and software configurations, and when they approach end-of-service and end-of-life, with NCM device configuration management tool.Screenshot of User Management - Use NCM's integrated console to lock down devices from unauthorized access, delegate who can view device details and make configuration changes, and determine when network changes can occur.Screenshot of Baselines and Diffs - IT professionals can get a more comprehensive view by leveraging baselines across multiple nodes. Diff view in NCM’s network configuration management tool is designed to highlight only those lines that changed.