We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiManager and SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Network Management Applications solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."FortiManager enables us to set unified firewall policies from one centralized dashboard, reducing human error. If you do not have a central dashboard, there's a chance you might set a policy on one firewall and forget to do it for another."
"The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiManager are the overall management it provides and its ease of use."
"It can scale well."
"Fortinet FortiManager allows a full view of all the devices on the network from one location."
"It makes management very easy."
"The features are good."
"The most valuable features are the centralized management of the firewalls."
"The product is easy to use and manage."
"The scanning features have proven to be highly valuable, particularly due to the comprehensive information they provide."
"It's perfect for network configuration management. It's easy to use."
"It is pretty straightforward to set up."
"The installation is straightforward."
"We push all our configurations to the servers with ease and the logs capture almost all the transactions needed for an internal audit."
"SolarWinds NCM provides updates on the status of your network infrastructure. If any issues arise, such as a link failure or a device going offline, you will receive notifications and alerts. Additionally, if someone unplugs a cable, SolarWinds NCM will detect it. It also features a Topology Mapper that displays the connectivity of your network devices, giving you a visual representation of the network's structure. With SolarWinds NCM, you have a clear understanding of what's happening within your network and can generate comprehensive reports."
"The configuration compliance aspect of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager allows for easy comparison of configuration settings across branches, ensuring adherence to security guidelines and best practices. Automation capabilities have greatly impacted workflows, enabling tasks such as configuration backups, template deployment, and firmware upgrades to be automated, thereby streamlining processes and saving time. Compliance reporting features provide valuable insights into network compliance, offering pre-built security audit reports and customizable options to meet specific requirements."
"It allows us to manage backups in big companies. It is also useful in managing the configuration changes."
"FortiManager could improve by making it easier to port larger policy packages to the FortiGate firewalls. Sometimes, there's an issue when we install a big package of policies. If you have a couple thousand policies for FortiGate firewalls, it can take a few minutes to receive a response from the remote devices. It's only an issue when you're dealing with thousands of policies and installing them on a large number of devices."
"For the IPSEC tunnels, Fortimanager doesn't have all of the features that are available on Fortigate."
"Within the management of some features on FortiManager, specifically the management of user objects used for VPN service, FortiManager is quite weak."
"Setting up FortiManager can be complex because it involves changes from other devices and a lot of configuration."
"Configuring Fortinet without internet access is challenging."
"The solution could improve by having better integration with other solutions other than Fortinet."
"The price always has room for improvement."
"The information extraction through command lines was could improve to some extent. Although there were some command lines available, there were not enough options. For instance, I needed to obtain the management IP address of my two Fortigates, but the Fortinet FortiManager did not provide me with the IP address on the LAN interface. I attempted to find this information through the command line but was unsuccessful. I also searched for articles on the internet, but could not find a solution. This is an aspect that could be improved or potentially there is a method to access this information that I have yet to discover."
"We want to be able to store it in a data warehouse format and integrate it with Google single sign-on."
"Improvements are needed in the automatic network mapping function."
"The network logs could be improved. When the error logs come across with those false positive alarms in the error logs."
"I would like to see more integration tools. Something like dialysis, for example."
"It would be great if they include a network service manager, network performance manager, or a privileged assessment in the next release."
"The Network Configuration Manager needs to improve the access control list compliance."
"When we run the SolarWinds NCM jobs at the cellular line, it runs in the morning. They're just not finishing. We're getting false processing."
"On NCM, reporting could be a bit better. It's completely become just one report. When I try to create a custom report, the solution just commits old server data."
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Fortinet FortiManager is ranked 3rd in Network Management Applications with 61 reviews while SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is ranked 11th in Configuration Management with 22 reviews. Fortinet FortiManager is rated 8.0, while SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiManager writes "Easy to set up with good integration capabilities but we've had troubles when moving devices". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager writes "Network configuration is done well; great pricing". Fortinet FortiManager is most compared with Fortinet FortiGate Cloud, Fortinet FortiOS, Cisco DNA Center, Zabbix and Cisco Prime, whereas SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is most compared with Cisco DNA Center, Cisco Prime, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, OpenText Network Node Manager i and Huawei eSight. See our Fortinet FortiManager vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager report.
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