This tool is exactly what we wanted and needed. The only problem is that it was taking forever, internally, to roll it out because of all of the different constraints and dependencies that you have. My advice for anybody who is implementing NetBrain is to have a dedicated project manager and, if possible, a dedicated engineer or a few engineers to work on that project. With the setup alone, if you don't set up the hierarchy correctly, you're going to have to go back and change it. You really have to put thought into how you want to build your devices in NetBrain. I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Senior System Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
2020-09-21T06:33:00Z
Sep 21, 2020
If someone is fairly good with Linux, they could probably get this up and running themselves. Once it's up and running and you don't have the strange requirements I had, and you just want some basic maps, it'll work. The new version, 8.X, has got other features and tying and capabilities for more advanced things. So they're always improving. They're into a niche market, so it works for their needs. They're coming at it from a mapping perspective and then expanding back into automation since they've got the database and resources. I have nothing else to compare this to other than hand drawing and we all know how much that sucks, so I would rate this solution a five out of 10.
Director at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Reseller
2019-09-22T06:41:00Z
Sep 22, 2019
We use the on-premises deployment solution. I would recommend it. Although it's expensive, it's worth the money. Compared with other solutions, they're the way to go. They're bigger and probably better. I would rate the solution eight out of ten.
Senior Network Architect at ZAG Technical Services
MSP
2019-07-02T06:57:00Z
Jul 2, 2019
I would give NetBrain Technologies an eight or seven-and-a-half to eight out of ten. Support can improve response time. Sales engineers will buy their product with a few enhancements. It would help to improve the pricing and make the interface prettier. Right now, it's difficult to use from an engineering standpoint. I'd like to see become a little easier for a nontechnical person to use. For example, I'd like to be able to send someone to a client who is not an architect — maybe send a helpdesk guy — and tell him to run the executable to gather up the mapping. I would be able to look at the results later and be more efficient. Other advice to users considering the solution would be: go with NetBrain. It works. It may be expensive, but it's worth it. SolarWinds is a lot more expensive and doesn't do nearly as good a job as NetBrain. NetBrain will give you the layer 3 and layer 2 network maps. One of the features that I like, but I haven't yet retested in the Consultant Edition, is that within two clicks you can get a fully formatted report of the hardware firmware in a site or company. SolarWinds, by comparison, is a bit of a pain to use for that type of extraction.
Managing today’s networks with yesterday’s manual processes is no longer a viable solution. NetBrain’s network automation platform provides actionable insights into your network to help you make better and faster decisions - particularly when you’re troubleshooting, securing, and making changes to the network.
I'd rate the solution six out of ten. I'd recommend it to other users.
This tool is exactly what we wanted and needed. The only problem is that it was taking forever, internally, to roll it out because of all of the different constraints and dependencies that you have. My advice for anybody who is implementing NetBrain is to have a dedicated project manager and, if possible, a dedicated engineer or a few engineers to work on that project. With the setup alone, if you don't set up the hierarchy correctly, you're going to have to go back and change it. You really have to put thought into how you want to build your devices in NetBrain. I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
If someone is fairly good with Linux, they could probably get this up and running themselves. Once it's up and running and you don't have the strange requirements I had, and you just want some basic maps, it'll work. The new version, 8.X, has got other features and tying and capabilities for more advanced things. So they're always improving. They're into a niche market, so it works for their needs. They're coming at it from a mapping perspective and then expanding back into automation since they've got the database and resources. I have nothing else to compare this to other than hand drawing and we all know how much that sucks, so I would rate this solution a five out of 10.
We use the on-premises deployment solution. I would recommend it. Although it's expensive, it's worth the money. Compared with other solutions, they're the way to go. They're bigger and probably better. I would rate the solution eight out of ten.
I would give NetBrain Technologies an eight or seven-and-a-half to eight out of ten. Support can improve response time. Sales engineers will buy their product with a few enhancements. It would help to improve the pricing and make the interface prettier. Right now, it's difficult to use from an engineering standpoint. I'd like to see become a little easier for a nontechnical person to use. For example, I'd like to be able to send someone to a client who is not an architect — maybe send a helpdesk guy — and tell him to run the executable to gather up the mapping. I would be able to look at the results later and be more efficient. Other advice to users considering the solution would be: go with NetBrain. It works. It may be expensive, but it's worth it. SolarWinds is a lot more expensive and doesn't do nearly as good a job as NetBrain. NetBrain will give you the layer 3 and layer 2 network maps. One of the features that I like, but I haven't yet retested in the Consultant Edition, is that within two clicks you can get a fully formatted report of the hardware firmware in a site or company. SolarWinds, by comparison, is a bit of a pain to use for that type of extraction.