Orion Network Performance Monitor (NPM) as an appliance

netmonguy

I've been asked by my management to look at Network Performance and Monitoring product such as StatSeeker and Open-Source NMIS and Solarwind Orion NPM.  I like Orion NPM because I used it in the past and it is easy to use.

The issue I have with Orion NPM is that it is running on Microsoft Windows platform and it also requires MS SQL Server (we have large environment).  Because it runs MS windows, I, the network guy will have to be responsible for installing latest MS patches, Antivirus, hardware maintenance, etc... and I do not like it one bit.  I am a network person, not Server person.  I also do not want server folks to touch my networking boxes.

 

We're using the following devices in our environment all are appliances:

 

- NetQos,

-Checkpoint Firewalls,

-Cisco ACS appliances,

-Firemon,

StatSeeker is pushing me to eval and purchase their product because it is an appliance; I am hoping that Orion NPM comes in a form of appliance that I can recommend to my company.

Any words on if/when Solarwinds will come out with a NPM appliance version?

 

Thanks in advance

byrona

You are correct in that SolarWinds Orion runs on Windows and requires MS SQL Server.  What I can tell you is that I have lots of experience with NMS systems but am by no means a Windows or SQL guy; however I have not had any trouble maintaining our relatively large install of Orion. 

I don't anticipate an Orion appliance in the near future because the Orion software is very integrated and relies heavily on MS Windows technologies.

If the Windows thing is a complete deal breaker for SolarWinds (hopefully it isn't but I can understand if it is) then there are two products I think you should take a look at if you haven't already...

OpenNMS:  OpenSource (full product available at no cost) Linux based NMS that does a great job of network monitoring, is easy to maintain, runs well, and provides some good flexibility.  Support is also available through the OpenNMS Group and is pretty awesome.

EM7:  Appliance based solution provided by ScienceLogic, I don't have much experience with it other than we evaluated it against SolarWinds Orion and it was a close competitor... we ultimately choose SolarWinds; however this seemed like a pretty solid appliance based solution.

Feel free to PM me offline if you would like more info on my experience with Orion, OpenNMS, or EM7.