Hi all: I'm looking for information anyone might have comparing Intermapper to NetBrain for NMS. Stuff like devices up/down, interface utilization, building maps for documentation, etc. IMO, Intermapper works great, when it works. Tech support has been slow and often cannot fix the problems, not to mention they release updates about once every other week. Anyone familiar with any similar products? We are presently evaluating NetBrain and it seems really nice. We really like the Visio-like aspect of it. Thanks! -Ben
I like intermapper for monitoring: it's been very stable, and exports traps and notifications well. I also like netbrain for troubleshooting and mapmaking, because its visualization is engineer and manager-friendly. David Barak Sent from a mobile device, please forgive autocorrection and top posting. On Mar 8, 2013, at 8:38 AM, Ben Bartsch <uwcableguy@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all:
I'm looking for information anyone might have comparing Intermapper to NetBrain for NMS. Stuff like devices up/down, interface utilization, building maps for documentation, etc. IMO, Intermapper works great, when it works. Tech support has been slow and often cannot fix the problems, not to mention they release updates about once every other week.
Anyone familiar with any similar products? We are presently evaluating NetBrain and it seems really nice. We really like the Visio-like aspect of it.
Thanks!
-Ben
I'd also be very interested in what's out there. I have similar grievances with InterMapper, but at this point, it sucks far less than anything else I've tried. I just poked around NetBrain's site and am immediately deterred by it's reliance on a Windows backend, so that's out for me. I did use OpenNMS for a while before switching to InterMapper, but ONMS's discovery/mapping was very broken at the time, it was a PITA to set up and manage and I don't know if it's gotten much getter in the last couple of years since. I've tried things like ManageEngine, but it's far too bloated and complex for what I need. On 2013-03-08, at 11:38 AM, Ben Bartsch <uwcableguy@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all:
I'm looking for information anyone might have comparing Intermapper to NetBrain for NMS. Stuff like devices up/down, interface utilization, building maps for documentation, etc. IMO, Intermapper works great, when it works. Tech support has been slow and often cannot fix the problems, not to mention they release updates about once every other week.
Anyone familiar with any similar products? We are presently evaluating NetBrain and it seems really nice. We really like the Visio-like aspect of it.
Thanks!
-Ben
On 03/08/2013 11:55 AM, Jason Lixfeld wrote:
I did use OpenNMS for a while before switching to InterMapper, but ONMS's discovery/mapping was very broken at the time, it was a PITA to set up and manage and I don't know if it's gotten much getter in the last couple of years since.
Hey Jason :) I believe you and I interacted a few times on the OpenNMS mailing lists. As a quick update addressing only the areas you mention, we added in the 1.8 series a new, massively scalable, policy-driven provisioning subsystem that can replace Capsd. So if by "discovery" you mean "node / interface / service scanning behavior", then yes, great strides there. Mapping is also much improved. The old SVG topo map, which at one point worked only in Internet Explorer with the Adobe SVG plugin (blech), now works in any modern WebKit or Gecko browser. There's also a whole slew of entirely new map options (both topo and geo) in the upcoming 1.12 releases. Well worth a look. Installation, setup, and administration have also seen continued improvements, with better packaging and an ever-dwindling set of configuration changes requiring a restart. As always, the whole OpenNMS platform is still 100% free and open-source software. -jeff
I've always had a love/hate relationship with Cacti for this type of thing. If you have the Monitor, Threshold, and Weathermap plugins installed, it's very extensible and would probably meet your needs well. Weathermap has a decent in-app designer that has a Visio feel. The hate part comes when dealing with its poller and RRD processing, which are a bit of a pain to troubleshoot when they go on the fritz. Also, it has a bit of a learning curve, mainly due to the extensibility it allows, and initially getting it going takes some work (some Linux CLI skills). I'm not sure how it compares to NetBrain or Intermapper, but Cacti is open source and doesn't have a commercial support option. Not sure if that's something you're looking for, just FYI. -- Jeff -----Original Message----- From: Ben Bartsch [mailto:uwcableguy@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, March 08, 2013 11:38 AM To: NANOG Subject: Intermapper vs NetBrain vs some other for NMS Hi all: I'm looking for information anyone might have comparing Intermapper to NetBrain for NMS. Stuff like devices up/down, interface utilization, building maps for documentation, etc. IMO, Intermapper works great, when it works. Tech support has been slow and often cannot fix the problems, not to mention they release updates about once every other week. Anyone familiar with any similar products? We are presently evaluating NetBrain and it seems really nice. We really like the Visio-like aspect of it. Thanks! -Ben ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This e-mail, including attachments, is intended for the person(s) or company named and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. Unauthorized disclosure, copying or use of this information may be unlawful and is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this message and notify the sender.
I would second Cacti as a great extensible resource, (with Threshold, Monitor, and Weathermap plugins) with the caveat that it almost requires someone on the team to take it on as a hobby if you want to get the most out of it. You really need someone who loves to tinker, (and has the time) but the payoff in the end can be worth it. -Brett Lykins On Mar 8, 2013, at 12:06 PM, Jeffrey Negro <jnegro@advance.net> wrote:
I've always had a love/hate relationship with Cacti for this type of thing. If you have the Monitor, Threshold, and Weathermap plugins installed, it's very extensible and would probably meet your needs well. Weathermap has a decent in-app designer that has a Visio feel. The hate part comes when dealing with its poller and RRD processing, which are a bit of a pain to troubleshoot when they go on the fritz. Also, it has a bit of a learning curve, mainly due to the extensibility it allows, and initially getting it going takes some work (some Linux CLI skills). I'm not sure how it compares to NetBrain or Intermapper, but Cacti is open source and doesn't have a commercial support option. Not sure if that's something you're looking for, just FYI.
-- Jeff
-----Original Message----- From: Ben Bartsch [mailto:uwcableguy@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, March 08, 2013 11:38 AM To: NANOG Subject: Intermapper vs NetBrain vs some other for NMS
Hi all:
I'm looking for information anyone might have comparing Intermapper to NetBrain for NMS. Stuff like devices up/down, interface utilization, building maps for documentation, etc. IMO, Intermapper works great, when it works. Tech support has been slow and often cannot fix the problems, not to mention they release updates about once every other week.
Anyone familiar with any similar products? We are presently evaluating NetBrain and it seems really nice. We really like the Visio-like aspect of it.
Thanks!
-Ben ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This e-mail, including attachments, is intended for the person(s) or company named and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. Unauthorized disclosure, copying or use of this information may be unlawful and is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this message and notify the sender.
I'm a big fan of Zenoss and have been using it in production for over 5 years in various environments and across different releases. Very mature open source project with commercial support options and plugins. People I know that came from OpenNMS prefer Zenoss once they get some time with it, and as opposed to Cacti which is strong at MRTG style graphing and has monitoring only as a plugin afterthought, Zenoss is built for both. http://www.zenoss.com/ Good luck, -Scott -----Original Message----- From: Ben Bartsch [mailto:uwcableguy@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, March 08, 2013 11:38 AM To: NANOG Subject: Intermapper vs NetBrain vs some other for NMS Hi all: I'm looking for information anyone might have comparing Intermapper to NetBrain for NMS. Stuff like devices up/down, interface utilization, building maps for documentation, etc. IMO, Intermapper works great, when it works. Tech support has been slow and often cannot fix the problems, not to mention they release updates about once every other week. Anyone familiar with any similar products? We are presently evaluating NetBrain and it seems really nice. We really like the Visio-like aspect of it. Thanks! -Ben
participants (7)
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Ben Bartsch -
Brett Lykins -
David Barak -
Jason Lixfeld -
Jeff Gehlbach -
Jeffrey Negro -
Scott Berkman