Introduction to NCM

Network Configuration Manager is a comprehensive, intuitive solution designed to streamline and automate network configuration management. NCM increases availability, saves time, improves security, and ensures policy adherence. NCM features automation capabilities that reduce the amount of time network engineers spend on mundane network tasks, allowing them to focus on business-critical network projects.

Use NCM to manage configurations on heterogeneous, multi-vendor networks. NCM provides a single point of management for routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, and wireless access points. Supported vendors include Cisco, Cisco ASA, Cisco Nexus, Dell, Adtran, Arris, Aruba, Nortel, Nortel Alteon, Nortel BayStack, Extreme, Marconi, Radware, Netscreen, Motorola, HP, Netscalar, Juniper, Foundry, and F5.

NCM runs on the SolarWinds Platform, which offers common alerting, reporting, and management features.

Scheduled configuration backups

Schedule configuration downloads, configuration uploads, device reboots, command script execution, and more. In addition, configuration backups are stored both in a relational database for archival history and as flat files in an intuitive folder structure for easy viewing.

Policy management

Use NCM policy reports to ensure device compliance with federal regulations and corporate standards. The Policy Reporting Manager includes policy reports such as SOX, HIPAA, CISP, and Cisco Security. You can also create custom reports.

Inventory

Use NCM to perform inventory scans on all of your nodes, node groups, or on a single node. The collected inventory statistics are displayed in the detail view of each device.

Configuration change history

Receive reports on what devices have had configuration changes over a specified time period. Configuration change reports can also compare current configurations with a baseline configuration, alerting you whenever a change is discovered.

Configuration viewing, tracking, and comparison

Use NCM to remotely view, track and make changes, and compare network device configurations without logging in to the physical NCM server. The Web Console offers these functions to the users you select.

Device configuration change management

Set up a request and approval system for processing the workflow of device configuration changes.

Real-time change detection

The Real Time Change Detection feature provides notification through email whenever a change to any of your device configurations occurs.

Firmware upgrades

Upgrade the firmware on many devices at one time. Because security fixes are distributed as new firmware revisions, upgrading firmware helps network administrators correct security vulnerabilities.