Auvik Review—Bespoke Business Network Monitoring

The internet is this amazing place made up of millions of networks. But managing them is a tough job.

Network monitoring tools provide an overview of traffic and bottlenecks across all nodes to help network administrators respond to errors and keep things running smoothly. 

Today we’re looking at one of the leading network monitors - Auvik.

Without further ado, let’s get into it. 

What is Auvik?

Auvik is a cloud-based network management tool. It gives you everything you need to effectively monitor your network to make sure everything is running smoothly, and respond to issues immediately. 

Aside from the central set of monitoring tools, Auvik also adds integrations to further enhance its capabilities, help your team work together more effectively.

Naturally, it has strong security to protect unwarranted access to your network. 

We’ll get into all these features below in the first section of our Auvik review.

Features

Auvik has a bunch of features. So many, in fact, it was difficult to decide which ones to focus on.

Worry not though, we thoroughly analyzed the service and reviewed the best!

We’ll start with a look at its setup, check out the interface, move on to its monitoring, and alerts before capping off with a few words on its security, automation, and integrations.

Setup

The software’s setup couldn’t be simpler.

We started by signing up, which was quick. Auvik recommends beginning with the free trial.

Then it was down to business, installing an Auvik collector. The collector is what allows you to monitor your network through Auvik.

There are a couple of ways to use collectors. You can have one collector per site, which is what we went with for the purpose of testing specifically the Auvik network monitoring software.

You can also have one collector for multiple sites or multiple collectors for one site. In this case, more really is better.

Having an extra collector is great for failover. If one collector goes offline, the other can immediately take over scanning, ensuring no disruptions.

Auvik works with hundreds of vendors, including industry leaders like Cisco, Aruba, Dell, Paloalto Networks, and Juniper plus more.

Interface and Usability

Auvik’s interface is pleasant to look at and smooth to use.

We passed through the Auvik login to find all the network points arranged in a pyramid of clusters that can easily be expanded or collapsed.

All the tools are accessible from a neat set of collapsible menus listed to the left of the network map. We were never more than a click or two away from the tool we needed.

It’s extremely easy to use. Anyone working with it will be able to familiarize themselves with the setup in just a few minutes. 

Each widget also has a search box so you can quickly navigate the system and find individual connection points and devices.

If you’d like to check it out, you can do so before signing up by using the Auvik sandbox

Monitoring Capabilities

Auvik supports a lot of protocols you’ll be familiar with, including SNMP, Secure Shell, MDNS, and UPnP.  Using it, you can monitor everything on your network, from routers to firewalls, and any other connected devices.

Auvik network monitoring is extremely specific. It provides granular information on your entire network.

Armed with this data and thanks to the slick interface, you can zero in on issues at a moment’s notice, and respond accordingly.

On that note...

Alerting

A handy and important tool is the “All Alerts” section. You can choose a broad overview or focus. The main four categories of Auvik network probing tools available are “hardware lifecycle”, “documentation”, “debug”, and the “audit log”. 

The hardware lifecycle section shows a list of vendor-suggested software, and information on current devices’ health, such as the last date of software and security maintenance.

It also displays information on device contracts such as service coverage, warranty coverage expiration dates, and the deadlines for renewal.

Documentation is quite simple and grants easy access to custom notes and all your Auvik reports.

The debug section lets you check on all routes and access each hardware sensor.

Lastly, the audit log provides a thorough overview of all user and remote management activities.

Speaking of user activity...

Auvik Security

As Auvik is entirely cloud-based, the collectors are the point of contact between your network and the service. 

All the collector connections to the cloud infrastructure are outbound, and encrypted to ensure that communication is only between Auvik and your collectors.

On your side, Auvik provides strict access control for your workers in the form of single sign-on, two-factor authentication, and role-based access. Auvik has a set of pre-made roles, but you can also create your own too.

Auvik also has a “DevOps” team that is active 24/7 monitoring for threats and responds as soon as any issues appear.

Tight security all around. 

Auvik Automation

Auvik automates a number of areas of operation and monitoring.

Most importantly, it has automated configuration backup and recovery, plus automated workflows through APIs.

With backups, you can save configurations to avoid issues.

Auvik scans configurations every hour and automatically backs up the latest one if it detects a change.

It even offers a simple-to-use configuration history, with changes between versions color-coded for easy viewing. It’s one of the best network monitors for diverse and thorough backups we’ve seen.

Auvik’s APIs allow you to pull data from multiple sources within your networks and either feed them to third-party tools, or use them yourself, to optimize your service, and attend to any concerns on your Auvik networks.

Integrations

Auvik provides a vast library of integrations to improve your service and your teams’ performance. For example, it offers integration with Slack and MS Teams so members can easily receive alerts, and collaborate in real-time. 

For reports, it can integrate with Captain's Chair and the ticket manager Chatgenie.

Mapping and network probing tools in the form of dashboard analysis can be accessed from within the ConnectWise Automate integration. 

These are just a few of the Auvik integrations. Check out a full list here.

What We Disliked

So that does it for the pros, but are there any cons? There’s one thing we struggled with, but it’s not an enduring negative.

Overwhelming Feature Set 

There’s so much to Auvik that it’s actually a bit overwhelming. Auvik covers every base, and so when we first booted it up to begin the Auvik review, it was a little difficult to decide where to start.

Thankfully it’s better to have too many features than to have too few.

The ease of use of the interface also mitigates this issue. Most of your team’s learning will be focused on the scope of the toolset rather than having to navigate it.

Auvik Pricing

The service offers a two-tiered pricing plan that is available at a custom price.

We can’t tell you what you’ll be paying, but the sales team is available to help. Simply phone them or fill out the request form at the link and they’ll contact you. 

Both tiers are generous, as they offer an unlimited number of users, network sites, endpoints, plus total support. This alone distinguishes it from many other network tool offerings.

If you’re ready to get started, check out the Auvik free trial.

It’s 14 days long and will help you figure out what the service will give you.

Auvik Support

The support is extensive and comes in the form of a ticket system, a chat widget, and a large knowledge base. 

Auvik promises a response within at least 24 hours, but in our experience, the responses were far quicker than that. You can only expect a slower response in very busy periods, or if you make a request outside of regular office hours.

The ticket system is thorough, requiring a lot of info so that Auvik agents can assess and address issues immediately.

The chat widget is one you’d be familiar with from other online services. You need to be logged into the system to access it. 

Overall, great support from friendly agents.

Auvik Reviews by Users

As always we ended our review process by seeing what others had to say about the service, and the perception of the service is overwhelmingly positive. Take a look at the service’s standing on various user review sites:

• G2—4.7 stars average from 117 reviews
• Software Advice —4.6 star average from 66 reviews
• Featured Customers—4.7 star average from 995 reviews

Users praise the amount of information the service provides in their Auvik reviews. They also appreciate how responsive the system is. 

On the opposite end, some complained about the learning curve. As we pointed out the service is a lot to take and so it does take a little time to get used to the scale of its offerings.

We looked out for an Auvik review on Reddit and Redditors absolutely love it. The one issue we did see is a comment that the service is quite expensive, but the original poster did counterbalance this by saying that they’re getting good value from it. 

Auvik Competitors

If you’re still not sold and want an idea of what the wider industry has to offer, take a look at the two Auvik alternatives we have lined up.

Domotz vs Auvik

Auvik and Domotz differ in two main ways. Domotz offers immediate pricing per site at $19 a month. Auvik on the other hand offers an unlimited number of sites at a single price. 

While Domotz is well-liked among smaller businesses, Auvik is a better choice for larger businesses and general scalability.

Auvik vs LogicMonitor

LogicMonitor and Auvik are similar in terms of their pricing structures and their offerings. However, Auvik does take the edge in terms of ease of use and the setup.

LogicMonitor is a little more complicated when compared to Auvik. As such we’ll give the point to Auvik as it lets you hit the ground running quicker.

Verdict

That ends our Auvik review for 2022! 

To sum up, Auvik is a great cloud-based network monitoring software. It’s optimized for businesses that need network monitoring, analytics, and peak performance all in one. 

As such we strongly recommend it for businesses that need versatile network monitoring made easy, with the security to back it all up.