Does Avalon replace IMC?

On configuration, compliance, backup and mapping, yes. On monitoring, no, and that is deliberate: that part belongs to a transverse tool, Zabbix or Centreon, which also sees your servers and applications. Saying so early avoids the most expensive misunderstanding in this kind of project.

What happens to monitoring during the migration?

It moves first, before Avalon touches any configuration. The connector declares discovered devices in Zabbix, with their host groups, templates and SNMP profile, so the inventory is not typed again. IMC stays in place until the switch has been verified.

Are our Comware switches really supported?

Yes, including IRF stacks, which are recognised as a single logical device. Discovery, neighbourships, aggregates, VRFs, configuration backup and replay of a reference configuration are all available, as they are on ProCurve.

Part of our estate is out of vendor support.

That is not an obstacle. Avalon talks to devices through their native interfaces over SSH, with no agent to install and no hardware to replace. A switch that has left its vendor catalogue is managed like any other.

Does everything have to move at once?

No, and it is not advisable. You start with a discovery and with backups, which change nothing on the devices, long enough to check that the inventory is right. Configuration deployment comes next, with a dry run before every application.

Leaving IMC without losing monitoring

HPE Intelligent Management Center runs a great many Comware estates in the public sector and in industry, installed on Windows Server or RHEL, with separately licensed modules and an annual maintenance contract that weighs heavily against what it delivers. Teams considering a move all hit the same difficulty: IMC does two jobs at once, monitoring and configuration, and nothing replaces both in one go.

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Separate the two jobs before replacing anything

Avalon does no metrics collection and does not claim to replace IMC on that ground. Monitoring should not stop at the network anyway: it is meant to see servers and applications too, which a vendor tool will never do.

So the move happens in two stages. Monitoring first, taken over by a transverse tool, Zabbix or Centreon, which Avalon feeds through a connector: discovered devices are declared there with their host, groups, templates and SNMP profile, without retyping an inventory that is already known. Then configuration, compliance, backup and mapping move to Avalon.

That is the order the migrations we support follow, and it has a practical benefit: each stage can be verified before the next one starts, and IMC can stay in place while the switch happens.

The Comware estate is ground we know

An IMC estate is usually an H3C and Comware estate, sometimes with ProCurve and newer hardware alongside. Avalon discovers them, maps them, backs up their configurations and replays a reference configuration across a whole batch, leaning on each platform own replacement mechanisms rather than sending commands one by one.

HP Comware, including IRF stacks
HP ProCurve and ArubaOS-Switch
Aruba CX, standalone as well as VSX and VSF
Cisco Catalyst on IOS and Nexus on NX-OS
Huawei VRP
Hirschmann for industrial networks

Not seeing yours? Support for a new vendor usually takes five to ten days of development and is handled case by case. Tell us which one.

The devices nobody else wants to automate

An estate managed by IMC almost always holds switches that are out of vendor support, work perfectly well, and no budget will replace this year. Vendor platforms leave them aside, because they follow the compatibility matrix of the hardware they sell.

Avalon does not leave them aside. They are discovered, backed up, audited and configured like the rest, which removes the choice between automating the network and renewing the hardware.

A subscription, not a catalogue of modules

IMC is billed per module added over time, each with its own licence and maintenance. Avalon is billed per device, every feature included, with a decreasing unit cost and a switch stack counted as a single licence.

The appliance itself uses 4 vCPU, 8 GB of memory and 160 GB of disk, on your own infrastructure. There is no Windows server to maintain, no licensed database, and no online component.

Frequently asked questions

Does Avalon replace IMC?: On configuration, compliance, backup and mapping, yes. On monitoring, no, and that is deliberate: that part belongs to a transverse tool, Zabbix or Centreon, which also sees your servers and applications. Saying so early avoids the most expensive misunderstanding in this kind of project.
What happens to monitoring during the migration?: It moves first, before Avalon touches any configuration. The connector declares discovered devices in Zabbix, with their host groups, templates and SNMP profile, so the inventory is not typed again. IMC stays in place until the switch has been verified.
Are our Comware switches really supported?: Yes, including IRF stacks, which are recognised as a single logical device. Discovery, neighbourships, aggregates, VRFs, configuration backup and replay of a reference configuration are all available, as they are on ProCurve.
Part of our estate is out of vendor support.: That is not an obstacle. Avalon talks to devices through their native interfaces over SSH, with no agent to install and no hardware to replace. A switch that has left its vendor catalogue is managed like any other.
Does everything have to move at once?: No, and it is not advisable. You start with a discovery and with backups, which change nothing on the devices, long enough to check that the inventory is right. Configuration deployment comes next, with a dry run before every application.

Offers

Avalon is available under a transparent yearly subscription, based on the number of managed IP devices alone.

Yearly subscription, no hidden fees
One license per device (switch stacks count as a single license)
Decreasing cost per device as your network scales
Guaranteed price stability, with no unexpected increases year over year
Every feature included, no add-on modules

Designed with network engineers

Benefit from a platform shaped through real-world deployments and continuous collaboration with network teams.

Real customers!

University Hospital of Limoges — Olivier H. Network Administrator

Airbus Atlantic — Mathieu S. Network & Security Architect

See what Avalon discovers of your Comware estate

Thirty days of trial, up to 500 devices, on your infrastructure, with no meeting to book. A single discovery is enough to compare the inventory you get with the one you keep today.