IT professionals are responsible for making sure all their organization’s hardware, software and network resources are running optimally and well-secured. However, keeping up with your IT infrastructure can be challenging — especially if, like many organizations, you have a hybrid infrastructure model. Fortunately, IT infrastructure monitoring tools can provide the insight you need to monitor resources across your environment to ensure everything is working as it should.
To help you choose the right solution, here is some helpful background on some of the most popular monitoring tools out there today:
What is an IT Infrastructure Monitoring Tool?
An IT infrastructure monitoring tool (ITIM) is a software program organizations use to oversee the infrastructure components inside their data center, or those hosted by a colocation service or through an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) solution. Because this service is usually available in real time, IT teams can quickly identify infrastructure issues and resolve them before they interrupt business operations.
An ITIM can also help your team manage the inventory of your infrastructure hardware and plan upgrades before systems become outdated, ineffective or create security vulnerabilities. Additionally, advanced ITIMs help you monitor across domains using a single tool, which means more efficiency and cleaner visibility into all infrastructure components.
5 Popular Monitoring Tools
There are several excellent ITIM products to choose from in 2019, but here are five popular, comprehensive tools that are highly rated:
LogicMonitor
This ITIM solution offers performance monitoring across your on-premise, data center or cloud environments through a single, easy-to-use software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. With LogicMonitor, you’ll enjoy native support for thousands of your devices as well as integrations with Atlassian, Puppet, ServiceNow and more. You can try this service for free, and there is no entry-level setup fee required.
SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM)
SAM is not only cost-effective but also customizable and easy-to-deploy. It integrates with other SolarWinds IT management software, including Network Performance Monitor, as well as the Microsoft System Center. With one single interface, you can monitor nearly any vendor or home-grown application. Plus, there’s no consultation required to get started and, according to the vendor, you can set up SAM and begin monitoring your environment in an hour. You can test this solution with a free trial, and there’s no entry-level setup fee.
Netwrix
This popular on-premise ITIM provides full visibility into your system configurations and permissions across your entire IT infrastructure. It offers auditing for Active Directory, SharePoint, Exchange, SQL Server, Windows Server and more. To help prevent breaches, Netwrix Auditor will alert you immediately if it detects any changes that violate your corporate security policies. As with the other solutions, you can try it free and, if you decide to invest, will not have to pay a dime for entry-level setup.
Spiceworks
This IT network management software provides superior server performance monitoring and integrates with the Spiceworks Help Desk software and Knowledge Base software. With customizable role-based permissions and notifications, you can determine which team member or stakeholder has access to various data.
Nagios
Nagios offers monitoring for all necessary components, including third-party and in-house applications, operating systems, services, system metrics, network protocols and network infrastructure. Plus, you can choose from thousands of community-developed add-ons to extend your monitoring functionalities. And with a user-specific viewing, you can ensure various stakeholders and clients can only view the components they’re authorized to see.
The right ITIM for your organization depends on your unique needs, but evaluating these five solutions is a great place to start. By investing in the right IT infrastructure monitoring tool, you can eliminate operational inefficiencies, reduce downtime and help improve overall business performance.