We did have a previous solution. We switched to SolarWinds due to two major reasons. It is cost effective and easy to manage.

Since the tool can be easily managed, we wouldn't have to spend money on training as well.

We haven't used any other server monitoring solution extensively. Two years ago, we used Datadog briefly. I was asked to determine whether Datadog would be better for us because it was less expensive than other tools. We did a test run FOR six months period of knowledge. We mainly tested it, and I handed it over to another team after giving the tool the go-ahead.

My company uses Riverbed for application performance monitoring.

I was doing research so that I could understand if SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor provide APM capabilities similar to Riverbed, which allows our company to get a packet capture of an entire session, and on the basis of it, we look at the application performance monitoring part. With SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor, my company does SNMP polling, so it can drag an entire session, but it focuses more on availability, CPU memory, and server connection status. In Riverbed, my company catches an entire system, so when we deal with two applications, we have end-to-end app visibility. All the application monitoring happens through Riverbed. Our company's main problem is that, as of now, we have two different products in our organization, and we don't want to continue with the multiple products currently. I wanted to understand if SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor already have capabilities like Riverbed, and if they do, then I wanted to figure out why our company should not go with SolarWinds and why we are using products from multiple vendors. My company needs to continue with either Riverbed or SolarWinds. I wanted to see which products are good for the organization and how much I want to continue with Riverbed.

I used to work for IBM, and when it comes to scalability, SolarWinds SAM can handle substantial scaling effectively. I have never encountered a hard limit, but it's important to note that you may need to deploy additional components to achieve this scalability. While the licensing model may change, SolarWinds SAM is capable of scaling to meet the needs of many organizations, although extremely large enterprises might consider alternative solutions.

I previously used Zabbix, which is a freeware tool and therefore has limited functionalities compared to SolarWinds. It also does not have any vendor support or a proper channel to communicate to the vendor if something goes wrong.

I have previously used Microsoft SCOM.

Previously we implemented the CA UIM solution, CA Spectrum, and Microsoft Monitoring.

SolarWinds is much easier than any of them.

We had another solution for many years and it was functional but not insightful. We needed software that could level the playing field or better; to bring all the fields under one roof without having to build everything from scratch.

We used the following solutions previously:

SCOM, BMC Patrol, HP CIM, What’s up Gold, NetScout, HP Openview, and several other home brewed monitoring tools.

SCOM is very powerful and an amazing tool. The issue is with administration and lack of real network monitoring. It is a monster and requires a very wide skill set to effectively administer.

Even with the skill set, it requires many staff hours for care and feeding. SCOM is cumbersome and very difficult to use.

SCOM is also strictly agent based, while SolarWinds gives you agent or agent-less options.

SCOM network monitoring is hot garbage on a summer day (IMHO).

MS included SNMP monitoring options, but SCOM can’t be used as a true network monitoring solution.

You must have a different tool for Network if using SCOM.

Orion, on the other hand, has it all if you invest in the modules.

SCOM will go much deeper into MS products, but it is not worth it for the amount of staff resources needed.

We did not have a previous solution.

The previous solution was too expensive and limited; they dropped support.

Of course we used other products, and we still do. One product cannot do everything you want it to do, at least with what you can afford.

Sometimes it’s better to run a tiered approach, such as with security, so all your eggs are not in one basket, so to speak.

However, mostly everything else we use is freeware or open source. SolarWinds is the only fully paid product we currently own.

I have used AvantGard before. AvantGard’s pricing and reporting features are its advantages.

We previously used ManageEngine. It was not giving us what we needed, which is why we switched. With SolarWinds, we can even get great performance and good monitoring from MongoDB through SQL. 

We used WhatsUp Gold and ManageEngine OP Manager.

I have worked with similar solutions including Zabbix, HPE Performance Manager, and Microsoft System Center Manager. I have good opinions of HPE and SolarWinds.

Previously, we were using Big Brother. It is not as intuitive and support was lacking. Eventually, it reached EOL.

Microsoft System Center Operation Manager. Although SCOM was very powerful it was also very complex to setup.

I didn't previously use another solution.

We didn't previously have another solution before implementing SolarWinds.