Top Best IT Infrastructure Monitoring Tools and Software

As a network grows in size and importance, as does the need to ensure that the network works (and continues to function) effectively. To achieve this, it is necessary not only to know which devices make up the IT infrastructure (inventory) but also to monitor the availability, status and performance of these devices.

If it is possible to monitor the IT infrastructure manually, especially in a small network, it can take a long time and even impossible in most cases. For this reason, there are several NetworkManaging Tools available to help you monitor your IT infrastructure, and these tools will include features such as:

A way to add devices/services to watch (for example, text, CLI, GUI)

Availability, performance monitoring and / or health status

Alert to notify the appropriate people in case of a problem (or about to happen): SMS, email, etc.

Reports that provide details of what happened/is happening

Here's a list of the Top IT Infrastructure Monitoring Tools & Software of 2020

Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM)

Solarwinds Server and Application Monitor (SAM)

PRTG Network Monitor

WhatsUp Gold

Nagios XI

ManageEngine OpManager

OP5 Monitor

Zabbix

LibreNMS

Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) –

Solarwinds is a company that offers many Networking Monitoring Tools for different things. The Orion toolset available from Solarwinds is relevant to this article. This set includes means for performance monitoring, configuration management, server and application monitoring, etc. While this makes your solution robust, it can be confusing to know which Network Management Tool to use and which modules you will need to install to use a specific feature. It also means that the total cost of a complete solution can increase rapidly.

Solarwinds Orion is Windows-based, although it can monitor a large number of devices. The configuration is also done from a full Orion web interface, which can provide a wealth of information about controlled devices (depending on the specific Networking Software Tools installed). Alerts and reports are also available in the Orion package.

We will consider two tools from the Solarwinds Orion package: Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) and Solarwinds Server and Application Monitor (SAM).

When you think about general infrastructure monitoring, Solarwinds NPM is the tool that performs this function in the Solarwinds Orion toolkit. It provides information such as availability, health status (temperature, energy, etc.) and performance indicators (for example, use of the interface). You can report this information on several devices, including Cisco, HP and F5.

Solarwinds Server and Application Monitor (SAM) –

Solarwinds SAM provides information about servers (for example, IBM and Dell servers) and applications (for example, Microsoft Exchange, IIS, and Java). The tool comes with monitoring templates to help you quickly configure. Models can also be customized to monitor custom applications.

Solarwinds SAM is also available for a 30-day free trial, after which licenses start at $ 2,995 for 150 monitors.

PRTG Network Monitor –

It is probably one of the best monitoring Network Monitoring Tools Free available in the market, considering its simplicity of configuration and ease of use. PRTG covers the entire surveillance spectrum in an all-in-one solution, which includes:

Network monitoring

Bandwidth monitoring

Server and application monitoring

Virtual Machine Monitoring

Alerts (SMS, email, push notifications of mobile applications, etc.)

Robust reports

Intuitive web interface

While PRTG provides an agent that can be installed on the devices to be monitored, it is mainly based on agentless monitoring using a variety of protocols, including SNMP, WMI, SSH, NetFlow, etc. PRTG can only be installed on the Network Monitoring Tools for the Windows operating system, but it can be used to monitor various types of devices, including Linux, Windows, Cisco, HP, VMware, etc.

PRTG is entirely free for up to 100 sensors. If you Monitor Network more than 100 sensors, PRTG offers an unlimited 30-day trial and then the price starts at $ 1,600 for a license of 500 sensors. For more information on costs, see the price list on their website.

Note: PRTG works with "sensors." A device is not a sensor because it can activate multiple sensors in a single device. Even with this, PRTG is usually cheaper than other paid surveillance solutions.

WhatsUp Gold –

In the past, WhatsUp Gold had many subscribers and full development. For example, about ten years ago, almost all of Nigeria's financial institutions (banks) had a screen to monitor their various branches and used Whatsup Gold. Interest in this tool has declined in recent times, although they have recently renewed the product (versions 16 and 17).

Beyond the story, WhatsUp Gold is an easy-to-use tool that offers several features, including:

Discovery

Configuration management

Alerts (SMS, e-mail, etc.)

Reports

Monitoring of the virtual environment.

Some of these features are only available in specific editions, of which WhatsUp Gold offers four (4) different versions: Basic, Pro, Total and Total Plus. It is also important to note that WhatsUp Gold can only be installed on the Windows operating system and may not be as customizable as other Linux-based monitoring tools.

Although there is no specific pricing information on the WhatsUp Gold website, you can request a quote for your sales and also download a 30-day free trial. WhatsUp Gold also uses a device-based pricing model (a device can have multiple items) versus a question, which means it can be cheaper than an alternative (for example, Solarwinds or PRTG).