Avantra Reviews

We use Avantra primarily for monitoring the scans and performance. We also use it to get a daily check report on the health of the system, transportation numbers, queues, and the like. We also use the dashboard to check on our ticket systems and SAP systems' status. I'm a manager for basis administration and we are customers of Avantra. 

I like that we're able to customize alerts based on need. If you have to go against the out-of-box solution and have it fine-tuned for a specific landscape, it's possible. Management loves the dashboards because they provide real-time data. HANA monitors data from production to the disaster recovery system where everything is captured. All these features come in very handy. I can always see it live because the dashboard is also on my mobile. There is a refresh automation script that they have recently introduced in the enterprise version and I'm really interested to see what Avantra is providing there and how the interface will look.

In terms of machine learning, there are a few areas that can be improved including short terms in the SAP system. Currently, it requires a team member to manually read the short term and then assign it to a team rather than having it assigned automatically. A downside of Avantra is that it comes with predefined values. Another issue is that identical recurring problems create duplicate tickets rather than showing them as repeats. They also need to do some kernel updates which I believe they're working on but I haven't seen it yet; I'm hoping the solution will be completely automated. I would like to see more on the machine-learning front and to have some third-party tools.

I've been using this solution for two years. 

We have a great team and the solution is stable. 

The solution provides good scalability and we have high availability clusters.

I'm very happy with the customer support. We have a weekly call with an Avantra technical person. We tell them if there are any issues and where we'd like to see improvement. They do a great job providing quick fixes and alerting us when they think we need to move to the next version. With some other companies, you need to create a very high alert to just get a response in a couple of hours. 

Positive

The setup is pretty simple. When we initially installed, we had more than 500 incidents. But as I fine-tuned it the number of tickets decreased significantly. It's important to fine-tune your system despite the setup being easy. 

Capacity utilization is very, very important to us and this tool really helps us with that, including on the AWS servers as well.

Licensing is based on your SAP instance which I believe costs around $150 per piece with the cost of the server on top of that. Customer support is included with the license fee.

I tried a couple of other tools before we decided to go with Avantra, one of them was Solution Manager. I was looking specifically for an application-related monitoring tool, especially on the HANA database. The initial setup of Solution Manager takes a lot of time whereas deploying Avantra is quick and simple but you need to continuously work on fine-tuning the solution so that it really gives you the output you want. 

We were able to get a package from Avantra which included everything we needed in a single tool. They came to the company and gave us a half-day session with a demo of what the solution does. 

I definitely recommend this solution, it provides good value for money. You don't see the benefits immediately, it requires fine-tuning the tool, adjusting your SAP system and spending the time to get the benefits. You need to be proactive. 

I rate this solution seven out of 10.

Our primary use of Avantra revolves around two main aspects. Firstly, we rely on Avantra to monitor our complete SAP landscape. Additionally, we have integrated Avantra with ServiceNow, which allows us to create incidents and manage SAP-related issues using ServiceNow incidents. This is one of our use cases. The second use case entails using Avantra extensively for refreshing our SAP systems. We refresh all six SAP systems on a monthly basis using Avantra.

The most valuable feature of Avantra is automation. The reduction of manual work and having them automated is one of the top reasons why I would use it.

We are currently exploring automation options for various areas, and Avantra should consider implementing automation for change request management, an area they have not yet ventured into. While Avantra is currently excelling in monitoring and system refreshes, there is scope for improvement in automating change request management. In addition to primarily focusing on SAP, Avantra currently performs kernel patches which are core SAP patches. However, exploring more into OS patching could be another potential area for Avantra to expand its automation capabilities.

Looking ahead to future releases, I would like to see more advanced automation features. As a long-term goal, I am considering the possibility of automating SAP system upgrades. While this would not be an easy feat, advancements in technology may make it feasible in the future. Overall, a key feature I hope to see in future releases is increased automation capabilities.

I have been using Avantra for approximately three years.

Regarding monitoring, the solution is stable with minimal complaints. However, in terms of system refresh, there are ongoing efforts to enhance efficiency and workflow. The 23.1 version is said to introduce improved workflows and better handling of data export/import compared to the previous version. While there are changes taking place, there is still no solid platform for a refresh, as they are continuously working on improving it. The solution remains stable for monitoring purposes.

Avantra is scalable. You are able to add SAP systems and instances. It can be done easily. 

My team, consisting of about seven members, utilizes Avantra primarily for administrative purposes. However, the entire IT team, including non-technical members, utilizes the dashboard generated by Avantra to monitor the status and health of the system.

We have been in contact with support when we are doing our monthly refreshes. This is due to the solution having some stability issues. However, we have not used the support for monitoring.

The initial setup of Avantra was relatively easy when we installed it three years ago. However, fine-tuning was necessary due to the customized nature of our landscape. Each system, such as SAP BW, ECC, and EWM, required specific customization to optimize its performance. This ongoing process involves adjusting thresholds and settings to continuously improve system performance. It is not a one-time setup where we can forget about it; instead, we must continuously work on it to ensure that our system runs at its best.

We have received a return on investment using Avantra.

Three factors primarily drove our decision to use Avantra. Firstly, its automation capabilities. Secondly, its ease of implementation. And lastly, its affordability, which fits within our budget constraints.

I would highly recommend using this tool to others as it is user-friendly and has undergone significant improvements. However, it is important to note that every system is unique, so some level of customization is necessary. It is not a simple plug-and-play solution, but with some fine-tuning and customization, it can be stabilized and put on autopilot. It does require some initial work, but it is manageable.

I rate Avantra an eight out of ten.

 I gave a high rating to this solution because it is easy to implement and requires minimal work even when upgrading. Moreover, the solution promotes automation, which is crucial for saving time and money, as well as increasing efficiency. Our aim is not to replace any team members, but rather to reduce dependency on them for monitoring the system. Automating the monitoring and ticketing system would be ideal. Additionally, our work involves a lot of repetitive tasks, such as kernel upgrades and system refreshes, which could easily be scripted and automated, reducing our workload on weekends. While the solution is impressive, there is still room for improvement.

We are using Avantra for monitoring servers, like our source servers that are using CPU disk memory. 

It's mainly a server monitoring tool.

We employed it with ServiceNow. While we add the server and the rest of it, we can have the data reflected in the Avantra monitoring tool. It will generate that alerts, et cetera.

It's just very user-friendly, and it's very easy to monitor the servers using Avantra. It's very easy to manage and use.

Avantra has very new features, and there are a lot of options. Everything we have allows us to easily configure. 

The solution is very easy.

It is scalable.

It's stable. 

The product does have a lot of automated features.

Technical support has been great.

The dashboard needs to improve. It's not so clear right now. We need it to be more usable. 

We want all of our reports in one easy-to-access place.

Sometimes we get stuck and have to rest the gateway. After we do that, it'll start working again.

We're still new to the product and we're not using every aspect of it. 

I've used the solution for six months. 

You won't get many issues in Avantra. Overall, it is a stable product. Sometimes, however, we have got some communication glitches. Once we restart the gateway server, then only it will work again. Sometimes we face that kind of issue. Other than that, it's fine. 

The solution is scalable and reliable. 

Most of our customers are using Avantra. We have around 50 companies using it. We're monitoring 5,000 or more servers using this tool.

The support helps with a lot of issues. They are very knowledgeable. We find their service to be very good. 

Positive

I'm currently using Zabbix and CA.

Zabbix is an open-source option, and therefore you don't have access to technical support. You need to use documentation and the community for troubleshooting. Other than that, most tools have the same capabilities. Avantra, however, is a very easy tool to use.

It's a very easy solution. They also integrate with ServiceNow very seamlessly. We have integrated it only with the ServiceNow tool and our internal software. It's very useful. We didn't face many issues in that case. 

I'd rate the solution a five out of five in terms of ease of setup.

We don't really have to deal with any maintenance tasks. If a customer wants to, they can maintain their server, however.

I don't have any access to the pricing, so I can't speak to the cost.

We are not always using the latest version of the solution. 

I want to learn more about the solution and would like to get more training as I'm still new to the product.

I'd recommend the solution to others. Companies get good support and a lot of options. There are multiple modules and functionalities. 

I'd rate the solution a ten out of ten.

• Predictive resource planning
• SAP Landscape mapping
• SAP custom checks

We have automated all the SAP monitoring, including customizing checks for different behavior in on and off hours, third party apps, as well as checks for compliances.

I am still looking for one that really bothers me.

Almost two years.

Deployment was amazingly short and simple. I do not think I have seen any SAP-related product installs ready to work so fast.

Out-of-box it included most of the functions and settings that we needed. Installation took a few hours, then after a couple of weeks of data collection syslink helped us doing some tweaks to optimize it.

No.

No, it is very scalable and upgrades are self-propagating.

Customer Service:

Excellent!

They even did a very fast special feature per our request.

Technical Support:

Excellent!

Yes, we used the SAP Solution Manager. There is nowhere to compare the level of monitoring the Xandria and Solman provide. Xandria is fully automated, across every landscape, and it is easy and intuitive.

Out-of-box it included most of the functions and settings that we needed. Installation took a few hours, then after a couple of weeks of data collection syslink helped us doing some tweaks to optimize it.

We did it on our own with remote support. Their support team was great to work with. Responsive, professional, and friendly.

About 10 months.

It is not as clear, but once you figure it out it is very fair.

I do not think they have a real direct competitor other than SAP Solman.

• SAP Proactive monitoring - allow us to identify potential failures before they happened
• SAP Daily check - automated monitoring and daily checks save my team tons of hours every day
• SAP configuration tracking changes - allow us for faster trouble shooting and identification of the root-cause of an issue

• It prevented two major failures in our SAP production systems.
• It reduced server updates time to 1-2 hours and reduced patch installation times for up to 20 days.
• Adding new system to the monitoring process reduced from half a day to about 30 minutes.

I think the can improve their UI, while very intuitive, I would like to see graphic updates.

One year in current company and three years with a previous employer.

No, very simple and fast deployment, in fact it was up and running in less than a day with minor configuration tweaks later.

No.

No, we use it for over 300 servers (unix and Windows) and over 100 applications and over 100 SAP systems.

Excellent.

Excellent. You can see that they live and breath SAP management solutions

I used IBM Tivoli as well as SAP solution manager. Xandria is a huge improvement over both.

Very simple and fast, half a day for the master, 10 minutes for every server, up and running very fast.

We've done it together and they were helpful and knowledgeable.

Probably a lot less than a year, as just the two failures they saved me plus the daily checks saved us so many man hours.

They offer several different models, see what works for your company.

• BMC Patrol
• IBM Tivoli
• Agentil

I'm very happy with Xandria and the team behind it.