2015-05-26T19:10:00Z

Zabbix vs. Groundwork vs. other IT Infrastructure Monitoring tools

Does anyone have an evaluation matrix about "best-of-both-worlds" between Zabbix, Groundwork and another IT Infrastructure Monitoring tools?

I'm looking for the following info:

  • Features
  • Requirements
  • Support
  • Other variables

Thanks!

it_user238515 - PeerSpot reviewer
Incident and Problem Manager with 1,001-5,000 employees
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11
PeerSpot user
11 Answers
it_user4329 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager of Engineering with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
2015-05-30T19:21:13Z
May 30, 2015

I believe there is one on Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_network_monitoring_systems
However a matrix often doesn't tell the whole story.

My advice is to try several of them out.

The Wikipedia feature matrix looks useful, but just because one
product looks like it has "all" of the features doesn't make it
better, or even very good.

The more scalable systems run better under Linux, than Windows. If
you think you want a windows based system because it will be easier
because you know windows, that is a reasonable point of view. However
comprehensive network monitoring is not an "easy" thing, so ease is
not something you should be expecting if you want a really
comprehensive system. On the other hand, if all you want to do is see
if you can ping some servers, then anything will work, and your task
should be easy.

Look for a tool that addresses your most important challenge. For
example if you have a network supporting voip phones using Cisco
infrastructure, and you are seeing voice quality issues, then focus on
what system will solve those specific problems.

I like systems that have a lot of ways to add my own customizations,
and my most important systems have a lot of my own code running to
collect data that is fed up to the monitoring system. Flexibility to
solve more than "can I ping" is present in most systems, but not all
systems will let you easily add new features of your own.

I use zabbix. I have been monitoring complex infrastructure for 25
years, and I have investigated most of the tools out there, and used
many of the most popular systems, and Zabbix was the first one that I
loved. I have it alerting me when a user responds to phishing emails,
monitoring my server HVAC systems, producing SLA reports on demand,
and alerting me when someone leaves a door ajar... in addition to
watching every port on my network, every aspect of my servers, etc.
But *I* did that, Zabbix was just a tool to get me there.

Zabbix is the first affordable system I used that was nearly complete
to begin with. And to me it is easier to customize than most other
systems. But your experience WILL be different. So try several out,
and be prepared for it to take a LOT of your time.

George Wenzel

Product comparison that may be of interest to you
2019-12-09T08:44:25Z
Dec 9, 2019

Please check this link also https://www.appsandreports.com/all-software-categories

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
2015-05-28T22:30:15Z
May 28, 2015

please find the link to the comparison between the 4 network monitoring tools i mentioned : http://www.docdroid.net/11szk/network-monitors.pdf.html

it_user238515 - PeerSpot reviewer
Incident and Problem Manager with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
2015-05-28T18:42:26Z
May 28, 2015

Hi, I found this website. It´s amazing. Yoo can choice the software you wish to compare:
http://network-management.softwareinsider.com/compare/54-60-106/GroundWork-Monitor-vs-ZABBIX-vs-Pandora-FMS

it_user238515 - PeerSpot reviewer
Incident and Problem Manager with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
2015-05-28T17:10:40Z
May 28, 2015

Please Anuj Could you provide us your experience ?? Thanks

Ariel Lindenfeld - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Community at PeerSpot
Vendor
2015-05-28T17:08:57Z
May 28, 2015

@Anuj Sethi - yes, can you please share it here with the community? Thanks!

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it_user76665 - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Real User
2015-05-28T16:14:48Z
May 28, 2015

http://blog.unicsolution.com/2013/11/best-monitoring-solution-omd-nagios.html

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
2015-05-28T15:15:16Z
May 28, 2015

Hello,

I had recently compared Zabbix, Solarwinds, PRTG and Nagios as prospective
network monitoring tools. If you are interested in the same, I can provide
you the document.

Thanks
Anuj Sethi

it_user238515 - PeerSpot reviewer
Incident and Problem Manager with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
2015-05-28T14:12:40Z
May 28, 2015

Thanks a lot to Tanmoy I´m using the link and is very helpful for us. Danila: I´m starting to use Zabbix and it looks very well Thanks

it_user182061 - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineer at a financial services firm
Vendor
2015-05-28T12:43:44Z
May 28, 2015

I haven't use Groundwork, but I love zabbix.

it_user171048 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
2015-05-28T12:23:37Z
May 28, 2015

Please check this link if it helps

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_network_monitoring_systems

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Hi Experts, I am a Monitoring Tools Architect with nine years of IT Operations Management experience as an infrastructure specialist, working on various monitoring tools implementation, upgrades & production support. We are evaluating both Zabbix and SolarWinds NPM.What is the main difference between the two?Thanks for your help. I appreciate it!
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DC
Co-Founder at Nobius IT
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Disclaimer: Following 2+ decades of working with big-vendor IT Ops Mgmt Software - including being technical consultant employed by a global ITOM vendor - I have formed a business focussed on Zabbix. I will do my best to remain neutral. For me, both are flexible, highly configurable, stable solutions with a solid history and reputation. In terms of raw features there very little to choose between them. IT monitoring solutions have, in my opinion, entered a 'Red Queen Game' phase of evolution. This means that big vendors are introducing features purely because other vendors have them rather than because customers need them. In turn, this leads to justifying annual license increases to support features that are not relevant to the vast majority of customers. To balance that statement a little, I'm sure every individual feature in a given product is used somewhere. Big vendors must recoup development costs. For example, if a large multi-national Telco demands a feature then that feature will be developed and incorporated into the product. The cost of that development will be recouped in the following year's maintenance renewal contract and spread across ALL users of the product irrespective of whether a given feature is used. However, I digress. Your question was regarding Zabbix vs. Solarwinds Where there is a significant difference is in the Total Cost of Ownership. Zabbix is a true Open Source solution with zero licensing cost. Paid support is available directly from Zabbix. I can't comment directly on SolarWinds support, however the majority of major vendors typically charge approximately 22% of the original purchase price (plus an annual uplift) for support and maintenance. Zabbix support, directly from Zabbix, is not dependant on the number of devices being monitored. Zabbix's support is based on the number of Zabbix servers and proxies deployed. I believe, albeit only anecdotally, that Zabbix offers better scalability and performance compared to Solarwinds. Where Solarwinds does seem to impress is in the visual side. Graphs and navigation is "prettier" than Zabbix. Both solutions offer agent-based and agentless monitoring, discovery, templates, alerting, correlation etc. In my opinion, because the IT monitoring market has evolved to become almost commoditized there is no "better" or "worse" product. The criteria is no longer which is the better product, but which product meets your specific needs at your specific budget. And don't forget that with any tool you will need to administer and maintain it. At this point, the ability and skills of the administrator needs to be considered as well. For me, it's Zabbix every time but then again, I would say that wouldn't I.
it_user1043517 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of IT Governance Service at ITGSTORE
Nov 27, 2019
Hello , just to let you know about my modest contribution, indeed its two tools are very practical: The choice of one of the solutions depends on two factors: - The price and the competence of the system administrators Zabbix is ​​a free tool and requires a strong Linux, Scripting skill for all that is custom supervision. integration with third-party tools ( Grafana Dashbord , Ticketing Tools ...) Solarwinds is very intuitive and complete (reporting, view, resources, NOC view) all its features are integrated and easily configurable. Regards Arsène
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