Evaluation
I am considering the purchase of several of your packages for monitoring and reporting network and system health. I am impressed with the information available and utility of the programs. However, I am finding that the programs are not reliable and the responses from technical support seem inappropriate.
Recent Issues:
Opsmanager resource managers do not report memory, cpu or disk utilization in the graphs provided. "Data not available" is all that is displayed. Yes, it has the correct community string. Yes it has the correct WMI information (username and password). If the resource listing is deleted and re-installed using the web interface and tested, it reports success, updates the graph, and fails to update on subsequent report periods. If deleted and reinstalled using the "client", it updates initially and fails to update on subsequent update periods. After a system reboot, it updates, and fails on subsequent update periods.
Opsmanager "client" and web client have inconsistencies. For instance, one allows you to move an object to a group called Firewalls, the other does not have such a group available.
Opsmanager shows servers as SMTP enabled, while investigations of services running show no trace of SMTP.
Opsmanager support documentation recommends setting WMI login as DOMAIN \\ USERID and PASSWORD. This does not work. Opsmanager web client displays DOMAIN\[]serID (the domain name followed by a single slash and part of the userid) , but does work with single slash set in the web client. I should NOT need to use 2 clients to configure the program.
FirewallManager is used to parse 1.5-2GB syslog files. The system that it resides on requires a reboot every 3 or 4 days, or it will fail to report any data. When it is rebooted, it reports an unclean shutdown of the database, requiring log importing for the period missed. Of course, this happens over the weekend most often, so systems are not reliably monitored during periods of lowest staffing, when a Security Manager would like to be assured that the systems are being monitored.
FirewallManager is not configured by default to group protocols into meaningful groups. This is done manually over time by the Manager or staff. Configuration of these protocol groups is "best guess", and should be handled by actual analysis of the packets if possible, or other definitive methods, not just "uses port 25, must be SMTP". Even if they were grouped as POSSIBLE SMTP, and steps were given for determining for sure what these protocols are.
Again, I am impressed with the product and the interface, but these are not small issues. Couple that with the response from These forums and Tech Support to check and see if the SNMP and WMI passwords are correct after testing shows that they are, and you can surely understand why I am reluctant to commit. I have over 20 years experience in IT, and still am having difficulty getting the products setup and working correctly. I am not perfect, however, that must say something about the products. Please spend the time to create solid, unwavering documentation for installation and configuration. I would hate to pass over your product because I didn't understand some simple part of the install/config process.
I look forward to a response. In the meantime, what are competitive products?
Mark Brunner
IT Security Manager
Fasken Martineau
Recent Issues:
Opsmanager resource managers do not report memory, cpu or disk utilization in the graphs provided. "Data not available" is all that is displayed. Yes, it has the correct community string. Yes it has the correct WMI information (username and password). If the resource listing is deleted and re-installed using the web interface and tested, it reports success, updates the graph, and fails to update on subsequent report periods. If deleted and reinstalled using the "client", it updates initially and fails to update on subsequent update periods. After a system reboot, it updates, and fails on subsequent update periods.
Opsmanager "client" and web client have inconsistencies. For instance, one allows you to move an object to a group called Firewalls, the other does not have such a group available.
Opsmanager shows servers as SMTP enabled, while investigations of services running show no trace of SMTP.
Opsmanager support documentation recommends setting WMI login as DOMAIN \\ USERID and PASSWORD. This does not work. Opsmanager web client displays DOMAIN\[]serID (the domain name followed by a single slash and part of the userid) , but does work with single slash set in the web client. I should NOT need to use 2 clients to configure the program.
FirewallManager is used to parse 1.5-2GB syslog files. The system that it resides on requires a reboot every 3 or 4 days, or it will fail to report any data. When it is rebooted, it reports an unclean shutdown of the database, requiring log importing for the period missed. Of course, this happens over the weekend most often, so systems are not reliably monitored during periods of lowest staffing, when a Security Manager would like to be assured that the systems are being monitored.
FirewallManager is not configured by default to group protocols into meaningful groups. This is done manually over time by the Manager or staff. Configuration of these protocol groups is "best guess", and should be handled by actual analysis of the packets if possible, or other definitive methods, not just "uses port 25, must be SMTP". Even if they were grouped as POSSIBLE SMTP, and steps were given for determining for sure what these protocols are.
Again, I am impressed with the product and the interface, but these are not small issues. Couple that with the response from These forums and Tech Support to check and see if the SNMP and WMI passwords are correct after testing shows that they are, and you can surely understand why I am reluctant to commit. I have over 20 years experience in IT, and still am having difficulty getting the products setup and working correctly. I am not perfect, however, that must say something about the products. Please spend the time to create solid, unwavering documentation for installation and configuration. I would hate to pass over your product because I didn't understand some simple part of the install/config process.
I look forward to a response. In the meantime, what are competitive products?
Mark Brunner
IT Security Manager
Fasken Martineau