When we need a server monitoring tool that is easy to install, and supports monitoring and reporting out of the box, we like SolarWinds ® Server & Application Monitor (SAM). When you’ve grown past what one polling engine can do, you have to stand up an entire separate solution (complete with a separate database) rather than federating an additional poller into the existing environment. Finally, many open-source solutions don’t scale past a single server. Another thing to consider is security, which may become an issue depending on the tool and your company’s guidelines for security. Open-source monitoring solutions often require significant investments to learn, install, configure, and use. In this server monitoring tools guide, I’m sharing some of my favorites with you below. While the debate about free versus commercial goes on, there are well-recommended, free server and systems monitoring tools that many sysadmins swear by. That’s all great, but how do you pick out the best server monitoring tools in a field of hundreds? Today, there are commercial products, freeware tools, and open-source software to choose from. Even so, budgets aren’t infinite, and sometimes management mistakenly thinks they can do without because, “Everything’s running great right now, and we’ll know if it doesn’t, right?” Because most organizations live or die by their applications (whether it’s critical internally or for external customers), having the right set of tools to monitor and manage your server environment is critical. To build application infrastructure, you start with an architecture, draw the design, then analyze and choose the platform(s) that best fits. If you’re on the hunt for a free tool that can show you if your packets are passing, your routers are routing, and your NetFlow is flowing, you may want to check out my list of must-have top free network monitoring tools. So, I think it’s time to review and update those old choices and possibly add a few new tool reviews into the mix.

In 2015, we reviewed the must-have free systems and server monitoring tools, but (as everyone knows) the landscape has changed for monitoring, free tools, and IT in general.

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