Unauthorized access to crucial or production servers is prevalent in intranet or internet networks. It may result in the disclosure of private business data, remote control of servers, hacking of important databases, and other things. According to the Global Statcounter report, the biggest market share among all operating systems worldwide as of December 2021 belonged to Windows Server at 31.44%. Therefore, maintenance, monitoring, and security are becoming increasingly important due to the widespread use of Windows servers in businesses and organizations. To keep your server secure and prevent catastrophic failures, we examine the best Windows Server monitoring software in this area.
Why Is Windows Server Monitoring Essential?
Admins can prevent significant breakdowns and outages and avoid SLA violations by monitoring Windows servers. They can also track and respond to errors, problems, and downtime. Without monitoring software, administrators would be reactive, responding to issues only after an event had occurred and then searching for bottlenecks to identify potential fixes. Unfortunately, critical issues can sometimes happen when Windows servers are not real-time monitored.
For instance, if an unidentified IP address attempts to access a server and is successful, the security of the entire domain and network may be compromised, causing significant losses for both small and large businesses. In addition to being extremely valuable for issue and incident management, Windows server monitoring also helps with general project operations management. Also, to avoid harsh fines and a loss of credibility, it helps businesses and companies fulfill their SLA commitments. To prevent catastrophic catastrophes and maintain a reliable infrastructure, we will examine the popular solutions for Windows server monitoring in this post.
Top 10 Windows Server Monitoring Tools
We’ve compiled a list of Windows Server Monitoring tools to help you find the right one.
1. Syskit
A tool for managing and monitoring business servers is called Syskit Monitor. It is used to monitor RDP connections, Gateways, SQL, Sharepoint, Citrix, Windows servers, and virtual applications running on those servers. The software helps in auditing user activities in addition to monitoring. Monitoring server performance in CPU, memory, and disk utilization, SQL transactions, IIS connections, remote connections to servers, and other tasks are among the primary roles. The software also tracks server consumption in terms of access time, active connections, and utilization effectiveness. In addition, Syskit tracks user activity related to server connections, user logins, outlets, etc. For 30 days, this software is free to use. After that, the pricing per server per year starts at $199.
2. Sysguage
The server monitoring software Sysguage helps monitor and access all hardware resources necessary to start a Windows server. One of the simplest software programs for organizing, monitoring, and reviewing reports and taking essential actions as necessary. By identifying greater usages and bottlenecks, its user-friendly interface helps simplify the administration and management of Windows servers. You may even tailor counters to suit your infrastructure needs thanks to pre-configured metrics, which make monitoring easier and faster. In a client-server architecture, the server package is installed on the server, and metrics can be accessed via the client interface software from any system connected to the network.
The client interface helps set up email warnings for threshold violations, monitor performance through various reports, and more. System administrators can monitor up to 205 resource counters on Windows servers, including processor threads, memory usage, disk activity, network activity, and TCP/IP protocol. Network Attached Server (NAS), SQL Server, and IIS Server may be monitored in addition to these resources. Its reporting engine provides a variety of alerts and reports, including emails, Excel reports, PDF reports, audio error alerts, and more. Consider buying the easy-to-manage Sysguage Server software, which costs $125 and comes with a year of support, to acquire an early track record of Windows servers.
3. PAESSLER
Since 1997, PAESSLER, one of the oldest companies, has provided monitoring solutions to businesses of all sizes and sectors. As a result, 5 lakh consumers worldwide trust this software. Windows server monitoring is one of the features of the comprehensive software PAESSLER AG Network Monitor. To gather and display monitoring metrics for Windows servers in its consolidated dashboard, PRTG uses various technologies, including WMI (Windows management instrumentation), Windows performance counters, SNMP, packet sniffer, and Netflow. It is an all-encompassing piece of software that helps monitor all types of servers, including virtual, database, email, and web servers, as well as their crucial metrics like uptime, CPU and memory consumption, disk activity, traffic bandwidth, etc.
It monitors the hardware resources of Windows servers and helps with basic troubleshooting tasks like tracking server patches and updates and alerting about incomplete upgrades. Its built-in alerts also deliver messages when resource thresholds are exceeded, among other things. It is one of the quickest monitoring software since administrators need to input an IP range to monitor. Its built-in auto-detection, and pre-configured sensors will start auto-discovery. Specified sensors that adhere to industry standards will start monitoring your servers immediately. After 30 days, the software automatically switches back to its free restricted edition. Well, the full version of the PRTG software can be installed and used without charge. A perpetual license and subscription are included with the premium version. The cost for monitoring 50 devices and 500 attributes starts at $1750.
4. Opsview
End-to-end IT services, applications, and solutions may be seen, analyzed, monitored, and automated using Opsview. Databases, operating systems, networks, websites, and more are supported by Opsview, as well as virtual environments (AWS, Azure). Opsview fits seamlessly into any environment, regardless of scale, kind, product, or depth, for IT administrators or systems administrators searching for a monitoring and management solution for their IT infrastructure. The starting price varies by host and is 4.5 euros (Enterprise Edition) per host/month.
5. ManageEngine
Well, Gartner’s 2021 Magic Quadrant for Application Performance Monitoring is among the 120 accolades that ManageEngine Application Monitoring software has won for various IT management tools. One of the features of the ManageEngine Application Monitoring software is the monitoring of Windows servers. Application Monitoring is a comprehensive monitoring tool that monitors the hardware and software resources of Windows servers, Windows clusters, SQL, web servers, virtual servers, website statistics, and other resources. The thorough performance counters for hardware component monitoring provide information on important variables like CPU fan speed, core temperature and usage, disk I/O data, and more.
Basic troubleshooting procedures, including threshold alarms, email or SMS notifications for Windows events relating to applications, the operating system, security, file replication services, DNS servers, server restarts, disk space concerns, and more, are handled by the software. On the reporting front, several reports, including capacity planning reports that assist in anticipating server overuse and underuse to prevent a server overload or crash, may be fetched from the dashboard. There are two versions of this software: Professional and Enterprise. The license is available in subscription and perpetual editions for users to use. Start at $395 for a subscription license. The first 30 days of using this software are free. After that, a free version with fewer features is also available.
6. Icinga
Icinga Infrastructure Monitoring may monitor large and complicated settings across several locations. The platform gathers information for reporting purposes, monitors network resources, and alerts users to errors. It is a full-stack monitoring suite that monitors cloud infrastructure, metrics, log files, monitoring automation, and more. Visit the Icinga demo page to view the live demo. On-premises and in the cloud, the software monitors Linux, UNIX, and Windows servers, alerts administrators to errors, and helps them resolve them immediately.
By gathering and analyzing data to quickly spot issues, a single dashboard helps monitor the whole infrastructure. Its scalability paradigm allows many configuration, automation, scaling, etc., opportunities and readily adapts to your existing infrastructure. Icinga even interacts with DevOps tools to develop specialized monitoring solutions for your infrastructure requirements. Icinga may live in a big, diverse environment. The software provides useful insights, warnings, visual images, and analytics to provide end-to-end coverage and enhance business outcomes. It addresses six critical infrastructure domains. For a quote, prices are available upon request.
7. SolarWinds
All Microsoft services and products, including Windows Server, SQL-DB, Hyper-V, Azure, and more, are monitored by SolarWinds. Solarwind servers and application monitoring software (SAM) monitor large platforms like Azure Monitor and AWS IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. SAM tracks performance, uptime, capacity, and resource use across the Microsoft IT stack. One of the crucial requirements for taking preventative measures to minimize crashes and interruptions is the ability to quickly identify when server resources exceed critical alerts and thresholds using SAM prognostic indicators. The SAM monitors hardware and software, including CPU, disk, network load balancing, print, remote desktop, FTP, and other services.
The software also tracks metrics for CPU time, pages per second, disk queues, and other performance indicators. The Solarwind software, which allows configurable server monitoring via APIs and more than 1200 monitoring templates, is one of the benefits for businesses with heterogeneous environments. SAM is used for basic troubleshooting, which includes finding hardware errors, restarting the server, and monitoring server health. The central SAM console from Solarwinds can closely monitor Windows Server, Active Directory, IIS, Exchange Server, Dynamics CRM, Skype for Business, SQL Server, SharePoint, DHCP, and DNS. The SAM price for a yearly subscription starts at $1,663. For 30 days at no charge, the software may be tried in your environment.
8. Zabbix
Zabbix is open-source software expertly created to track and monitor any statistic from any IT infrastructure source. The cloud, virtual machines, network parameters, servers, services, databases, applications, and websites are all monitored by Zabbix software, which also monitors their health. While other infrastructure components can be monitored using protocols like SNMP, TCP, ICMP, etc., Windows servers must have the Zabbix agent installed in order to be monitored in depth.
To assess performance for effective server infrastructure management, the software helps to monitor, track, and show every minute aspect of servers, including CPU, memory, file system, physical disk, etc., using XML-based templates. Its email-based notifications make it possible to respond quickly to server problems. This software produces the best results in reporting and visualizing high-quality capacity planning data. In addition, the servers’ health may be remotely monitored and supported thanks to its web-based UI. Zabbix is available for usage by both small and large companies, and it is free. Zabbix is free. It offers paid customer service.
9. Nagios XI
Millions of customers, ranging from tiny businesses to the Fortune 500, rely on the corporate server and network monitoring software Nagios XI. It offers comprehensive IT infrastructure monitoring with simplicity of use, performance, and customization. The software covers applications, services, operating systems, system protocols, network infrastructure, and system metrics. Nagios XI can monitor practically all applications, services, and internal systems through interaction with hundreds of third-party add-ons, making it suitable for settings with various configurations. The software is constructed with four monitoring engines offering the greatest server performance monitoring level with high efficacy and scalability.
Nagios XI offers complete real-time monitoring of crucial Windows services, including Internet Information Server (IIS), Active Directory, DHCP, Exchange Server, DNS, and more. It also monitors system metrics, processes, performance counters, event logs, etc. In addition, the software tracks all aspects of the server hardware, including memory performance, hard disk use, network information, and CPU utilization trends. Advanced user management, easy setup, automated discovery, system upgrades based on capacity planning, and other features are also available to system administrators. Standard and corporate editions of the Nagios XI start at $1,995. This software does not operate under a subscription licensing model; however, it may be used for free for 30 days before being purchased.
10. Checkmk
Checkmk is a comprehensive monitoring tool for servers, applications, and networks. As a result of years of study and user input, the software is easy to use. Its core engine features a highly scalable design that supports millions of devices scattered over numerous locations, thousands of services, and hundreds of websites. In addition, the Checkmk automation portion is flexible. It contains REST-API-based configuration automation, automated Ephemeral infrastructure monitoring, a rule-based 1-to-N configuration that reduces configuration in complicated systems, and API-based automation of third-party applications.
There are 1900 plugins in the software database, making it simple to integrate practically any software. By connecting with third-party tools like Jira, Slack, PagerDuty, etc., and VictorOps, the proper indications may be monitored and tracked in heterogeneous environments, such as easy-to-handle situations. Checkmk is one of the best monitor software options for modest to complicated infrastructure. Its use of advanced analytics based on observational algorithms that forecast thresholds based on past events is one of its unique selling points. The configuration may be readily modified to suit all hardware and software monitoring, troubleshooting, log monitoring, reporting, and interaction with ITOM/ITSM tools to simplify workflows and automate configuration, scalability, and other needs. A free version of the software supports 25 hosts, and its pricing starts at 600 euros.
The Bottom Line:
For companies of all sizes and industries, monitoring Windows servers has become a crucial duty. Windows server monitoring is essential for businesses to take preventative measures to identify issues, solve them before they become bigger problems, and steer clear of high-priority occurrences.
Windows server monitoring software helps to identify a range of server problems, such as RAM leaks, to address performance issues, prevent hackers from gaining access, block updates from unreliable resources, quickly identify bottlenecks, and most importantly, aid in troubleshooting and speed up the server’s return to service.
Since technology is developing much faster than before, in today’s world, automation is taking the place of manual tasks. As a result, tools or software that aids in automation would be a good replacement for manual tasks, ensuring higher uptime of the servers and thereby improving server dependability, including applications, services, processes, etc.