Server Monitoring is, hands down, the most important task any Information technology professional volition exercise in their daily routine to ensure that all production servers and applications are running at superlative performance without whatsoever hiccups.

Employing the best server monitoring tools and software in your environment volition not only ensure that your machines are running smoothly, just volition keep your job secure as well. There's an old saying almost Backups in IT departments: "Have Good Backups, Or a Good Resume" – this holds true for keeping servers up and good for you as well.

With all that said, we're going to get through a large list of software that will help y'all keep an eye on your infrastructure. We're hoping that our list will aid you determine which software suite will work in your environs, equally each is wildly dissimilar than the next.

Here is our list of the tiptop server monitoring tools:

  1. SolarWinds Server & Awarding Monitor – FREE TRIAL Service that watches the resources on a server as applications use them and reports on chapters problems through an alerting machinery. Installs on Windows Server.
  2. Paessler PRTG – Gratis TRIAL A packet of monitoring tools that cover server performance bug as well equally network and application performance. Installs on Windows Server.
  3. Datadog Server Monitoring – Gratuitous TRIAL Bully for monitoring processors and resources on physical servers. Cloud-based system that watches over servers and provides detailed logs.
  4. Site24x7 Server Monitoring – Complimentary TRIAL A cloud-based monitoring platform that covers networks, servers, and applications that includes hypervisor monitoring.
  5. SentryOne SQL Sentry – Costless TRIAL A monitoring organization for SQL Server that also covers the underlying support structure including Windows and Linux servers. Available for Windows Server or as an Azure service.
  6. Progress WhatsUp Aureate A network performance monitor that can be extended to monitor servers and applications also. Installs on Windows Server.
  7. ITRS OP5 Monitor An infrastructure monitoring arrangement that includes concern tracking procedures. Installs on Linux and can run on Windows Server over a hypervisor or on cloud platforms.
  8. ManageEngine OpManager A server and network monitoring package that includes virtualization performance tracking. Installs on Windows Server and Linux.
  9. Incinga 2 A costless infrastructure monitor that was adult from a fork of Nagios Core that incudes server monitoring. Installs on Linux.
  10. Zabbix A free systems monitoring package that includes server monitoring. Runs on Linux, macOS, and Unix.
  11. Nagios XI an infrastructure monitoring system that includes server monitoring functions and is based on the free Nagios Core.
  12. OpenNMS Horizon A free system monitoring package that is primarily a network monitor simply also has server monitoring capabilities.

In terms of monitoring capabilities, many of these software suites provide the functionality, reports and alert systems that are needed to ensure that everything is running meridian notch. We've included some open-source options too, as some engineers and administrators are using them in their environments on a daily basis – although we similar to take a support team backside the production if questions or back up issues arise, as our main task is to keep servers healthy and running at all times, not configuring open up-source software to exercise what we desire it to practice.

All-time Tools for Server Monitoring and Direction of 2021:

Below you'll find a list of our peak choices and a detailed description about them and some screenshots of their Interfaces and options.

1. SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor – Recommended Choice!

The capabilities that SolarWinds SAM has in terms of flexibility and features gives information technology the clear advantage when information technology comes to finding a solution for your monitoring needs. We recently did an commodity on some alternatives to nagios and the only software package that had the ability to Import Nagios Scripts natively was SolarWinds SAM. Many of the other software packages had nice templates for creating/replicating the functionality of Nagios scripts, just only SAM was able to import them directly in and start monitoring within a matter of MINUTES!

On acme of the migration functionality it offers, here are some of the top features that come with Solarwinds SAM that brand information technology stand alee of the competition:

  • Automatic Mapping and Discovery of Applications and Dependencies
  • Pre-packaged and Pre-Built Reports and Alerts for quick Setup
  • Out-of-the-Box back up for over 200 Applications (Windows and Linux)
  • Agent or Agentless Monitoring for Public, Individual or Cloud Applications/Servers
  • Monitor Virtualized Environments including products and VM'southward from VMware, Hyper-5 and SANS devices
  • AppInsight™ characteristic for intricate visibility into specific Microsoft Processes including Exchange Server, IIS and SQL Server
  • 800+ Custom User Generate Monitoring Templates
  • Automatic Discovery of It Asset for Tracking and Management
  • Monitor Server Volumes and Storage Capacity for Proper chapters Planning
  • Fix Server Problems remotely with built-in Troubleshooting Features and Tools
  • Support Operating Systems and Applications include: Windows Servers, Linux, Java, Active Directory, Citrix and many more than
  • Deep Analysis and Monitoring of SQL Server, including Connections, Sessions, Disk I/O, Storage Capacity, DB Transactions, CPU Usage and much more
  • Granular monitoring of Memory (RAM), Hard disk drive Usage, CPU/Processor Usage, Critical Services, and general Hardware within Servers.
  • Cloud Monitoring including Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure and Rackspace out-of-the-box
  • Easy to Use and Access Web based interface

Minimum System Requirements:

  • CPU: two.4Ghz
  • Retentiveness/RAM: 4GB
  • HDD: 4GB
  • OS: Windows Server 2008 R2 , 2012 and 2012 R2 – All crave .Net Framework iv.5
  • Database: SQL Server Express/Standard/Enterprise
    • SQL Server 2008, 2008 SP1, 2008 SP2, 2008 SP3, or 2008 SP4
    • SQL Server 2008 R2, 2008 R2 SP1, 2008 R2 SP2, or 2008 R2 SP3
    • SQL Server 2012, 2012 SP1, 2012 SP2, or 2012 SP3
    • SQL Server 2014, or 2014 SP1
    • SQL Server 2016
  • IIS v7.5 or College

Screenshots

Automated Application server discovery

Custom Monitor Types

Main Dashboard for SAM

it assest tracking and inventory monitoring using SAM

Monitoring and Alerts

Monitoring AppInsight for Exchange Server

AppInsight IIS Server

monitoring hardware health
monitoring hardware health
Process and Service monitors
Process and Service monitors
Reporting Examples
Reporting Examples
Server monitoring Dashboard
Server monitoring Dashboard
Solarwinds appstack
SolarWinds appstack
Storage Capacity planning
Storage Capacity planning
vmware and hyper-v Virtualization summary and monitoring
vmware and hyper-v Virtualization summary and monitoring
volume and storage monitoring
volume and storage monitoring

Take hold of a 30 Day Gratuitous Trial of SolarWinds SAM today and become it installed to really run across its Functionality.

2. Paessler PRTG – FREE TRIAL

PRTG has been effectually for quite some fourth dimension now and its been evolving into a dandy piece of software that has tons of bells and whistles. We've used this in our own environment for monitoring uptimes and critical services earlier nosotros moved over to SolarWinds SAM, as we mentioned to a higher place.

PRTG offers a wide range of features and functions likewise every bit a prissy trial period that allows y'all to monitor upward to 100 sensors at no cost and then goes up from there in pricing.

Chief Features of PRTG:

  • Relatively small download size sitting at 180MB
  • Can exist installed on Desktop versions of Windows besides equally Server versions as well
  • Upward/DOWN Time monitoring
  • Bandwidth monitoring using SNMP, WMI and other popular protocols
  • and much more!

Organisation Requirements:

  • Processor: Minimum Dual Cadre x64
  • Retentiveness/RAM: Minimum 3GB, Recommended 16GB for Mid to Big Surroundings
  • HDD: Minimum 250GB Disk Space up to 1TB of space
  • Bone: Recommended Windows Server 2012 R2 w/ .Net Framework 4.0 or 4.five (can be installed on desktop versions of Windows as Trial, but not Recommended for Product)
    • Supported OS's include:
      • Microsoft Windows 2012
      • Microsoft Windows x
      • Microsoft Windows 8 and 8.ane
      • Microsoft Windows seven
      • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 r2
      • Microsoft Windows Server 2016
      • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (Not recommended per PRTG website)
      • Microsoft Windows Vista (Not recommended per PRTG website)

Screenshots:

prtg jitter monitor

Run into there official site for more information and download links: https://world wide web.paessler.com/prtg. Paesler likewise ofer a 30-day free trial of PRTG.

Download PRTG Now!

3. Datadog Server Monitoring – Complimentary TRIAL

Datadog Server Monitoring provides server monitoring and besides watches over all of the applications and services that support your user-facing software. This package is able to monitor deject resources likewise as on-site servers.

Datadog Server Monitoring

Included features are:

  • Monitors processor action and all resources on physical servers
  • Monitors cloud-based virtual servers and serverless systems
  • Tracks activities in virtualizations
  • Container monitoring and direction
  • Monitors database systems
  • Watches over web servers
  • Examines event logs

Arrangement requirements:

  • This is a deject-based arrangement

Screenshots:

Datadog Server Monitoring

Datadog

Download a fourteen-twenty-four hours free trial of Datadog Infrastructure:

https://www.datadoghq.com/free-datadog-trial/

Start fourteen-24-hour interval FREE TRIAL!

4. Site24x7 Server Monitoring – Gratuitous TRIAL

Site24x7 is a cloud-based system that is offered in a number of modules. Site24x7 Infrastructure is the group'southward monitoring solution for servers and it too covers networks and applications. The utilize of virtualizations is also covered past this tool.

Included Features are:

  • Alive reporting on server resources, such equally CPU, memory, and processor capacity and utilization.
  • Monitors Linux and Windows Server.
  • Bachelor in a version that is suitable or employ by managed service providers (MSPs).
  • Monitors VMWare, Hyper-5, Docker, and Nutanix virtualizations.
  • Monitoring system for Microsoft services, such as Exchange Server, IIS, and SQL Server.
  • Raises alerts when server operation issues are spotted.

Organisation Requirements:

  • This is a deject-based service

Screenshots:

Site24x7 Network Performance Monitor

Site24x7 Storage Monitoring

Download a 30-day free trial of Site24x7 Infrastructure:

https://www.site24x7.com/signup.html

Site24x7 Gratis Trial!

5. SentryOne SQL Sentry – Costless TRIAL

SentryOne SQL Picket is a monitoring system for SQL Server. However, information technology includes boosted monitoring services for the underlying infrastructure that supports those databases. This stack monitoring includes virtualizations, operating systems, and physical server resources. The service is able to monitor the performance on Windows and Linux plus the Azure and Amazon cloud platforms.

Included Features are:

  • Correlation between database activity and server resource usage
  • Supervision of server resource availability
  • Operating system operation monitoring for Windows and Linux
  • Monitoring of hosts and VM in Hyper-5 and VMWare virtualizations
  • Alerts for resource issues and operation problems
  • Historical analysis services

System Requirements:

  • An Azure service
  • Windows Server (on premises)

Screenshots:

SentryOne SQL Sentry

SentryOne SQL Server Hyper-V Monitoring SentryOne SQL Sentry Query Performance Monitoring

Download a 14-day free trial of SentryOne SQL Scout:

https://www.sentryone.com/products/sentryone-platform/win-spotter/windows-performance-monitoring

Outset Gratis Trial!

6. Progress WhatsUp Gold

WhatsUp Gold 2017 is another great tool for managing and monitoring servers with its latest offering, they have come up upwardly to par similar many other software suites we have mentioned as well, with many of the same features.

Included Features are:

  • New UI for Added Visualization for Intuitive and Map-Focused viewing
  • Advanced Auto-Discovery that utilizes proprietary algorithm to avoid indistinguishable hardware and L2/L3 scanning capabilities
  • Hyper-V Back up
  • IPv6 Compatible
  • Global Search functionality and much more

System Requirements:

  • Processor: Quad-Core 2.6Ghz or More
  • Memory/Ram: Minimum 8GB, Recommended 16GB or More
  • HDD: Minimum 25GB for base Install and 4 10 100GB for Database
  • Bone:
  • Database:

Screenshots:

whatsup gold 2017

Download WhatsUp Aureate Complimentary and Try Today:

https://world wide web.ipswitch.com/forms/free-trials/whatsup-gold

7. OP5

OP5 is an open-source solution that gives you lot the flexibility of an open-source platform with the enterprise support of any other production we've mentioned in this article. You will need to buy a license to accomodate the software after the 30 Twenty-four hour period Gratuitous Trial regardless of it being open-source.

Some notable features include:

  • Server & Virtual Server monitoring capabilities
  • Public, Private and Hybrid Cloud monitoring
  • Scalable to monitor Information centers as well
  • Reporting and other Visual metrics
  • Integrated Log Server congenital into the platform
  • and much more!

System Requirements:

  • Processor: Xeon Processor (1 10 Xeon E3-1220v3, one x Xeon E5-2620v3 or two x Xeon E5-2620v)
  • Retentivity/Ram: Minimum 8GB up to 24GB
  • HDD: Minimum 500GB Hardware Raid Recommended
  • Bone: RedHat 6.x and CentOS 6.10 (x64 for Both) or op5 Server OS.

Screenshots:

op5

Run across the Official site for Download Links and more data:

https://www.op5.com

8. ManageEngine OpManager

ManageEngine is constantly striving to put out a peachy production, OpManager, and is gaining a lot of traction in the It realm. OpManager brings server monitoring to your finger tips and allows y'all to view everything on a nicely laid out interface.

OpManager has the following features:

  • Network health and Server overview and monitors
  • Bandwidth and Firewall log Analysis
  • Config Management
  • VM and VOIP functionality
  • and much more

Organisation Requirements (via: http://help.opmanager.com/hardware-and-software-requirements):

  • Processor: Intel Quad iii.5Ghz
  • Memory/Ram: 16GB
  • HDD: 60GB
  • Bone: Windows:2012 R2 / 2012 / 2008 R2 / 2008 / 2003 Server / Vista / v7 / 2000 Professional SP4 or Linux: RedHat 4.x and above, Debian 3.0, Suse, Fedora and Mandrake
  • Database: MSSQL 2008, 2012 and 2014

Screenshots:

OpManager Dashboard
OpManager Dashboard

Download & More information at

https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/

9. Incinga

Incinga is another bang-up open-source platform that has some bully functionality and isn't every bit well known every bit well-nigh of these software packages. Incinga features include some of the post-obit highlights:

  • Object-Based configuration
  • Simple Install scripts
  • Multi-threaded and Designed for Speed
  • and much more!

Organisation Requirements:

  • Processor: Minimum Dual Cadre, Recommend Quad Core
  • Memory/Ram: Minimum 4GB
  • Bone: Red Lid/ Cent Os, Suse Linux, Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, FreeBSD and Windows compatible.

Screenshots:

incinga screenshot

For more data, check out their official site:

https://www.icinga.org/

ten. Zabbix

Zabbix is a real-time monitoring solution that is very scalable and can collect data from millions of different types of services, hardware, software and more. Its Enterprise course and has scalability congenital into it.

Zabbix pricing model is based on upgrades and back up, equally the software is open source and gratuitous to download and use. We adopt software packages that accept support built into the pricing model from the get become, but this is another way that open source solutions are existence maintained and supported in recent times.

Features Include:

  • Chapters Planning
  • Functioning, Availability, Web App, Database and Network Hardware monitoring
  • and much more than

System Requirements:

  • Processor: Minimum 2 Core CPU and up to 8 Cores if necessary
  • Retention/Ram: Minimum 2GB and 16GB Recommended for Big Deployements
  • HDD: Minimum 15GB
  • Database: MySql, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQLite or IBM DB2
  • Bone Supported:

    • Linux

    • IBM AIX

    • FreeBSD

    • NetBSD

    • OpenBSD

    • HP-UX

    • Mac Bone X

    • Solaris

    • Windows: all desktop and server versions since 2000 (Zabbix agent only)

Screenshots:

zabbix screenshot

For more information, check out their official site:

https://www.zabbix.com/download

xi. Nagios

Nagios is ane of the more popular open-source solutions although it lacks in some areas in terms of ease of use and congenital-in functionality. Many Information technology admins prefer using Nagios due to the cost savings, which are nice when your on a budget, but many folks accept also moved away from it and found alternative Nagios solutions.

All the same, its still a very popular choice amid Network Administrators and engineers for utilizing as a monitoring system and has a lot of add-on's that give information technology the same capabilities and functionality that you get from Enterprise level software solutions.

Notable Features include:

  • Comprehensive application, services, operating organisation, Network and overall infrastructure monitoring capabilities.
  • Customizable Code and Add-on'due south for more flexibility
  • Reporting and Issue functionality
  • Agile Forum and Community for Development and troubleshooting

System Requirements:

  • Processor: Minimum Dual Core, Recommended Quad Core or more.
  • Memory/Ram: Recommended 1-4GB minimum and more 8GB'south if possible
  • HDD: Minimum 40GB
  • Database: MySQL

Screenshots:

nagiox xi

For more than data, check out https://world wide web.nagios.org for official download links and more!

12. OpenNMS

OpenNMS is the final tool we'd recommend and it has a great list of features that make information technology stand up out among the residue. Features include many of the following:

  • Service Outage Detection
  • Topology Discovery and Mapping
  • Event-Driven Architecture
  • Performance Metric Direction
  • and much more!

Organisation Requirements:

  • Processor: 64-bit Processor
  • Memory/Ram: At To the lowest degree 4Gb of Ram
  • Os: Centos or Scarlet Hat Linux, Debian or Ubuntu, Windows Server, Vagrant
  • Database: PostgreSQL

Screenshots:

opennms screenshot

For more information, check out their official site:

https://world wide web.opennms.org/en

Determination

We promise this overview of the best server monitoring tools and software was helpful in making your decision on which software package you should try out. Almost every single one of these offers a Trial for at least thirty days and they are all very well suited for almost whatsoever network.

Nosotros are currently using SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor in our network and love it. We suggest it to all our clients and anyone nosotros consult for as it really gives a neat overview of your network, the alerts are very easy to setup along with proper reporting.

We accept even Migrated users abroad from Nagios to SolarWinds because they have a congenital-in Import tool to pull the scripts directly into the software allowing you to exist monitoring within a few minutes time.

Catch a Free Trial Download here and give a whirl!
Download Free Trial Now!

Related Post: All-time Hardware Monitoring Software and Tools