Tool Reviews

Having a tool for network and IT management is crucial for IT departments of all sizes. Spiceworks offers a suite of IT management tools that serves as a great free solution. These various tools can be used together to provide a range of functions, including help desk team management, multi-site support, and inventory management. However,…

While Splunk may seem the obvious choice for log management and log analysis, some alternatives to Splunk are worth considering—many of which I believe lack disadvantages of Splunk and bring unique benefits to the table. Although no solution is perfect, and some will be better suited to your business’ individual needs than others, I feel…

If you’re an admin, you’re likely already familiar with SolarWinds and its array of highly rated products suited for just about every aspect of IT management. But you might not be familiar with SolarWinds® Access Rights Manager (ARM). This software exists because it’s critical for you to manage and audit access rights across the system—the…

The use of container technologies is on the rise. To make the most of this technology, however, you need a way to monitor those containers. Container monitoring solutions provide an automated way to track important metrics for your containers, often with user-friendly visuals. This article will look at what container monitoring is at its core,…

Varonis DatAdvantage is a specialist software solution designed to aggregate information associated with users, permissions, access events, and data. It gives you visibility into your file system permissions, recommendations, audit information, and modeling, and serves as a base for products that enhance its capabilities. This guide will consider why you might choose an alternative to…

When operating within a large business network, it’s vital to understand which of your applications are dependent on which of your server and network resources. If a server or storage device goes down, or a part of the network stops functioning, this will have major impacts upon your dependent applications, and potentially your employees and…

NetFlow, developed by Cisco, is a network protocol designed for the collection of IP traffic information and the monitoring of network traffic. It’s an efficient and popular way of gaining both a broad and detailed picture of what’s happening in your network. Analyzing flow data with NetFlow gives you comprehensive insight into network traffic flow…

Nagios is an extremely popular network monitoring solution. It’s an open source program driven by a large developer community, with users including massive enterprises (like Yahoo, Amazon, and Google), ISPs, and governmental bodies. It was released in 1999, under the name NetSaint, and has been refined over the years by numerous contributors. Nagios has certainly…

MIBs, short for Management Information Bases, are hierarchical databases of information pertaining to monitored devices. They can be accessed through MIB browsers, which retrieve data from SNMP-enabled devices like servers, routers, or switches. There are several MIB browsers on the market, including professional options and free and open-source tools. All these are designed to help…

ManageEngine is a popular IT software company on the market, delivering an impressive range of services covering help desk management, desktop management, application management, IT security management, network and server management, remote work management, privileged access management, and more. ManageEngine products include Service Desk Plus, OpManager, and Desktop Central. ManageEngine is a versatile vendor with…

From keeping track of IT inventory to handling help desk tickets on a daily basis, IT service management (ITSM) has become a mission-critical aspect of operating a successful and growing organization. Accordingly, businesses and other organizations have to be sure they’re giving their IT teams the tools they need to effectively respond to help desk…

As network downtime becomes increasingly expensive, IT departments must prioritize Wi-Fi analysis and invest in the best Wi-Fi analyzer to gauge performance, strengthen security, and prevent failures. There’s no denying it—networking has simultaneously become both more complex and more critical to business operations and everyday functioning. Early networks consisted of devices connected on a single…

A successful SIEM strategy is an investment—and sometimes costly. Managing SIEM is a resource-intensive process, requiring ongoing evaluations and adjustments to establish and maintain optimal performance. Despite this, going without a SIEM solution isn’t the answer, because this can leave you vulnerable to attack. Open-source SIEM and free SIEM tools can seem like the solution….

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. So, I think it’s time to review and update those old choices and possibly add a few new tool reviews into the mix. Just in Case It’s…

Managing patches across numerous workstations and servers is no easy task. But despite the grievances many IT professionals have with patch management (there are too many patches to keep up with, patches can fail during implementation, etc.), practicing patch management is critical. Without proper patch management, you’re exposing your company to hundreds of thousands of…

Server administrators need to balance client capabilities, user interface, and security concerns when choosing the right free FTP software for their business. It’s no secret that, despite the persistent popularity of file transfer protocol (FTP), the evolution of cybersecurity threats, safety standards, and cloud-based storage systems has changed the file transfer landscape. These elements have…

With the unrelenting news about security breaches, file integrity monitoring (FIM) software has become an indispensable tool for any organization. It helps improve data security, which is important for any company and shouldn’t be ignored. What Is File Integrity Monitoring? As opposed to other security measures, FIM solutions are specifically designed to monitor changes in…

Datadog is a well-known and popular tool, and the company that produces it is growing rapidly. At the same time, the application performance management market is also growing rapidly, and although Datadog is performing well, competition is increasing in the market. Many enterprises are finding competitors and similar tools are also useful, and in many…

With more and more employees working from home, it’s important for businesses to understand and prepare for the varied challenges associated with remote work. This guide lists the best software to help your business adjust to working outside the office environment. In researching options, I’ve focused on identifying the most affordable and easy-to-use remote work…

PRTG, a tool offered by Paessler, stands for Paessler Router Traffic Grapher. This tool was first released in 2003 and has since become one of the leading network monitoring tools on the market. There are, however, several similar tools capable of delivering the same network monitoring experience as PRTG, if not a better one. This…

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are increasingly becoming a problem for global companies that have a significant portion of their business online. Knowing how to stop a DDoS attack is vitally important, especially considering that it can cost a business significantly in lost revenue. This might mean employing protection tools — my personal pick is Security…