One of our most-read blogs of 2016 involved the Top 50 Cloud Monitoring & Management Tools for Amazon Web Services, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and other public clouds. Fast forward to present day and quite a few things have changed. Indeed, multiple cloud management software providers have been acquired. Others have imploded. And new options continue to emerge.
Update: Nominate your company's cloud monitoring and management software tool for our 2018 list here.
To help you understand the 2017 playing field, ChannelE2E has once again compiled a list of cloud monitoring and management software platforms. Many of which have caught on with VARs, MSPs, CSPs and hybrid IT service providers. Also, some of the additions come from reader comments/feedback culled from last year's list.
Here's a look at some prime options in alphabetical order...
1. Amazon CloudWatch: This is a monitoring service for AWS cloud resources and the applications you run on AWS. You can use Amazon CloudWatch to collect and track metrics, collect and monitor log files, set alarms, and automatically react to changes in your AWS resources, the company says. Update: Sounds great -- until portions of Amazon Web Services go dark, like they did in early March 2017 due to user error. Hence the need for multi-cloud management strategies.
2. AppDynamics (Acquired): In a surprise move, Cisco Systems acquired AppDynamics in early 2017, AppDynamics mainly focuses on application performance management (APM) -- though network performance management is an obvious next move. Key AppDynamics rivals include CA Technologies, BMC, Datadog (emerging), Dynatrace and New Relic. Look for those names elsewhere on this list.
3. AppNeta: The company's cloud-based software helps enterprises and MSPs to manage application and network performance.
4. AppPerfect: The company offers a lengthy list of monitoring solutions and services.
5. AppRiver: Specializes in Office 365 migration and security services for channel partners.
6. Arrow ECS Cloud Services: The distributor's ArrowSphere Solution Business Services provides a cloud service platform, tools, training, marketing and management resources for channel partners.
7. Aternity (Acquired): By Riverbed in mid-2016. Now part of Riverbed SteelCentral (see separate entry), Aternity's tools monitored mobile, virtual and physical devices. Much of the focus involved helping IT service desks.
8. Autotask CSP Boss: Designed to help MSPs manage customers' Office 365 and Azure accounts. Competes with ConnectWise CloudConsole (see separate entry).
9. Avnet Cloud Marketplace (Acquired): Tech Data acquired Avnet Technology Services and the associated cloud marketplace in February 2017. So what's next? Tech Data will need to describe how the Avnet and Tech Data cloud marketplaces converge...
10. Bitnami Cloud Tools: The tools help MSPs manage and monitor AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. Also of note: GoDaddy's Cloud Applications are powered by Bitnami. The partnership provides one-click optimized installation for application solutions like CMS (eg: WordPress and Drupal), CRM (eg: Odoo and OpenERP) and eCommerce (eg: OpenCart and Magento), GoDaddy says.
Continue to page 2 of 6 for companies 11 to 20
Welcome to page 2 of 6, featuring entries 11 to 20.
11. BMC Cloud Management: A portfolio of tools for corporate IT departments and IT service providers.
12. cAdvisor: Short for Container Advisor, cAdvisor collects, aggregates, processes, and exports information about running containers. It has native support for Docker containers and should support just about any other container type out of the box.
13. CA Unified Infrastructure Management: Also called CA UIM, the IT monitoring solution can oversee traditional and cloud environments. Well-known in the MSP community, CA UIM and sister products also are popular for APM and VDI management.
14. Cisco CloudCenter (formerly CliQr): An application-centric cloud management solution to manage applications in data center, private cloud, and public cloud environments.
15. CloudCraft: Not sure what your AWS deployment actually "looks" like? CloudCraft allows you to create "smart" AWS diagrams. From there, you can "visualize your cloud architecture" like a pro, the company claims. 16. Cloudyn: Cloudyn’s SaaS platform automates cloud monitoring, and shows partners how to optimize customer cloud performance, while gaining efficiencies for money spent, the company claims. 17. CloudMonix: I believe this originally offered monitoring and management of Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS environments. OpenStack support was planned for 2016. Fast forward to 2017, and most of the company's promotional materials focus on Azure management. Also, integrations with service desks like Autotask, Freshdesk Zendesk and plenty more are in place. 18. CloudPhysics: Specializes in vSphere virtual machine management. Has partner-centric offerings as well. 19. CloudViewNMS: CloudView is a standards-based network management system (NMS).It can auto-discover and monitor multi-vendor networks (thousands of SNMP and IP nodes), the company claims. 20. CodeTwo Office 365 Migration: The tool helps service providers to migrate customers from Exchange Server to Office 365. Continue to page 3 of 6 for companies 21 to 30 Welcome to page 3 of 6, featuring entries 21 to 30. 21. ConnectWise CloudConsole: ConnectWise's console allows MSPs to manage Office 365 billing, and more recently introduced support for Azure. 22. DataDog: The venture-funded company offers "cloud-scale monitoring" across dozens of cloud and software platforms. Datadog started with infrastructure monitoring, but pushed into application performance monitoring (APM) to counter CA Technologies, Cisco AppDynamics, Dynatrace, New Relic and other APM providers. 23. Dynatrace: Another application performance management (APM) specialist -- though the company also specializes in network performance analysis. 24. Enow Mailscape: I popular tool for remotely monitoring and managing Exchange Server and Office 365. 25. Exoprise CloudReady Monitor: A popular option for monitoring Office 365, Box, DropBox, Google and more. Founded by former Citrix CTO Jason Lieblich. 26. Idera: Designed for service providers, database professionals and IT professionals to monitor and manage databases, infrastructure and applications. 27. Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace: A marketplace where partners can source, activate and manage a range of cloud applications for customers. Also, keep an eye on Ingram Micro Odin, upon which telcos and MSPs can build their own cloud services. 28. Kaseya: The company's 365 Command offers MSPs one interface to manage Office 365, SharePoint, OneDrive and more. Also, Kaseya Traverse is designed for MSPs to manage network and cloud infrastructure. 29. Loggly: A wildly popular cloud log management service. The company raised an $11.5 million funding round in mid-2016. 30. LogicMonitor: The company's platform supports higher-end MSPs -- especially those focused on performance monitoring for midmarket customers. The company received a $130 million investment from Providence Strategic Growth(PSG) in mid-2016. Continue to page 4 of 6 for companies 31 to 40 Welcome to page 4 of 6, featuring entries 31 to 40. 31. ManageEngine: The company's IT management tools are designed for IT professionals and MSPs. Keep an eye on potential integrations across ManageEngine and sister company Zoho, the SaaS applications giant. 32. Microsoft Cloud Monitoring: The technology giant offers numerous Azure-centric monitoring and management tools. 33. Monitis: Another application performance monitoring specialist, Monitis helps service providers deliver on promised SLAs. Once owned by GFI Software, I'm checking to see who now controls this platform. 34. Nagios: The well-known provider of IT monitoring and management tools also has cloud monitoring capabilities for AWS, EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) and S3 (Simple Storage Service). 35. Netuitive: The company's tools allow users to monitor and manage application performance, infrastructure capacity, and AWS costs, Netuitive claims. 36. New Relic: Another hot growth company, New Relic competes in the application performance management market, and in late 2016 extended down into infrastructure monitoring. Key adopters include DevOps teams and some MSPs. 37. Oracle Application Performance Monitoring Cloud Service: Allows DevOps teams and service providers to find and fix application issues, Oracle asserts. 38. PagerDuty Cloud Monitoring: PagerDuty makes an incident management platform for DevOps, IT operations and business leaders. Over 8,000 small, mid-size and enterprise global customers leverage the platform. As of late 2016, the company had 175 partners across the development, deployment, monitoring, collaboration and service-desk stacks -- including Slack, Splunk and ServiceNow. 39. Palerra Loric: Palerra's platform combines threat detection, predictive analytics, security configuration management and automated incident response and remediation into a single management system. Oracle acquired Palerra in September 2016. 40. Prometheus: An open source service monitoring system that’s popular for Docker monitoring. Continue to page 5 of 6 for companies 41 to 50 Welcome to page 5 of 6, featuring entries 41 to 50. 41. Rackspace Cloud Monitoring: Rackspace has introduced cloud monitoring services for third-party clouds like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Google Cloud Platform support was announced in March 2017. 42. RedGate SQL Monitor: More than 90 percent of Fortune 100 companies use RedGate's software. SQL Monitor, for proactively managing databases on-premises or in the cloud, is part of the product family. 43. Riverbed SteelHead SaaS: A portfolio of tools that enhance SaaS performance. Basically, the management platform locates the fastest path from end users to their SaaS applications. 44: ScienceLogic: More than 25,000 global service providers, enterprises, and government organizations rely on ScienceLogic for IT monitoring capabilities. 45. Scout: An application and server monitoring specialist. 46. SIGOS: Now owns Keynote Mobile, which supports mobile app testing and monitoring. 47. Site24x7: The company's lineup addresses website, server and application monitoring. And more. 48. Syntraffic: The company's platform addresses real-time monitoring for websites, APIs and more. 49. SolarWinds: Well-known for a range of monitoring and management tools. Various acquisitions have involved Librato CloudWatch and LogicNow (now part of SolarWinds MSP). 50. Sensu: Monitors servers, services, application health, and business KPIs. Continue to page 6 of 6 for companies 51 and beyond (we just couldn't stop at 50)... Welcome to page 6 of 6, featuring 51 and beyond... 51. Splunk: One of the fastest-growing providers of server and infrastructure monitoring. Also widely deployed for security and big data applications. 52. Stack Driver: Positions itself as "intelligent monitoring" for AWS infrastructure. 53. Sumo Logic: Offers a SaaS-based log analytics platform for AWS, Azure and hybrid cloud services. It can monitor workloads and migrations for errors, warnings, performance and availability issues across cloud and on-premises infrastructure stacks. 54. Synnex CloudSolv: A popular platform for VARs and MSPs that want to source and manage Office 365 accounts for customers. Keep an eye on growing Docker relationship as well. 55. Sysdig, a hosted service that tracks storage, visualization, alerting and more. 56. Tech Data: The company has multiple cloud sourcing and account management platforms now that Tech Data owns Avnet Technology Solutions. Watch for potential platform consolidation in 2017 or 2018.... 57. Unigma: The cloud management dashboard supports performance monitoring, automation and cost analytics for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud Platform. 58. VMware: Offers a range of options for cloud management. Watch VMware's multi-cloud management strategy closely, along with the company's emerging Amazon partnership. 59. Wavefront: Offers unified cloud monitoring and analytics at over 1 million data points per second, the company claims. 60. Zabbix: An open source monitoring solution for networks and applications. 61. Zenoss Cloud Monitoring: The company offers cloud monitoring packs for AWS, CloudStack, OpenStack, Azure and VMware vCloud. That's it for our 2017 list. What did we miss -- and what should drop off the list in 2018? Let me know: [email protected].
