IBM Spectrum Control vs. Rocket Servergraph

IBM Spectrum Control is very well suited for the large enterprise where there is multi vendor environment in terms of storage and host virtualization. It is not suited at all where file storage is dominant. It is capable of providing very detailed reports as it leverages the IBM Cognos for that purpose and offers very detailed customization as well. It can even provide the enterprise with the SAN management capabilities as well.

Rocket Servergraph is well suited for any backup environment where the end user wants a more comprehensive understanding of their systems. I have not found one OEM supplied reporting system that can hold a candle to the job that Rocket does.

• Monitoring data from our storage servers
• Provision of data analytics

Incentivized

• Failed backup reporting is easily tailored to specific person, group or function
• The TSM console makes a novice admin more productive quickly as it builds the command syntax for you.
• Alerts when a backup system is down or a resource like a storage pool will soon require expansion
• Trend analysis and historical reporting support capital expenditures

• Must extend the management and monitoring to File storage.
• Performance monitoring of non IBM equipment may also be added.

• It would be nice to have an administrator console for Networker and Datadomain the likes of the one in TSM which is so incredibly helpful.

Why didn't I give the full 10 out of 10? My problems are still: since I have been working with the software for more than 20 years, the installation on Windows hosts that are part of domain networks. In these networks, installing is nearly impossible due to group policies. In the opposite: without group policies - especially for Windows updates - you can barely manage the ISC server when on a MS Windows basis. But because the software works seamlessly after a successful installation and support is very responsive and helpful, ISC gets a 9 out of 10.

Incentivized

IBM Spectrum Control is still better than these three. Why? ISC is deployed locally within the customer's network and can receive real-time data from the customer's systems, while IBM StorageInsights is a cloud-based service offering that collects data in specific time windows. Plus, StorageInsights lacks many data sources and metrics that ISC can provide. PRTG and Checkmk are SNMP-based and can express alerting and performance monitoring in a previously configured window. They are unable to really drill down from the application via HBA, SAN, and storage controller to the volume of the storage system, and lack many metrics that ISC can provide. Also, these tools cannot predict performance or capacity growth. This is only possible with IBM Storage Insights (ISC).

Incentivized

This is the most reliable platform that ensures that data is controlled successfully. It has helped our IT department utilize time used to monitor data storage disks manually. The overall cost of maintenance is lower as compared to other backup plans. It has reduced time taken for auditing our databases due to automatic data auditing system installed on this application.

• ISC select license has been "upgraded" so that IBM StorageInsights for ISC can be used. That helps especially customers who cannot maintain an on-prem installation.
• ISC can monitor and manage many systems deployed across several distant locations, which keeps us from installing ISC on every system the customer maintains.
• ISC makes troubleshooting, performance, and capacity prediction very easy when the end of the lifecycle for the current SAN and storage infrastructure is reached. This spares time and money.

Incentivized

• Less need for close backup system oversight so it frees resources for other tasks
• Found 50 plus tapes that were available scratches
• You can more confidently determine the need for backup resources throng the systems predictive analysis.